[Arm-netbook] flying squirrel 7in tablet: 1st PCB layout attempt

[luke.leighton]

On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 11:34 AM, Simon Kenyon <simon at koala.ie> wrote:
> On 01/09/13 00:08, luke.leighton wrote:
>> http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/kde_tablet/news/
>
> i understand and agree with what you are trying to do.
>
> but the costs seems way off.

 "seem" and "really are" are two very different things :)

 the parts added to support the EOMA-68 concept surprisingly only come
to around $6 or thereabouts.

 if you have any products which are cheaper, please do take them apart
and take hi-res photos of the innards, help identify the parts and
help track down suppliers.

 that way we can guarantee to be cost-competitive.

> while this is not a big problem, it does mean that the commerical
> success of this venture might be underwhelming.

 well, we've learned a couple of things along the way.  the first is
that many of these tablet manufacturers typically use "soft tooling".
soft tooling typically lasts for about 2,000 units before it dies.
many tablet manufacturers of "quick runs" that people from europe
would normally look to get, say, for the pengpod, or the vivaldi
tablet and so on, typically run the tools *way* beyond the acceptable
lifetime.

 second is, just as aaron learned, that many chinese manufacturers
will do a perfect 1st run but then try to offer you a completely
different design, and even a completely different processor.  or
something else has changed which they didn't actually bother to tell
you about.

 the list of gotchas just goes on and on but it basically sums up as
we will be selling to people who want to bank on reliability,
consistency and fair-to-high quality, *as well* as being
free-software-compatible.

 the point is that whilst we're not going to be "way out of ballpark",
it's close enough so that people will go "y'know what?  i bought some
cheapo tablets from china, and i regretted it.  maybe i'll give these
guys a chance instead, it's only 10% (or so) more money, and i could
do without the headaches".


> notwithstanding this, i will buy one as and when my finances allow.

 great!

> just pointing out the obvious.
>
> keep up the good work.

 thanks simon.

> --
> simon
>
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