following in footsteps of open-pandora.org with a 100% free software laptop - anyone interested?
i'm contacting this list because i believe that it will have a high
concentration of people who may be interested in having a
non-Intel-based 100% free software compatible laptop: if i am mistaken
in that assumption, i apologise: feel free to hit delete and ignore
this message.
in order to avoid sending a looong message to this list, here is a
link instead to the original, which i recommend that you read _before_
asking any questions (esp. to list) along the lines of "have you done
your research before putting this in front of us?" to which the answer
will be "yes: lots. read the link and you'd see":
http://advogato.org/person/lkcl/diary/649.html
the basic question is this: is there anyone else who is fed up of not
being able to get a decent non-x86 laptop, fed up enough to group
together with _other_ people also fed up, such that, through sheer
bulk purchasing power, it's possible to get what you want
made-to-order?
this was - is - the success story behind the http://open-pandora.org.
2 years ago, 4,000 people said "yes! here's my money!" when the OP
designers asked the exact same kind of question on the gpx32.com
forums. the result is a micro-laptop costing around $300, which is
just going into mass-production now (see status page).
so - replicating that, but in the context of "100% free software
laptop" rather than "games console masquerading as micro-laptop", i am
_guessing_ that these are the kinds of basic specs that people would
be interested in (but see advogato diary link above for full "guess")
* 1ghz CPU, 1gb of DDR2 RAM, 1gb NAND Flash, bootable SD/MMC
* minimum of 1200 x 768 screen (i.e anything that calls itself WXGA)
* 10in+ screen size (but keeping to a size which doesn't eat power)
* 8+ hour battery life (see above)
* decent keyboard (e.g. the one on the Asus 1000HE)
* nipple as well as trackpad - and a _decent_ trackpad
i come to _approximately_ a $212 BOM if you use a 1ghz Samsung S5PC110
or a Freescale 1ghz iMX51, and you "reuse" an EXISTING case design.
there _are_ ways to get cheaper than that, but it would be
intolerable: the point is to have a decent machine not a mass-market
cost-shaved one that has unsatisfactory compromises.
so the opportunity i'm inviting people to consider is this: _talk_ to
one another; if you feel that you're not the only one who would like a
decent non-x86 laptop, one that's actually designed with free software
and free software users in mind, _say_ so.
don't let the mass-market retailers make that decision for you,
because you know full well that they think you will only buy a windows
laptop, and will charge you for the privilege. so - **** 'em, let's
cut them out the loop.
ideas, input, feedback welcome. talk to one another. think about it.
what could you get made, if there were 1000 or 5000 other people who
wanted what you also would like, and how do you find out who those
other people are?
l.
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