There’s still a moderate amount left before this is a full manufacturable board. The first-pass schematic is started, but we are not ready for PCB layout/manufacturing yet.
Main things still left to figure out
-
Display connection
- Exact Waveshare 6.25" DSI LCD-B connector pinout
- DSI lane count
- Backlight power/current
- Touch interface, if any
- Correct FPC connector part
-
Battery and power
- Exact 10,000 mAh battery pack
- Battery connector/current rating
- Battery protection/NTC details
- Confirm charger settings for that pack
- Validate 5 V boost converter can handle CM5 + LTE + display + USB-A peaks
-
Protection parts
- USB-C ESD protection
- USB-A USB 3.0 ESD protection
- HDMI ESD protection
- SIM card ESD protection
- Possibly battery/input fuse or protection
-
Regulator final values
- Final inductor part numbers
- Capacitor voltage/package choices
- TPS61288 compensation check
- Thermal/current margin check
- Layout-sensitive switching-node constraints
-
CM5 details
- Decide whether to add RTC backup for CM5 VBAT
- Decide whether to expose nRPIBOOT/service pads
- Confirm GPIO assignments for LTE, audio, IMU, keyboard wake
-
LTE/SIM7600 details
- Confirm exact SIM7600G-H-M.2 hardware guide handling for VDD_AUX and VDD_1V8
- Confirm LTE/GNSS antenna connector placement strategy
- Add SIM ESD
- Add RF/layout keepout rules
-
Keyboard board
- Main-board FPC is planned, but keyboard PCB itself still needs to be designed
- Need switch/keycap sourcing
- Need keyboard RP2040 schematic/firmware pin map finalized
-
Mechanical basics
- Rough board size
- Port locations
- Battery location
- Screen/keyboard placement constraints
- Mounting holes
- Antenna placement/keepouts
-
PCB layout setup
- Stackup choice, likely 6-layer because of USB 3.0, HDMI, MIPI DSI, RF, and power density
- Controlled-impedance rules
- Differential-pair rules
- Power trace/current rules
- Thermal copper areas
-
Bring-up and manufacturing prep
- Test pads
- Debug headers
- Board bring-up checklist
- BOM cleanup
- Footprint review
- DRC
- Gerbers/BOM/pick-and-place
My estimate
Schematic is roughly 55–65% figured out.
Full board readiness is more like 30–40% complete, because layout, power validation, protection, display details, and mechanical constraints are still significant.
The biggest blockers are:
- Exact display connector/pinout
- Exact battery pack
- Power validation for the 5 V rail
- ESD/protection parts
- Mechanical board size/port placement
- Keyboard PCB design
Once those are decided, the remaining work becomes much more straightforward.