[Freedombox-discuss] [Melvin Carvalho] Re: FreedomBox in the Chronicle of Higher Education

[Marc Manthey]

On Oct 3, 2011, at 4:23 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
>
> btw, when you try to use anything that has an ARM9, it gets even
> worse!  you wouldn't believe the prices i'm seeing from people trying
> to hawk VIA WM8505 300mhz tablets at me - they're often *more* than a
> tablet using the AML-8726-M!
>
> the reason is that the processor itself is no longer a major cost of
> the whole system, and the lower-speed RAM ICs are also getting harder
> to find, and thus end up being *more* expensive than something that's
> faster and double the capacity.

Sorry for my late reply Luke, ok i understand , i am not a hardware guy
but it seems finding the right components for such a system seems to  
be the harder part.


>>> Woulnt it make more sense to have a mobile with android, because  
>>> you have a
>>> display and a keyboard ?
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QgdKd1eWuM
>>>
>>> Most of the modern mobile phones have the same or more power then  
>>> the Marvel 1.2 Ghz Chip.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have contacts to chinese /asian manufacturers ?
>>>
>
> yes, i do.
>
> i've been on the receiving end of quotes for various systems for the
> past 2 years.  the AML-8726-M is the best price-performance system on
> the market... that's _actually_ possible to get hold of.  there is
> something called the "Chiprise F20" which might be better but i'm
> having a hell of a job even finding out who makes the bloody thing.
> the specs are just off the chart, and the prices are just as mad.
> video playback capabilities are something like 3800 x 2000 @ 60fps,
> and the price for a 7in tablet in china using one of the lower-spec'd
> processors is an insane $45 (probably with only a 640x480 resolution).
>
> i have a friend who _may_ be able to contact them at the HK Trade Fair
> which is towards the end of october: there appears to be only one
> company selling the device(s) so it's probably the retail trading arm
> of the same company.
>
> translation: the AML-8726-M is available now, and the little company
> that i know can create a prototype board in about 10 working days
> (because they've been doing so many different systems with it, it's a
> cut/paste job for their engineers).

this stuff is pretty interesting, so findeing people who are able to  
create a board layout your saying
isnt too difficult because the smaller manufacturers can change the  
requirements very quick.


> it's a sufficiently small amount of time - translating into a
> sufficiently small amount of money - that they'll happily go ahead
> with that *if* they get a large enough order from free software
> developers.

I was asking because someone i know will be in Macau for 3 month in  
the beginning of
the next year and he could look around for manufacturers.

I see most of the stuff is ARM isnt there another prozessor family  
available whitch is more
efficent ?

like Intel Core i7 2860QM

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Intel-Core-i7-2860QM-Notebook-Prozessor.59922.0.html

is it the power consumption or the required components , whitch makes  
it more difficuld ?

or check this impressive list
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Mobile-Prozessoren-Benchmarkliste.1809.0.html



>
> also, the same team i am arranging for them to have access to some
> faster CPUs, but obviously, the BOM will be higher.  the AML-8726-M3
> is out soon, for example: that's a 1ghz Single-Core Cortex A9, that
> can take ECC DDR3 1033mhz RAM (which ironically is cheaper than DDR2
> 800mhz RAM, thanks to x86 systems).

Sounds cool, thats what i was asking for and i believed that they were  
cheaper.


>
> so - it's up to you guys.  if enough people say they're interested,
> then the factory can commit, based on your word, to designing the
> boards.  all that's really needed is a good enough excuse to get them
> moving.

http://elinux.org/Embedded_Open_Modular_Architecture/PCMCIA/MiniEngineeringBoard

greetings


Marc

--
R.I.P. steve http://www.appleofwisdom.com