Review: Schmartboard 710-0008-05 PSoC5LP Development Board - first impressions

[Rory]

I was given a Schmartboard 710-0008-05 Rev B. PSoC5 LP Development Board (with Boot loaded PSoC 5LP IC) for evaluation in my prototyping lab.  Here is a rough review of what I experienced trying it out.

Spent part of a day getting to know the module. I only have a couple of weeks of experience with the Cypress PSoC, have been playing with CY8CKIT-001 PSoC5LP projects and the $4 PSoC4 board (which has its own issues).   

No setup information was included with the board or on Schmartboard's website as a separate document. It is buried inside the example bootloader zip file. The package included sales brochures but no product documentation.  A label on the antistatic envelope containing the board has directions to the product webpage. Without these directions it is rather difficult to find the product on their site.

I plugged the module into my Windows 7 laptop USB port and waited for it to enumerate and load drivers for the USB component. It failed. "Device unplugged". Opened up Device Manager, was unable to find an entry for the device. Unplugging and plugging it in again gave the Windows USB device installation audible notification but no changes to the device list.

Moved it to another port hoping it would try to find the drivers again, no luck.

Obviously, I was unable to get the bootloader to work.

With my Miniprog3 debugger/programmer, was able to program the chip using the header provided. Tried to run an example USB project (mouse emulator) but it did not work for me. Admittedly I have no experience with USB on the PSoC5LP, so more research is needed before pronouncing it unusable. Was able to load and run a UART based project and use a Silicon Labs USB-UART bridge adapter for asynchronous comms with the PSoC. 

There is only one download example from the Schmartboard website, a zip file containing bootloader example files and some Windows command line utilities. Will try reloading the bootloader program and see if I can get it to work.

The Readme.txt in the bootloader .zip file explains that the bootloader times out after five seconds unless the SCL header pin is shorted to ground before powering up the board. Perhaps this is why it failed to load the drivers the first time I tried.

The next morning - after reloading the bootloader via Miniprog3, then grounding the SCL pin, the USB bootloader shows up as one of the ports in the PSoC Creator Bootloader Host application.

I was able to successfully program the board with the example bootloadable program included in the Schmartboard zip file.   

I have two observations about the module PC board itself.

Firstly, there is no provision for a board mounted external crystal. Traces could have been routed to an SMD crystal footprint on the bottom layer and the pads left unpopulated if cost is an issue. Maybe in Rev C.  An external clock could be brought in on one of the I/O pins if crystal stability is required.

The second issue is that GND or VCC is not available on any of the pins intended to plug into a solderless breadboard. The pins for VCC and ground are mounted upward so a battery can be attached. There is an unpopulated GND pad away from the edge, in which I installed a single female header so ground could be jumpered to the breadboard's ground rail.  There are gaps in the pin headers where pads for ground pins could be located.

To summarize, if you get this board, ground the SCL pin before you plug it into USB the first time, and make sure the LED next to the mini-USB connector is solid Red, not alternating Red-Green-Yellow-Off. 

[dreschel]

Thank you for confirming all of the issues I am having with this board. Unfortunately I came upon your post after trying to plug the board into the USB without shorting SCL first. (Of course SCL is NOT next to a ground pin, so you just could not use a simple jumper block to do that shorting.) After I scrounged up a jumper cable, shorted SCL and plugged it back in, my Win 7 notebook computer, the board shows up as a HID device in Device Manager.
I was able to modify their single included program from the website (in PSOC Creator 3.0) and download it using PSOC Creator's Bootloader Host to the HID device. By leaving the shorting cable on and plugging the USB cable in and out I was able to get the Bootloader host to see the device each time.

Here is the thing, the multi-color LED (D5) on the PCB was not soldered in completely, so I only get red and orange. There was also green corrosion on the 5 pin connector above the boost converter (where you can find the SCL that needs to be shorted.) My board does not match the illustration on the package documentation either (a white 5 pin header instead of an 8 pin black JTAG header). Also, the README.txt file says:
"Finally, you can connect a battery to the 1x2 VBAT+/VBAT- header and use the boost
converter module contained within the PSoC."
THERE IS NO HEADER LABELED VBAT+/VBAT- on the board.

But as you pointed out the missing crystal footprint is a real issue. I think I am going to return it to Mouser. The quality of the build is just not there. And the lack of documentation and even simple illustrations for set up and use are stunning.
Bill

[andyturk]

I've got one of the PSoC5 Schmartboards and it's sitting in a drawer. The jumpers/headers are weird and the doc is lacking.

The PSoC5LP is a pretty cool chip though and I highly recommend Cypress' CY8KIT-050. It's more expensive ($99), but much easier to work with. I program it with a Segger J-Link which has PSoC flash drivers now, but the inbuilt stuff on the board works well enough if you want to use PSoC Creator for flashing and debug.

[Rory]

I agree with andyturk, you really need to go with a "real" PSoC eval board instead of the Schmartboard.
 
We have a CY8KIT-001 for "serious" PSoC breadboard tests. I bought a CY8KIT-050 for my own use and a Miniprog3 for programming PSoCs on our own boards.  I really think this Schmartboard is designed more to show off their "patented technology" than to be a useful breadboard component.

I bought a few of the $4 PSoC4 CY8KIT-049-42xx boards to give to friends to "spread the word" as well as to play with when away from the bench. We've had some problems with the Cypress USB-Serial bridge drivers required for this board losing/forgetting the virtual comport driver if the USB connection is intermittent. It does help a lot to use a short USB extension cable and include code to in the bootloadable app to perform a software reset with the pushbutton switch, so you don't have to keep plugging and unplugging the board from the host USB port.  It's too bad they didn't use a mini- or micro-B connector on the board instead of using the board itself for a connector.

We have been able to port a lot of our general purpose dsPIC C function code libraries over to PSoC 5LP, so migration has been pretty painless.

[dreschel]

Yes, I agree with you all. But in theory, the Schmartboard was exactly what I was looking for, a scaled down example PSOC5 circuit with USB, ready to protoype with, before laying out the space limited PCB. Like a Teensy with programmable logic and analog.
I have included a few photos for anyone considering a purchase so they know what they are getting into. There, I have now provided as much documentation as Schmartboard.
Another path to be able to experiment with both the PSOC4 and PSOC5 is the Cypress PSOC Pioneer board (CY8CKIT-042):
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Cypress-Semiconductor/CY8CKIT-042/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvFPGEOwQcrY%2fTi8gyw79bx4T63gQMAmug%3d
$23 at Mouser. The PSOC5 is used as the USB bootloader/debugger BUT you can program it directly:
http://www.element14.com/community/thread/25084/l/psoc-4-pioneer-kit-community-project036-what-i-can-use-the-psoc-5lp-too
That seems pretty slick.
Bill

[PeterZ]

The quality of the build is just not there. And the lack of documentation and even simple illustrations for set up and use are stunning.
Bill

I can only second your opinion. Below is a pic of the one i got via Mouser:



(part of the chip was chipped off, nice!)
While i realize the Schmartboard is not a huge company with a budget allowing them to sell eval boards at the lowest price point, i'd expect at least a decent soldering skills from someone who is selling stuff worldwide through distributors like Mouser. "Patented techology"? I see...
I haven't tested it yet, but thanks to this thread i know what to expect!