I was thinking that when the design for PCB is reasonably stable maybe It would be practical for me to arrange a run of boards that developers could buy at approx cost. There's an especially good (friendly) device out of Portland OR I forget the name but great reputation and really inexpensive also they run batches often so turnaround is short.
Ron K Jeffries 805-567-4670 mobile On Dec 26, 2014 7:11 PM, "Werner Almesberger" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ron K. Jeffries wrote: > > Much to like about this two-MCU approach. > > Glad you like it :) From an engineering perspective, I certainly get > that certain "this feels right" (even if a bit unusual) impression. > Plus, there's the obvious marketing angle. > > > What might I do to help? > [...] > > Feel free to email me if you prefer > > That's a question I hope is of interest to more than just one > person ;-) > > Right now, I want to advance the project in the following directions: > > 1) Hardware design testing. > > 2) Get (software) developers to join the fun. > > 3) Find a way to get prototypes out. > > 4) Improve "outsider-accessible" material. > > > Regarding 1), there I'm pretty much on my own. The things that > absolutely need to be known to be good to proceed (especially with > point 3) are the capacitive sensor and operation on battery power. > > At the moment, I'm focusing on the capacitive sensor. To properly > test whether it is sufficiently convenient to use, I need a bit more > of the GUI to work, so that I can play with usage scenarios > resembling real life. > > At some point in time I'll need more components and also consumables > for my mill. I may be able to find the latter locally, but > components are difficult. > > Regarding 2), there is a lot of work that still needs doing, e.g., > > - user interface, > - memory card driver, > - file system (I guess FAT should do nicely), > - password store, > - crypto functions (building blocks; I hope we can use something > like Curve25519 for the public-key side of things), > - crypto system (putting the building blocks together), > - USB HID device, > - USB host accepting HID (and hubs), > - BTLE link-layer (tricky since the CC2543 hardware doesn't support > all the bits needed), > - BTLE higher layers, up to ... > - HID over BTLE (or something equivalent), > - etc. > > I was hoping the simulator would encourage people to start getting > their hands dirty, but that didn't work. > > Regarding 3), that would be the next step a) to motivate prospective > developers (*) and b) to give them access to the entire system (for > hacking device drivers and such). > > Alas, I can't really produce more than a very small number of > prototypes. I.e., I'm reasonably self-sufficient but making > prototype devices to send away would exceed my resources, both in > terms of parts as in the sheer amount of time needed to do all this. > > (*) Look at all the happy world-wide collaborators after 03:18 in > this video: > > https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mooltipass-open-source-offline-password-keeper > Each of them has nice shiny prototype hardware. If the night > sky of Buenos Aires is lit up in bright green light, that's > envious me. > > Regarding 4), this is material people not intimately familiar with > the projects can appreciate. This includes: > > - the Web page, > - block diagram and similar illustrations, > - technical documentation, > - user documentation (for later - things have to settle a bit before > we can document them). > > While all these things also play an important role for "inside" > communication, they're important for marketing purposes, where > "marketing" also involves pitching the project to investors. > > I'm currently beefing up the Web face of the project, to make it look > a bit less drab but also to explore and define the style elements I'd > like to have in the long run. You've seen a first result in this area > already, the interactive block diagram. There's another one coming in > the next days: hoverable content for the wire frame model on > anelok.com > > > Now to the helping part. With 1), what I need the most is time and a > little luck. If I need components, things will get a bit difficult: > Argentina currently has a restriction on "Internet purchases" in > force that limits such subversive actions to two per year and > person. > > Furthermore, my own financial reserves are pretty much depleted and > my current "day job" (Neo900) pays enough to keep me fed but that > won't allow for lavish purchases on the Anelok front. > > I'm thinking of asking people who are interested in helping the > project to purchase things and send them to me. That may pass as > "gift" and not evil "Internet purchase" (even though the senders will > of course have bought these things via the Internet ...) But I'll > have to find out first what customs have to say about this plan. > > On to 2). The door is wide open, and there's plenty of work for > everyone. So, developers, don't hesitate to let yourself in ! ;-) > > With 3), once a "good to go" design is ready, this is also something > that could be outsourced. Making a few prototype kits would basically > amount to > > - purchasing components (you need: shopping list, Internet, credit > card), > - making the PCBs (you need: design files, Internet, credit card), > - populating them with components (you need: either a steady hand > and lots of time, a place that will do this, based on the design > files, etc. Note: some assembly may not be automatable.), > - adding case parts (you need: a CNC mill, a bit of acrylic, > patience), > - send the resulting kits to developers. > > Taking care of all this may be a bit overwhelming for a single > person, but a small group of people helping each other could > certainly do it. All the design details would come from my > prototypes. > > Finally, 4). I would love to hand things like Web site design and > maintenance off to someone else. This can be broken down into more > manageable parts, e.g, an overall site style with a nice nav bar > would be very good to have. Or let's start simple, with a prettier > "Anelok" than <H1>ANELOK</H1>. > > One condition: like with everything else in the project, all the > tools used have to be Open Source. But it doesn't have to be quite > as hard-core as my build process :) > > https://gitorious.org/anelok/anelok/source/web/dwg > > (Run "make", then load dwg.html with your browser of choice. What > you'll see is the hoverable wire frame model to be. Then you may > want to look at the Makefile and the collection of Perl and shell > scripts that make all this happen.) > > Also technical documentation can benefit greatly from co-authorship. > > > Many of the prototype production processes and such would benefit > from having a company that acts as the single point where everything > comes together. Such a company could also collect money, e.g., in > the form of crowd-investing (crowdfunding would be for later, when > there's an actual product to make.) > > Until we get there, handling finances is and will be a problem, and > things like crowd-investing in exchange for equity or such are > outright impossible. However, anyone contributing to the project > could keep track of what they spend and we should be able to turn > this into some form of equity once the project has established a > more stable commercial footing. > > Cheers, Werner > > _______________________________________________ > Qi Hardware Discussion List > Mail to list (members only): [email protected] > Subscribe or Unsubscribe: > http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion >
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