Kookaberry Features

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User Interface

The following features provide information and control for the user of the Kookaberry:

  • Display – located on the front, the display is monochrome with cyan (light-blue) pixels. It is capable of displaying text and simple line and dot graphics. The dimensions of the display are 128 pixels wide by 64 pixels high.
  • Pushbuttons labelled A, B, C and D. These are able to be read by scripts (apps) on the Kookaberry and their functions are configured by those apps.
  • LED’s – there are three LEDs (green, orange and red) which can be controlled by the Kookaberry apps.
  • Reset Button – is located on the rear-top of the Kookaberry. It is used to reset the Kookaberry back to its initial start-up conditions, and also to launch the on-board app menu (see later instructions). It does not reset the hardware to its power-up state, however. The power must be switched off and switched on again to accomplish a full hardware and software reset.

Indicator LED’s

There are two LEDs, one green and one blue, on the back of the Kookaberry.

  • The green LED indicates when power to the Kookaberry is on and it is running normally.

  • The blue LED pulses slowly if the power supply voltage gets too low, usually because the power supply battery is going flat. In this condition, the Kookaberry may operate erratically and may stop working. To restore normal operation replace the battery with a fully charged battery and restart the Kookaberry.

  • The blue LED will light and/or flash rapidly whenever the Kookaberry is writing data to the file storage memory. It is important to wait until the blue LED is off before exiting the currently running script or removing power. 

Connectors

The Kookaberry has eight connectors:

  • Battery Connector – the battery box plugs in here. Battery boxes usually have a power switch and take three or four 1.5 volt AAA or AA batteries. As an alternative, a USB power pack can be used with the appropriate USB to JST cable. It is also possible to connect a 9 Volt battery or 6 to 9 volts power pack with an appropriate connecting lead.

  • Micro USB Connector – this plug accepts USB leads that plug into a computer. This provides access by the computer to the Kookaberry’s file storage memory and it appears to the computer like a USB memory stick. The Kookaberry will also accept power from this connector.

    Connectors P1 to P5 – these connectors are used for accessories such as sensors and for outputs. The function of each connector is controlled by Kookaberry apps.

  • Edge Connector – located at the bottom of the Kookaberry board, it plugs into a mating connector on an expansion board and makes all of the Kookaberry’s connections available depending on the capabilities of the expansion board.

Onboard Facilities

The Kookaberry has the following facilities onboard:

  • Three ARM*-based Microcontrollers

  • 4 MBytes serial files storage memory (USB accessible)

  • Monochrome OLED*** Display 128 x 64 pixels

  • 22 GPIOs (General Purpose Input-Output)

  • 11 ADC (Analogue to Digital Converters)

  • 2 DAC (Digital to Analogue Converters)

  • Timers and Real-Time Clock

  • Magnetic Compass and Accelerometer

  • 2.4GHz Packet Radio

Notes: * Advanced RISC** Machine – ** Reduced Instruction Set Computer – *** Organic Light Emitting Diode
These facilities are available to be used by the Kookaberry software.

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