4 ms·

Novena open laptop almost at $700k with 45 mins to go

40 points by mfincham 12y ago

marknadal 12y ago
Would somebody mind decoding the messages that flashed on the monitor behind him at the end?
- rebugger 12y ago
  Y3Jvd2RzdXBwbHkuY29tL25vdmVuYS1wdXp6bGU= is base64 decoded crowdsupply.com/novena-puzzle
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
ParadisoShlee 12y ago
$701,845 raised with 280% funded.. Congratulations Bunnie and Xobs ;)
klkvsk 12y ago
Why would anyone buy that computer? It's too expensive for enthusiasts and too weak for doing real work on it. Not to mention its look and bulkiness.
- kolev 12y ago
  Exactly what I thought as well.
- InclinedPlane 12y ago
  I found a page where someone made a case on why it might make sense to fund the project and buy novena system. Here it is: http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop
- theon144 12y ago
  It's... "closely coupled with a Xilinx FPGA. It's designed for users who care about Free Software and open source, and/or want to modify and extend their hardware: all the documentation for the PCBs is open and free to download, the entire OS is buildable from source, and it comes with a variety of features that facilitate rapid prototyping." More than enough reasons for me. I'd buy one in a heartbeat, if I weren't broke right now.
- onnoonno 12y ago
  By pure chance I just spoke to the guys who made it at Maker Faire. Very cool project. They told me they have the full system running with zero binary-only blobs. I think that alone can be quite a selling point nowadays...
benatkin 12y ago
Their fundraising site, Crowd Supply, seems like quite the underdog. Should I root for them?
sargun 12y ago
It would be interesting to see if you can use the Myriad option to swap it for a Ath9K, and use it as a WiFi card instead. I presume that the LM6002D is going to be wired to the shared FPGA. It'd be neat to have a 100% open firmware wireless card too.
ggreer 12y ago
The Novena laptop is a neat niche product, but I don't see it taking off, even in a future version. For almost any task one wishes to accomplish, it's better to build specialized hardware that interfaces with a standard laptop than to build a custom laptop. I think a peripheral would have sold better.

40 points by mfincham 12y ago

marknadal 12y ago

Would somebody mind decoding the messages that flashed on the monitor behind him at the end?

rebugger 12y ago
Y3Jvd2RzdXBwbHkuY29tL25vdmVuYS1wdXp6bGU= is base64 decoded crowdsupply.com/novena-puzzle
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

ParadisoShlee 12y ago

$701,845 raised with 280% funded.. Congratulations Bunnie and Xobs ;)

klkvsk 12y ago

Why would anyone buy that computer? It's too expensive for enthusiasts and too weak for doing real work on it. Not to mention its look and bulkiness.

kolev 12y ago
Exactly what I thought as well.
InclinedPlane 12y ago
I found a page where someone made a case on why it might make sense to fund the project and buy novena system. Here it is: http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop
theon144 12y ago
It's... "closely coupled with a Xilinx FPGA. It's designed for users who care about Free Software and open source, and/or want to modify and extend their hardware: all the documentation for the PCBs is open and free to download, the entire OS is buildable from source, and it comes with a variety of features that facilitate rapid prototyping." More than enough reasons for me. I'd buy one in a heartbeat, if I weren't broke right now.
onnoonno 12y ago
By pure chance I just spoke to the guys who made it at Maker Faire. Very cool project. They told me they have the full system running with zero binary-only blobs. I think that alone can be quite a selling point nowadays...

benatkin 12y ago

Their fundraising site, Crowd Supply, seems like quite the underdog. Should I root for them?

sargun 12y ago

It would be interesting to see if you can use the Myriad option to swap it for a Ath9K, and use it as a WiFi card instead. I presume that the LM6002D is going to be wired to the shared FPGA. It'd be neat to have a 100% open firmware wireless card too.

ggreer 12y ago

The Novena laptop is a neat niche product, but I don't see it taking off, even in a future version. For almost any task one wishes to accomplish, it's better to build specialized hardware that interfaces with a standard laptop than to build a custom laptop. I think a peripheral would have sold better.