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Kano - Make a computer
- kenrikm 13y agoLooks like a bunch of off the shelf hardware (Raspberry Pi, small monitor, keyboard etc.) put into a nice box and offered for a reasonable price? Not a bad idea, I was thinking about doing the same for my 23 month old now that he's mastered his iPad. He's really interested in my desktop and like to move the mouse and click on stuff :) anyway looks cool if I did not already have most of the components I would buy one. (still might)
- wrongc0ntinent 13y agoI'm not sure the monitor's included, that would actually make it pretty good of an offer.
- X4 13y agoawesome, I was also curious about buying this for my little cousin (6). I think my other 10y cousin would love this too, she already told me how good a netbook fits to her tiny fingers, so sweet. But the tutorials, manual and software is all English, so he'd first have to learn English :-/ Wish people would value internationalization much more, other than just assuming English fits all.
- alexnklein 13y agoYou read our minds. We're going to launch with the Kano books translated into Spanish and Arabic, to start, and then continuing to add languages. Really important IMO to recognize that next digital generation won't just speak English, live in SF, London, etc.
- fat0wl 13y agocool for kids i guess? but growed ups should be making desktops!! it's totally easy. the only step that can not be described as screwing/un-screwing/plugging-in is when you have to put the thermal paste on the processor. & heat efficiency of modern parts is so good that cooling otherwise isn't really an issue anymore -- i have an i7 running with a single case fan. i did it a few months ago, built a BLAZING computer with multiple hard drives for ~$900
- lmz 13y agoFor new builds you don't even have to apply the thermal paste. The Intel boxed processors I used have come with pre-applied paste on the cooler. No additional paste needed.
- fat0wl 13y agoo weird i got an boxed unlocked i7 a few months ago, no paste. it was 3000 series tho (3770k?) so maybe that is a VERY new consideration in packaging
- robzyb 13y agoNo, it's been like that for years. Years and years. Thats how my AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz came in 2001. I suspect that your unlocked CPU didn't come with pre-applied thermal paste because it's aimed at enthusiasts who can get their CPUs a few degrees cooler by using proper thermal paste. (The gunk that comes standards can cost you a few degrees of CPU temp)
- fat0wl 13y agoah true I was thinking maybe it was an unlocked thing as well. sometimes i don't realize what a true baller i am, paste-wise
- talles 13y agoThe page before the teaser: https://web.archive.org/web/20130820041047/http://kano.me/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130820041047/http://kano.me/
- timdorr 13y agoThat is a much better version of the page. I instantly understood what was going on without having to watch a minute-long video of a monkey bashing a computer to dubstep that ultimately made no sense.
- talles 13y agoYou pretty much summarized it. Anyway, kinda odd replacing a page explaining the whole thing to put just a teaser one with no content at all. It is supposed to be the other way around... just saying
- X4 13y agoThey keyboard on the video looks much much better than to keyboard on the archived version though.
- alexnklein 13y agoYou can see our first prototype – white box – at the archive link! (You can also contribute to repairs at The Internet Archive here, just got hit by a fire: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/internet-archive-from-london-with-love http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/internet-archive-from-lond...)
- kjhughes 13y ago"Kano is the first computer that anyone can make." That's a bit of a stretch even for a marketing slogan.
- nick2021 13y agoAssemble would be far more accurate.
- edwardy20 13y agoPerhaps: "Kano is the first computer that everyone can make." is what the OP intended.
- fit2rule 13y agoI strongly agree with you. The prerogative use of "first" and "best" in the description just hurts my feelings. I really like the looks of this thing, all cased up like that, but the copy I do not grok. I like the content of the box, but I stopped reading at the lede.
- chadwickthebold 13y agoThat, my friends, is how you make an engaging teaser video. Kudos to the fellows who put it together!
- kennywinker 13y agoAllllllmost good enough to excuse the dubstep. Almost.
- p1esk 13y agoI can't tell, is the idea here to actually make a computer (wire the datapath+control+memory+IO on a breadboard or something)? Or is it simply another PC assembly kit for dummies, where no understanding of computers is needed?
- duskwuff 13y agoScroll down. It's a Raspberry Pi, accessories, and manual in a shiny box.
- Geee 13y agoWhat? It looks like Raspberry Pi and a case. That's not how computers are built.
- codezero 13y agoFor $99, it's a great introduction to the basics for people who don't have access to a bunch of white box equipment, like kids. The package looks well put together.
- p1esk 13y agoFor $99, you can buy a decent starter FPGA board, where you can really make a computer (and learn a whole lot in the process). I wish I had one when I was a kid.
- malandrew 13y agoLink to a good one for the curious? How do you get into FPGAs for the completely uninformed? I've yet to see any posts on HN for getting into them.
- p1esk 13y agohttp://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2 http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400... At the bottom of that page there is a couple of textbooks on digital design. One of them you can find as a free pdf. These books provide an easy to follow intro with examples, intended for this board. You can get into FPGA just like you get into any other hobby - start with something simple, then progress to something complex, one step at a time. For example, start with implementing an adder. By implementing I mean writing a description of the adder in a hardware description language. The description can be structural (describe the circuit which does the addition), or functional (describe the desired output of the circuit given specific inputs). Then you load that description into the board, and your circuit will created there from logic gates. This is not much different from regular programming (actually simpler, because you're much closer to hardware, so you can see better what your "program" is doing).
- reeses 13y agoGenius my ass!
- sciguy77 13y agoRaspberry Pi + $65 + Monkey = Kano
- GhotiFish 13y agodamn good value on the monkey, if you ask me.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- murali44 13y agoBeautiful design. I wish my desktop looked like this.
- goeric 13y agoReally just seems like you're reselling Raspberry Pi with fancy packaging and some accessories. Hardly would classify that as building a computer. Great video and design, though.
- sarreph 13y agoI'll promptly rip my MacBook Air to pieces as soon as Kano is available. P.S. Not sure how happy Kano the rapper is going to be about you using his name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_(rapper) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_(rapper)
- citizens 13y agoThen Kano from 1980 must really be pissed: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kano http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kano
- abrowne 13y agoHow about Kano the city in Northern Nigeria?
- moron4hire 13y agoWhat about Kano from Mortal Kombat?
- Bradenski 13y agoOn the topic of rappers, the video is better with this track: http://youtu.be/tgA-wVkuZGo?t=38s http://youtu.be/tgA-wVkuZGo?t=38s I'm still praying for the day that composers quit making these quaint, cute, hipster iJingles for every "innovative" tech project/product.
- alexnklein 13y agoAlso – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_Jigoro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_Jigoro (Primary schoolteacher, judo inventor.)
- MWil 13y agoI'm excited other than what my poor eyes first perceived to be a Hitler favicon
- pcurve 13y agoIf it required 100+ soldering points, and was much harder to build, they would actually sell more copies.
- gcb1 13y agoagree. this is just a "battery operated toy" for kids from parents with too much disposable income. there is already tons of alternatives for 1. buy soc board and put in case (4 screws maybe not even that). 2. attach to monitor. 3. turn it on.
- dhaneshnm 13y agoPretty creative I would say.But need to market the hell out of it ,because the product as such is neither new nor fits any particular use case.IMHO.
- RodericDay 13y agoMeccano! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano
- alexnklein 13y agoGreat dialectic and questions – that’s why I love HN. I'm Alex, cofounder and product at Kano. On monkey – thanks for kind words all. Her name's Lily, used to work in VC. We’re working hard to make Raspberry Pi accessible to everyone. Challenge was first set by my 7-year-old cousin, to "make it as simple as Lego." The Pi is a brilliant piece of tech and the most promising "vector" yet to infect a new generation with open source. That’s why we’ve designed and built our own custom hardware and made sure that everything – from the touchpad keyboard to the DIY speaker – works perfectly, and sparks curiosity. We’re also rolling out our own Debian distro, Kano OS, with new UI, utilities, and software projects – all of which we’ll be open sourcing and pushing up-stream where possible. Some cool integrations too (Minecraft, Pong, Codecademy). We’ll try to trickle these out here amid the Kickstarter (Nov 19) for raves/heckles. Cheers, Alex