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Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

bunniestudios.com

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Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#31

Post by lunixbochs »

jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

The 100mbit ethernet is a secondary port. It has two, so you can act as a MITM or router or whatever. (search the crowdfunding page for "1gbit")

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#32

Post by pippy »

jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

The price is an issue here.

I understand it's supposed to be open for hardware hackers, but lets face it: who wants to hack a laptop? most hardware hackers are happy using a raspberry pi and a Ubuntu laptop. Why would you want to risk breaking a $1k open laptop to open your garage door when you can get a fully functional Linux computer for $35, or a cheap Android for $60?

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#33

Post by lunixbochs »

akiselev wrote: post #30
jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

I know Bunnie as an incredible hardware engineer with a lot of experience across the entire process of getting a product from design to manufacture. I'm sure the decisions were made for very good reason. Freescale has extensive open source board support packages for several flavors of Linux and Android. With the exception of the TI's OMAP5, all of the A15 implementations I know of are under lock and NDA and even thou…

I think the OpenPandora project has confirmed the OMAP5's availability and has samples.

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15560-soc-back-and-forth...

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15747-news-from-the-embe...

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#34

Post by bbarn »

Why use (and advertise) "High Modulus Epoxy" as the bonding agent for the wood version? High Modulus means stiff, and unbending - i.e., crack instead of bend, and in bonding wood to aluminum, a lower modulus resin would be better for this case, as it would flex when stressed and not cause a snap-off delamination?

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#35

Post by lunixbochs »

tga_d wrote: post #17
wicket wrote: post #12

I'm always interested in open hardware but I'm a bit baffled by the choices that are available: Just the board: This is perhaps the most appealing option but I would want a case with it, I'm not interested in building my own case. Why would I want a 4GB microSD with that? I'll buy my own with a decent capacity/class or even an SSD. All-in-One Desktop: $700 more than board for a case and LCD? The design of the flip-to…

The first thing you’ll notice about the design is that the screen opens “the wrong way”. This feature allows the computer to be usable as a wall-hanging unit when the screen is closed. It also solves a major problem I had with the original clamshell prototype – it was a real pain to access the hardware for hacking, as it’s blocked by the keyboard mounting plate. The point of the thing is to be easily modified, and th…

You could conceivably install the LCD the other way, too.

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#36

Post by Bluerise »

jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

> A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out)

There aren't really many choices. Samsung has A15 cores, but it's probably hard to get and there's _no_ documentation. The same for Nvidia Tegra. Not sure how easy it's to get OMAP5, and how expensive.

The i.MX6 SoC is probably the developer friendliest one, has very good documentation, and it has support for lots of stuff.

> 100 Mbit Ethernet in the Year Of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen?

Read carefully. One of those ports is 1Gbit (due to SoC limitations only 480Mbps though). The other one seems to be connected via USB 2.0. One could have put an Intel PCIe Gigabit Ethernet chip on the board, but the PCIe slot is probably better used for WiFi.

It's pricy, but I don't think they are able to produce them for fewer money, like HP/Samsung with their $400 Chromebooks.

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#37

Post by jff »

lunixbochs wrote: post #31
jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

The 100mbit ethernet is a secondary port. It has two, so you can act as a MITM or router or whatever. (search the crowdfunding page for "1gbit")

Thanks for pointing that out, that's a relief!

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#38

Post by joezydeco »

akiselev wrote: post #30
jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

I know Bunnie as an incredible hardware engineer with a lot of experience across the entire process of getting a product from design to manufacture. I'm sure the decisions were made for very good reason. Freescale has extensive open source board support packages for several flavors of Linux and Android. With the exception of the TI's OMAP5, all of the A15 implementations I know of are under lock and NDA and even thou…

I wouldn't be surprise if Bunnie got some extra help from them during integration.

I've always been happy with the amount of support Freescale puts behind their processors. You don't realize how bad it is with some manufacturers until you're halfway through a project and things just fall apart.

And the i.MX6Q is a snappy little processor for the price.

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#39

Post by jff »

bbarn wrote: post #34

Why use (and advertise) "High Modulus Epoxy" as the bonding agent for the wood version? High Modulus means stiff, and unbending - i.e., crack instead of bend, and in bonding wood to aluminum, a lower modulus resin would be better for this case, as it would flex when stressed and not cause a snap-off delamination?

Two possibilities:

1. The guy who designed the wood version is experienced in bonding wood to aluminium and has good reason for using high modulus epoxy.

2. "High Modulus" sounds really good, let's say that! Nobody wants "low modulus epoxy", whatever that is!

Re: Crowdfunding the Novena Open Laptop

#40

Post by jamesbritt »

pippy wrote: post #32
jff wrote: post #27

Some interesting choices, some incredibly disappointing. A9 core rather than the virtualization-ready A15? (I'd rather have a 64-bit ARM but those are still a ways out) Edit: and let's not hear about how closed A15 is blah blah. At the end of the day, something is closed. Did Freescale give you silicon masks? Guess it's not totally open after all. Single SO-DIMM means max 8GB of RAM, but of course since you're runnin…

The price is an issue here. I understand it's supposed to be open for hardware hackers, but lets face it: who wants to hack a laptop? most hardware hackers are happy using a raspberry pi and a Ubuntu laptop. Why would you want to risk breaking a $1k open laptop to open your garage door when you can get a fully functional Linux computer for $35, or a cheap Android for $60?

who wants to hack a laptop?

I do, kinda sorta. I do 99% of my hacking on a Lenovo W500. I have some desktops machines but they serve more as media devices and for background processing of a few things.

Back when, I used a desktop for almost everything. The nice part was I got to build a machine that suited me. If something new and better came along (CPU, graphics card, monitor) I could upgrade my system piecemeal. I typically didn't have to give up the screen I like (unless I was swapping it for something better) or lose the keyboard I've become familiar with.

But now, using a laptop, I'm stuck. My Thinkpad is getting a bit dated. I'd like to upgrade, but buying a new laptop is mostly an all-or-noting affair. Want the higher rez on the new Thinkpad? Well, then you have to take the goofy giant trackpad and lose the dedicated trackpoint buttons. And there's a numpad you'll never use, too, making the main keyboard off-sided. Want a different keyboard layout? Well then you can't get the nicer rez or 16GB of RAM.

In an ideal world I'd be able to upgrade a laptop the way I've upgraded desktops: Better CPU available? Swap it in!. Nicer keyboard? Go use it.

Ideally the display, main CPU/motherboard, and keyboard would all be separate things. I long for the day when my "phone" is powerful and flexible enough that it can be used as a "laptop" by way of wireless keyboard and larger display.

The laptop under discussion isn't for me, but I love the idea of it.

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