[OT] Speaking of "fully-free" open hardware
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Would this meet the "Respects your Freedom" certification from the FSF?
http://makeplaylive.com/#/open-hardware/improv/discover
http://makeplaylive.com/#/open-hardware/about
It's available for U$75 pre-order.
A bit of background:
https://dot.kde.org/2014/01/22/open-hardware-kde
F.
I really hate it when people abuse JavaS***t, all I see is the disclaimer. Mind posting the hardware specs here?
How is JavaScript being abused in that page? I looked at the source and it seems to be running AngularJS and jQuery which are both considered free software under the MIT license.
Their other code (named app.js and controller.js) are not minified, so you can take a look at the code if you want.
Well, I consider requiring JavaScript to display (what at least should be) a static page a failure.
It really is a misuse of Javascript. I don't know what it's doing, but it could be easily done with PHP, whatever it is.
* Hardware
Included CPU card capabilities:
Processor:
ARM® Cortex™-A7 1Ghz dual core (Allwinner A20)
GPU:
Mali400MP2 with OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1
RAM:
1GB DDR2
Storage:
4GB NAND flash
Micro SD card reader
Video:
Micro HDMI (video + audio)
RGB/TTL
USB:
Micro USB OTG
USB2 host
Networking:
10/100 Mbit Ethernet
Other buses:
i2c, 8 GPIO, UART0
Weight:
Under 40 grams
Dimensions:
85.6x54 mm
Feature board ports:
USB:
Fullsize USB2 host port
Ethernet:
10/100/1000 RJ-45
UARTO:
Pins:
1: GND
2: 5VDC
3: TX
4: RX
EEPROM:
32K Serial EEPROM (i2c address 0x54)
SATA:
SATA II interface connector
Casing:
Sturdy metal case with guides for docking with the feature board
Power:
6-12VDC, up to 2.5A. Recommended 9VDC or less.
Green power status LED.
Energy consumption (these numbers are for guidance only; exact
draw will vary depending on use case):
At idle: 3.1-3.4 Watts (344mA @ 9V).
With a SATA drive, flash drive connected to OTG port,
keyboard and 2.4Ghz mouse via USB2 Host Port,
Ethernet active, playing a 720p movie: 4.4Watts (488mA @ 9v).
44 PIN DIL:
Pins:
1-29: RGB/TTL interface
30-31: i2c SDA/SCL lines
32-39: 8 GPIO for user's choice
40: uBoot (Short to GND to enable)
41-42: TX/RX UART0
43-44: GND/5VDC
Dock:
68 pin header with guide rails and push-button ejector
Weight:
Under 60 grams
Dimensions:
100x74 mm
Mounting holes:
3mm diameter
92x67mm center-to-center
Manufacturer suggested retail price: US$75
* Software
Pre-installed operating system:
Distribution:
Mer OS
Kernel:
Linux 3.x: SunXI 3.4, upstream Linus tree merge ongoing
Init:
systemd
Userspace:
GNU
Package format:
RPM
Software management:
zypper
Build service:
dedicated OBS farm
Display:
X.org, Wayland, framebuffer, Linux console
Toolkits:
Qt4 with QtQuick1, Qt5 with QtQuick2, KDE Platform Libraries 4
Graphical environments:
KDE Plasma Desktop and Plasma Active
Developer SDK:
Mer Platform SDK
Thanks. Looks fairly free to me, if a bit futurey (could be a good thing, the arm and mali support parts)
"I really hate it when people abuse JavaS***t"
Is JS a swear word? :)
Not yet..
"Improv is open hardware, as open as it can be given that all graphics processing units (GPU) are closed and proprietary."
I've asked Improv developers for how it compares with other such devices in terms of freedom. I've also asked if it would work with fully free software OS.
So far they haven't given any clear answers. They've only confirmed that the hardware accelerated graphics won't work, although that's something well know. I was positive about the project, but now I have doubts on how oriented towards freedom they are.
I think it's best if more people start asking Improv developers about those issues, so more attention can be give to freedom. They should provide clear information on what would work with free software, rather than just ship the device with a non-free operating system and hope no one would care to install something fully free.
I've asked here: https://dot.kde.org/2014/01/22/open-hardware-kde
The official web site has a forum and an email form: https://www.makeplaylive.com/
I think it might be able to run my port of Linux-Libre [1], but there is no free distribution yet with ARM support. I only have an A13 for testing, you will need to compile the kernel from source for A10. Maybe one could start with Arch [2] and upgrade to Parabola.
[1] http://platen-software.de/linux-sunxi/
[2] http://linux-sunxi.org/Bootable_OS_images#Arch
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