[Arm-netbook] 15in EOMA-68 laptop

[luke.leighton]

On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 9:42 PM, darton 9d <darton9d at gmail.com> wrote:
>> yes, really.  under 1kg.  a 15in laptop.  with floor space around
>> 14in x 12 in and with an interchangeable upgradeable CPU Card
>> making it future-proof.  and being able to take a 1920x1080 LCD.
>>
>> i'm kinda confused.  why isn't any other manufacturer doing this??
> what are we missing??
>
> I guess the main reason for manufacturers not looking at ARM-based laptops
> is that they care about profit above all else, and the profitability of an
> ARM-based laptop project is questionable. Remember, one has to spend quite a
> lot on engineering to get the thing up and running, and the product
> absolutely must be well-selling in order to get real benefits from
> mass-production.

 funny... wasn't there something on slashdot just recently about $200
android laptops from the CEO of Intel?  he said "it would be possible
to have $200 windows laptops as well but that's down to microsoft".

 i have a story to tell you, here.  i was speaking with someone a few
days ago - absolutely inspiring.  he's been working with schools for a
long time.  the most haunting story he tells is of teachers with *no*
experience of computers being afraid of them, not so much because
they're not sure what to do, although that does come into it, but
because they're afraid of breaking something merely by going online.

it turns out that a contract to keep a windows system running in a
school in the U.S. is a whopping $1500 *per computer*, *per year*.  if
they can't afford that then they can always pay $50,000 USD per year
for an onsite IT sysadmin.

as they can't afford that either, they simply let the computers...
rot.  so this guy _routinely_ sees 50% of the computers in classrooms
across america broken for one reason or another.  fifty percent!!  and
the remaining 50% is ineffective as it's all about "training", not
interacting.

so what he's doing is putting together a software suite along-side a
combination of linux and android, and is taking that in with low-cost
hardware and an internet connection.  the software is interactive:
it's engaging.  and he takes it along to areas where there are
eight-year-olds who've been attending "school", can't read, can't
write, and can't do basic arithmetic.... and WITHIN NINETY DAYS of
using this software they're able to read, type, write and do algebra
with confidence.

that's just... awe-inspiring.

so i'm not that concerned.

> The bad part is that the product may not sell that well. First, it has to
> compete with the existing ARM tablets.

 well, the advantage of EOMA-68, which people such as the person i
spoke to in the story above absolutely loved, is that the CPU Card is
shareable across several units.

 if you think in terms of a "single product", and you're only ever
going to buy one product [ever, in your life], then yes, EOMA-68 is an
additional cost that has no value.

 ... and how many people do you know will only ever buy one computing
appliance across their entire lifetime?

> Second, it has to compete with the
> low-cost low-powered segment of the traditional Intel/AMD-based laptops.
> Last but not least, there's no OS that is ready to install *and* is widely
> known and accepted by end-users.

 well, the story above i think helps out there.  the right software in
the right place makes all the difference.

 remember also that the query with intel is still outstanding [and
progressing].  unfortunately the person i was due to speak with has
been ill for the past 10 days: i'll contact his colleagues i think,
instead, but the goal there is to present intel with an opportunity to
help see an EOMA-68 22nm ValleyView CPU Card brought about.


> Personally, I'd be happy to have a 1kg ARM *laptop* (not tablet, not
> netbook) that runs Linux for several hours, allowing myself to comfortably
> work with documents and maybe hack some code (provided the machine has
> enough RAM to hold the environment). Unfortunately, most users either don't
> need a physical keyboard (-->tablet) or cannot get rid of the curse of the
> one and only proprietary office suite (-->traditional laptops). Thus, the
> potential audience of an ARM laptop project is more or less limited to geeks
> willing to spend time porting FOSS tools to ARM.

 i'm happy with that, bearing in mind that those geeks will know that
by around 2014 they'll have an Intel SoC upgrade CPU Card as an
option.


> Oh, and making low-cost durable future-proof products may be *bad* for a
> profit-oriented company.

 ahh yer think??? :)    *lol*.

 luckily i don't have experience of running a large corporate
profit-orientated company, eh?

l.