On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 2:18 PM, Boris Barbour boris.barbour@ens.fr wrote:
Guys,
Although it's hard to avoid the temptation of a good blamestorming session, it is a shame to see libre people fighting for little gain.
boris: i have to inform the people who have been counting on us to deliver as to what is going on, and why.
Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to use the public mailing list for this.
i totally disagree. in fact i much prefer that *all* details be covered on public mailing lists. i have always disliked private conversations for software libre projects, and now you know why.
The fund-raising success of the Novena stuff suggests one path forward.
bunny went to MIT where he learned hardware design.
bunny has personal funds which he has received from clients and has been able to redirect his own personal money into getting the project off the ground.
he was able to use those personal funds to create prototypes, as well as use his considerable experience to not have to pay anyone else to do the component sourcing and PCB design.
once he reached the point where the PCB was demonstrably working, *then* he was able to approach case designers, and again use his personal funds to create a prototype.
once he had a case design, *then* he was able to get onto the fundraiser sites and raise funds.
now here is the difference:
1) when i started this project, i had zero hardware design experience, and zero funds.
2) i have been operating this project for four years with a $USD 40,000 personal debt continuously kept at bay, putting all and any personal money received into the project *instead* of paying off that debt, but have only received an average of $USD 15,000 income *per year* over the past 4 years, with outgoings averaging around $20,000. various family members and in one case complete strangers have at various times given or lent me personal funds in order to keep going.
3) i did not have the experience to do PCB design, so i asked other people if they would like to help. not one of those people who offered has delivered.
4) i was therefore forced to either pay up to $10,000 of personal funds to get PCBs designed or
5) i was forced to learn PCB design in order to get the project done.
so it is a completely different story, completely different scenario. and yes i have already approached bunny to ask him if he would like to help: he declined.
so, having had so many libre people let me down i am going to do this myself, controlled entirely 100%. they've been offered the opportunity to help out and to share in the profits: my conscience which tells me to prioritise libre people and give them the opportunity to participate is therefore in the clear if i now operate this 100% entirely controlled and receive 100% of the profits.
once it is financially self-sustaining i can revisit that decision.
The EOMA project will find it a lot easier to raise funding and gain traction if it can demonstrate a prototype product integrating a prototype eoma board.
that was done already *months* ago. august or september 2013.
There are some working prototypes of the board already, if I understand correctly. What would be the easiest (=cheapest) product to build? I'm guessing a mini- pc, since there is no screen to integrate and no real space constraint,
correct. you are looking at the mini desktop pc basically. i completed the first revision in december 2013.
although a latptop or a tablet would be a bit more exciting. What would be required?
money, boris. very simple. about $1500 or so per PCB revision including component population and buying. it can be done cheaper but only by someone who is skilled at PCB population.
however that is $1500 per *iteration* and it will likely take at least 2 iterations. there is a technique for reducing the cost and risk, by splitting the PCB into modules and then integrating each part. however in this case as space is quite tight (100mm x 100 or so) it is difficult to do that. and time-consuming.
l.