3 ms·
It doesn't make upgrading impossible. The compute pack is detachable, replacable, and can even function independently. The benefit is pretty crucial: friction.
by kanetw 5y ago
It doesn't make upgrading impossible. The compute pack is detachable, replacable, and can even function independently.
The benefit is pretty crucial: friction. If you have a tethered VR headset, the amount of work you need to do to set it up is insane. Especially with lower-level software like Simula.
- slg 5y ago>It doesn't make upgrading impossible. The compute pack is... replacable It is only replaceable and upgradable if this company sells these compute modules separately. There is no discussion I saw on that website that they are committing to do this and there is no guarantee they will be around to still sell you one in the future. Even if they do, you are locked into their ecosystem. >The benefit is pretty crucial: friction. If you have a tethered VR headset, the amount of work you need to do to set it up is insane. I have never used a VR device on Linux and maybe the work involved there would be truly "insane", but I have used a few on Windows and they are basically completely plug and play after you install the software. Although even with the work involved, this seems to be an enthusiast device aimed at techies. If these customers are looking for a frictionless experience, they probably wouldn't be daily driving a Linux machine in the first place.
- kanetw 5y agoThe modules are available from Intel. You're locked into some of our custom components, true. But this is miles better than anything else on the market. The friction is both what we experienced as part of adoption and in my personal experience. Actual personal experiences may vary, of course.
- slg 5y ago>The modules are available from Intel. You're locked into some of our custom components, true. But this is miles better than anything else on the market. I didn't realize you were involved in this company until I read your other comments. It is unclear what "You're locked into some of our custom components" means. Can a average techie, maybe someone who is comfortable opening their laptop to add RAM or new storage but wouldn't be comfortable making any other hardware changes, upgrade this with off the shelf parts? If the answer is yes, that should be in your marketing material. If the answer is no and you can't commit to selling these custom modules, then I stick to my original point.
- kanetw 5y agoI'm the other co-founder. Yes, about as easy as opening a laptop. Unscrew some screws, lift a cover, install a new M.2 SSD or whatever. This is a picture of the "standard" assembly: https://i.kane.cx/NFIpf4 https://i.kane.cx/NFIpf4 -- compute element slots into a connector, and there's the standard M.2 slot etc. Ours won't be too different, just a different form factor/connectors/additional features. We're committing to selling all custom parts for at least a few years, but I can't give a hard number on how long. I'd say 4 years for sure.
- slg 5y agoThat is great. This should be stated on your website and not deep in the comments of a HN thread.
- nonplus 5y agoYeah I get the concern. Following the project for the past 3 months one knows this information; but unless you're following development on discord/matrix or GitHub there's no way to know upgradability is a cornerstone of this project. Seeing 0 upgradability from Apple makes you leery of everyone.
- kanetw 5y agoI'll relay it to George. Thanks for the feedback, this kind of thing is always what falls through the cracks when you write sales copy.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]