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Bunnie Huang Shows Off His Open Source Laptop (Video)
Bunnie Huang is both a hardware and software hacker, but that's greatly understating the case: renaissance man is more like it. Bunnie doesn't just tinker with one-off system modifications or console mods (though he's done that, too) -- he creates and repurposes at scale. (He's also an author, respected researcher with interesting thoughts on a wide range of topics, like how to think of the H1N1 flu from the point of view of a security researcher.) Bunnie's latest long-term project has been mentioned a few times on Slashdot: It's an open-source laptop computer that goes much farther than some other open-source hardware projects, and as a bonus includes an FPGA as well as a conventional -- but unusual -- processor. (Bunnie grants that there are still bits that aren't quite open source, but points out that we also don't have the software that runs the fabs; there's a point of diminishing returns.) A crowd funding campaign (via CrowdSupply) was successful enough to also fund several stretch goals, including a general purpose breakout board. I talked with Bunnie at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire. (Expect more from that show in coming weeks.) He walked us through the state of the hardware, and talked about some of the design decisions that go into making a computer that is of, by, and for hackers. (Alternate video link)
His standard of open source is very different from the IBM BIOS rewrite:
Novena PVT HW Design Source
if you go there you can download all board design files to go make the PCBs and get them populated at your favorite board shop. (mechanical sources for the case are also available). This allows anyone to make improvements to the hardware as well as the software and feed it back into the community.
He also made component selections that further the open source accessibility: the CPU does not require an NDA to get the full documentation (unlike, say, the Broadcom chip in the Pi, or any Marvell chip ever), and the same goes for the rest of the chips on the board. No Bluetooth since ALL BT chips require a blob driver, but he can include a WiFi card that has open source firmware so he does.
The campaign was successful enough that they have also partnered with Jon Nettleton to create an open source driver for the 2d/3d graphics blocks inside the CPU which only has a proprietary driver now, this will help every Linux distro and user that has an i.MX6 board from any vendor run a completely open stack.
Feel free to correct my impression that after someone rewrote the IBM BIOS not everyone could go download IBMs design files (note: this is different than having "PC/AT compatible" designs)