ok so lots has happened in the past couple of weeks, firstly thanks to christopher for doing some concept drawings on the micro-desktop dock. turns out that we may have to try something slightly different in order to keep the cost down, chris. we got a prototype back (in MDF laminates), i have some ideas on how it looked and assembled, so i will wait to see what the reaction is, there. the case is what we are waiting for to start the campaign btw. and yes, i really really want it to be wood not plastic.
second thing i have been playing with the EOMA68-IC3128 CPU Card - everything works *except* the LAN9514 USB-Ethernet Hub. there are a number of issues, most likely related to unstable power but possibly due to unstable kernel code, and it's simply impossible to tell properly which. so i made a decision to replace the USB-Eth Hub with a GL850G Hub and an MCS7832, because ICubeCorp have tested that combination and we know it properly works. space is *very* tight so it is a bit of a mess.
so the revision 1.2 has been done, it now needs review, and then it can go for assembly which is great. i'm not going to push things, so if it's ready when the crowdfunding campaign starts great, if not that's fine we do another campaign separately.
also just so people know, one thing we may try is to push the IC3128 to 440mhz (remember it's quad-core so a total of 1.76 ghz of processing power instead of 1.6 ghz), and, also, the whole CPU Card uses only 2.5 watts at 400mhz, which is pretty good for a 55nm SoC. so it is well within the 3.5w margin set for ensuring that no fans or special cooling is needed.
l.