On 5/24/05, Tiago Mikhael Pastorello Freire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Let me join the i-am-an-enduser-too crowd. > > You know, I am able to shed up to US$ 200 for a FPGA just to foster the > effort, but looks like it is going to cost more than that. I can still donate > some change for the effort regardless of buying hardware. > > I want to share my thoughts with the developers, maybe you could estimate the > feasibility of this alternative plan. > > I see a world trend in having portable devices like mp3 players/portable game > devices/PDA/smartphone cobbled together. > > As such, I am just wating to see a really good linux solution come by, which > has not happened so far. I am lurking int his list, as well as on the Gumstix > project (I have already posted about them before), and I really think that a > synergy between both projects would be most welcome. > > I would like to hear from the developers if they have already figured out how > much simpler will the embedded part be, if the embedded FPGA version will be > significantly smaller, and thus cheaper.
There is no embedded FPGA, and the ASIC and FPGA versions will have the same functionality. > > Maybe this could be the way of having Open PDA kits for linux geeks out there? > Depending on the answers, maybe it could be easier to do, even though it is > smaller than the PC market. Care to spend a few brain cycles on this > possibility? The OGP design would be at the high-end for hand-held systems, but it would likely make a very good PDA GPU. If someone wants to design an open PDA, we'll cooperate with them fully in integrating our GPU with their design. > Another thing which comes to my mind is: > We have computer chips using a socket, so that we can replace the CPU without > changing the motherboard. Would it be possible to do the same with the chip, > having two parts, a base daughter board, and either a slot in which we can > put either the FPGA or the ASIC (future upgrade!!), or if it is not possible > to fit the chip in a slot-like format, make a granddaughter board with the > chip. Custom sockets are not cheap. Plus, most of the ASICs we deal with are ball-grid-arrays--going to pin-grid-array for a socket would result in an increase in packaging cost. Also, note that subsequent iterations of the design may have changes in pin-out. > IMO it could be more attractive upgrade-wise, even if each part (board and > chip) are individually more expensive. This way I would buy my base card with > FPGA, then buy the ASIC upgrade when it comes by, and afterwards upgrade my > base board to the video capture one. > > And everyone would be happy :) The objective of the first iteration of the OGP is to minimize development time and cost. We need to get SOMETHING out the door before we start getting fancy. _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
