Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753108Ab3EHIT1 (ORCPT ); Wed, 8 May 2013 04:19:27 -0400 Received: from mail-ie0-f176.google.com ([209.85.223.176]:52484 "EHLO mail-ie0-f176.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752955Ab3EHITY (ORCPT ); Wed, 8 May 2013 04:19:24 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <1367984699.18069.213@driftwood> References: <1367984699.18069.213@driftwood> Date: Wed, 8 May 2013 09:19:23 +0100 X-Google-Sender-Auth: ppF0uQ4kC6qhVlog8eq5_aQzA2Y Message-ID: Subject: Re: device tree not the answer in the ARM world [was: Re: running Debian on a Cubieboard] From: Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton To: Rob Landley Cc: James Courtier-Dutton , Robert Hancock , David Goodenough , debian-arm@lists.debian.org, Linux Kernel Mailing List , Linux on small ARM machines Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 3587 Lines: 82 On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 4:44 AM, Rob Landley wrote: >> whereas the EOMA initiative is at the complete opposite end of the >> spectrum. and products based around the EOMA standards, although >> there is a cost overhead of e.g. around $6 in parts for EOMA-68, there >> is a whopping great saving of 30 to 40% to the customer when compared >> to other products *if* your end-user is prepared to swap / share CPU >> Cards between two products. if they share the CPU Card between three >> products then the saving to them is even greater. > > > In theory, Moore's Law says that buys you... 9 months? and 6 months in to that 9 months you bring out the next CPU Card, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next. there's a hell of a lot of history already behind the EOMA initiatives. i'm running this discussion down, btw - the point's been made, and i'm inviting linux kernel developers who may not have been aware of the initiative to be involved. for many people i know they're absolutely fed up of always playing catch-up: if that's the case then this is your opportunity to make a difference. >> not only that but rather than throw away an entire product just >> because a CPU Card is obsolete [to them] the end-user can either >> re-purpose the CPU Card in a slower product, or sell it on e-bay, or >> re-use it in a freedombox.... whatever they like. > > > A phone is a mass-produced consumer electronics device. Is "I can rip the > guts out of my DVD player and re-use it" a commercially interesting > statement? you've missed the point. EOMA-68 CPU Cards are separately-sold mass-volume *interchangeable* products, i.e. being packaged in legacy PCMCIA housings they have the exact same advantages of PCMCIA except now it's the *CPU* that's interchangeable between products. nobody in their right mind swaps the DVD electronics, they just buy another DVD player. including the mechanical part and the built-in PSU, and the GPL-violating software running on it. >> what they *don't* have to do is put the entire product in landfill. >> >> etc. etc. i could go on about this at some length but i've already >> done so lots of times. > > > Link? links. here is a small non-exhaustive list. http://www.c2mtl.com/eye50/ideas/the-rhombus-tech-eoma-68-initiative/ http://rhombus-tech.net/articles/eoma68_in_education/ http://lkcl.net/articles/tiny.computers.txt http://rhombus-tech.net/ http://linux-sunxi.org/EOMA68-A10 http://elinux.org/Embedded_Open_Modular_Architecture/EOMA-68 http://elinux.org/Embedded_Open_Modular_Architecture http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/kde_tablet/news/ http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/news/ http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner/a31/news/ http://rhombus-tech.net/freescale/iMX6/news/ http://rhombus-tech.net/jz4760/news/ http://lists.phcomp.co.uk/pipermail/arm-netbook/2013-April/007168.html http://lkcl.net/articles/eoma.txt http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/09/07/2322207/rhombus-tech-a10-eoma-68-cpu-card-schematics-completed http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3102545&cid=41270525 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3643131&cid=43435993 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3643131&cid=43435805 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3643131&cid=43435635 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3643131&cid=43435507 that's probably enough. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/