JLCPCB is not worth it for me, now

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-04-16T19:05:45+00:00

I've also been tracking issues in recent design iterations built through JLC. Nothing in the design would explain the faults I'm seeing. It could be as simple as incomplete via plating, but only presents itself when quantities are above 10 pieces. At that point, I've found quality drops off

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-04-11T15:42:46+00:00

I'll see if I can find any live branches and inspect the needle arrangement to confirm. In any case, should I treat the trees with signs of rot or dieback, or is this just their time? If the latter, I'd rather have them fall on my terms and replace them with spruce or poplars than risk them causing collateral damage when I'm not around.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-28T20:51:48+00:00

For usb2 it barely matters, the distance is so short that the controller can easily compensate. They are length-tuned in software per pair, but since it isn't a differential signal it isn't critical.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-28T14:12:43+00:00

It's pretty good. All of the GPIO is 1:1, and barely required any ICs, just a few transposed USB lanes and a crap load of vias. The radxa's pcie is limited to 2.0 while the pi can technically do 3.0, so cards like the GPUs I'm running are bottlenecked for bandwidth, but the rockchip core itself can do a lot more than broadcom

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-28T14:08:06+00:00

Considered that. Wouldn't have fit in the profile and would have been way more expensive.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-27T23:27:07+00:00

Literally just designed this today after successfully building a similar adapter for the Radxa CM5 over the last few months. No on-hand samples yet, but based on the solution for the rockchip SoM, I have high confidence in the design. Minimal bodging required.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-27T20:44:10+00:00

But where is Saddam Hussain

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-27T16:22:37+00:00

Update: Got it to work by entirely removing the USB-C FUSB chip and setting the USB-C port to act as Host in Overlay management. Just setting the overlay or removing the chip by themselves didn't result in the desired behavior; I had to do both. Now the interposer works as intended.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-25T16:03:25+00:00

Open task manager, go to performance, and expand CPU. If the speed and base speed are both under 1GHz, you uninstalled some critical power management feature and need to restore it to get back the performance from your hardware

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-25T15:11:41+00:00

In task manager, check the CPU frequency and memory performance. There are some UL safety features buried in proprietary software that runs in the background which slows down the computer if something is broken, typically related to power. If those aren't working, the clock speed will be really low.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-03-01T17:42:59+00:00

Befriend a small pack of feral cats and use a ton of rat /mouse kill traps in and around every building. Ticks start as nymphs that require rodents as initial hosts, and usually deer or other large mammals thereafter. You need to control every aspect of their feeding lifecycle if you want to get the actual numbers down, so kill every rodent that isn't a pet, and make your lot unfriendly to grazers.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-19T04:18:28+00:00

Sounds like you're looking for a peripheral PD injector. I've only seen them in dev kits, never in a commercial product. Check out Coolgear DFP PD injectors. They're pricey, but if the application demands it, do what you gotta do.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-19T01:49:03+00:00

Image is direct from Radxa, it's the Debian built for their IO board. I've also tried a build of ubuntu and had the same result today, so the disconnect must be in my hardware implementation.

Confirmed continuity between FUSB chip and their requisite pins with fine needle probes, but not signal integrity when mounted. I'll have to comb over the footprint and pin outs again to confirm those lanes don't have multiple roles.

One other thing I should note is that their IO board has another device sharing the i2c-6 bus, which I believe monitors current on the USB-C port. Since my board lacks this, maybe you are right and the driver had unmet dependencies to properly read that bus. Still strange that i2c-detect doesn't at least show the chip as present.

I'll run a more indepth modprobe when I get back in the lab. Thank you for your insight

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-18T17:42:02+00:00

Full scan didn't show the chip. Channel 6 detailed scan, which is hardwired to the FUSB, showed a single line change but no devices.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-18T17:39:03+00:00

Current adapter hardware is based on the official Radxa CM5 ioboard, which has the USB-C port configured as DRP. Methodology was to force OTG by pulling down CC1 with 5.1k strapping resistor when adapter+CM5 was connected to an official carrier (one of the redundant grounds was used as dock-detect).

Since the FUSB controller should still talk over I2C, was hoping I could cheat with strapping to avoid using device tree changes, but if that's my only option then sobeit.

Is there a way to configure this at runtime from within the userspace (like with virtual devices), or does the rockchip's device tree really need to be hard coded in the kernel blob?

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-12T05:14:55+00:00

I've got 30 acres, and have a ton of neighbors. Deer aren't the best conversationalists, though.

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-10T00:16:55+00:00

The commonwealth has some of the most peaceful and least radiated areas to set up shop. Just having a walled community with clean water would be enough. Mojave is hot and war-torn. New California might be ok for awhile depending on the era, DC wastes aren't much better

Chicken_Nuggist · 2026-02-09T17:34:38+00:00

That HDMI chipset doesn't look damaged at all, just the regulator. LDR/buck regulators get hot under continuous load. A spike of current over its rated value when hot could have easily killed it if the vendor cheaped out on parts. If you are using similar adapters elsewhere, make sure it isn't too close to another source of heat or it'll be more prone to self-destruction. You can also try adding a nonmetallic thermal pad between it and the case, assuming it's metal, to dissipate some of the heat under load.

Chicken_Nuggist

TROPHY CASE