[Arm-netbook] updates from eoma68-a20

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

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


On Sun, Jan 28, 2018 at 12:59 AM, zap <calmstorm at posteo.de> wrote:

>>  basically until you get to QTY 500 or above the setup and teardown
>> costs are so high that companies are reluctant to do anything below
>> 1,000 units.  i'm lucky that mike's factory is small enough that he'll
>> consider it.
>>
> Hmm... I never realized it was that absurdly high of a price. I would do
> it don't get me wrong if needed, but yeah...

 it's down to the small quantities.

>>>  Aka on an invididual basis if need be...
>>> request + money aka...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If more money can be found however, everyone.  Though I dunno how much
>>> you would need......
>>   i really don't know.  RAM prices are so mad that suppliers are
>> actually reluctant to find out, because (a) they actually CAN'T get
>> hold of them - as in there AREN'T ANY AVAIALBLE or (b) those that are
>> available are in such demand that they don't want to commit unless
>> you're actually serious and have cash RIGHT now.
>>
>>  when i say "there aren't any available" i mean, "demand for apple
>> products has gone so insane that the RAM foundries are so overwhelmed
>> with APPLE's RAM orders that they haven't got TIME to manufacture
>> anything else".
> Hmm... Interesting.  That is insane.  so basically for 2gb of ram it
> adds 200$ to the price tag or 100$...

 yeah.  that's if there's only 10 people.  but there are 900 people.
if half of them are prepared to pay extra, that's fine... but it means
i now have to get quotes for 450 with 1gb and 450 with 2gb.

 that means ONLY an order of 2000 RAM ICs @ 2gb, and ONLY an order of
2000 RAM ICs @ 1gb.

 that in turn means that i can't use the supplier i was going to use,
because he has a MOQ of 5000 units.

 that in turn pushes the prices up for BOTH SETS OF RAM

 also the split production will also be much more expensive per unit
because now there will be TWO SETS OF SETUP AND TEARDOWN COSTS....

 etc.

 etc.

 etc.

 etc.


> I am just wondering because 1gb of ram would be how much you would have
> if you didn't do this. Right? Well how much would that cost you?
>
> Don't get me wrong, I will pay 200$ extra if need be, but yeah... I am
> just curious.
>
> Also, will the ram problem exist whenever shakti processors come out?

 that's about 18-24 months out so we have no way of telling.

 i was planning to use smartphone-style LPDDR3 x32 RAM ICs.  i have a
design of a PCB layout i was just going to *cough* copy the pin
mapping and *cough* oh look!  by a happy coincidence if i pull that
SoC out and replace it with a Shakti one it fits perfectly and doesn't
need the PCB layout changing *at all*!  wow, isn't that an amazing
happy coincidence?

 ... mind you i have to check that it's not a 650-pin monster.  i
wanted to keep the shakti m-class processor down to below 450 pins.
heck i *might* be able to get away with adjusting the tracks a
*little* bit (shorter, longer) but DDR3 layout is such a pain it's
worth going to some lengths to avoid redoing layouts.

l.