Small graphic changes

[TopherMan]

Board and digikey order showed up today, so hopefully I'll be busy testing for the next few days. One thing that occurred to me as I was checking the board out is that it might be a good idea to add labels for some of the polarities (like power in) and which way the LPCXpresso goes. After I get some of the gross testing done I'll think about adding it it.

[Noobman]

Woau good news. Its exciting to hear things would come together. I will keep an eye here and on the reprap page if there is anything i can do just let me know. And please by all means dont forget to take alot of pictures :)

[Noobman]

I just checked the latest changes and i think i kinda fell behind on this project. Took an overview and here are few comments if you want them:

• most of 2 pins connectors are headers or jumpers (im bit confused?) those are just shorting the mcu pins together. Ex therm2 and Y-dir and most of the rest. Its unusual to short mcu pins together, because if one is on write mode the other can be in read mode and that leads to problems beyond the usual ones, plus usual ones like added pin capacitance if one pin output is touching another pin, and still even so, both pins cannot be used at the same time for different purposes. If the intention is to provide alternates for pins configurations, wouldnt be a 3-way jumper more suited, that is choosing a path while leaving the other pin alone separate for something else?
• the 2-pin connectors inside the module could be placed on the bottom and be the bent type (J-type or slim profile), there is a type like that in library, but then that group of 4 should be split to be in-line instead of 2x2 matrix.
• generally speaking, as feeling left behind dunno what is nailed to the board and what can still be changed, so about pin allocation would be nice if you can update it with some convention to distinct between what pins have functions and are fixed, and those that still can be changed. For example: a) fixed (function pins) like MOSI/MISO RX/TX, etc, to have label written in caps or with an * as suffix/prefix, and b) changeable pins like enable and such to have label written in small letter or without the * asterix I think such a convention/distinction would be useful even for further reference.

[TopherMan]

Yeah, my documentation is currently sparse, so here's what I did:

• Nearly all the two-pin connectors are jumpers are to maintain mbed compatibility. Pins 9 and 10 are hard-coded for Smoothieboard's I2C current control module, and when I asked if it could be disabled, the smoothie dev IRC channel guys said they tried that and it caused instabilities, so I just had to work around that. This meant two less pins, so I added in a row from the bottom of the LPCXpresso. The problem was, then, that it would no longer work with the mbed because X-EN and all the Y stepper pins no longer fit on the forty pins offered by the mbed board. The two pairs of pins below the UART connector tie together the X-EN, Y-EN, A-EN similar to the first version, so that all the enables are attached to an mbed pin. Since the mbed can't use the fifth axis, I realized that an mbed user was unlikely to use POWER4 or THERM2, so I added jumpers so that those pins will be POWER1 and Y-DIR respectively whenever an mbed is connected. I also added a jumper so that A.OUT would be Y-STEP, and a jumper that would disconnect THERM2 from the resistor/capacitor thermistor circuitry for an mbed user since that was likely to interfere with the stepper. I am pretty confident that if all the jumpers are set correctly it will function perfectly fine, but I'm going to need to write some big, bold capslock warnings about jumpers and how to set them properly so that there are no problems.
• They will be jumpers, so being under the mcu is good; the user will want to set them before putting the controller in, and not mess with them at all after attaching the controller.
• I like that idea, I'll go back later this week and add an asterisk to all the fixed pins. Really the problem was only the UART and the I2C on pins 9 and 10, but it would be good for me to mark that so it's clear if any further revisions are made.

[Noobman]

Aha, i understand now. Looks ok thanks for explanations.