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Rhombus Tech 2nd Revision A10 EOMA68 Card Working Samples
lkcl writes "Rhombus Tech and QiMod have working samples of the first EOMA-68 CPU Card, featuring 1GByte of RAM, an A10 processor and stand-alone (USB-OTG-powered with HDMI output) operation. Upgrades will include the new Dual-Core ARM Cortex A7, the pin-compatible A20. This is the first CPU Card in the EOMA-68 range: there are others in the pipeline (A31, iMX6, jz4760 and a recent discovery of the Realtek RTD1186 is also being investigated). The first product in the EOMA-68 family, also nearing a critical phase in its development, will be the KDE Flying Squirrel, a 7-in, user-upgradeable tablet featuring the KDE Plasma Active operating system. Laptops, desktops, game consoles, user-upgradeable LCD monitors and other products are to follow. And every CPU that goes into the products will be pre-vetted for full GPL compliance, with software releases even before the product goes out the door. That's what we've promised to do: to provide Free Software developers with the opportunity to be involved with mass-volume product development every step of the way. We're also on the look-out for an FSF-Endorseable processor which also meets mass-volume criteria, which is proving... challenging."
As the sort of person who is interested in up-gradable hardware, this is actually very exciting. I realize this may go against the spirit of a "throw away" consumer culture, but its a fun hobby.
this is precisely what we're setting out to show the mass-volume appliance industry, that there are people who *want* to buy product that is upgradeable and eco-conscious. strategically, what we're counting on is the fact that the "chassis" and "cpu cards" will be made separately in such high volume that the overhead of EOMA-68 (which is currently about $6 on the BOM in the 10k volumes range) will come down significantly and, also, that people will begin to recognise the value of the upgradeable approach and will actively seek out products and be prepared to pay the extra overhead, precisely because they DON'T have to shell out for an entire new product - just one or other half that they want, and they can even share the CPU Card between products, thus reducing the cost *overall* of buying multiple products.
i don't know if you've seen the cost of a motorola atrix lapdock: you can get them for around $70 [get the revision 1 don't buy the revision 2 they're locked to a specific USB device id!]. that gives you some idea of the extra cost of the CPU, RAM, NAND flash etc. which would normally go into a full "one PCB" style laptop. if you can share that cost across multiple products by only buying one really great CPU Card and three low-cost "Chassis" products, think how much money you saved rather than having to buy 3 products with 3 CPUs and 3 sets of RAM that you're never going to use all at once.
food for thought, huh?