[Arm-netbook] [eoma68] mini desktop pc

[joem]

On Mon, 2013-12-02 at 20:20 +0000, luke.leighton wrote:
> http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/mini_desktop/news/Revision_1_routing/
> 
> started this a week or so ago, it's been very rapid to complete
> because all the parts have been available from the other two products.
>  it started as a copy of the flying squirrel; the audio section has
> been completely left as-is, and it turned rapidly into a desktop
> through the addition of the VGA and power circuits from the router.
> 
> so that's three major I/O board products in the pipeline.  anyone got
> any suggestions on what to do next?  laptop PCB?  small robotics
> system?


Want these robots? :)

I'd love to release these robots as 100% gpl'd items:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuhuGvgm_FE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6THIO6KVLfU

(And also some time in the future, a 100% gpl'd parametric gambas
program to generate robot parts.
It reads a in a spreadsheet filled with names of parts
such as arm length, body width, head size and so on, fitting angle
of the limbs and their dimensions and so on,
and all the parts are then generated for laser cutting on the fly.
A lot of it got done, but the maths got a bit complex.
The software hadn't been thought through with the matrix maths
in place - so a large part of it needs to be scrubbed and started
again.)

Time to face a little reality though in increasing severity:

1. You need the internal 3.3V line brought out from EOMA68 to one of the
pins for general circuit design reasons.

2. Not sure about the USD75. Is it going to get cheaper any time soon?

3. At the moment there is no way to cooperate with everyone using
   closed sources PCB packages and the list of hardware mistakes
   are piling up as cost somewhere. This is driving a wedge through
   all things good and possible. I only want to work in open sourced
   KiCAD. The limitations are not significant
   to getting the real work done and avoiding undesirable future costs.
   In the long run its better as more engineers can help.
   So despite your whining, I think its time to quit whining, absorb
   the pain, and you + stragglers got on to KiCAD.
   We can all move forward a lot quicker if we are all on the same page.