[Arm-netbook] EOMA68 Computing Devices Update: 500 Micro Desktop PCB Assemblies

[Paul Boddie]

Hello again,

It was nice to see this latest update on the project:

"Just a brief update: Mike’s factory has assembled the 500 Micro Desktop PCBs, 
though the through-hole VGA connectors still need to be hand-soldered on. 
These are the simpler of the two boards, so all of the Micro Desktops are 
being done, whereas explained in a previous update, the more complex board, 
the EOMA68-A20, will only be done in a smaller test run of 100 at first."

https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/500-micro-desktop-pcb-assemblies

It must be satisfying to see all of this start to come together.

On the topic of casings for the computer cards, I get the sense that there are 
no ready-made solutions for the outward-facing side of the cards, this despite 
most traditional PCMCIA/CardBus-profile cards exposing ports of different 
kinds (such as modems, network ports, like two cards I have from many years 
ago) and thus having similar requirements.

I suppose 3D printing or some other creative casing solution isn't an option. 
Injection moulding seems to be quite demanding, as the following from the Tomu 
campaign indicates:

"Right now a shop in China is etching the Tomu case shape into one ton of 
steel. Once that’s done they’ll manufacture a few units to verify the etching 
works. After this “T0” shot, they will harden the steel tool and start 
production."

https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/tomu/updates/design-done-production-started

To provide context, the Tomu case is a tiny piece of plastic of around one 
square centimetre and probably no more than 3mm in depth!

Paul