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Re: [oc] Re: Need a little direction
Dear Mr. Kothari,
Could you send me more informations on your project, in *.pdf (or *.doc) attached file form ?
Thanks,
Dr Jean MASSON
jean.masson@lium.univ-lemans.fr
Devesh Kothari a écrit :
> Hello Patrick,
>
> The platform which we are developing, we dont have much hardware design
> capabilities. do you know someone or could get me in touch with freelancers
> who can design this hardware board for us. We would definitely keep all the
> boards and designs and everything as GPL'ed so people could just take
> it/modify it.
>
> Well Linus gave us Linux, and I of the opinion that we should take that to
> every device and to the people, what i see standing in the way is the
> affordable hardware.
>
> We want to concentrate on headless devices, as these are what i personally
> believe would provide the distributed intelligence to the masses, the things
> they do and interact day in and out. I dont want the displays because of the
> simple reason, a)they are expensive b)they consume power c)they are fragile
> d)they can not be shared. I believe as more and more mobile phone and mobile
> terminals (whatever shape and size) would be owned by the masses and they
> would interact with these headless devices, and the headless devices over
> wireless (bluetooth or ...) would provide services using the mobile terminal
> display. these displays could be as small as display in a watch, mobile
> phone, PDA or webpads.
>
> We want to create the following platform and we would appreciate all help.
> We would even try and support the efforts in reasonable financial ways.
>
> 1. BOM should not cross USD $50.
> 2. Should have wireless (Bluetooth, short range)
> 3. Should have 32MB Flash
> 4. Should have 256 MB SDRAM
> 5. Should have two PC Card slots.
> 6. CPU (could be a SOC)
>
> After doing considerable search, there are some of the options
> 1. taking the SA1110 reference design and depopoulate the board extensively.
> 2. design from scratch
>
> Now biggest thing to be descided is what SOC/CPU to use. The options are
> (you can suggest more)
> 1. StrongArm from Intel
> 2. DragonBall MX1 from Motorola (would be mass produced in March 2002),
> having integrated support for bluetooth and cost less than $25, they claim.
> 3. AMD Elan processors (they are x86, and they consume as i am told too much
> power, but they are cheaper)
>
> The massive amount of SDRAM (I guess they are faster than flash and lot
> cheaper too) , is for big enough RAM filesystem, which can then download
> content from masterstation, like MP3 and MPEG video etc to be streamed on
> wireless (BT), this content would get lost if power goes off, which we
> believe is not the most often case.(the unit would be externally powered)
> and would have battery for maybe 1 hour operation.
>
> What we need is
> 1. freelancers to work on the designboard or any volunteers
> 2. pointers to information and any feedback to help us achieve what we set
> out to achieve. Any criticism or any sort of feedback is appreciated.
> 3. Component manufacturers/contract manufacturers who can give help us
> achieve that price.
> 4. any kind of support.
>
> We are based in India (Bangalore), and if anyone happens to be in Bangalore
> and want to drop by our place you are more than welcomed to do that. Any
> enquires please send it to me
>
> Looking forward for more pointers , feedback, answers in search for the
> perfect solution.
>
> Best Regards
> Devesh Kothari
> Director
> ProtoSys Technologies Pvt Ltd
> www.protosys.com
> dkothari@protosys.com
> 22/2 Mission Rd, Samson Complex,
> Bangalore, 27, INDIA
>
> >
> > > [..] I am complete novice in terms of
> > > hardware (please dont suggest to just drop it then).
> > I will not. I do not know what you are into exactly. Nothing is
> impossible.
> >
> > > Then I would start the porting on one of Linux variant on the box.
> > You may know that Linux has already been ported to the Strong Arm
> > architecture and Debian for example is providing a complete
> > distribution.
> >
> > > [..] I have
> > > all the BOM/Gerber files and schematic diagram from intel, but not sure
> how
> > > to proceed.
> > I guess that you want to use the gEDA tools and other free tools and
> > that is why you mailed me.
> >
> > If so, basically you will have to reenter all the schematics from Intel
> > into gschem. That mean that you will also have to create a new symbol
> > for almost all the components, i.e. SA1110, bluetooth module ...
> > Then you will have to generate a netlist from the schematic - with
> > gnetlist.
> > And finally, you will have to route the board. I am not sure that the pcb
> > software from Harry Eaton would be complete enough for this task. In fact,
> > SA1110 is quite a complex component as it is in a BGA - Ball Grid Array -
> > package. At the working frequency you also have to take into account
> > the way the board is tracked.
> >
> > Of course, that was the scheme for the software manageable part. You will
> > have to place an order for this board to a pcb maker.
> > As the package for SA1110 is a BGA you will not be able to solder it by
> > yourself and will require external help for that.
> >
> > > It would be quite useful if someone could help us finnish this
> > > project. If you can provide us with some direction please.
> > I would be pleased to help you as much as I can. Let me know how far
> > in the specification of the device you are, what kind of direction
> > you need.
> >
> > > Maybe I am just wasting your time. In that case please accept my
> apologies.
> > > Sorry for the trouble
> > I am not sure to have answered all your questions. If my explanations
> > were too basic, excuse me.
> >
> >
> > Patrick BERNAUD
> >
> >
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