On Friday 28 Oct 2011, Rob van der Hoeven wrote: > On Fri, 2011-10-28 at 14:37 +0000, Phil Endecott wrote: > > Rob van der Hoeven <robvanderhoeven <at> ziggo.nl> writes: > > > > > I think the hardware of this tablet can also be used as a server or > > > > > desktop computer. The tablet is mass produced and very cheap (i got > > > > > mine for 149 euro). > > > > > > > > For that price, to make a server, I would rather buy a loco board or > > > > any other development board > > > > > > These boards are not mass produced which makes them relatively > > > expensive. > > > > The i.MX LOCO board, the OMAP panda board, and some of the others cost > > about the same as your tablet. > > Panda board has very nice specs. > > > > Hardware that is not mass produced has some other issues, > > > namely availability and vendor lock-in > > > > You think that your tablet is going to have better availability and less > > lock-in than a board from Freescale or TI? That seems unlikely to me. > > Look at the BeagleBoard; it would be hard to find any smartphone or > > tablet device that has been available for as long as that has. > > The FreedomBox project is looking for very cheap hardware. This hardware What about the shortly to be released Raspberry Pi?
David > exists today, but it is used for running Android. It would be very nice > if we could liberate this hardware and use it for our own computing. > > Beagle board and Panda board are very nice but i don't think they will > become cheap enough for the FreedomBox (one monopolistic manufacturer, > low volume - "only" 8900 Panda boards sold) > > If the FreedomBox would use a popular SoC then the manufacturer of the > motherboard seems less important to me. All the major functionalities > for which drivers are needed are on one chip. We could simply switch to > an other board with the same SoC and still run our software (maybe with > some minor adjustments, please correct me if i am wrong...) > > > > I think it must be possible to buy an android motherboard for just a > > > fraction of the price that i paid for my tablet. > > > > Why do you think that? I have personally never seen an "Android > > motherboard" offered for sale at all, let alone for a low price. > > You find out the manufacturer of the motherboard inside a tablet. Then > you contact this manufacturer and say: Hi, i know you are making 10000 > motherboards for Yarvik, if i were to order 1000 of these boards what > would the price be? I think the manufacturer will be happy with an extra > order. Mass produced boards are well tested (the manufacturer simply > can't afford mass problems) and cheap. > > > > Why is relying on > > > hardware with a SoC such a bad idea? If the SoC is popular it will not > > > go out of production for a long time. > > > > No, that's not how it works. Both popular and unpopular chips are > > replaced on a schedule that's determined by advances in manufacturing > > technology. This also applies to the consumer products that are made > > from them: even if a device is popular, it will soon be replaced with > > something that is faster and cheaper. > > Not quite true i think, especially for SoC. My FreedomBox has an Marvell > 6281 (Kirkwood) SoC inside. This chip has been around for a long time. > You are right for non-SoC boards, they can more easily change for > example the graphics chip and spoil our fun. > > Regards, > Rob van der Hoeven. > > http://freedomboxblog.nl -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
