On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 6:41 PM, Wolfgang Spraul <wolfgang(a)sharism.cc> wrote:
Marcin,
I very much enjoyed reading your Sciphone G2 news and it motivated me
to jump in and try to help :-)
So it turns out a good friend of mine is Vice President of the company
that made the Sciphone G2 - it's a small world after all.
I wrote up what I found so far
http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Sciphone_Dream_G2
I'm realy suprised :) I didn't expect taht it'll go that far.
The G2 was discontinued about a year ago, but over
200,000 were made so
we should be able to find some still.
He donated the absolute last 2 phones we could find in his office to the
OsmocomBB project, a normal black one as well as a prototype red one.
He also donated another 9 boards to OsmocomBB, I took this picture
http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/File:Nine_Sciphone_G2_boards.jpg
That's great news!
They are reworked/fixed, but _should_ work (note that
3 are without Wi-Fi).
Now my question:
For those 9 boards, what are the most important missing pieces so they
can become useful for the OsmocomBB project?
I guess a charger/USB cable would be nice (it's not a standard plug).
What else?
LCM? Maybe not so important?
How about antennas? speaker/buzzer?
For sure these 9 boards will be useful for this project.
Besides running osmocomBB we have to run Linux with drivers for MTK
peripherals: GPIO, SD/MMC, NAND, I2C, SPI, UART, PWM, USB, LCD, etc.
Most of these peripherals are available on mentioned boards so they'll
be useful for drivers development.
If it comes to USB cable, it's not that important because L12C
connectors (which are in Sciphone G2) are pretty cheap and available
here:
http://www.ipmart.com/main/product/Cable,Compatible,for,China,Mobile,Phone,…
So even without USB cables, LCD, antennas, speakers, etc. boards will
be useful for some people.
If I just send these 9 boards to Harald the way they
are on the picture,
is that useful? Or should I try to find some more parts? I'm most concerned
about the antenna, not sure whether this is easy to source/find.
I already answered above.
Separately, I will try to take pictures of the
individual PCB layers, using
a V3.1 PCB. I should have them by the end of the week.
I am also trying to get the schematics, maybe BOM or other helpful data,
but I'm not so sure on those, maybe they cannot find them anymore even if
they would like to give them to us. Don't hold your breadth on those.
Wow, but I'm not holding my breath yet :)
Schematics would be realy useful ...
You can also ask about technical documentation for BT chip MT6601.
I couldn't find datasheet and it'll be needed to make BT working.
Bottom line: 2 full G2 + 9 PCBA donated to OsmocomBB,
PCBA pictures
uploaded, PCB layer pictures coming. Schematics maybe.
That's very good news!
I appreciate your help.
BR,
Marcin