[Arm-netbook] Improv And Operation:Marketing for EMOA-*

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 2:00 AM, Craig Ballew
<arm-netbook2013 at mymemopad.com> wrote:
>> it basically needs money, that's all.  that's what it will take for the projects to continue.  i've mentioned this a number of times, and as i have not yet received any > responses i am earning the money myself so that i can continue.
>>
>> i tried it once: i cannot do full-time project management, software development, component sourcing and hardware development *and* a full-time job without serious health > consequences so it is one or the other.
>>
>> so it is very simple.  i will get this done; the question is whether anyone else would like to help out financially to get it done.  if they do, it will get done sooner.
>>
>> l.
>
>
> How much money is needed for the EOMA68 CPU Card?

 a batch of 2,500 is about $USD 40 each, that's including case but no
FCC/CE, and a batch of only 500 i got an estimate from another
supplier, PCB only, if i recall correctly... was about another $5.
the reason for PCB only is because they are very busy, and for only
500 units the time it takes to organise a quote including contacting
the casework supplier it would have been unfair to have them do that.
anyway expect about another $5 for casework and assembly, so around
the $50 mark for 500 units.

>
> Are you looking for product prepayment to fund final development, an investment, or a donation?

 i'm open to all three.

 btw, joe... you'll like this i am sure, but it is a bit of a risk.

 the inclusion of SATA on EOMA68, it is cutting us off from a ton of
CPUs that are coming out for the tablet,tablet,tablet,tablet market -
the $12 rk3188 for example, which would otherwise be perfect.

 so i am inclined, especially because i anticipate USB3 SoCs coming
along over the next 8-9 years, to replace SATA with USB2 and 2 other
lines.  i think, joe, that one of them should be the "TTL high Power
Line" for the voltage levels on GPIO (and UART).

 ... pause so that joe can reply "hooray".

 the other i think should be a EINT-capable GPIO.  also i am thinking
to take over one of the 5V power lines as a "power on" button.

 now the thing here is that if done carefully these could all be
"compatible" (i.e. not do any damage) to existing EOMA68 CPU Cards.

 but the time to do that is _now_: it cannot be done later.  it does
mean a minor CPU Card board revision, but if this project takes off
with EOMA68 as it is then we are stuck with a very limited set of
SoCs.

 so, it is a bit of a risk/delay but i think it will be worth it.

l.