arm-netbook September 2016

arm-netbook@lists.phcomp.co.uk

39 participants
42 discussions

Future case idea: subnotebook/PDA with QWERTY keyboard
by Sam Pablo Kuper 04 Oct '16

04 Oct '16

It would be great to have a housing for the EOMA68 that is of a similar form factor to one of these devices: - DragonBox Pyra [1] - Openbox Pandora [2] - HTC Universal [3] or even: - HTC Dream [4] That is, an enclosure that can fit in a pocket, and has: - Hardware QWERTY keyboard - Touchscreen (resistive, ideally) that opens out from the keyboard - TRRS audio I/O - USB OTG Something like a miniature tablet PC, essentially. Bonus points if it is also "ruggedized": waterproof, shockproof, etc. Likewise if it incorporates a trackpoint or similar, for using the mouse cursor without needing to touch the screen.[5] Goes without saying that it should be licensed as a Free Cultural Work[6], i.e. under GPLv3 or suchlike. Why would it be great? Well, traditionally, people using a PDA had to synchronise their information between their desktop or laptop and the PDA, e.g. via a cable or IrDA[7] or Bluetooth. Now lots of people do this via "the cloud", but that just means going via someone else's computers, so unless that system is implemented on a zero-knowledge basis using client-side encryption basis, then whoever else's computers are being used also gets to see the information. That might be really private stuff, like contacts and appointments and correspondence. With EOMA68, that problem would be solved: while out and about where a laptop would be too bulky but a PDA wouldn't, just have the EOMA68 card in the PDA housing. When at a desk, put it in the desktop or laptop housing. No need to sync! That means: - No loss of privacy - Less need for energy-intensive data centres - No need to have two computers when one would do (less e-waste) - No worries about race conditions due to data getting updated on desktop and PDA before syncing. - No headaches, essentially! Is anyone working on such an enclosure and PCB? spk [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonbox_Pyra [2] https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/the-day-the-pandora-goes-even-more… [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Universal [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4t9Ys8wI6k#t=4m45s [6] http://freedomdefined.org/ [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_Data_Association

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EOMA68 R/Evolution bumper sticker
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 02 Oct '16

02 Oct '16

ok apologies i haven't much time/energy to deal with this one, so am asking a huge favour / volunteer to recreate the prototype bumper sticker that i put together. ideally it should be an SVG. this is from chris: I've used this site for bumper stickers before and liked them (the people behind it have a freedom-oriented slant too which is neat): https://thebumpersticker.com/shop/stickers/vinyl-stickers/ I would suggest the following: Material: White Vinyl Shape: Rectangle Height: 3 inches Width: 9 inches now, i'd very much like to add some words at the top just above the main image: "It's R/Evolution, baby" or something equally ridiculous. any suggestions welcome - the more ridiculous or cheesy the better. nothing crude or derogatory! l. --- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68

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EOMA68 libre laptop PCB3 revision 2 walkthrough
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 30 Sep '16

30 Sep '16

http://www.rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/laptop_15in/news/EOMA68_Libre_1… quite a long video in this one, where i'm going over the component selection, component placement, knock-on effect on the casework and so on. i'm going to need some help with the schematics on this one, as there is quite a lot that needs to be integrated and double-checked, especially the GPIO: all these ICs weren't really designed to be put together, they don't have proper IO VREF inputs (unlike e.g. the SN75LVDS83b or many of the I2C EEPROMs), they're Open-Drain and to be honest i really don't get it how things that are 1.8v, or 3.3v, or blah-blah voltage are supposed to work. so i need some help here! the schematics as a PDF have been auto-generated, and are at http://hands.com/~lkcl/eoma/laptop_15in/pcb3/ l. --- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68

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eeshow -- tools for Eeschema (from KiCAD)
by Philip Hands 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

Hi, I just noticed this: https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg26055.html being mentioned here: https://neo900.org/news/neo900-update-2016-09-22 and thought it looked like something that ought to be useful for reviewing the boards being developed by people here. Here's a page that tells you more about it, and has a walk-through: https://neo900.org/stuff/eeshow/ HTH Cheers, Phil. -- |)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] HANDS.COM Ltd. |-| http://www.hands.com/ http://ftp.uk.debian.org/ |(| Hugo-Klemm-Strasse 34, 21075 Hamburg, GERMANY

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Code of conduct?
by Sam Pablo Kuper 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

I am still new to this community, and am more of a lurker than a contributor. Many of the projects I am interested in have a code of conduct of some kind, typically based on the Contributor Covenant[0]. If they are well-written and proportionate, I find them welcoming. And I, correspondingly, welcome them. Not because anything especially terrible has happened to me in such communities, but because it would send a clear message that nothing terrible should happen to me or to anyone else as a result of participating, and that were such to happen, it would not be tolerated lightly. I searched this mailing list's archive, the Rhombus Tech wiki, and the elinux.org wiki, for evidence of a code of conduct. Happily, the elinux.org wiki does effectively have a code of conduct: http://elinux.org/ELinuxWiki:Policies_%26_Guidelines However, neither the arm-netbook mailing list nor the Rhombus Tech wiki has one, as far as I can see. Does anyone else here think it would be, on balance, a good idea to adopt a Code of Conduct, perhaps based on the Contributor Covenant[0], for some combination of: this mailing list; the Rhombus Tech wiki? I would welcome concise responses in this thread, ideally formatted along the lines: """ - arm-netbook list: yes. - Rhombus Tech wiki: yes. """ I would, personally, *not* welcome receiving supporting arguments for your position, for the following reasons: - I am much more interested in the community's view on whether or not adopting such a code would be a good idea, than its view on why it would or would not be a good idea. - In discussions of the merits of such codes of conduct, both supporters and detractors typically raise pros or cons that have already been raised, by them or others, in at least one of the many such discussions that have occurred other communities. That is, the arguments on both sides of the debate are quite well-worn. I would prefer anyone interested in such pros and cons to look them up (e.g. search the Web) than to expend effort re-hashing them here. - Such discussions of rationale often become contentious. The last thing I want is to cause acrimony on the list. I hope that affirmative replies will predominate. If they do, then I will at some point in the future probably add a draft Code of Conduct page to the Rhombus Tech wiki and/or ask Luke to add one to the mailing list web page[1], as appropriate (unless someone else acts first). If they don't, or if nobody replies, then I'll quietly let this go. Thanks :) spk [0] http://contributor-covenant.org/ [1] http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook

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Letux Cortex 15
by Paul Boddie 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Hello, I read the archives of the Tinkerphones (previously OpenPhoenux) community mailing list, and it appears that Nikolaus - the man behind the GTA04 smartphone and influential in the Pyra and Neo900 projects - may end up making the processor module for the Pyra handheld available as a separate item: http://lists.goldelico.com/pipermail/community/2016-September/001505.html Unlike the EOMA68-A20 card, the Letux Cortex 15 uses an OMAP5 processor, and so there are certain issues with freedom aspects of parts of the software (it incorporates PowerVR). That said, there is an active effort to keep the software as close to the upstream Linux kernel as possible: http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-kernel/ What's interesting about this card, though, is that it could almost be done as an EOMA68 card: PCMCIA dimensions are 85.6mm x 54mm; this card is 81mm x 33mm; it has on-board RAM, flash memory, and a variety of interfaces that EOMA68 also has. However, it is possible that in attempting to offer a PCMCIA-style connector, a different layout might then become necessary that might not fit within the appropriate area. And although it would have been great if the EOMA68 profile had been used instead, that might have had implications for its use in the Pyra. Nikolaus notes that it could be used with a "to-be-designed" motherboard. If only it could have been made to plug into the micro-desktop or laptop offered in the EOMA68 crowd-funding campaign. Then, its audience might have been broader, the demand for boards higher, and perhaps the unit costs lower for the Pyra project, too. :-) Paul

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EOMA68-A20 progress
by Nick Hardiman 21 Sep '16

21 Sep '16

Great to see the updates coming from Hong Kong. Exciting times. What’s happening with the A20 board? Was the last update (I’m not looking at previous mails here, could be wrong) said ‘Mike is getting prototypes’? What are prototypes, and how do they fit into the grand plan? Many thanks, Nick

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Re: [Arm-netbook] [Dev] [libreplanet-discuss] EOMA68 and freedom in digital technology
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 19 Sep '16

19 Sep '16

--- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68 On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 10:07 AM, Josh Branning <lovell.joshyyy(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Getting rid of boot0 is not far away: > > http://git.denx.de/?p=u-boot/u-boot-sunxi.git;a=tree;f=board/sunxi;h=641993… i'm not sure why you're referencing this, josh - it > I'm sure, and there is some evidence that Olimex puts pressure as it is on > Allwinner to release their code and stop ignoring GPL licensing conditions. you'll need to be more specific. > You say Olimex made a GPL-violation and then basically made the fool of you > 'in-front of 20,000 people', but they seem otherwise. [1] you'll need to reference archive.org to find the conversation. tsvetan's disdain is very very clear. and he also, just as clearly, doesn't actually answer the question. > According to them, you were complaining that they hadn't released the source > early enough, because they hadn't written a tutorial of how to build as soon > as they released the images. i don't believe it (but i could be wrong - i often am). allwinner hadn't actually released the source of the proprietary boot0 bootloader back then, and things were a total mess. i've yet to reply but paul might actually be right about git.rhombus-tech.net because it might contain (for example) libnand. i *think* on review of the code i did go "i ain't frickin well putting *that* in the git repo" but i'll have to double-check. it was a long time ago. > Though I guess it is unclear as to what > actually happened back then. (lists.gpl-violations.org is down). it's permanently offline after the server was hacked. it won't be restored. > Either way, it doesn't really matter much, I appreciate what you're doing, > making another libre computer, and for that I am grateful. I'm also pleased > you posted the schematics and pcb files as you said you would. various parts already were - have been for many years. l.

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brief update
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 19 Sep '16

19 Sep '16

* mike's going to get 5 EOMA68-A20 rev 2.6 samples done quickly, hopefully before the big holiday beginning october. * we could *potentially* get the 800 EOMA68-A20 computer cards done within a couple of months (have to arrange testing) * microdesktop submitted for cost evaluation * PCB1 rework of laptop is underway, using connectors (SMT R/A) from morecrafts.com.tw * marco from frida is checking MOQ 1k on the 3.5in LCD+CTP * tracking down the S5P6818 octa-core supplier, investigating if Reference Design is available l. --- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68

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managed wifi network and EOMA68-A20 cards
by Nick Hardiman 17 Sep '16

17 Sep '16

I need to put a few WIFI access points in a few rooms. One wifi router won’t do the trick - foil-backed insulation in the walls stops signals. If I built a network around EOMA68, is this a reasonable approach? I imagine the simplest way to make one WIFI access point using an EOMA68-A20 card is to hook up a USB wifi adapter using a USB OTG cable. To make a network of these APs with a central management console means plugging in hardware like this. unmanaged switch | +— Internet | +— headless EOMA68 | +— WIFI AP (EOMA68 and wifi adapter) | +— WIFI AP | +— WIFI AP Then it’s all about mixing and matching software for the central console, access control, package updates and so on. Presumably the 'sellable product' approach is to build a housing that adds POE, MIMO antennas, and IEEE 802.11ac. USB wifi adapter https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-w-ext…

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arm-netbook September 2016