Documentation Hardware 2006 Revision Notices 
Headlines:
CF Card Connector Change: to white Type I connector on netCF and cfstix
MMC Card Connector Change: basix, netMMC and netDUO-mmc
Replace Etherstix board: Introduce the netMMC expansion board
Restock: Bluetooth(tm)-enabled RoHS Motherboards
Change to RoHS-compliant: For all Bluetooth motherboards
Bluetooth Module Change: To RoHS-compliant Infineon PBA31308 module
On the netCF and the cfstix expansion boards, the CF Card Connector is being changed in order to maintain a better supply. The new CF Card Connector is N7E50-7516PG-20; RoHS Compatible and is a Type I slot (not Type II)
The new CF Card Connectors take up less space than the previous CF Card Connectors and are made by a more reliable source (3M). We have tried all the flash, wifi and bluetooth boards here and all of them still fit nicely (i.e. every board we've ever seen has been a Type I) There is a Seagate disk drive that does not fit.
The netCF-board will remain the same in all other aspects, except:
(a) some components move out of the way of the new foot position for the CF Card Connector, and (b) the 4 corner holes have been re-sized to a new diameter of 0.094".
The Molex 54965SD (MMC) Card connector, which is used on several gumstix products including the basix motherboards, netMMC and netDUO-mmc expansion boards, has been discontinued by Molex.
Gumstix engineering has evaluated the various alternatives available and concluded that we would like to continue supporting an SD Card alternative on the basix; however, almost all suppliers of short-guide connectors (i.e. that fit within 20mm) have switched in favour of the new RS-MMC and miniSD connectors, which are mutually exclusive.
Yamaichi makes a short-guide SD Card connector that is available with and without CD (Card Detect) and WP (Write Protect) switches. The reason this is important is that it looks as though only the connector-without-CD/WP will fit on the gumstix, whereas the connector-with-both will fit on the netMMC and netDUO-mmc.
The Yamaichi MMC card connector, part number FPS009-3203-BL, is approximately 1.5mm wider than the previous Molex MMC card connector. As such, the card guides on the new MMC connector from Yamaichi will stick out from the basix motherboard slightly more (approximately 0.45 mm) than the MMC card guides of the Molex MMC card connector on the basix motherboard.
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As of September, 2006, etherstix is no longer sold at gumstix.com. Customers may purchase the netMMC expansion board which is equivalent to the etherstix board with the addition of a MMC card slot.
OEM customers may still order an etherstix expansion board in volume orders.
The Bluetooth-enabled, RoHS-compliant basix 400xm-bt and connex 400xm-bt motherboards are back in stock as of December 20th, 2006.
These motherboards feature the new PBA31308 from Infineon and are rated at commercial temperatures. Extended temperature motherboards are available to OEM customers placing volume orders.
As of July 1st, 2006, the RoHS Directive from the European Union (EU) Member States requires gumstix, inc. to "put on the market" only RoHS compliant products to orders withdeliveries destinations within the EU.
As of July 15, 2006, Infineon indicated that a RoHS-compliant version of the Singlestone module will be available in early Q4, 2006.
As such, gumstix engineering developed the following action items:
Gumstix, Inc. plans to sell only RoHS-compliant products to all customers.
As of November 1st, all Bluetooth-enabled basix and connex motherboards from Gumstix, Inc. will be RoHS compliant. The RoHS-compliant Bluetooth module from Infineon PBA31308 has replaced the non-RoHS compliant Infineon PBA31307 module on the basix and connex motherboards.
The identified software changes from the PBA31307 Infineon bluetooth module to the new RoHS compliant PBA31308 module, as of October 3, 2006, are related to how the module initializes the device and sets the comms baud rate to 921600 bps. It's completely invisible to userspace apps
The new PBA31308 module is reported by Infineon to perform faster than the current one as it's supposed to be able to do 921,600.
Infineon has advised that there's a new function call on the new module which is just "set baudrate". The existing module has no such function so a programmer has to re-program the firmware to set the baudrate and about 10 other variables at the same time and those 10 other variables are highly sensitive to having the wrong data input.
FCC Approvals and Gumstix Bluetooth Motherboards
- The layouts of non-RoHS-compliant and RoHS-compliant basix and connex 400xm-bt's are indeed identical. Thus a form-fitting enclosure designed around the non-RoHS-compliant Bluetooth motherboards will work equally well as for the RoHS-compliant Bluetooth motherboards.
- Consistent with statement above, the rubber duck antennas included with the non-RoHS-compliant and the RoHS-compliant versions of basix and connex motherboards and waysmall computers are the same.
- FCC IDs associated with the non RoHS-compliant (Q2331307) and RoHS-compliant (A2331308) differ, and the different certifications pertain to the different Infineon modules; the Infineon PBA 31307 module in the non RoHS-compliant products and the RoHS-compliant PBA 31308 module in the RoHS-compliant products, respectively.
- The non RoHS-compliant Bluetooth motherboards and waysmall computers use the Infineon PBA 31307 module, and the RoHS-compliant Bluetooth motherboards and waysmall computers use the Infineon PBA 31308 module.
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