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Bunnie Huang's Novena Open Source Laptop Launches Via Crowd Supply

Posted by samzenpus on from the laptop-of-the-people dept.

First time accepted submitter ogcricket (3557713) writes with news about a new laptop designed by Andrew Huang and Sean Cross. "Earlier this year, the two Singapore-based engineers fashioned a laptop made almost entirely from open source hardware, hardware whose designs are freely available to the world at large. They called it Project Novena. Anyone could review the designs, looking for bugs and security flaws, and at least in theory, that meant you could be confident the machine was secure from top to bottom, something that’s more desirable than ever in the post-Edward Snowden age....The original idea was simply to encourage others to build their own open source laptops at home. But now the pair are taking the project a step further. Starting today, you can order your own pre-built Novena laptop through the crowd-funding site Crowd Supply, and it will ship out in the coming weeks. Much like Kickstarter, Crowd Supply is place where you can put up money to help fund a company and then get a product in exchange."

7 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Great little IMX6 board with embedded FPGA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am working on Fedora builds for it -- pics of it on my bench here and here.

  2. Re:Great project, but.... by H0p313ss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    $1,995 for a laptop??

    How does an open-source machine cost so much more than a closed, proprietary one sold by a for-profit corporation?

    Volume

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  3. Time to change the rallying cry... by Kenja · · Score: 3, Funny

    Free as in a 200 year old single malt scotch. Beer just doesn't cut it at these prices.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  4. Missing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hear you about the price, and merely being open source and secure is not what makes this laptop awesome.

    This isn't just a laptop, it's a hacktop. It's the equivalent of a portable electronics lab. It has GPIO headers and an integrated FPGA. There are no laptops in existence with these kind of features.

    Bunnie started out just building the laptop for himself, as it's OBVIOUSLY not the most price efficient way to do things, but builders, engineers, and hackers wanted this. They know what they're getting.

  5. Re:Holy smoking wallets, Batman! by complete+loony · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you just want a laptop, this isn't for you. Think of it as a portable workstation with FPGA and other features for rapid hardware prototyping and hacking.

    Personally I think it would be more usable with the traditional clamshell design. Right off the bat, you're going to need another layer of protection for the screen and somewhere to store a keyboard before you can consider lugging this thing around.

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    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
  6. Re:Great project, but.... by Useless · · Score: 3, Funny

    How does an open-source machine cost so much more than a closed, proprietary one sold by a for-profit corporation?

    Volume

    OK: HOW DOES AN OPEN-SOURCE MACHINE COST SO MUCH MORE..

    --
    "Even Prophets don't know everything"
  7. Re:Holy smoking wallets, Batman! by msauve · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Think of it as a workstation with a processor as powerful as cell phone.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law