[Arm-netbook] why i am persisting with this project

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Fri, Aug 7, 2015 at 11:07 AM, mike.valk at gmail.com
<mike.valk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 2015-08-06 16:07 GMT+02:00 Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl at lkcl.net>:
>>
>> several people have left this mailing list, or have become lurkers, or
>> are no longer actively supporting the project, yet i am absolutely
>> committed to it despite that.
>
>
> Hi Luke, Sorry to be such a lurker.

 it's ok :)

> But I applaud you for being so
> persistent. And i'm really looking forward to seeing the results of that
> persistence. I understand that building a prototype is relatively ease
> compared to getting something producible.

 yehh, i can make some guesses - i do know it's entirely different
making decisions based on expecting to go to mass-volume.  i could
have had this out the door years ago if it was only to be a 1k or even
a 10k production run.... price would have been 3x higher though...

> We've become so accustomed to new products on a less than annual pace that
> we fail to see that a new product starts at least 5 years before production.
> Which means that at least 4 new products are in the process of being created
> when something new comes out. And thats for company with deep pockets.

 lucky then that i'm designing products that can be continuously
upgraded for years (until they fall apart well outside of warranty)
then, eh? :)

> So for now I'm only able support you mentally.

 :)

>>
>>
>> if you would like to know why that is, this is the reason:
>>
>> http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/08/deflation-debt-and-gravity/


> But I does look that we've constructed a babel tower, full of virtual
> columns (finacial system), That's slowly beginning to collapse.

 well as long as the world banks keep on printing more and more money,
hyper-inflating the currencies, it'll be fine.  the moment they stop
doing that, it's all over.

> So paying 66%, which you get to quite easily here in the NL, on taxes
> actually means that you have two people working for you or on your money
> hired by your government. Sounds like Communism doesn't it? And ten you go
> out and pay some more for the products/materials you actually need.

 :)

 y'know... i've been conversing with someone who joined the hari
krishnas (yeh, i know...) and he's been touring the USA for several
months now, looking for technology and people who can help his
community to be stable and self-supporting.  hemp for oil / fuel
production so the community can make what it needs and sell the rest
etc.

 so i'm paying a lot more attention to things like the report on
slashdot where a geek stopped using AC electricity altogether in his
San Fransisco flat:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/08/04/1910251/giving-up-alternating-current

 yes it's a bit mad to do away with a kitchen, but he's in *san
fransisco*.  he can eat out, with friends.

 but what struck me most about what he wrote was the chain of
efficiency losses in charging up a mobile phone.  when they're all
added up you only get *25 percent* efficiency.  i bet that's a
conservative estimate (i'm sure he's edited that recently, the numbers
used to say 16%, i think it was because he assumed 50% efficiency of
the switched-mode power supply on the phone charger).

 think about that: in his city, they burn 4 tons of coal to utilise
the energy of 1 ton of coal.  3 tons wasted.  i hear a similar story
about barrels of oil - how it takes 3 barrels of oil to *deliver* 1
barrel of fuel to the petrol station.   it's certainly a conservative
estimate because he hasn't taken into consideration the coal
extraction and delivery process...

 question: how long do we think this can continue?

 so anyway, in the meantime, _before_ it all goes to shit, i can't
sell these EOMA68 products based on a message "you're alll gonna
dieeeee" :)  and when there's people running around like headless
chickens, it's gonna be a bit late anyway.

 so, irony, irony, i have to pretend all this ain't happening, and
design the products based around the upgradeability, flexibility and
cost-saving angles.

 gotta love it, huh? :)

l.