[Arm-netbook] ARM summit at Plumbers 2011

[Mark Constable]

On 2011-08-27 07:55 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> ...
> i don't mind that happening: all i want is my damn 1280x800 12in (and
> importantly $160) ARM-based laptop, damnit :)

I would have thought someone with your experience would know that price
is completely unrealistic at retail in the west and in the hands of
open source developers who give a poop. I know, you jest, but why not
initially aim for something that is realistic and could be packaged and
delivered into developers hands in... oh say, maybe <100 days.

Perhaps in someone elses lifetime some well heeled startup could indeed
pull off a 100,000 unit order and get those delicious specs that you've
outlined in previous posts delivered for ~$200USD. If that company
started today it would take 12 months, at least, from tooled up and
signed off protoype to finished package delivered to end-user.

I'd rather not wait for that startup to start up and then another year,
or more, for any promises to emerge. I want something asap that is cheap
enough that if it's junk, or if I brick it, it just doesn't really
matter too much as long as my open source efforts go towards a pool of
learning and experience that improves a product over time. If there is
a viable "we" then "we" need something to work with sooner than later.

Frankly, I can't see any smartbook every showing up in the west under
$300, ever... unless it's some kind of boutique open source'ish custom
one off effort, and unless that is already well underway, the time to
market factor means... next year, or the year after etc.

What I do "see" is a boatload of crappy but quite cheap Android tablets
available right now. Surely, with a bit of digging, then one of those
tablets has the best price performance ratio and could be packaged with
a bluetooth keyboard/mouse with a 8Gb microSD card with 1/2 dozen
installable operating systems on it... MeeGo/Harmattan, Chromium,
Ubuntu, Debian, ArchMobile, OpenWRT (already comes with Android) and
dropshipped direclty from Hong Kong.

Sure, it's not a netbook, granted, but it would have 2 overwhelming
advantages... available now and a touch screen, maybe even built in 3G
as an additional bonus.

Throw together a dedicated Github project site and a mailing-list
(this one?) and I could go for this right now and even sign up for 10
units. Whoopy doo, that's not exactly 10,000 untis but if another 10 
folks also committed then that would be a 100 unit order and we'd have
something more than just endless talk that I could finally and
consistantly, in cooperation with others using the SAME HARDWARE, start
developing the software side of the system so that when the truly
idealistic and ultimate hardware does show up then I am ready to rock
n roll and can hand off my current devel units to the kids next door.

What worries me is that if "we" don't get traction real soon then
Windows 8 is going to kick us back to the 20th century. As a big picture
item, which really does concern me, that "we" don't become marginalised
yet again as we are now on the desktop when we have the advantage right
now in the ARM space... except for open source friendly devices, where
Android doesn't really count (I won't use it as I have less than zero
interest in anything JAVA based and it's restricted kernel doesn't help
at all). So the immediate deliverables could be...

. best price/performance 10" tablet
. bluetooth keyboard and mouse
. 8Gb microSD crammed with open ARM OS's
. dropshipped directly from Hong Kong
. Github based project site + mailing-list
. hopefully under $200USD

The above kit can be used to develop for both desktop and touch systems.