OpenRex and TinyRex Status Update

Couple of updates:

1) OpenRex PCB is in production. Components are in process of ordering. The status of OpenRex production can be find at VOIPAC website (see the blue notes on the bottom of the page): http://www.voipac.com/#iMX6-SBC-432431111

2) As you probably noticed, there was some delay in production of OpenRex. The longest delay was caused by Micrel (Microchip). During our tests, we find out, that KSZ9031 is not working properly in the temperatures below 0°C. We contacted Micrel and it took them 1.5 month to confirm, that it is a silicon issue. Therefore, in the final OpenRex boards we will be fitting KSZ9021 instead (pin to pin compatible replacement), which is working fine in the whole industrial temperature range (this change will be applied on TinyRex too). Additional 3 weeks delay is caused by PCB manufacturing company, which finally confirmed, that the OpenRex PCBs will be delivered in September. TinyRex is in full production.

3) In the meantime we have done Environmental and EMC testing of the final OpenRex and TinyRex configuration. Everything went well and all the tests passed. Here you can find some notes about the tests: OpenRex Testing in an Environmental chamber, OpenRex EMC testing, iMX6 TinyRex Production Testing in Environmental Chamber, iMX6 TinyRex Production EMC testing.
iMX6 TinyRex Env-chamber Board in Enclosure-680px

4) We have also fantastic news :) Marian, one of our contributors, created a HDMI output support for the NXP Microcontroller. I am not sure if you have seen this video:

5) And the last news :) It is now official. We are preparing OpenRex Education Kit for Kids 12+ and for all enthusiastics who would like to play with it. Please, be aware, it’s not going to be cheap, as the OpenRex boards are quite expensive. We are preparing two educational kits: Basic for $199 USD and MAX for $299. Have a look at the box:
OpenRex Education Kit - MAX 530px

If you would like to help us with OpenRex Education Kit development, please send me an email (see our contact page). It’s all open source, so everyone willing to help us to finish this idea is very welcome. If you would like to support the OpenRex Education kit by financial support, please let me know. All the support would be used to finish the kit and prepare awesome examples for kids.

4GB DDR3 iMX6 Rex & Tiny Rex modules are now available

I am very happy to announce, that we have successfully tested 4GB iMX6 Rex & Tiny Rex modules.

Single unit price of iMX6 Rex Module in PRO configuration with 4GB SDRAM is 164.00 EUR. Single unit price of iMX6 TinyRex Module in MAX configuration with 4GB SDRAM is 134.00 EUR. The new ULTRA 1.3 demo images for iMX6 Rex and iMX6 TinyRex Modules including browser and 4GB memory support are available at Voipac downloads. Samples can already be ordered at VOIPAC. Contact sales@voipac.com.

4GB version of OpenRex is coming soon ;)

OpenRex pricelist. Order now!

OpenRex with OSHW Logo 640px

Here is the pricelist for OpenRex. The board is going to be manufactured and sold by VOIPAC. Availability of the first 50pcs is Q2/Q3 2016. For more information, contact VOIPAC here >

Brief overview of OpenRex pricing (commercial temperature)

OpenRex BASIC OpenRex MAX
CPU iMX6 SOLO
1GHz, 1 core
iMX6 QUAD
1GHz, 4 cores
Memory 512MB
DDR3-800
2GB
DDR3-1066
Microcontroller LPC1345 YES YES
Ethernet YES YES
All sensors YES YES
SATA NO YES
Price EUR
(1pc)
199 229
Price EUR
(1000pcs)
158 176

All the boards also include:
HDMI Output, Parallel CSI Camera input or RGB Parallel Display output, Differential Camera Input (Compatible with Raspberry Pi) or LVDS display output, micro SD slot, PCIE mini slot, micro SIM socket, USB OTG Micro, 2x USB, CAN with transceiver, Compass + Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Humidity sensor, Temperature sensor, IR Receiver, Audio (Headphones output, Microphone input), Touchscreen connector (Touchscreen through LPC13xx / Optional 4x Analog input), I2C EEPROM, SPI FLASH, 8+2 USER LED, Power LED, SD Card LED, USB HUB LED, 1x Reset button, 3x User button, 1x Raspberry PI type header (40 pins), 1x Arduino type header (20 pins).

The board is available in commercial & industrial temperature range. Price for industrial board may be different. For more details check with VOIPAC >

As usual, custom builds will be available.

OpenRex is ready for production!

YAHOO! This week, OpenRex passed the preliminary EMC testing :)

Everything is ready for production of the board in Commercial temperature range. The industrial version is also almost ready.

Our plan is to start in smaller quantities, this means, first boards will be expensive. They will be expensive not because we want to make profit from them, they will be expensive, because it’s really expensive to build them. The first batch only will be 20pcs 50pcs and the price will be 349USD 229 EUR per unit. Please, because of very high interest we only can ship 1 board per customer.

UPDATE! We have got enough pre-orders to cut the price to 229 EUR :)

Without these first boards it will be very hard to manufacture more OpenRex boards and lower the price. By buying these first boards you are also supporting future development of OpenRex project. Thank you!

Programming NXP Microcontroller directly through WEB? Here we go …

I hope you will like it :) Simply just start writing your code on OpenRex, hit "Verify", then "Upload" and that's it :) The on board NXP microcontroller will be running the new code. Soon I will release more info, I just couldn't keep it for myself :D

BTW: We may be looking for an intern this summer. I just would like to ask if someone would be interested? The location will be somewhere around San Jose area. You would need to be already living there. If you would be interested, please send me an email. Thank you.

Picture: OpenRex & NXP LPC13xx WEB IDE
openrex - lpc web ide with compilation

iMX6 TinyRex Baseboard Lite Altium & Manufacturing files released to public

A lot of people have been interested about iMX6 TinyRex and it’s HDMI input. I am very happy to announce, that iMX6 TinyRex Baseboard Lite files have been released to public today. After registration you can download the complete Altium & Manufacturing files from here. Enjoy! :)

Martin also created a new 3D PDF (use Adobe Reader to check it):

iMX6 TinyRex Baseboard Lite V1I1 - 3D Model

Would you like to control your board through a WEB interface?

I have spent couple of days to prepare step-by-step instructions and video tutorial with detailed description about how you can run a Linux command through WEB interface on OpenRex. The example is based on WordPress Plugin, as it provides great flexibility. This means, if someone writes a plugin for OpenRex, it's very simple to install and run it on any OpenRex board :)

In this example, I am reading I2C temperature sensor placed on OpenRex board, but the same technique can be used on any board running Linux and the way described on this page can be used to run any Linux command. I hope you will find it useful :)

If you would like to learn how to do it, have a look at: How to create a simple WordPress plugin to Access and Control Hardware >

Or you can watch this tutorial:


Here are some screenshots from the plugin
TMP101 - Result TMP101 - Settings Page

How to setup Webserver on OpenRex

In case you would like to use OpenRex as a webserver, this can be handful for you. I have created a page with instructions how to setup Apache + PHP + MySQL on OpenRex. Have a look at: How to install WordPress on OpenRex (Apache + PHP + MySQL + WordPress)

Once you have it installed, you can run a CMS (Content Management System) e.g. WordPress, Joomla, …. As an example, I setup RexFace wordpress website:

Wordpress on iMX6

Picture: WordPress running on OpenRex