Hi Paul, > Am 05.11.2017 um 00:15 schrieb Paul Boddie <p...@boddie.org.uk>: > > On Friday 3. November 2017 09.21.37 H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote: >> >> And more generally, this is in the area of software we offer for free and >> not new hardware / gadgets / services we could put in a shop. >> >> Any wishes for gadgets, accessories, tools, breakout boards, pocket bones, >> Pyra-phone, OMAP5 CPU board, i.MX6 board, Qi charger for GTA01/02/04, ...? > > I know you've been doing work for the Pyra project, and I guess that the > OMAP5 > board is what you were calling "Letux Cortex 15"
yes. It is a tiny OMAP5 SoC board with 2 or 4GB RAM and ca. 32 GB eMMC and thrww board-to-board connectors. It has USB(3), SATA, I2C, HDMI, MIPI and audio. There is a plan to offer it separately with enough documentation. But first we need to get the Pyra into production. > and that there was also a > "Letux Cortex 8" board. So it would be interesting to know what your plans > would be for those. Well, the Letux Cortex 8 is a tiny AM3358 based Linux board. I had planned to spin and offer a second version of it, but now the PocketBone came out and is essentially the same thing (except that I had planned for eMMC). And the PocketBone comes at an unbeatable low price so that I can't even get the components cheaper. So there is no future for the Letux Cortex 8 board and I have added the PocketBone to the shop: http://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=Product&product=1057 The Letux-kernel for the Letux Cortex 8 works out of the box for the PocketBeagle. > > To an extent, I think interest is growing in modular solutions. People try > and > shoehorn things like the Raspberry Pi Zero into things like the ZeroPhone > (mentioned on this list before). Fairphone has adopted some modularity and > recently advertised their camera upgrade, although we all know that it is > possible to do the same with the GTA01/02/04. I suppose that products like > PocketBeagle and Raspberry Pi Zero (and all the USB stick devices) are almost > like steps along a road towards discovering what usable and interchangeable > hardware modules might be like. > > There are also initiatives like EOMA68 (proceeding rather slowly, but > hopefully approaching completion of its first phase) which try and package up > functionality into something compact and convenient. Although such things > must > compromise on performance, they potentially let people think about the other > aspects of devices rather than having to struggle with making a mainboard > every time, only then to have to struggle with other tasks that are also > difficult, like making the casing and getting the ergonomics right. Well, in my experience it is easier to modularize on schematics level and have individual boards than designing a perfectly stable and long-lasting interface. EOMA68 seems to be outdated to me before it is published. > > Of course, modules aren't everything. It is arguably better to have complete > products with particular purposes in mind as well. Things like "plug > computers" or "desktop-side servers" or "storage appliances" seem fairly > popular. Having got myself a MIPS Creator CI20 partly to motivate experiments > with the Ingenic SoCs, the Letux 400 Minibook, and so on, it makes me wonder > whether most single-board computers are as half-finished and as awkward to > set > up correctly as that one. Well, they are more like high-level evaluation boards. Most of these boards are supported by the silicon vendors of the SoC. Their purpose is to make it known to a broader public (of engineers). So the SBC doesn't need to be perfect for everything. > I think there are plenty of opportunities for hardware products that are well- > designed and just get the job done. Indeed. And we have all tools to get hardware done. BR, Nikolaus _______________________________________________ Community mailing list Community@tinkerphones.org http://lists.goldelico.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/community http://www.tinkerphones.org
