The Omega2+ Expansion Dock is a development board that provides all of the interfaces your various modules, sensors, and USB devices might require. Access SPI, I²S, I²C, UART, USB 2.0, and Ethernet without the need for additional breadboards or soldering. It also provides a real-time clock with dedicated battery power. Just slot your Omega2+ into the expansion dock, and use it like you would a Raspberry Pi or any other single-board computer.

Efficient, Convenient, and Affordable

Here at Factorial Group, we have incorporated the Onion Omega2+ into several of our IoT, industrial automation, and robotics projects. Along the way, we encountered a number of challenges:

• A lack of full-featured Omega2+ development boards—in order to get the full set of peripherals we need, we've had to use several different off-the-shelf boards and modules at the same time
• The high cost and inconvenience of designing and manufacturing a custom development board
• Even with a custom board, connecting a large number of modules and sensors often requires the use of additional breadboards and more than a little solder

To address these shortcomings, we decided to design and manufacture a convenient, inexpensive dev board for embedded Linux developers and other users of the Omega2+.

The Omega2+ Module Puts Linux on a Tiny, Low-Power Dev Board

To make use of the Omega2+ Expansion Dock, you will of course need an Omega2+ IoT computer module. If you don’t already have one, you can pick one up at the official Onion store or from Mouser.

Omega2+ runs the LEDE distribution of Linux on an MT7688 SoC, which operates at 3.3 V and includes a 580 MHz MIPS CPU, 128 MB of DDR2 DRAM, and 32 MB of flash storage (expandable through MicroSD). It supports 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi at 2.4 GHz and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet. It does not, however, include an Ethernet port, which is one of the many utility features of the Omega2+ Expansion Dock.

Features & Specifications

• USB 2.0
• USB Type-C for serial communication (via CH340 USB-TTL converter) and power delivery
• 100 Mbps Ethernet
• On/off switch with LED power indicator
• Reset button
• One user-programmable LED (GPIO18) and one user-programmable button (GPIO19)
• Linear voltage regulator (3.3 V)
• Individual 2.54 mm headers for I²S, SPI, UART/I²C, 3.3 V, 5 V, and GND
• 18 2.54 mm GPIO headers
• DS3231 real-time clock
• Battery holder for CR1220 batteries
• ESD protection scheme
• Dimensions: 6.95 x 8.68 cm
• Three mounting holes

Pinout Diagram

Support & Documentation

Documentation for the Onion Omega2+ IoT computer module is online. If you have any questions, you can reach us using this campaign’s Ask a technical question form.