Australian engineer Ali Slim is again with a brand new tackle the remoted multi-protocol serial dongle, Ollie — launching a crowdfunding marketing campaign for the Ollie v2, with USB Kind-C connectivity and a extra compact design.
“Ollie v2 is an remoted, multi-function interface module and USB-to-isolated-UARTx2/CAN/RS485/RS232 converter,” Slim writes of his newest creation, dropped at our consideration by CNX Software program. “This versatile machine combines our mostly used interface modules into one secure, dependable, compact, and reasonably priced package deal. Ollie v2 prioritizes security via isolation, which can save your pc from injury if issues go improper if you’re interfacing with excessive voltage gadgets.”
Ali Slim is again with a brand new tackle the Ollie remoted USB-to-serial adapter, dubbed the Ollie v2. (📷: MeatPi Electronics)
Slims’ unique Ollie board launched in mid-2020, promising a multi-functional remoted interface to speak UART, CAN, RS485, or RS232 from any pc’s USB port. The Ollie v2 is, unsurprisingly, an evolution of this — transferring from a micro-USB connector to the newer USB Kind-C commonplace, providing the power to set the voltage stage of the UART connection based mostly on the goal’s wants, a extra compact design, an RGB exercise LED for serial exercise, and a few part modifications providing a extra “resilient provide chain.”
There are, nonetheless, a couple of losses within the transfer from the unique model to v2. The brand new Ollie lacks assist for USB Full Velocity downstream targets, with Slim claiming that “most trendy debuggers similar to STLINK-V3 solely assist USB Excessive Velocity” connectivity. The extra compact design additionally lacks an remoted energy output, and the utmost knowledge charge from the UART buses has been halved from 12Mb/s to 6Mb/s.
An elective adapter board gives a DB9 connector for RS232, RS485, and CAN buses. (📷: MeatPi Electronics)
The machine’s full characteristic checklist consists of two remoted UART ports with a 6Mb/s knowledge charge and 1.8V, 3.3V, 5V, or “goal voltage” operation, CAN 2.0A/B as much as 1Mb/s with SocketCAN assist and bus monitoring, RS485 at as much as 500kb/s, and RS232 at as much as 235kb/s. For individuals who want it, there’s additionally an elective DB9 connector board for the CAN, RS485, and RS232 interfaces.
The crowdfunding marketing campaign for the Ollie v2 is now dwell on Crowd Provide, with {hardware} priced at $60 plus $10 for the elective DB9 board; all {hardware} is anticipated to ship in mid-December.