[Arm-netbook] 12th update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

---
crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 9:13 AM, Xavi Drudis Ferran <xdrudis at tinet.cat> wrote:
> I had missed the laptop comparison in crowdsupply.com.
>
> I guess it is too late to change anything, but anyway, just in case
> someone thinks the links are relevant:
>
> On planned obsolescence:
> " The possibility of a manufacturer actually deciding to SHUT DOWN such laptops is not unthinkable. "
>
> Other kind of computers (Revolv home automation) have already been shut down
> ( I think, all news I have are from one month before the deadline)
>
> http://boingboing.net/2016/04/05/google-reaches-into-customers.html
>
> Summary: Google (or Alphabet) buys Nest. Nest buys competitor Revolv.
> They announce they will OTA-brick all of 300$-a-piece Revolv home
> automation hubs in May 2015. Customers are left to buy something else
> (if they aren't already fed up).

 waaaa i knew there was something like that, i couldn't remember it:
thank you.  i'll ask joshua to add that.


>
> Curious that you left out GTA04, neo900,

 ... not laptops ....

> Pyra.

 pyra's the upgraded version of the openpandora.

> And the refurbished RYF
> laptops, which are (software) efforts to recycle old standard laptops
> with libreboot, and so have some FS and eco conciousness to them

 if you bear in mind that cost equates directly with the environmental
impact, then add up an estimate of the amount of time and money and
resources spent on reverse-engineering vs the results gained in doing
so, sadly i think you'll find that recycling old standard laptops is
not as effective as we'd like to think it could be.

 the fact that we're "on the clock" the moment the hardware hits the
shelves - bear in mind that the processor will have been out for
months before that whilst the hardware manufacturer is designing a
boardd around it - means that you're onto a losing game right from the
moment you buy it.

 *over three years* to reverse-engineer the HTC Universal's hardware.
*three years*!


> (by the way
> the Acer 201P hints that the Rockchip 3288 SOC might be usable in a
> future CPU card ?

 except i understand the RK3288 has a proprietary bootloader...

> https://libreboot.org/docs/hcl/c201.html

 ... maybe not!  that's a good sign.

> if power allows
> http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/02/17/power-consumption-of-amlogic-s812-and-rockchip-rk3288-tv-boxes/

 datasheet says it's 6 watts.... it would be possible then to run it
at 50% speed or run 2 cores at 100% and the others at much-reduced
speed.... you'd also have to only use one of the 32-bit DDR3L
interfaces otherwise you'd be looking at 1 to 2 watts just for memory.
DDR3 800mhz @ 32 bit uses something like 0.3 to 0.4 watts.  DDR3L is a
drop from 1.5 to 1.2 volts (square law reduction) but by the time you
ramp up to 1333mhz (again, square law) you're looking at a looot of
power.


> - not that Rockchip is a good company, from what I hear about GPL violations -
> anyway fixing the boot with JZ4775 cpu card maybe is more prioritary than
> designing new CPU cards).
>
> But I learned about a lot of projects I didn't know. Thank you.
> I also didn't know Tegra laptops were locked down. I though there was
> The Jetson TK1 board that people used with 100% free software

 yeah... it's more that the feature's there, so manufacturers use it.
the Surface RT is a good example, and the app store for Microsoft is
being shut down in a couple of years.

> http://embedded-computing.com/news/engineers-just-hours-get-new-nvidia-jetson-tk1/
>
> But then Debian says it needs two blobs (firmware for graphics and USB
> xHCI, I don't know how usable it is without these)
>
> https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/NVIDIA/Jetson-TK1
>
> I hoped some Tegra K1 laptop could be eventually liberated (K1 chromebooks
> have coreboot, no libreboot yet, and your update hints at they have
> already been found unliberable because of DRM in the laptops?).

 the feature's there - like in the exynos SoCs it's a matter of
whether it's enabled (as hardkernel do).

 now you _could_ do your own board (and not flip the DRM-locking bit)
but i've tried contacting NVIDIA.... no response.  and the power
requirements are bananas, anyway.

> Btw, sorry for the trivia and mixing topics, but are there images
> available of the different colours offered for the EOMA68 laptop
> housing ?

 i've got two made up, the purple-green you see in the news page, and
then there's the silver one.  i'll need to re-assemble my portable 3d
printer to do any more.
 https://www.youmagine.com/designs/libre-hardware-licensed-parametric-laptop-design
 http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/laptop_15in/news/

 also hopefully the people who are doing their PIY laptop casings, i
asked crowd supply (respecting their privacy policy) to reach out on
my behalf and ask them if they'd like to contact me and begin the 3D
printing early.

l.