[Arm-netbook] HummingBoard becomes partially what eoma would've been

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Mon, Jul 7, 2014 at 8:52 AM, joem <joem at martindale-electric.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>  all the other examples require tools, special handling (you cannot
>> touch the gold edges or pins),
>
> That it is hardly true these days. Inputs are protected with 2kV ESD
> diodes for some time now - ever since days
> of the A series CMOS was learned and the B series came out (decades
> ago).

 when i said "put in pocket" i really meant "put in pocket".
unprotected.  carry it around in a handbag.  give it to school kids
who put it between books and then sit on the books.

 SOMs simply cannot survive that kind of treatment: they are
engineering boards and simply will not survive.

 i demonstrate the CPU Card to people by literally banging it on the
edge of a desk.  as it is so light it makes a lot of noise and does no
harm to it.

 if you bang a SOM on the edge of a desk you are going to break off
components, bend pins, destroy tracks and the gold edging will get oil
and dirt from fingers as you hold them in order to bash them against
the desk.

 also, about the installation: imagine explaining over the telephone
to your 80-year-old grandmother how to swap out the CPU of her PC.

now imagine explaining how to swap a CPU Card.  "see the card on the
side? press the button next to it, dear".

one of those scenarios will take two days because you will have to
travel over, pick the machine up and either do it yourself or take it
to the repair shop.  the other may take anywhere between thirty
seconds and an hour depending on your level of patience...

 completely, completely different market.

l.