[Arm-netbook] HDMI HEC on future boards

[Adam Van Ymeren]

On Wed, Sep 7, 2016 at 1:16 PM, Vincent Legoll <vincent.legoll at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> The EOMA68 standard has no provision for ethernet, but AFAIU the other
>>> end of the CPU card can be more or less free to use.
>>
>>  yyep
>
> That may be a good way to tackle SoC-specific functionalities, without wasting
> them... An easy way to be even-more-earth-friendly... Think about
> going the extra
> mile, or squeezing every last bit out of it...

Using the extra SoC specific functionalities might not necessarily be
more earth friendly.  Since your next computer card might not offer
the same user facing interfaces that your old one did.  The great
thing about EOMA68 is that none of the functionality on the pinout end
is optional.  This means that all future computer cards will be
compatible with all your existing enclosures, and vice versa, if you
want to upgrade your enclosure you don't have to worry about it being
incompatible with your existing computer card.

This really cuts down on waste, since there's no risk of buying
incompatible hardware, and you only have to upgrade the piece that is
broken or outdated.

If you rely on the user facing end for ethernet or HDMI or whatever,
you can lock yourself into a situation where you can't upgrade your
card or can't re-use your peripherals.

>
>>> So would it be possible to link a future SoC w/ ethernet to the HDMI HEC
>>> pins and get at least a 100Mbps ethernet, without needing any USB dongle.
>>
>>  yep!  i wonder if there's ethernet already on the A20.
>
> Ah that would be extra-extra nice, but no cigar ;-)
>
> The H3 has one (even with an integrated 100Mbps PHY), that would be nice...
>
> --
> Vincent Legoll
>
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