I saw the recent response to my enquiry ("EOMA68-A20 Prototype Status") which was augmented by a campaign update:
"It’s going to take about a month to have the 8 Gbit 1600 MHz DDR3 x8 RAM ICs manufactured: we’re on the way. [...] All in all, it will likely take three months after getting the cards back from assembly before shipping begins. That puts actual delivery of the first units in late October."
https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/2-7-5-samples- received-dram-is-ok-micro-hdmi-to-confirm
This new information is much appreciated, and I hope that everything continues going to plan. Meanwhile, I noticed that the matter of future sales and products arose in another thread, with the intention being expressed that others will be producing and selling boards in future.
Now, there may have been some confusion in that other thread because I seem to recall talk of follow-up campaigns (although these may have been related to other hardware projects, not computer cards). Indeed, the August 2016 campaign update about the product roadmap had the following to say:
"We need your backing for this project and the current Computer Card before we can be in an established financial position to properly evaluate and bring you these faster Computer Cards."
https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/product-roadmap
The crucial question in the context of the above is therefore the following: who exactly is "we"? If not any of the parties behind the current campaign, who might it be? Here, I can understand some confusion or a mismatch in expectations.
But in any case, this discussion of future sales and products reminded me of a number of things, the first of which being the board designs:
"The only exception to this rule to release everything in advance is the PCB CAD files for the Computer Card. We’re planning to release the PCB CAD files for the Computer card once sufficient units are hit that ensures any third party manufacturing runs will not undermine the project’s development or stability."
https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/crowdfunding
Although "the point about the A20 running out of time" [1] has been made repeatedly since the start of the campaign (this quote being from March 2017 in the context of suitable NAND ICs), might it be envisaged that the design files be released for the A20 card to perhaps *stimulate* the project's development and stability after this campaign concludes?
Has there been any constructive interest from anyone to produce more boards using this design? I see that Olimex have recently introduced a variant of one of their A20-based products using the compatible T2 SoC [2]. So, the A20 still has an audience and a commercial life, apparently.
Another thing I found myself considering is the matter of the other cards mentioned during the course of the campaign. If they are not going to be offered via future campaigns, will they be offered by existing partners or collaborators? For instance:
http://rhombus-tech.net/ingenic/jz4775/ http://rhombus-tech.net/rock_chips/rk3288/ http://rhombus-tech.net/nexell/s5p6818/
The first two of these had been prototyped, as I recall (and has been documented), and so I imagine that there is some value in seeing them become products, subject to economic and technical viability, the latter of which reminding me of the following remarks:
"The rk3288 is not a low-power chip, and the heat sink supplied (pictured above), is not adequate for any CPU-intensive activity, quickly throttling performance when it gets too hot."
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/4614-asus-tinker-board/
(The above is just an acknowledgement of the difficulties of selecting products, not an invitation to discuss the details.)
Finally, I realised that the current campaign began almost two years ago. I think the second anniversary of its launch will be on Friday this coming week. It would be interesting to hear any reflections on the position of this initiative two years on, whether (and how) the roadmap might change, and what still needs to be done to bring this modular computing vision to fruition.
Apologies if I missed various updates or announcements that happen to answer some of my questions!
Paul
[1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/complexities-of- hardware-progress-and-travel
[2] https://olimex.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/a20-olinuxino-lime-revision-h-is- now-in-stock-the-oshw-linux-computer-now-support-emmc-and-can-be-produced- with-industrial-grade-temperature-4085c/