FYI - if you run the 191016 update from the norns menu, the last step of the update does a shutdown. Thus on Fates you will need to power cycle afterwards (plug/unplug)

This reminds me - I think I need a little switch or switching power strip at my mains power connection.

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yeah that caught me out too… but assumed this was the case, when I could no longer ping it :slight_smile:

These work well depending on where things are plugged in https://www.adafruit.com/product/3723 (full disclosure I work for Adafruit)
Even better may be this thing: https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-4-on-off-power-switch.html (update, there’s a bundle on Amazon for that switch and their Pi4 power supply that is cheaper than getting just the switch + shipping from CanaKit, so I just ordered that bundle.)
Update: I am using the CanaKit PiSwitch now to power on and power off (after shutting down Fates w Sleep command) and it works great.

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Acrylic Case Assembly Video

…and the standoff guide has been added to the github pages along with this video link

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have you seen this post about an alpha version of rPI4 usb firmware (vl805_update_0137a8) which was supposed to make rPI4 run a bit cooler.
(I found this whilst crawling the blokas forum for other information :slight_smile: )

any idea if this firmware has been now included in some update? are we all running already?

edit:
ok, dont think its been released yet , so we dont have it applied,
I also found the latest test/release on the raspberrypi forum…
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=250990

I guess I’ll give it a go, its a modest improvement apparently… (talk of ~5c)

edit2:
applied new vl805 firmware (vl805_fw_0137ab), I’ll keep an eye on it - so far looks good :slight_smile:
good news, is the old firmware is also supplied (vl805_fw_013701) so you can always revert if you have issues.

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This post talks about how to change/upgrade/recover the raspberry eprom firmware.
It´s in beta, but seems that works well.

Pd:Raspberry foundation are working in USB 3.0 boot support, this could be the best of the best improvements in the raspberry´s world.

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is there a new rPI4 eprom firmware?

my post is above is about updating the vl805 (usb chip) firmware, (uses its own util to do this)
iirc, it reduces heat by implementing powersaving on usb

Here is the EPROM update (changelog) that changes the power consumption

well that turned into a bit more effort than expected.
I was on an early release of the fates image, so ended up needing to use the latest image (due to need a slightly later kernel version).
not that bad, as it now means I’m on the same fates image as everyone else which I meant to do at some point anyway

now, I have the vlc update and eprom update installed.
initially tests are looking good, even under some load (*) its seems to be staying fairly around ~68c,
which is ok.

(*) even when I was compiling stuff… so thats promising

Im going to do a long test, with orac constantly playing for a few hours.

a couple of days ago (prior to these update) when I did this, I saw it rise to about ~80c which is a bit high,
so im just hoping for a few degrees drop, to bring it under 80c , anything else is a bonus :slight_smile:


EDIT: ok, so pretty promising results…

for first 1.5 hours - I had orac running a ‘3 track’ patch, drum, melody, bass with some reverb and other fx. seemed rock steady at ~68c
after than I upped the game :slight_smile: I added synths and fx that i know are heavy cpu guzzlers - so took one core to a full 100% - this unsurprisingly push the temp to around ~75c very quickly, but then even after 1.5 hours its was appprox ~77c
this seems pretty good, for an over 3 hours stint, esp. since in reality we cannot push to 100% as we get audio glitches, I think in normal conditions it’ll now stay between 65-75c
(by comparison previous even under lighter loads by 3 hours it was 80-81c)

testing note:
rPI4 - 4gb, small copper heatsinks, inside enclosure
Fates image , running sidekick/orac.


one thing i have noticed, with the latest eprom update, the display no longer turns itself off after shutdown (so its like the rPI3b) - not really and issue, just an observation.

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Thanks @okyeron, received my PCB today. Just building it…do I go by the resistor values on the board as there are a few inconsistencies with the Github BOM? R4 is 100R on the PCB but 5.6K in the BOM for example

The board is correct.

I may not have updated the BOM numbers after re-ordering things on the pcb. I’ll try to update that now.

UPDATE - github bom has been updated!

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Where can I buy a “Fates: The board is correct.” t-shirt?

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FYI - there’s an issue with multiple midi devices being plugged in at boot time showing up as usb-audio devices and causing a “Supercollider Fail” error.

The fix is over here or I’ll come up with a quicky way to easily download that

I will need to update Fates disk images over the weekend.

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Just got mine booted up and running. I’m experiencing the supercollider fail at startup and if I go to update through the WiFi, I get an error message saying 400mb needed. I’m running the raspberry 4 model B 2 gig.

I received that error with no USB devices plugged in, only the USB C power source. I’m going to try some stuff tomorrow with different power supplies, I believe I was using a relatively cheap 2.1a 5v power supply, may be that.

Did you expand the file system?

Might be a little late but I cannot recommend this place enough

https://www.jlmaudio.com/shop/small-interface-kits.html?display_tax_prices=1

There are a few kits that could be helpful for Norns - note the db25 passive 8 Chanel mixer
his studio gear is just top tier - that pultec…damn

Hope this is of some use

Nope, I totally goofed I’m missing that step. Going to work on it this evening and I’m sure I’ll be up and running.

Sorry to be a pain - are there 3d case files with 4 encoders and the power entry at the back? Just got a 3d printer :slight_smile:

Yes, James Everitt made a PR to this repo: https://github.com/coreyker/fates3d_case/pull/2/files
To add the holes to @frankchannel’s original model.

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Thanks !! Not sure how I missed that one !! Cheers !

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