- arm-netbook - Mailman test

Development boards for GuixSD Developers
by Louis Pearson 20 May '17

20 May '17

I asked over on the Guix development list if anyone would be interested in a dev board to help port GuixSD to the eoma68 board. So far there are two people who are interested. I've added them to http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/ and I'm making sure I haven't jumped the gun or anything. Does this look okay?

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Re: [Arm-netbook] rk3399 what full schematics does lkcl want?
by ronwirring＠Safe-mail.net 20 May '17

20 May '17

-------- Original Message -------- From: Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> Apparently from: arm-netbook-bounces(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk To: Eco-Conscious Computing <arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] rk3399 what full schematics does lkcl want? Date: Thu, 18 May 2017 23:35:37 +0100 > --- > crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68 > > > On Thu, May 18, 2017 at 8:51 PM, <ronwirring(a)safe-mail.net> wrote: > > > lkcl says, he cannot make use of the rk3399 cpu > > no, i did not say that. i specifically said that it would be a total > waste of my time to *CONSIDER* using the rk3399 until *full reference > design CAD source files are available* > > > because he does not have the full schematics. > > no, i said full reference design PCB and schematic *CAD* files: > that's completely different, as full schematics are usually provided > in "PDF" format which are completely f*****g useless as you have to > re-enter absolutely everything into the CAD design system and it takes > weeks if not months... *and then you have to do the PCB as well*. > > > What are these schematics? > > you mean full reference design PCB and schematic CAD files. > > examples include: > > * http://beagleboard.org/hardware/design search that page for the > words "allegro" and "orcad" > * https://www.kosagi.com/w/index.php?title=Novena_PVT_Design_Source > search that page for "altium source" > * https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware and again look for the > ".DSN" (orcad) and ".brd" (allegro) files > * https://github.com/radxa/oshw/tree/master/rock_pro likewise > > and many, many more. Jetson TK1, Sabre Lite, Sabre iMX7 - there are > absolutely loads of examples. > > > > Can you tell in advance what schematics are required? > > you mean full reference design PCB and schematic CAD files. yes you > can tell: the best ones contain both an example PMIC layout as well as > the DDR RAM layout. the *absolute* best ones are a fully-working > board (typically named EVB - evaluation board) but a "beaglebone" or > somesuch will do just as well. > > a full reference design basically allows a transformation into a > fully working Card to take place in as little as three weeks. > > the ones that are a pain are the ones that *only* contain an example > DDR RAM layout to the processor. but this alone saves LITERALLY > months of effort. > > > Can you name them? > > name them... sort-of. > > words to use when doing google searches include "BSP" or "EVB" but if > that doesn't work try "{processor name} space {PCB CAD Design Package > name}" > > > Or do you require all of the full schematics? > > the more that is available the less time and money is wasted. > > > You do not know what schematics you require until you have read the full schematics? > > if you just want to READ the schematics you can do that with the > auto-generated (read-only) PDF that is otherwise f******g useless for > doing actual modifications because it's a read-only output from the > CAD package. > > obviously this will however allow you to assess whether the SOURCE of > the CAD files will be any good, such that you can decide whether > you're wasting your time or not. > > for example, it's no good if you have a tiny board and the PDF shows > that the design has (and requires) 8 DDR RAM ICs. or, if it uses > LPDDR RAM or uses POP (package-on-packagee) RAM, you need to make a > decision about that (see the neo900 nightmare they just had because > they picked a POP RAM) > > but once you have reviewed the *READ-ONLY* PDF, even if you obtain > the schematic SOURCE file, you STILL cannot make a final decision > because you NEED TO SEE THE PCB CAD LAYOUT FILE AS WELL. > > the PCB CAD file contains the footprints of the ICs, it contains > tracks laid out, ground planes all done and completed, and a huge > range of engineering expertise including R.F. and E.M. expertise of > the person who did the layout, all done, all of which you DO NOT HAVE > TO DUPLICATE. > > but sometimes the distance between the SoC and the RAM ICs will be > too great: in a small PCB the ICs would not fit, so you would need to > consider *modifying* one of the most difficult and challenging areas > to get right (the DDR layout). that's just nuts: you'd be wasting > your time, so it would be better to find a completely new layout that > someone else has already done. > > sometimes the PMIC (power management ICs) are in the wrong place for > the target PCB size you want, so you have to work out how to move (or > re-lay-out) those, or replace them entirely. that is a whole can of > worms on its own, so again it would be better to see if you can find a > new layout that's been tested and known to work. > > basically it's a hell of a lot of work even to *evaluate* a Reference Design. > > l. > I do not know about this. I understood it all wrong. I thought it was a matter of tfirefly withholding part of the full schematics. Is it correct to say, that the pdf schematics provide the required pieces of information for an eoma rk3399 pc card? Is it correct to say, that pdf full schematics are not easy usable for you in order to make an eoma rk3399 pc card? It is a matter of transforming pdf data into cad data? Having rk3399 cad data, you can make an eoma rk3399? Does tfirefly have the firefly rk3399 cad data? If so, why won't tfirefly make them public? Because a license prohibits it? Because competitors can use them? Lkcl, have you asked tfirefly to give you the full schematics cad data? Because I got to think, you said tfirefly is withholding some schematics, I wrote tfirefly asking them to email me the full schematics. Tfirefly never denied, that they had not made the full schematics public. They said, they could not disclose the full schematics. Maybe due to a lack of english skills on both sides. Then what should you ask tfirefly for? Full schematics cad data? > _______________________________________________ > arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk > http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook > Send large attachments to arm-netbook(a)files.phcomp.co.uk

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3D printing requirements
by Vincent 19 May '17

19 May '17

Hi Luke, I saw your recent update on crowdsupply. Could you please list the specific requirements you need for 3d printing? Otherwise it will be difficult to help you out. Ideally, you can provide us with the following data: - maximum print dimension in width X length (e.g., 200x200mm) - minimum wall thickness (e.g., 1mm) - smallest detail (e.g., 0.3mm) Also, having a single component of the casework as a sample print could be helpful (meaning: if this prints OK, we would expect that all the other components are of equal quality). I value your quality-first approach and do not want to settle for less. We have a couple of decent 3dprinting suppliers in Germany which I did use in the past (though, for tiny objects only). I could offer to get quotes from them and/or do some negotiating. Also, check their quality based on the sample component to print (which I could also send to you). Another approach could be to distribute the load: There are many hacker/maker spaces around the world. Many of them do have 3d printers and offer printing at much cheaper rates. I do have good friends at a maker space with an Ultimaker 2+ and most of the time the printer is idle. Since they are a registered voluntary association, they are always interested in receiving minor donations in return for services. I could ask them to print a couple of cases? Another idea: How about buying 10 Ultimaker+ and selling them via crowdsupply as part of the EOMA68 campaign (with a reasonable deduction, due to the reason being used)? You did address PLA a couple of times. How about the resin option? Any specifics? How many people ordered it? Cheers, Vincent

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beowulf clustering EOMA68
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 19 May '17

19 May '17

On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 5:08 AM, Neil Jansen <njansen1(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Thu, May 18, 2017 at 11:29 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton > <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: > >> size, power budget. in about 5-8 years it won't be an issue. >> EOMA200 is better suited to clustering. bigger PCB size and a much >> higher power budget. > > I'm not really concerned about size. What do you mean by power budget? 5W per card in the current standard, with an "option" to increase that to 10W *if the housing supports it*. that means having sufficient thermal cooling/ > What's to stop me or anyone else from buying, say, 8x EOMA68's and > networking them? nothing. > (gigabit or otherwise)? no ethernet. USB3 *if the Card supports it*... which the A20 doesn't. > Assuming that a backplane is the > only thing in the way, that could happen pretty easily. The only other > thing missing at that point would be availability of the 1st gen cards, but > that should get better in time, I'd think. Cost wise it's still less than > an Intel NUC, if you're not counting the cost of the backplane. you can't get a 1000 pin 15W *processor* nor can you get 128-bit-wide DDR3 memory bus bandwidth into an EOMA68 case. ok the latter you might be able to do if you used 4x 32-bit-wide LPDDR3 RAM ICs but the entire 5W power budget would be blown on running the RAM even at only around 1066mhz.

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rk3399 what full schematics does lkcl want?
by ronwirring＠Safe-mail.net 18 May '17

18 May '17

lkcl says, he cannot make use of the rk3399 cpu because he does not have the full schematics. What are these schematics? Can you tell in advance what schematics are required? Can you name them? Or do you require all of the full schematics? You do not know what schematics you require until you have read the full schematics?

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Sourcing PCMCIA type 2 and type 3 cases
by ronwirring＠Safe-mail.net 17 May '17

17 May '17

-------- Original Message -------- From: Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> Apparently from: arm-netbook-bounces(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk To: Eco-Conscious Computing <arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] Sourcing PCMCIA type 2 and type 3 cases Date: Tue, 16 May 2017 20:55:43 +0100 > --- > crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68 > > > On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 8:35 PM, Vincent <ml.eoma68(a)eml.cc> wrote: > > Hi Luke, > > > > Hm, that is sad. I somewhat fear that these cases are being phased out > > and soon will no longer be available :-/ > > no - there are at least two big customers still ordering these > specific parts. one is in korea, the other is the french "Conditional > Access Module" industry. Is the pc card's casing this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional-access_module > > also i've ordered 2,000 of each (case and connector) so should have plenty. > > > Does he have both type 2 and type 3 cases? > > no. type II only. > > > I saw some type 3 cases with > > screws and everything which lead me to the conclusion that it could > > actually be possible to open/close them and insert/remove the PCB that > > is inside? For type 2, this appears not to be possible? > > the litkconn P/N 68F casework basically is a "total disassmbly" job. > it's a pain in the ass and takes several minutes. > > > If it is about receiving data, I can basically set up pretty much > > everything, e.g.: receive via email, dedicated GIT, anonymous file drop > > off, etc. ;-) > > yay, great. > > _______________________________________________ > arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk > http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook > Send large attachments to arm-netbook(a)files.phcomp.co.uk

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Totally derailed topic
by doark＠mail.com 17 May '17

17 May '17

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 I apologize for DOS'ing the list, I can only get online about once a week. On Mon, 24 Apr 2017 14:27:00 +0000 Lyberta <lyberta(a)lyberta.net> wrote: > > Christopher Havel: > > @ Lyberta -- I'll just say that I don't think it's any healthier to be > > wanting to kill other people than it is to be wanting to kill > > yourself. Somehow that doesn't fit my definition of 'normal'. But > > that's me -- and I don't want to, you know, tell you how to think. > > Not my job. So I'll drop this for now, except to say that pills can > > do you a world of good if you let them. > > This is a humane execution. They turn you into a vegetable and other > people think you are awake, but you are asleep, you have no coherent > thoughts. I have gained 40 kgs under antipsychotics and now I have > problems standing up and sitting down, I have low blood pressure, my > knees hurt a lot, I can barely walk anymore. I'm just a lump of fat now. > Lump of fat that waits for the world to kill it. @ Lyberta, I've been thinking a lot about what you wrote, what I'm about to write could be totally wrong, but if I'm right it would lead to a cure for you. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I do know what a request for help from anyone, anyone at all, looks like. I suspect that you might be more intelligent than people give you credit for. I suspect that you're caught in the ultimate trap, weather you realize it consciously it or not. You see, when philosophers first removed God from their philosophies they are tasked then with trying to find a purpose to life. As others on this list pointed out becoming a homicidal maniac is pointless, but as the aforementioned philosophers found, the universe will eventually end and all that is, or was, or could be, or could have been will cease to exist. They were thus confounded in the question that never has been answered by atheists. That would be, "When should I die." and more generally, "What is the point of it all." I've seen many people caught in this trap, perhaps without knowing it. They start off as fun people capable of much, as they age they realize what they have not done, and what they are not and probably will never be. They then try things like suicide, or boasting, and thus they loose those qualities which draw others to them if not their life as well. I think you're caught in the same trap, unable to realize your own potential for lack of a moral standard (it also suffers as a result of an Atheistic philosophy), and unable to accept a pointless existence. You see, Killing others would be something (you describe laughing at them and being rid of them), and killing yourself would cause you to no longer think about your problems. So my theory would at least satisfy both of your, ahem, ravings, in as much as it would point to a root cause of both. I said above that "I suspect that you might be more intelligent than people give you credit for," and here is what I mean. If you can reason that far, even subconsciously, then you have gotten farther then most in as much as you realize the lack of adequate solutions. Put another way, you are way up there with the very best Atheistic minds. Now I could easily go on, but I think that I'll leave you with a hopefully clearer understanding of what is bothering you. As Mr. Havel pointed out, I don't intend to tell you how to think, and ultimately, more people are cured everyday of mentally related problems by their own minds then drugs, or what others tell them. Think about it, panic, too much and a person can't function, too little and they are lackadaisical. Or fear, or pain, or love (I'm talking emotional attraction), or well, anything. In any and all cases I think you might enjoy a book that is eyeopening, insightful and uplifting, with respect to the world around you, as opposed to your more dreary, despairing, world view. This would at least give you lots of interesting and worthwhile things to think about IMHO and it would be something that even a vegetable could do :) I'd suggest "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis and "The phantom Toll Both" by Norton Juster. It is from "The Chronicles of Narnia" that we get the quote "Oh my mistress do not by any means destroy yourself, for if you live you may yet have good fortune, but all the dead are dead alike!" The very best, David -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIzBAEBCAAdFiEEL2N7+xWmVOJDQxWGm3XCrhg2YP8FAlkPgs4ACgkQm3XCrhg2 YP9kaxAA58VjxuBdopWgK2Po9nyUfXZmCtv3bq8fL7JoGD8/bQ0aLk9JpvtNm6J4 ZOIjtJzcz8Kdfap3v3ry6CwqXqY7yYnzFkLuCqVLxER7+WXe1F7fOlgupq+GGZAb nwgqoObJJbQR/TD3SKgUHJ3/tPykb2jWN9Kqorgr97DserqRG8hIOgqFN4pKo+8o bDxqKUpGzRIcSX6k3edt6G0I0aJTPwQVW6kegN3BEvOj3PlGByrg2mhWUPZXF4Da A9aQKAUfEJyyqjboeILi1MlIg9CJJjEpImCqvre19Y6b0s203D+epVn3sqCZcYTo MS/uYRk87GKU0zq15WO1lmNtprptXmDGob3YrI8CjocEUpgxqeZ9hwXniDnXHt2C zo6odx40sn283k/8lPA+Tfsc8CdhAs5b4QkNQtkRnZjFxJPaUe4diBhfWPyJHA4+ GhxFeC9Lpgh7ftAMAJfRRDuOqQ7juUHSmbJmulvUwf55sAzA4miP9qdrvR9zDIIz 8goJDinuU1IwTlDCjiGUDE3RMdHeNxwLoI2wtqsOErSJJunkd6zxUq/gy+1wZljd uvMAZpqy5ni6gc8+Ck5D7DFSl4WFfR/LbwTjoTY7Mii+2ipkbU+dQgm0IiFPmJIZ Beink0Hv7kBga1aAz5xe7/IdeG0kH0GXUn+/W2uEV27EuG4sWQ8= =BlCA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Sourcing PCMCIA type 2 and type 3 cases
by Vincent 16 May '17

16 May '17

Hi everyone, I just did a little digging to find suitable sources for these cases. Since working on the i.MX7-based card, I would really like to tinker with the cases, too. Two samples of each type would be nice. Any idea where to get them? Unfortunately, I could not find a good source. Thanks, Vincent

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EOMA68 card based on NXP i.MX7 (work in progress)
by Vincent 16 May '17

16 May '17

Hi everybody, Since this is my first post on this list, please allow me to get off my chest a few things: - huge thanks to Luke for getting this project started - me = funding a PFY laptop, eagerly awaiting for it to arrive ;-) - me = working at a research institute, focused on hardware security As a private individual but also as at work, having an EOMA68 card based on an NXP i.MX7 would be very useful. It is a powerful processor with a heterogeneous architecture (2x A7, 1x M4) which makes it an interesting choice for energy-limited applications (M4 can turn off/on A7) and scenarios where safety/security are important (M4 can do real-time aside from workload on A7). The i.MX7 has many useful security features (crypto accelerators, high-assurance boot, TrustZone, etc.). An initial check with the EOMA68 infrastructure indicates compatibility. My personal goals with this are as follows: - Create an EOMA68 card with i.MX7 to complement my research (in fact, I simply need a good demo for the stuff I'm doing) - Provide the community an even better microprocessor card - Have a complex PCB project to learn along the way (I did PCB designs beforehand but never that complex) The project outline is roughly as follows: - 1 Use a phyBOARD-Zeta and a set of adapters to check compatibility of the i.MX7 and the EOMA68 infrastructure once the PFY laptop arrives [1] - 2 Create a PCMCIA-II card featuring the i.MX7 (goal: release as board + schematics to the public) - 3 Create a PCMCIA-III card protected with a high-security tamper-resistant enclosure that makes physical access improbable (I will not comment on this prior to publication as it is my research project), check for example [2] What would be of interest to me is the following: - How well the idea of having an i.MX7 card is received - How important the use of an open source CAD program is. I have access to Altium and have used it beforehand. However, KiCad has made significant progress since CERN is involved. Using KiCad would make it easier for the community to modify the board but since soldering these components by hand is impossible anyway, would there be any benefit in having freely accessible design files? - General interest in a tamper-resistant enclosure To make the development easier, it would be nice if Luke could provide us (the community) with: - proper drawings for the outline of his PCB - PCMCIA connector type/enclosure and height requirements of PCB - mechanical verification package (as order option on crowdsupply) to provide a "getting-you-started" package for EOMA68 card developers; possibly including: PCMCIA receptable, connector, enclosure, etc. Please let me know what you think. Also, please keep in mind that this is a kind of fun project for me at work and therefore the time I can spend on this is limited. Progress will be slow but I will be sending updates to the mailing list. Cheers, Vincent [1] http://www.phytec.eu/product/single-board-computer/phyboard-zeta/ [2] http://www.design-shift.com/orwl/

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IRC chat channel for EOMA68
by Dave Haeffner 16 May '17

16 May '17

Hey all, I saw mention of an IRC chat channel on the EOMA68 Crowd Supply site, but no specifics about it. Is it on freenode or somewhere else? What's the chat room name? Cheers, Dave H

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What's your EOMA card doing
by mike.valk＠gmail.com 15 May '17

15 May '17

Let's have a "What's your EOMA card doing" site so the world can see where and how long cards are alive and what use they have. Perhaps have each card have a, printed, unique number. So it's journey can be followed. This obviously has security and privacy issues attached so it would need a lot of thinking through. What does everyone else thinks of this?

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Re: [Arm-netbook] GR8 based EOMA68 card
by Ismo Väänänen 15 May '17

15 May '17

>Wouldn't the PCMCIA card thickness be an issue when using a CPU module? According to the mechanical drawing on page 32 of the v1.0 GR8 datasheet the SoM is at maximum 1.12mm thick. This should fit nicely inside even the 3.5mm typeI EOMA68 case. https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP_Pro-Hardware/blob/master/Datasheets/GR8… -Ismo

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Changed list-id
by Elena ``of Valhalla'' 13 May '17

13 May '17

Hello I've just noticed that the list-id for this list has been changed: would it be possible to announce it in advance so that people have time to update their filters? BTW, I think that the current list-id also has a typo, so am I correct in thinking that it will probably change again in the future? -- Elena ``of Valhalla''

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Solid wood corner prototype
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 11 May '17

11 May '17

On Thu, May 11, 2017 at 10:50 AM, Tor, the Marqueteur <Marqueteur(a)fineartmarquetry.com> wrote: > I never got a reply to this message, and seeing you ready to send the > microdesktop PCB to production, I thought I ought to make sure you saw > it, Luke. i did see it - i either replied or decided i didn't have time to take up the ideas: no on doing PCB redesigns, that's for sure: it's something like $600 a shot for the layer 2 PCBs plus assembly and takes about 3 weeks. time to move on. it's only 450 units. if it was 5,000 i'd do things differently. l.

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list posting etiquette
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 11 May '17

11 May '17

On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 3:34 AM, Kyle <kyle(a)free2.ml> wrote: > Damn. You know a list has been taken over by posting nazis when entire > threads get hijacked just to tell anyone who cares to listen that someone > top posted, and that breaks someone's flow. nooo: it means that we have new people whom we need to accommodate and teach them how to not disrupt communication with over 400 other people. as we get new people, that discussion naturally needs to take place regularly. > Well, here's the deal. My e-mail > client is threaded, so I see the whole conversation in order. It just flows > naturally that way. indeed... but you are just one of the 400+ people. i don't use a threaded email client; others may use mutt, and so on. > If I want to read the same messages over and over, all I > have to do is open them as many times as I want. There is therefore no need > to quote anything at all, as I have the entire context. there is no need to quote anything at all... *for you*, as *you* have the entire context, and have an email client where it is convenient to review prior messages very very easily. a busy person (one who has hundreds of messages a day) would not have the time to do that - hence the reason why there are rules about providing (and cutting unnecessary) context. > I'm looking at you > especially, hard-core bottom posters, hard-core bottom-posting is just as bad, as is not cutting extraneous context > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > On Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 8:42 PM, "Person B" <person.b(a)othermail.ext> > wrote: >> On Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 8:34 PM, "Person A" <person.a(a)email.ext> wrote: >> > On Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 8:32 PM, "Person B" <person.b(a)othermail.ext> >> > wrote: >> > > On Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 8:30 PM, "Person A" <person.a(a)email.ext> this kind of thing - not cutting extraneous context - is *really* irritating to have to read through. like the wikipedia page says, and every netiquette page says, it's really important to remove anything (but ONLY anything) which is not needed. the remaining context should make the ongoing immediate discussion "understandable". issues that have already been discussed, resolved and do not need to be repeated should be removed. it's pretty sensible stuff > I find this list to be quite informative, and I see a lot of good things > coming in the hopefully not-too-distant future because of the ongoing work > that is taking place here, as well as on various pages and articles linked > here. However, post police hijacking threads to tell people they're posting > wrong, when all they want to do is contribute to the discussion is > counterproductive at best, has happened 2 to 3 times just on this list in > the past 24 hours, please be patient: we have new people coming in all the time. > has completely derailed a thread at least once in that > time and is enough to make people who otherwise have good contributions want > to leave. well, one of the things we don't unfortunately enforce properly is good subject-line management, which would allow people to select the topics that they're interested in. so, i'm going to try to start doing that and would appreciate people doing the same. l.

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Solid wood corner prototype
by Tor, the Marqueteur 11 May '17

11 May '17

Thought I'd give a try at how a solid wood version would come out. Here is the result of about 45 minutes prototyping with a piece of 3/8" Cherry I had lying around. A couple notes: The 5/64" (.078", 1.98mm) bit has some tendency to wander, as can be seen in the holes. I also goofed the measurement so these are 11/16" instead of 9/16" wide. I didn't notice that until I was nearly done, and figured that since they weren't actually going to be used it didn't matter. I also didn't add the slot for the PCB, mostly because I wasn't sure of the size, and I didn't have the appropriate cutter lying close by. I have a couple thoughts on that. Tor -- Tor Chantara http://www.fineartmarquetry.com/ 808-828-1107 GPG Key: 2BE1 426E 34EA D253 D583 9DE4 B866 0375 134B 48FB *Be wary of unsigned emails* Stop spying: http://www.resetthenet.org/

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11may2017 - waiting for PCBs, doing 3D printing / printers
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 11 May '17

11 May '17

ok so quick status update: * microdesktop v1.7 pcb: done. can go to production * microdesktop case design: 2nd revision needs to be tested * laptop PCB1: PCB's made, at factory, needs assembly * laptop PCB2: PCB's made, at factory, needs assembly. * laptop PCB3: spotted a flaw, needs a 5V power regulator added plus a way to do dual-power. * laptop PCB4 (actually for a new design "All-in-one PC"), PCB's made, at factory, needs assembly * EOMA68-A20 revision 2.7.4: PCB's made, at factory, components being ordered, needs assembly. * 3D printer from taobao: totally rubbish. undergoing MAJOR redesign just to recover the parts. * Anycubic 3D printer from aliexpress: works okay, max print speed 50mm/sec, it's "doing the job" * Research into new design of 3D printer started: http://reprap.org/wiki/Riki200 * EOMA68-iMX7 started with vincent: files to be handed over soon. i think that's most things. most of it is "waiting". for the laptop PCBs it'll be a few more weeks, then i'll be able to test out the new Frida 2.8in LCD, see if that's good. i also still have to test the passthrough card and check its HDMI conversion before sending it out for a new revision. designing a new 3D printer is a surprise but i feel it's essential. at least 10 3D printers need to be bought, and they need to be decent quality at a budget of around $USD 200 to 250. now if that means i have to design an actual 3D printing board to meet that budget then it's easily justifiable thanks to the numbers. i think what i will do is put the printer onto a crowdfunding campaign: if i'm making 10 already then if there's even one more person who wants one that's good enough. one thing that's completely awesome and a drop-in upgrade: the Flex3Drive direct-drive adapter: https://flex3drive.com/product/flex3drive-direct-drive-adaptor/ this basically drops into place of a standard NEMA17 so is far far lighter in weight, then there's a flexible driveshaft on a 40:1 wormdrive so the motor is static. you get the best of both bowden *and* direct drive, *without* the disadvantages of either, *and* a far higher gear ratio, in one fell swoop. totally awesome and a real simple decision to adopt. l. --- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68

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eoma68 router (qca9531)
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 10 May '17

10 May '17

okaaay so the plan is to restart the eoma68 router project, this time with a pre-existing reference design based on the QCA9531. that has a PCIe interface, USB2 and a 5-port GbE *and* a 2x2 2.4ghz WIFI antenna. full source is available for everything so it can be entirely libre and RYF Certified. the advantage of having an EOMA68 Card in the router should be clear: the Card will have considerably more resources: RAM, CPU cycles etc. meaning that VPNs can be done without high latency, yet take advantage of the LAN capabilities of the 5-port... you could put in a MiniPCIe Card (a *proper* one) e.g. a 3G/4G/LTE Modem, WIMAX, 802.11ac... blah blah. the tricky bit: connecting the EOMA68 Card to the QCA9531. now, i took a look at the Reference Design and i *really* do not want to touch the layout for the GbE, WIFI or PCIe. so i figured, why not connect the EOMA68 USB2 host interface back-to-back with the QCA9531's USB host? turns out that something called the Cypress AN2720 can do exactly that, and it comes up as a cdc_subset of the usbnet linux kernel driver. yay! quick search online: the datasheet is publicly available, easy to find on digikey. yay! so i would assume, because it's not an actual 10/100 ethernet, that it would run at (saturate) the full 480mb/sec of USB2. so not quite GbE speeds but pretty damn close. yay! anyway should be quite straightforward. l. --- crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68

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Re: [Arm-netbook] firefly 3399 all source software disclosed?
by ronwirring＠Safe-mail.net 10 May '17

10 May '17

-------- Original Message -------- From: Allan Mwenda <allanitomwesh(a)gmail.com> Apparently from: arm-netbook-bounces(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk>, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] firefly 3399 all source software disclosed? Date: Tue, 09 May 2017 08:24:02 +0300 > Quick give this man $150K for a libre CPU > > On 8 May 2017 18:43:07 GMT+03:00, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: > > > > On Mon, May 8, 2017 at 4:27 PM, <ronwirring(a)safe-mail.net> wrote: > > > > > > Best knowledge is, that new intel and amd processors cannot be reverse engineered. > > > What in regard of the latest mali gpus? > > > If you have the money, they can be reverse engineered? > > > > yes. about $150k would do it. but the question is, really: what would happen if you did? and, what else could you do with the same money? well, with the same money it would be possible to make our own libre processor, with enough extensions to be able to do 3D graphics *without* paying anyone a cent. any company tries to claim patent royalties, all that happens is a search is made on their "claims", for anything similar that has prior art. if it's another company, guess what? we notify that other company and watch the fireworks... l. arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook Send large attachments to arm-netbook(a)files.phcomp.co.uk > > > > -- > Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. How can you make an arm gpu for 150000usd? How would you use it? Would you put it additionally on a bord and not use the gpu located on the processor socket? If you reverse engineer the latest mali gpu, what you hold against it is, that when next version of an arm socket is for sale it will have a new mali gpu and require a new reverse engineering? Lets say 50000 people would buy the filrefly rk3399. Same people would pay 3eu each for reverse engineering the gpu. Then we would have a source code arm computer? It takes a lot of coordination to provide gnulinux distributions I assume. It is unfortunate people are not able to coordinate such that we can get source code hardware.

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I saw your recent update, Luke
by zap 10 May '17

10 May '17

Just one question, I am assuming since there will be internal sd cards that your replacing one or both of the internal usbs? or am I wrong? By the way, I have a suggestion if you feel up to it, Debian 9 seems to be very close to stable, if you feel like it, and anyone wants it, install it for them. Whenever I order it, probably that will be what I will want. Using Debian 9 right now to be honest. It seems more stable then Debian 8 to me. just a thought. I wish you the best of luck, not that you will need it. :) Hoping you don't get sick again also, I am glad you will be sticking the libre guidelines. Even if it is a pain in the butt to be putting it lightly I am sure.

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Laptop Power Input?
by Alexander Ross 10 May '17

10 May '17

Not sure what the power input for laptop is? 5V i think but at how many amps? I seen 3A for the cpu card... So i guess a 2.4A usb power supply won’t be suitable? Cus if it will work well from 2.4A 5V input, then i was thinking of getting this usb power supply. 6port version, really nice, efficient : https://www.mymemory.co.uk/anker-powerport-6-2-4a-usb-desktop-charger-white…

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Re: [Arm-netbook] eoma68 router (qca9531)
by Allan Mwenda 09 May '17

09 May '17

The 9590 cards are PCIe hope this helps http://www.neobits.com/compex_wle350nx_7b0000_compex_wle350nx_p9420581.html https://wikidevi.com/files/datasheets/compex/WLE350NX_DSv1.0.7.pdf and http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/airetos-aex-ar9590-ni.html http://www.airetos.com/products/aex-ar9590-ni/ On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 5:11 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: > --- > crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68 > > > On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 3:05 PM, Allan Mwenda <allanitomwesh(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > Is msata okay? I know its sold as Compex msata cards > > http://www.electronicdesign.com/memory/what-s-difference- > between-mpcie-and-msata > > answer: no. you specifically want a PCIe SSD. > > l. >

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Re: [Arm-netbook] firefly 3399 all source software disclosed?
by ronwirring＠Safe-mail.net 09 May '17

09 May '17

Best knowledge is, that new intel and amd processors cannot be reverse engineered. What in regard of the latest mali gpus? If you have the money, they can be reverse engineered? -------- Original Message -------- From: Lauri Kasanen <cand(a)gmx.com> Apparently from: arm-netbook-bounces(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk To: Linux on small ARM machines <arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk> Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] firefly 3399 all source software disclosed? Date: Mon, 8 May 2017 17:52:45 +0300 > On Mon, 8 May 2017 17:39:17 +0300 > Bill Kontos <vkontogpls(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Imagination is far from dead yet. They did a mistake when they based all of > > their gpu income on apple, but their ip is rather advanced. Also on the > > plus side there has been discussion about them open sourcing their drivers > > a few months back and afterwards they hired new developers. I wouldn't be > > surprised if they actually saw this coming and reacted before it happened. > > They're openly considering selling MIPS, as well as other parts of > them. That goes against knowing things would go this way. > > - Lauri > > _______________________________________________ > arm-netbook mailing list arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk > http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/arm-netbook > Send large attachments to arm-netbook(a)files.phcomp.co.uk

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Side-Topic: Liberating PocketCHIP
by doark＠mail.com 08 May '17

08 May '17

I apologize for DOS'ing the list, I can only get online about once a week. On Thu, 4 May 2017 17:13:23 +0200 "mike.valk(a)gmail.com" <mike.valk(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > 2017-05-04 9:04 GMT+02:00 John Luke Gibson <eaterjolly(a)gmail.com>: > > > Since it seems like a trivially simple task that for some reason no > > one has taken up, I would like to take the opportunity to exercise a > > learning experience and simultaneously benefit the community, by > > liberating PocketCHIP by deblobbing the source and re-compiling. > > > > The PocketCHIP is powered by their SoM: > http://linux-sunxi.org/NextThingCo_CHIP > > That is apparently a Allwinner R8 pared with an external rtl8723bs > Wifi/BT chip. > > The R8 is a rebranded A13. What? I own one of those and I'm almost certain that the CPU is an A7. Let's boot the PocketCHIP up... The processor is detected as an A7. I'll attach the output, it would probably be interesting to see all of it... Done, it's compressed bzip2 since it's ~300KiB decompressed which is large for an email. <aside> I'm not too clever with gpg yet, so please tell me if the compressed file is also signed (I wanted to do that so that you could be certain that it was not infected en-route like happens to MS .cab files far to frequently (even though I don't have my key signed by anyone yet \me grumble grumble)). </aside> Unless your saying that the WiFi has a built in ARM R8 (Why)? which would really surprise me considering how large the processor chip is compared with the WiFi chip. > If you look at > https://getchip.com/pages/chip > > You'll see: > On the left image the RAM (Hynix) and Wifi+BT (Realtek) and Power module > (Allwinner AXP209) > On the right the SoC (R8/A13) and NAND (Samsung) > > The A13 does not need blob's to run anymore, the WiFi+BT chip does. > AFAIKT > > Display output needs some checking in Linux and U-boot mainline. But > most should be available or somewhat easily hacked in. > > GPU needs a BLOB which does not work on mainline AFAIKT. Luc Verhaegen > did get quite far before he burned out. <snip> You're not giving us enough details. Who is Verhaegen? What did he burn out on? When I first considered purchasing a PocketCHiP I read about the GPU not having 3D capabilities because of a binary blob. So, the CHIP folks hired (I think it was an extended goal of the kickstarter campaign), a kernel dev to add support to the Linux kernel for the GPU. I was going to mention this on this list before, but it's been so active... Sincerely, David

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Re: [Arm-netbook] first prototype microdesktop casework
by doark＠mail.com 08 May '17

08 May '17

I apologize for DOS'ing the list, I can only get online about once a week. On Sat, 29 Apr 2017 12:42:29 +0100 Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: > > On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 6:08 AM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton > <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: > > http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/micro_desktop/news/ > > ok, ouch, onto the fourth revision of the corner-pieces already, and > some minor changes to the plywood are needed as well. this really > would have been awkward if someone else did it. > > the anycubic 3d printer is holding up well. the higher-quality PLA > from the company i found on aliexpress seems reasonable so far (the > "standard" quality definitely isn't: it literally crumbles under > pressure). <snip> Luke, (I can call you Luke, since you sign your name that way, right?) PLA stands for Poly-Lactic-Acid and if they are selling you something else you can complain, if not sue for false advertising. That's why we label things, so that we know what they are, right? So one PLA aught to be the same as any other. Aluminum is aluminum, titanium is titanium, why is PLA not PLA? I own a Reach3D printer. It's an all aluminum housing and z axis gear printer. I'm still in the construction phase, but if me and my caliper (it's auto-calibrating but I want it perfect :) work well together then I should be printing sometime around the 21st. I could help you with my printer at limited expense (unless something big happens in my life :) Also, I bought on Amazon 2 spools of PLA and one of PC. The PLA cost ~$20 per KG while the PC was ~$30. It seems to me that you might be better off with PC if finding a good PLA supplier and making a case that is not flimsy with PLA is such a problem. Sincerely, David

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