Well this is all very exciting!
It appears this aio can be used on most toothpick builds, including light weight long range builds!

In my opinion the perfect aio should have the following:
• A Blackbox of some kind (for PID tuneing)
• pre-appiled conformal coating
• USB C port, as it's stronger than most micro USB connectors

I would like:
• barometer with ardupilot support
• 20+ Amp escs

And should not have the following:
(Or things that are not needed)
• An integrated video transmitter

I agree with Joshua. +1   Use at least an F405 processor. 

On the one hand, an integrated Rx receiver is nice for a tiny whoop or very small toothpick.

On the other hand, I don't view ELRS as anywhere near stable...too many upgrades...which
you then have to apply. No thank you. 

Another downside is that you are "locked" in to what ever receiver is on the board. 

The older FrSky XM+ was nice, but now they have even changed those to ACCESS.
What a night mare. If I didn't already have a bunch of FrSky gear, I certainly wouldn't
buy any. Fortunately, I bought enough of the old "Pre-ACCESS" gear that works with
my multi-protocol modules, that I don't really need short/mid range receivers right now.

I had hopes for TBS Crossfire, but now I hear they are starting to play the FrSky game
with new receivers that require firmware upgrades; evidently not backward compatible.

What is wrong with these RC protocol venders    Don't they know that you can have
a receiver with new features for the newer firmware versions and STILL have backward
compatibility. We have written PC application software like this for years. 

At this point, I think that the ImmersionRC "Ghost" products might actually be the way
to go, BUT I am not sure. If they will work with my original Jumper TX firmware then
that would put them on top for me. If not...well... there you go. 

At this point, I am staying where I am at until the   quits hitting the fan.

If it ain't broke, then DON'T fix it 

Hopefully, things will reach a point of stability where you don't need to upgrade
every time you turn around...Finish this BETA testing with the public and get a
stable version that we can live with for a while. Oh yeah, make the future revs
backward compatible with older transmitter firmware versions. 

TBS is not really playing FrSKY games. All versions of their Crossfire hard can be updated to the latest version and cross-compatible unlike FrSKY that expects everyone to buy new hardware.

The latest saga with TBS is that they are unable to source chips which is why they updated the chip on the Crossfire Nano RX and at the same time they are trying to consolidate the Crossfire/Tracer firmware to the same baseline making it easier to roll out updates and fixes across both platforms and maintain the same firmware versions.

Ghost is a good platform but IRC has a tendency to stop updating firmware after a while (Rapidfire) and in some cases never release firmware after initial launch (RF Power Meter and PowerPlay DVR). Some Ghost users are already flashing ELRS on their receivers which indicates IRC is not giving them what they want.

(07-Nov-2021, 01:45 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: The older FrSky XM+ was nice, but now they have even changed those to ACCESS.

The XM+ is still an ACCST only receiver. FrSky tried to push ACCESS onto it when ACCESS first appeared on the scene but there were too many CPU and/or memory resource issues so they quickly abandoned the idea. So FrSky withdrew availability of the ACCESS v1.1.2 firmware that was originally released for the XM+ and you can now only get ACCST 1.x.x and ACCST 2.x.x firmware for it. ACCESS firmware is no longer supported on the XM+.

(07-Nov-2021, 04:08 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: The XM+ is still an ACCST only receiver. FrSky tried to push ACCESS onto it when ACCESS first appeared on the scene but there were too many CPU and/or memory resource issues so they quickly abandoned the idea. So FrSky withdrew availability of the ACCESS v1.1.2 firmware that was originally released for the XM+ and you can now only get ACCST 1.x.x and ACCST 2.x.x firmware for it. ACCESS firmware is no longer supported on the XM+.

Hi Snow,

Praise the Lord    

Thank YOU very much for that information.  I am much happier NOW that I know that. 
I know it is older technology, but the XM+ (ACCST) has always worked for me using
my Jumper T16 (with Jumper TX firmware) and the multi-protocol modules. 

THANK YOU 

(07-Nov-2021, 03:49 PM)kafie1980 Wrote: ...

Ghost is a good platform but IRC has a tendency to stop updating firmware after a while (Rapidfire) and in some cases never release firmware after initial launch (RF Power Meter and PowerPlay DVR). Some Ghost users are already flashing ELRS on their receivers which indicates IRC is not giving them what they want.

Hi kafie,

Sounds good to me. That is what I am looking for...something were the updating has stopped...
something that is stable...something that doesn't change. I want something that I can buy and use 
(time and again) WITHOUT the necessity to flash ANYTHING. Make it, thoroughly test it, get it right, 
and LEAVE it ALONE 

Ghost is looking better and better all the time. 

(07-Nov-2021, 04:34 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Hi kafie,

Sounds good to me. That is what I am looking for...something were the updating has stopped...
something that is stable...something that doesn't change. I want something that I can buy and use 
(time and again) WITHOUT the necessity to flash ANYTHING. Make it, thoroughly test it, get it right, 
and LEAVE it ALONE 

Ghost is looking better and better all the time. 

I am speaking from experience with IRC products knowing that there are still issues with the Rapidfire module when it comes to working with certain cameras. And I sold my PowerPlay after an year waiting for IRC to fix the de-interlacing and cropping issues (I am not even going to start about the low voltage step up issues when powering the goggles that would turn the goggles off mid flight).

(08-Nov-2021, 12:47 AM)kafie1980 Wrote: I am speaking from experience with IRC products knowing that there are still issues with the Rapidfire module when it comes to working with certain cameras. And I sold my PowerPlay after an year waiting for IRC to fix the de-interlacing and cropping issues (I am not even going to start about the low voltage step up issues when powering the goggles that would turn the goggles off mid flight).

Hi kafie,

I appreciate the information. Thank You.

So...it looks like I will just stay where I am for a while. As long as I can get ACCST XM+ receivers, that will be fine.
At this point, most of my flying will be within the range of the XM+ anyway. I have plenty of the old R9 gear for any
long range flights that I might want to try. I will just sit back and relax until all of this settles down. Surely, ELRS
will reach a point that it is stable and not being upgraded every time you turn around. If it gets to the point where
it isn't changing and will work with a new RadioMaster transmitter without ANY UPGRADING or flashing, then I might
revisit it. 

However, I will watch Ghost and the other RC protocols as well. TBS Crossfire might still be the way to go, I will 
just watch and see how it all works out. At this point, nothing is really compelling that makes me want to buy a
new transmitter or switch to any other protocol. 

Thanks Again.

Personally, I’m glad that manufacturers are starting to offer ELRS as a built in option. For me, ELRS just *works*. After the initial tx module setup, flashing the rx is a breeze- once the quad is built I just set it within a foot or two of my laptop, connect via WiFi and hit the flash button on my computer and it’s done.
The best part is that as long as I keep everything with the same binding phrase, I don’t ever have to bother with binding again.

I can’t tell you how many frustrating hours I’ve wasted trying to bind frsky,flsky, and dsxm gear. Going through every protocol available because the one I had written down doesn’t work anymore because the manufacturer updated something without telling me, etc. it got to the point where I just had two known working rx’s- an xm+ and an rxsr (or maybe it was an r1), and I would just switch them between quads to avoid the headache.

So, I’m excited for this DarwinFPV aio. I’d probably trust it far more than the HappyModel ELRS aio.

Hi Lemonyleprosy,

So it is really just the ELRS "Module" that you have to update.

I was concerned that you need a certain version of Open TX on the actual transmitter for this to work.
Am I wrong here

Personally, I have never had any problems binding XM+ receivers. At first the biggest issue that I had
was maneuvering round to hold the button while connecting the battery. Once I put together a battery
cable with a push button switch, I have had no issues since I can turn on battery power with 1 finger.
Sure made life simpler. 

All of my original R9MM receivers were just as easy...same procedure, no problems. Some of those
that I have acquired later on do need to be flashed, but I just haven't gotten around to it. 

I will say that I wire my receivers as SBUS and use a connector. By doing so, the XM+ and the R9MM
receivers are interchangeable with no wiring changes. Swapping them is really pretty easy. 

I agree that the Darwin is likely a better choice than HappyModel. Presumably, this new Darwin
board has whoop mounting format. I just wish they would use an F405 or better processor and
provide more hard UARTS. 

Earlier in the thread the DarwinFPV rep said it was an update on their 15a aio, so I’m guessing it’s just this (but with an onboard ELRS rx):

https://darwinfpv.com/products/darwinfpv...-whoop-aio

@darwinfpv can you confirm that this is correct?

@ifly4rotors I put the most recent version of opentx on my tx16s when I bought it last spring, and haven’t updated it since. When I got my ELRS module this summer, I flashed it and put the lua script on my tx and haven’t touched it since. For the rx modules, I’m still just using the original firmware.bin that I made with the configurator last summer. I don’t even open the configurator for new builds now, I just connect to the rx via WiFi, go to 10.0.0.1 in my web browser, tell it where the file is, and hit the icon to flash rx. The only reason I would need to make an updated firmware.bin is if a major bug fix came out, or if I get an rx that needs a different “target” (ie, another manufacturer- right now I stick to ep1 and ep2 rx modules.) You don’t have to flash every update- vast majority of the updates are just adding support for new boards as more companies jump on the ELRS wagon.

Hi Lemonyleprosy,

Thank You for clarifying. 

Evidently, I was confused about how this is all working. 
It does sound better now that you have explained that.
So, technically, you DON'T have to run any upgrades??
Can you just buy it, plug it in and it will work??

I think my biggest hurdle is OpenTX. My Jumper is an original and has the original JumperTX
which is (or was) a fork of OpenTX. If I could use ELRS without upgrading the transmitter
firmware, then I would be interested in trying it. Do you know if it will work with a transmitter
running JumperTX 

At some point, I will buy another transmitter; probably a RadioMaster TX16S which will very
likely have a version of OpenTX that will run the ELRS products.

(09-Nov-2021, 12:19 AM)iFly4rotors Wrote: So, technically, you DON'T have to run any upgrades??
Can you just buy it, plug it in and it will work??

I think my biggest hurdle is OpenTX. Do you know if it will work with a transmitter
running JumperTX 

It’s not quite plug and play. When you first get the tx module you’ll have to flash it through its USB port (it might be able to be done through WiFi as well, I don’t remember), and then put the lua script on your tx. Each rx will require flashing once initially. But the flashing process is painless and happens through WiFi. Compiling that initial firmware to flash onto rx’s is super easy with the configurator, minimal options, hard to screw up. I have no idea if it will work on jumperTX.

Hi @DarwinFPV, this is very interesting to me for a slightly different reason. I come from the RC helicopter community and I am one of a few who are working on methods to improve common helicopter airframes by installing open-source flight controllers. We use a fork of Betaflight and currently your 15A F4 AIO is one of our recommended controllers for micros. Smaller helicopters make great training tools but are often let down by low-quality OEM flight controllers. Replacement FCs can transform these into great flying machines. The qualities we are looking for are:

• Ultra-light, to keep weight down in smaller helicopters
  
• 10+A in 1S, as some the ultra-light helis run on 1S but draw a lot of current
  
• Integrated receiver, again to keep the weight down
  
• Inverted SBUS pad (in case external FrSky is required)
  
• Access I2C_SCL, I2C_SDA and LED_STRIP pads (or 3x PWM capable pins) - a micro helicopter has 3x servos and uses 2x motor outputs
  
• Blackbox or spare UART
  
• Slim electronics footprint, as 25x25mm is slightly too wide and often the side tabs must be trimmed
  

Amazingly this design looks like it hits all of these requirements including the small footprint. If I am understanding correctly then this will immediately become the go-to board for all our dual-motor helicopter builds.

I would share another poster's concern, ELRS is definitely the future but I am not sure how well it is suited to the helicopter community. Most of us don't have ELRS modules as we fly only close range line-of-sight. ELRS doesn't fully fit helis as traditionally a helicopter needs 5 full-resolution channels, but it is possible to use it. I think we would get slightly more uptake if there was a FrSky version.

If you would like to share your exact dimensions and pad placements I would be happy to provide more feedback.

Many thanks

LoraWan( CF, ELRS etc ) has been a big win for RC control. Likewise 4in1 ESC and AIO FC.

Irs all about integration. Less chips.

The next step is obvious. One Atmel BB2 is 8bit and only 50Mhz. But single STM32 F3/F4 100Mhz can do a lot - run 4x BLHeli32 (can even use dual core H7). Obviously have to rewrite some code.. but should be possible to run 4x DShot300 on one F4 core.

Another area that needs simplification is 3.3/5/9V regulator. Too many voltages.

Finally, not all FET require Fortior gate driver - especially low power ESC.

But, unless a BIG company like DJI, steps in and writes new firmware, and designes new chips, we are stuck with mosaic of many many chips.

STM32F4
SX1280 - elrs
AT7456A - analog osd
RTC6705 - vtx
Fortior - gate driver
BB2 - ESC