[Arm-netbook] fsf-endorseable ingenic jz4775 cpu card can go ahead

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 5:15 PM, Paul Boddie <paul at boddie.org.uk> wrote:
> On Tuesday 10. March 2015 17.36.17 Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
>> good news: after being very patient and persistent, my contact at
>> ingenic put me in touch with a support engineer who confirmed that the
>> limitation on the jz4775's reported maximum resolution (1280x720) is
>> for the *video decoder* not the actual LCD output capabilities.  the
>> actual LCD output may go as high as something like 1700x1700 (not at
>> 60fps obviously) but that things like 1280x800 @ 60hz (the crucial
>> limit of the eoma68 spec) are fine, as is even 1366x768 at 60hz.
>
> So it's the VPU that only supports 720p, rather than an actual video output
> limit of 720 lines. I suppose that's what they're trying to say on the
> following page:
>
> http://www.smartqzwatch.co.uk/specifications/ingenic-jz4775-application-
> processor

 in a way, yeah.  what they don't say there is that the video decode
engine source is fully available, and they also don't mention that
flat-out the jz4775 i think uses only a maximum of 250mW which is
awesome.

> Some day, even smartwatches will need more than 720p video playback for those
> who are bothered by that kind of thing. ;-)

 :)

>> honestly, i really don't see this as being a huge show-stopper enough
>> to warrant exclusion of a low-cost SoC that could be the first
>> FSF-Endorseable candidate to run GNU/Linux OSes with a decent amount
>> of RAM (2Gbytes).
>
> I'd certainly be interested, and I would imagine that it would be a good
> alternative to the various non-open-hardware boards that have been emerging
> recently for the MIPS platform, as well as a solid alternative to certain
> popular ARM-based single-board computers.

 that's the idea.  i'm kinda fed up with there being no
even-25%-way-decent options at a reasonable price.  sure you can get
OMAP3 or AM Sitara SoCs but the only FSF-Endorseable ones come
completely devoid of anything remotely useful for GPU or VPU
acceleration.

>> as i've had the first revision PCB done nearly 4 months ago, that just
>> leaves financing of the first revision jz4775 CPU Card to arrange.  i
>> have one potential sponsor: if anyone else would like to help out that
>> would be great.  we're likely looking at around $USD 1,500 for 5 PCBs.
>
> I don't think I'd be aiming to be a sponsor as such, not being an organisation
> that would get involved because they see the commercial value in what you're
> doing, but I'd certainly be interested in seeing this card come to fruition,
> as indeed I am about the microdesktop and other things getting made.

 me too, damnit! :)  on that score we finally heard from the contract
manufacturer, they aim to focus on getting the quotes.

> Actually, with regard to the crowd-funding effort, was it going to include the
> IC1T board as well as the A20 board, and would the jz4775 board also join the
> crowd-funding line-up if successfully produced as a first revision?

 YES.  although it would be necessary to move sharp-ish.  even if the
1st revision didn't work i'd really really still like to try to get it
in, as the IC1T board only really supports android (cross-compiled) -
the jz4775 actually stands a chance of being self-hosting (native
debian packages and compiler).

l.