-------- Forwarded Message -------- > From: David Bisset <[email protected]> > Reply-to: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Balloon] Balloon 4 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:30:41 -0000 > > There has been a flurry of activity over the last few months trying to > see what sort of design might constitute Balloon 4. > > > > There is now an agreement with Toby Churchill Ltd that will fund the > development of an Open Hardware board based around their requirements > for an embedded processor to replace Balloon 3. > > > > We are still trying to decide on a processor but current thinking is > that it should be based on OMAP 3. > > This will allow us to tap into a vast amount of open source hardware > and software expertise. > > > > The emphasis will remain on designing an embeddable processor board > with good accessible IO and onboard programmable logic. > > > > Because the design intent is that the board will be embedded into > products it is important that any IO can be broken out to standard > connectors off board. > > > > The design team would welcome suggestions of what to include, and what > not to include, given that we wish to differentiate from other boards > in the market, and that the board will be used in products that will > have to gain CE mark approvals. > > *It is not our intent to design yet another netbook.* > > > > One major change from the way that the Balloon 3 project worked has > also been agreed. > > > > For Balloon 4 we will open the design at the schematic level, > publishing the schematic designs and full PCB design files. > > It is intended that these will be published in Altium format as that > is the CAD package of choice for the design process. > > However we will also explore the possibility of publishing the files > for one of the Open ECAD packages such as gEDA. > > This will allow third parties to develop their own instantiations of > the Balloon 4 design. > > > > This move recognises the fact that the barrier to production is the > finance required to get a PCB like this into production and the > expertise needed to design and debug it, rather than the IP in the > design. > > > > It is intended that the schematic design will be created as modular > blocks and that these will be published individually. > > Each block will then be tagged with a confidence level indicating the > level of prototyping, manufacturing and testing that has been applied > to it. In this way others can contribute modules at a schematic level > without breaking the core design. > > > > For this reason the term “Balloon 4” will now refer to the collection > of schematic design modules rather than a specific PCB instantiation. > > The BOHL will be modified to encompass this change and the onus will > be on organisations that decide to use the Balloon 4 design to make > the instantiations they create Open and available for purchase. > > > > Any comments and thoughts are welcome, both on the design and the more > open design approach. > > > > David Bisset > > > > > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 5788 (20110114) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > _______________________________________________ > Balloon mailing list > [email protected] > http://balloonboard.org/mailman/listinfo/balloon
-- Peter Clifton Electrical Engineering Division, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, 9, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FA Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!) Tel: +44 (0)1223 748328 - (Shared lab phone, ask for me) _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list [email protected] http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
