After one year, I thought it’d be nice to compare all the JeeNode versions which have come out – up to and including the latest v4:
Here is the back side of each of them:
The back side in particular illustrates the evolution which has taken place this year.
In version 1, there were no labels – mainly because I hadn’t figured out how to do those and I was eager to just see the darn thing work…
Version 2 added some minimal labeling (in copper, to save on production charges!) and a ground plane. Port pairs 1+4 and 2+3 were moved 0.1″ further apart. The mounting holes were dropped.
Version 3 was really the first production-ready one. It added lots of text on the component side, plus a bit of eye candy by going for blue solder masks. I switched to yellow wire for the antenna, to help remind me that this is the version with the final port and pin layout – the one which matches all the new JeePlugs. Version 3 did get the silkscreen for the regulator wrong, but it also made it to the Make Magazine weblog – cool! :)
Version 4 now takes this evolution to its logical conclusion: a clear visual “identity” in the form of blue-and-gold color choices and lots of labels on both sides of the board. No more guessing! The PWR/I2C connector moves a bit and is augmented with two more pins. This JeeNode is the narrowest of all, it now has precisely the same width as all the plugs (21.1mm / 0.83″). This is the grown-up version at last, focusing on actual usage convenience along with a proud & pleasing appearance.
It’s time to move on. The JeeNode is done.
Nice! Now lets put the new JeeLink with plastic case in the market! ;-)
I hear you ;) – just got a note today that some pcbs are being remade because of a problem. That delays several other boards as well. We’ll have to wait a week longer, unfortunately. Patience…
Ok, no problem. I started working on the accelerometer to monitor my rowing boat movements. It is a A7260 from Freescale, three axis with analog voltage outputs and possible configuration from 1.5g to 6g. I bought a pre-assembled board from Sure Electronics with it so now I just have to make a small PCB adapter to plug it to the JeeNode. I’ll spend some time with the AVR programming but then I’ll get stuck to get the data out of the JeeNode and I’ll need a JeeLink, preferably the new one :-) Next week end I’ll be in Paris so I’ll only have time for some serious work the week end after.