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

On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 5:52 PM, Nick Hardiman nick@internetmachines.co.uk wrote:

I’ve been checking up on EOMA68 articles the last few days. Somewhere along the way - perhaps in a podcast - I believe Luke said you can make money from hardware.

i was referring to things that are a more "up-market" version of the "kits" approach below but what you describe is a really good example.

companies that make "stuff" - professional ones - have a hell of a job when it comes to SBCs - the expected lifetime is really not that long, they also have a difficult time getting hold of china-based low-cost processors that are also *GPL compliant*.

story: a metre high stack of $35 tablets.... all GPL-violating. not a single one can be used to make a product because if you have to reverse-engineer the software it costs far more than the cost of making a new SBC.... and if you have to make a new SBC @ $20k and you're only selling 1k units you're screwed because they'll be $500+ each.

$500+ for a wall-mounted kitchen "gizmo"?? wtf???? but if you could use the $35 tablet's PCB (which you can't because of the GPL violations) you couuld.... make it.... $100! now it's affordable.

... except you CAN'T DO IT because of the GPL violations.

that's where EOMA68 comes in. and you get an upgrade path to faster SoCs as well.

How would that work? Perhaps something along these lines?

If a home tinkerer wants to experiment, or an artist wants to explore this new medium, or a business student want a first mover’s advantage, they do something like this.

• Come up with the idea for a gizmo. I see someone’s already compiled a list of ideas at http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/.
• Order a card via https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop

and a break-out board

• Buy an idiots guide to soldering and a bag of parts.

obtainable anywhere - rs-online, digikey, adafruit, sparkfun, mouser, the various arduino sites (and knock-offs)

• Spend a few months burning holes in tables and building prototypes.

don't forget putting out spot-fires in your mum's polyester rug...

• Take delivery of the new card, plug it in and make sure everything works.

.. bzzzt, magic smoke genie...

• Sell the new gizmo online.

or publish it as a guide and a kit. so that people get the fun and the sense of achievement of making it themselves. that's often more valuable than just receiving a finished "gizmo".

The EOMA68 standard creates a demand for new products. Unplugging the computer card from your house, plugging it into your car, unplugging it at work and plugging it into something else, means there must be the things to plug it into.

yes.

The hard work has already been done. The hardware exists courtesy of the mobile phone industry, the software exists courtesy of decades of free software, and the compute package will exist courtesy of Luke and co.

couldn't have put it better. only addition (credit where it's due) - smartphone and tablet industry. not so much the mobile phone industry.

l.