[Arm-netbook] Should we support libre.computer's efforts at promoting lima?

[Paul Boddie]

On Wednesday 17. October 2018 16.30.17 Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> 
>  it depends on what you take into account.  if someone else pays the
> NREs to the foundry, i.e. a university agrees to collaborate and is
> offered access to a foundry for either free or at reduced rates,
> $250k-$500k comes off that amount, straight away.

Some interesting perspectives on this can be read about here:

https://chips4makers.io/blog/startup-costs-and-low-volume-manufacturing.html

The author is currently running a campaign on Crowd Supply:

https://www.crowdsupply.com/chips4makers/retro-uc

Maybe you might have spoken to the people involved, either at FOSDEM or via 
Crowd Supply, but I suppose there might be some potential for collaboration or 
discussion.

The campaign itself won't get funded, it would seem, but like various others 
that went the same way, this is more a consequence of a number of different 
factors rather than it being a statement on the merits of making genuinely 
free and open silicon. FPGAs and the implemented CPUs are widely available and 
already in use amongst the target audiences, for instance.

However, pursuing such a campaign with a product that really needs to be done 
with "proper" silicon - needing higher frequencies and power/performance 
benefits, perhaps - might get more support, albeit from not quite the same 
audiences as the ones targeted in this campaign.

Paul

P.S. Still no progress from Crowd Supply on the latest update?