--- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68
On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 5:52 PM, Nick Hardiman <[email protected]> wrote: > I’ve been checking up on EOMA68 articles the last few days. Somewhere along > the way - perhaps in a podcast - I believe Luke said you can make money from > hardware. i was referring to things that are a more "up-market" version of the "kits" approach below but what you describe is a really good example. companies that make "stuff" - professional ones - have a hell of a job when it comes to SBCs - the expected lifetime is really not that long, they also have a difficult time getting hold of china-based low-cost processors that are also *GPL compliant*. story: a metre high stack of $35 tablets.... all GPL-violating. not a single one can be used to make a product because if you have to reverse-engineer the software it costs far more than the cost of making a new SBC.... and if you have to make a new SBC @ $20k and you're only selling 1k units you're screwed because they'll be $500+ each. $500+ for a wall-mounted kitchen "gizmo"?? wtf???? but if you could use the $35 tablet's PCB (which you can't because of the GPL violations) you couuld.... make it.... $100! now it's affordable. ... except you CAN'T DO IT because of the GPL violations. that's where EOMA68 comes in. and you get an upgrade path to faster SoCs as well. > How would that work? Perhaps something along these lines? > > If a home tinkerer wants to experiment, or an artist wants to explore this > new medium, or a business student want a first mover’s advantage, they do > something like this. > > * Come up with the idea for a gizmo. I see someone’s already compiled a list > of ideas at http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/. > * Order a card via https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop and a break-out board > * Buy an idiots guide to soldering and a bag of parts. obtainable anywhere - rs-online, digikey, adafruit, sparkfun, mouser, the various arduino sites (and knock-offs) > * Spend a few months burning holes in tables and building prototypes. don't forget putting out spot-fires in your mum's polyester rug... > * Take delivery of the new card, plug it in and make sure everything works. .. bzzzt, magic smoke genie... > * Sell the new gizmo online. or publish it as a guide and a kit. so that people get the fun and the sense of achievement of making it themselves. that's often more valuable than just receiving a finished "gizmo". > The EOMA68 standard creates a demand for new products. Unplugging the > computer card from your house, plugging it into your car, unplugging it at > work and plugging it into something else, means there must be the things to > plug it into. yes. > The hard work has already been done. The hardware exists courtesy of the > mobile phone industry, the software exists courtesy of decades of free > software, and the compute package will exist courtesy of Luke and co. couldn't have put it better. only addition (credit where it's due) - smartphone and tablet industry. not so much the mobile phone industry. l. _______________________________________________ arm-netbook mailing list [email protected] http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook Send large attachments to [email protected]
