I can now confirm that v1.6 works on a 2.0a board. However, I had to flush the STM32 controller with the newer encoder-tracker 1.0.2. See also Farmduino 2.0 bringup.
If you look at the circuit diagrams of the two boards, you will only find 1.5 differences. The half difference is the addition of a shield for the pump cable. The supply line of the power pack was also grounded for this purpose. The main difference is the additional H-bridge for controlling the new rotary tool. In my opinion, this feature can easily be added by yourself, so that the old 2.0a board can also control this tool. I would use a ready-made DRV8876 module for this and possibly change it a little bit. This could be made into a plug-on module for the farmduino board with a small self-made circuit board and plugged directly onto its lower pin strips.
When my Genisis is finished, maybe I’ll tackle that as well.
For the half feature mentioned, it would be interesting to know a source for purchasing a separate EMI filter in order to be able to retrofit an existing vacuum pump. To add the guard wires is possible without changing the board or the plugs.
In this way, an upgrade of an existing Genesis 1.5 to version 1.6 would be feasible for little money.
Greetings Klaus