[hpsdr] Atlas Update - From whence we have come

Tue May 9 02:55:08 PDT 2006

Alex

Well, all of this has been pretty much 'out front' except for some
discussions on where to get boards produced and quotes etc.

Everything is open source hardware, and there has been a lot of
brainstorming on the Reflector over the months regarding parts and design.
Flow diagrams have been published for several of the boards, as well as full
schematics and gerbers. They are a little 'scattered' out on several
websites, but they are available. There has been a lot of 'give and take'
and the designers have been very willing to 'add' features.

I really am open to suggestion on how we as a user group accomplish the
manufacturing and distribution tasks, if someone doesn't step up and just
keep one or another project going. I certainly don't want ANYONE willing to
contribute to go away. 

I think the project leaders can answer your questions below. I could
probably answer many of them.

Thanks

Eric

  _____  

From: Alex [mailto:harvilchuck at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 12:08 AM
To: Eric Ellison; hpsdr at hpsdr.org
Subject: Re: [hpsdr] Atlas Update - From whence we have come

Eric,
Excitement anf faith in a technical project only get you so far, sometimes
it clouds judgement. 

What I'm advocating is the same thing Bob said in his reply to my post. We
need to use sound engineering practices and reviews to go through the
designs. There is no hurry to get a passive backplane out the door, better
to wait and get a high quality, working system sometime "this summer". Just
building something without making sure it works does not help to advance the
state-of-the-art for amateur radio. If there are unforseen design problems,
it will only frustrate people trying to use the HPDSR and hurt the process.

There are still a number of basic questions unanswered, things like, but not
limited to:
What are the form factors for the plug-in cards? 
What are the specifics of the ATLAS bus (some of it is written down, but
there are a bunch of blanks)?
Is a 10MHz or a 1pps reference signal going to be supported? If so, it it
going to be distributed over the backplane? 
Are the JTAG connectors going to be put in a common location on the top of
each plug-in card? 
Does OZY have the throughput to handle both a MERCURY and a JANUS board
operating at the same time? 

What the project need is some design documentation, so that folks who want
to design a curcuit know how to integrate it in. I'd be tickled pink with
some block diagrams!

So, yes, I would hold my order until the group has a baselined design for
JANUS, OZY and ATLAS. JANUS is going through a redesign currently! If I have
to I'll run a set of boards myself.

I am more than happy to work on documentation, but it's going to take lots
of questions and the corresponding answers.
A valid answer to a question can be "we don't know yet".

Alex, N3NP

----- Original Message ----
From: Eric Ellison <ecellison at comcast.net>
To: Alex <harvilchuck at yahoo.com>; hpsdr at hpsdr.org
Sent: Monday, May 8, 2006 11:06:32 PM
Subject: RE: [hpsdr] Atlas Update - From whence we have come

Alex

Hmmmm good question(s).

I have faith in the excitement! I have faith in the project leaders. I have
faith and proof that we will get to Ozy board 2 and have an operational
experimental platform. I have faith in all the contributors and even the
lurkers who respond when I 'ping'.

I also have faith because of people like Chris Day who is sending me his
entire alpha Atlas setup in the mail so that Lyle can show 'first light' at
Dayton , and all the contributors who are part of the village and giving
like Chris. Also that we will reach the goal(s) without being overly
structured by 'time lines' production schedules etc.

I guess the shorter answer, is that my wife would only let me have $2000 to
upfront purchase of the Atlas boards. Also I only have about $800 in PlayPal
money to sponsor a few Alpha boards for each project leader. (shhhh She who
must be obeyed, does not know I have the PlayPal money!)

If you have a lot of faith as a user, order as many boards as you need. If
you have only a little faith, don't order any. Net - Net, you only lose
about $15 per board if the house of cards folds.

I'm sort of angling that I'll get enough funds back in from the Atlas to
turn around and offer the Ozy and Janus!  With the crude 'operation' I have
set up, I can produce and get the current 175 board orders out in about 15
days. It's a lot easier than sponsoring a group buy. That MAY come, but for
now it's strictly a village and not a corporation.

In the end? It's inspiring to be alive and a ham radio operator with this
group, each moving a grain of sand!

Eric

  _____  

From: Alex [mailto:harvilchuck at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 9:49 PM
To: Eric Ellison; hpsdr at hpsdr.org
Subject: Re: [hpsdr] Atlas Update - From whence we have come

Not to throw a wet blanket on the enthusiasm, but why order the boards for
ATLAS when there isn't a reviewed and baselined design for the JANUS and
OZYMANDIAS cards? The better thing to do would be order the three board set
at once. 

What if a date is sat to complete design reviews on  OZYMANDIAS v1.0 and
JANUS v1.0? How about June 8th?
If the date is met, then shoot for board ordering in mid-june.

Personally, I'm thinking of ordering a couple, but I'd like to see that
there is a working system, not just a passive backplane.

I've read that the ATLAS is using standard PC case spacing between cards.
Are the actual cards going to have a physical size of a full-height,
half-length PCI card (so as to effectively use the PC-case)? 

What is being done is good, but just like building Eagle, there has to be a
little order and structure and documentation.
I'm willing to contribute with the documentation and coordination, because
this is one of the "skunkworks" of amateur radio.

Alex, N3NP

----- Original Message ----
From: Eric Ellison <ecellison at comcast.net>
To: hpsdr at hpsdr.org
Sent: Sunday, May 7, 2006 2:41:49 PM
Subject: [hpsdr] Atlas Update - From whence we have come

***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

Folks

We now have 170 orders for the Atlas board. WOW! To me this indicates that
the flywheel of the project is accelerating! To think this all came about
from a Teamspeak Friday Night fourm mention by Phil - VK6APH in late
November 2005 regarding the Xylo work he was doing!!!! With Phil - N8VB's
Ozy board coming along it will mark a fully working product! This first of
many! YEA! 

Thanks EVERYONE no matter what your contribution, including those just
lurking and waiting till it all works! I see this project as "Hardware which
just keeps getting better".  We are a 'village' and our population is
growing! Viva open ideas! Viva open source! Viva Open hardware! It IS, to me
what Amateur Radio is all about ---- always on the forefront of technology!

I am planning to order the Atlas boards next week. I estimate that shipment
of boards will be before the end of the month. Still no final decision on
the production house, but it will be RoHS compliant board.

Thanks!

Eric - AA4SW

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