[Arm-netbook] Campaign Schedule and Future Sales/Products

[Paul Boddie]

I saw the recent response to my enquiry ("EOMA68-A20 Prototype Status") which 
was augmented by a campaign update:

"It’s going to take about a month to have the 8 Gbit 1600 MHz DDR3 x8 RAM ICs 
manufactured: we’re on the way. [...] All in all, it will likely take three 
months after getting the cards back from assembly before shipping begins. That 
puts actual delivery of the first units in late October."

https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/2-7-5-samples-
received-dram-is-ok-micro-hdmi-to-confirm

This new information is much appreciated, and I hope that everything continues 
going to plan. Meanwhile, I noticed that the matter of future sales and 
products arose in another thread, with the intention being expressed that 
others will be producing and selling boards in future.

Now, there may have been some confusion in that other thread because I seem to 
recall talk of follow-up campaigns (although these may have been related to 
other hardware projects, not computer cards). Indeed, the August 2016 campaign 
update about the product roadmap had the following to say:

"We need your backing for this project and the current Computer Card before we 
can be in an established financial position to properly evaluate and bring you 
these faster Computer Cards."

https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/product-roadmap

The crucial question in the context of the above is therefore the following: 
who exactly is "we"? If not any of the parties behind the current campaign, 
who might it be? Here, I can understand some confusion or a mismatch in 
expectations.

But in any case, this discussion of future sales and products reminded me of a 
number of things, the first of which being the board designs:

"The only exception to this rule to release everything in advance is the PCB 
CAD files for the Computer Card. We’re planning to release the PCB CAD files 
for the Computer card once sufficient units are hit that ensures any third 
party manufacturing runs will not undermine the project’s development or 
stability."

https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/crowdfunding

Although "the point about the A20 running out of time" [1] has been made 
repeatedly since the start of the campaign (this quote being from March 2017 
in the context of suitable NAND ICs), might it be envisaged that the design 
files be released for the A20 card to perhaps *stimulate* the project's 
development and stability after this campaign concludes?

Has there been any constructive interest from anyone to produce more boards 
using this design? I see that Olimex have recently introduced a variant of one 
of their A20-based products using the compatible T2 SoC [2]. So, the A20 still 
has an audience and a commercial life, apparently.

Another thing I found myself considering is the matter of the other cards 
mentioned during the course of the campaign. If they are not going to be 
offered via future campaigns, will they be offered by existing partners or 
collaborators? For instance:

http://rhombus-tech.net/ingenic/jz4775/
http://rhombus-tech.net/rock_chips/rk3288/
http://rhombus-tech.net/nexell/s5p6818/

The first two of these had been prototyped, as I recall (and has been 
documented), and so I imagine that there is some value in seeing them become 
products, subject to economic and technical viability, the latter of which 
reminding me of the following remarks:

"The rk3288 is not a low-power chip, and the heat sink supplied (pictured 
above), is not adequate for any CPU-intensive activity, quickly throttling 
performance when it gets too hot."

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/4614-asus-tinker-board/

(The above is just an acknowledgement of the difficulties of selecting 
products, not an invitation to discuss the details.)

Finally, I realised that the current campaign began almost two years ago. I 
think the second anniversary of its launch will be on Friday this coming week. 
It would be interesting to hear any reflections on the position of this 
initiative two years on, whether (and how) the roadmap might change, and what 
still needs to be done to bring this modular computing vision to fruition.

Apologies if I missed various updates or announcements that happen to answer 
some of my questions!

Paul

[1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/complexities-of-
hardware-progress-and-travel

[2] https://olimex.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/a20-olinuxino-lime-revision-h-is-
now-in-stock-the-oshw-linux-computer-now-support-emmc-and-can-be-produced-
with-industrial-grade-temperature-4085c/