On Sat, May 6, 2017 at 5:52 PM, Aleksandar Kuktin <[email protected]> wrote: > Latter years went on without me being a notable presence on the > Internet, until about a year ago when I got serious about implementing > an open-source computer. As in "hardware". >
I think you've gone one step further than me. I started getting into building the compiler from source and finding alternatives or writing new versions of the equivalents of GNU coreutils because I wanted more control over how applications built on the operating system. You've gone on to the hardware level. I haven't found a need to go that far yet, but with the lock downs on booting the operating systems you want to use on some computers, there's certainly a need to investigate this area further. > My first few attempts were > revolving about taking smartphones and installing some variant of LFS > on them. There are even some mails in the archive of this very list > from that period of my life. They detail some of the attempts and the > many failures I experienced. I've been thinking it would be fun to build a lightweight laptop or a small mobile device from off-the-shelf parts, but most companies that sell computer hardware are geared toward building desktop machines. I guess machines like the Raspberry Pi or other lightweight processors used in IOT projects and the various add ons sold with them are the closest I've seen to kit versions of lightweight computing devices. Speaking of smartphones, have you checked out the GNU projects related to Android and Replicant: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.en.html > It's called Special Snowflake, works in the simulator and is currently > in labour pains, as I try to bring it into physical reality. > Specifically, the current design doesn't fit into the FPGA chip it is > meant to fit in. I'm working on it when I can (since the New Year the > project almost stalled) but in the meantime you can examine the code on > https://github.com/akuktin/special_snowflake . I'm going to help anyone > who wants to play with it - there's a LOT of new stuff to learn if > you never did this before. :) Have you looked at some of the Open Hardware projects going on out there? Might be a good way to let others know about your project. I had some links to Open Hardware related projects at the Schoolforge wiki, but it's been down due to technical difficulties for a while. There's a backup copy at: https://web.archive.org/web/20150915041648/https://schoolforge.net/wiki/index.php?title=Open_Hardware I've dabbled in the hardware area (since by background is electrical engineering), but I'm much better with the software end of things. What would interest me most in a project like this once the hardware is working is how to get a minimal operating system working on it and how to port enough lightweight applications to do useful work with the system. I enjoy porting software to systems it may not currently run on. Best of luck with the project. Hope you'll keep us apprised of your progress. Sincerely, Laura http://www.distasis.com/cpp -- http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/lfs-chat FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
