No bluetooth?

[MichaelMeissner]

(I sent this via mail, but now that the digix group is open, I thought I would post it for others)


I was surprised to see the Digix doesn't have bluetooth as well as nRF24L01+ and wifi.  The Digix seems to have just about everything else.  Now, it is simple to add a bluetooth transceiver after the fact, so it isn't a cripling missing feature, but it was a curious omission to me given the other wireless options.

[digistump]

Here is the response I sent Michael via email



We have two things on our list that we couldn't fit in:


Bluetooth and Micro SD Card slot. Putting parts on both sides of the board is cost prohibitive, can affect quality, and would have required us to go to a 4-layer board, which also would have raised the price and made the design less accessible. We really wanted to hit the $49 mark for the Kickstarter, but at $59 we shoot to break even after fulfillment, fees, taxes, etc - so we had to stop adding things. The nRF24L01 plugs in and is super cheap so it doesn't really take much space or add much cost. Wifi (and good wifi) was more important than bluetooth or a microSD - so that's how we arrived where we did. With so many UARTs (running at 3.3v too) it's super easy to add a cheap bluetooth module.


Thanks for the feedback!

[MichaelMeissner]

I figured it was a cost issue (or possibly board real estate).  Real time clock + battery holder would be another useful addition (teensy 3.0 has this).  As I said, these are all simple to add, but sometimes it is useful to have an all-in-one board.


Congratulations on reaching the $50k goal by the way.  While I might pass on it right now, I presume that after the kickstarter rewards have been delivered, I will be able to pick up the board at my local Microcenter (or via digistump.com).

[digistump]

It has a real time clock built in! No battery holder though, both a real estate problem and an issue with how the SAM3X built in RTC works - but it is present and usable (if a bit less so without a dedicated clock battery backup). Of course with Wifi you can set the clock on startup from internet time.


They will be available on Digistump.com - not sure on Microcenter yet, the margins are slimmer here (percentage wise) so I don't know if they'll like our wholesale prices, but we sure hope they'll carry them.


Thanks!

[bobricius]

Maybe you can add only holes for battery holder, pads for RTC, eeprom or SD card .... it is free and user can solder something od bottom side

[digistump]

We'll certainly add footprints for whatever we can fit from a routing standpoint!