[Arm-netbook] Marvell Kirkwood + Volari vs Tegra2, 3 or omap4460

[lkcl luke]

On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 1:01 PM, Bari Ari <bari at onelabs.com> wrote:
> On 01/21/2012 03:45 AM, Iliya Georgiev wrote:
>> Hi Gordan,
>> I have got one Toshiba AC100 - a netbook with tegra 2 inside. The
>> model has one mini pcie port for the WWAN module. It is slow speed
>> mini pci-e port, because it is wired to usb port. The model has also a
>> second mini pci-e port that does not have a header. I wondered If the
>> latter is full speed port and utilizes the integratedl in Tegra
>> 2 pci-e controller or again it is wired to usb port. And can it be used?
>>
>> I found full schematics of AC100. In page 15 there are schematics for
>> the pci-e functionalities in the board that maybe explain everything.
>> Unfortunately I am not strong in PCB design and do not understand
>> much. Below is also screenshot with the Toshiba AC100 board. The area
>> for the second mini pci-e port without header (only wires) is between
>> areas 1 and 6.
>>
>> Full schematics of Toshiba AC100:
>>
>> http://wenku.baidu.com/view/acb434727fd5360cba1adb1c.html
>>
>> Screenshot of the board of Toshiba AC100:
>>
>> http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2010/08/26/597435/tac100-inside-lwcase-big.jpg
>>
>>
> Those schematics have been floating around for some time. They didn't
> use any PCIe signals on the mini-PCIe connectors. USB and SDIO only.
>
> I'm not sure why the schematics are so secret anyway. The cold war is
> over and the new boogie man is "terrorists". Maybe somebody paranoid
> missed the memo? What is somebody going to do, design a tablet that they
> can't buy the Tegra for anyway and take over the IMF or Wall Street?

 some moron in the U.S. govt thinks so, yes.

 these devices are becoming powerful enough that they are considered
to be weapons, and they require BXPA export licenses.

 if you shove that kind of stupidity under their noses they get
nervous and start imagining that everything else surrounding the chip
must be magically secret as well.

 it doesn't help that china engineers are capable of replicating an
entire device in about 6 weeks flat, but there's a certain point at
which people just have to realise that "trying to keep things secret"
is a losing battle, and just go with it.

 cooperate instead of compete.

 ah well.

l.