[Arm-netbook] FSF: Respects Your Freedom hardware product certification

[Gordan Bobic]

On 10/11/2012 12:43 PM, luke.leighton wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 1:06 AM, Alexander Stephen Thomas Ross
> <arm-netbook at aross.me>  wrote:
>
>> http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom
>>
>> I feel like loading an formal businessman character (An interest is drama.)
>> for this line: As someone who seams to be unofficially helping with
>> publicity. I would recommend this. :|
>
>   yes.  we have to find, however, a CPU which can be FSF
> Hardware-Endorsed, *and* get a CPU Card made up around it.
> unfortunately that means lower quality CPUs (e.g. TI's 1ghz ARM
> Sitaras with no PowerVR GPU) but more money as well.

This is pretty philosophical, but in the interest of pragmatism I don't 
see anything wrong with using a cheaper/better SoC of which some part 
isn't FSF endorsable, and simply dropping any marketing of the 
non-FSF-endorsable features. It has a GPU. The GPU isn't supported. You 
don't have to use it. The important thing is to package it up so it is 
all perfectly usable with a serial console, a-la Kirkwood.

>   *however*, the ORCAD/Allegro files are also available (beagleboard-xm
> etc.) so the development costs e.g. using someone like quickembed
> would only be about $6,000.

I think it's important to not get fixated on the cost of the module. 
There are lots of modules now available in the < $100 range. Compete on 
convenience and features. An extra $10 on the cost of the module is 
unlikely to put people off.

To give you an example, for a 32-core (8 quad-core modules) 1U ARM box, 
the cheapest you can get it for is about $10K. More like $50K for a 
slightly shinier one like Boston Viridis (Calxeda based).

That's about $300 per CPU core for the cheapest option. Granted the 
chassis (including PSUs, network switch, etc.) itself might account for 
maybe 1/4 of that cost (call it $2500), that's still $7500 for 32 
modules. That's still about $235/module.

If you want to pitch the whole thing in at half the current cheapest 
price, assuming chassis is $2500, that's $2500/32 modules = $78/module.

I don't think it's worth micro-chasing the SoC cost when it accounts for 
such a tiny part of the total cost. Much better to focus on something a 
little more expensive that is extremely well supported. Hardware is 
cheap. Software development is expensive. Focus on a SoC where the 
hardware vendor has done all the hard work already - it'll be far 
cheaper overall.

>> Which kinder reminds me. RMS does not know of Rhombus-Tech. Must get around
>> to sending that email!
>
>   don't worry, alexander: i've been speaking to dr stallman for over 5
> years, now, on and off.  i mentioned the rhombus tech thing to him
> about 12 months ago, already.
>
>   irony: the laptop chassis is fully FSF Hardware-Endorseable: it's
> just the CPU Card....

Because the chassis is little more than just a screen/keyboard? :)

Gordan