5 ms·

Novena Update

93 points by 2close4comfort 12y ago

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
elect_engineer 12y ago
Bunnie Huang is definitely one of the Good Guys. One of the signs that he really "gets it" regarding open source software and hardware is at the bottom of his web page: "This work by Andrew (bunnie) Huang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported." Also see: Wikipedia: Novena (computing platform) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena_(computing_platform) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena_(computing_platform) Wikipedia: Andrew Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang Wired: The Almost Completely Open Source Laptop Goes on Sale http://www.wired.com/2014/04/novena/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/novena/ Laptop Magazine: Novena Helps Hackers Build Their Own Laptop http://blog.laptopmag.com/novena-open-source-laptop http://blog.laptopmag.com/novena-open-source-laptop Crowd Supply: Novena Open Laptop https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop) Crowd Supply: Novena Open Laptop Stretch Goals https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop/stretch-goals https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop/stretc... Note: I have no connection with Bunnie Huang or Novena other than as a fellow engineer and interested potential customer.
mmastrac 12y ago
Always happy to see updates on this project. I waffled for a long time about backing this project, but ended up not doing so mainly because the time wasn't right for myself. I'll probably pick one up in a future revision, although if they shipped one cheaper than the heirloom but with a keyboard built in I'm definitely in.
blueintegral 12y ago
Boy, hardware is hard. I've designed lots of small things, but never anything this complicated or mass produced. There are so many things you can get wrong, so many little adjustments that need to be made. One of the reasons I've loved following Novena and Bunnie in general is because of his illumination of the design and production process.
kolev 12y ago
Is this pretty expensive though? "Just the board" costs more than a fully-equipped laptop. I understand this is not for the mass market given the pricing and other things, but still...
- listic 12y ago
  Yeah, looks kinda expensive. And not too fast, too: 1.3 GHz quad core CPU's in an age where there are at least twice faster CPU's in smartphones already? Even 1.8 GHz octa-core Exynos 5420-based ARM Chromebooks are laggy, judging by reviews. Of course, I understand: doing hardware is hard, and there is an acute shortage of open source ARM SoC's. Still, I wish they could figure out a way to provide more hardware for a smaller price. If nothing else, it would help the adoption of an open hardware laptop greatly: it's kinda weird that all this work is so that only some 1,000 people would get their laptops.
  - sounds 12y ago
    1.3 GHz is not bad at all for an ARM. It's not trying to compete with x86 for the performance crown. It's decently fast and runs linux apps like a web browser just fine.
    - listic 12y ago
      There are varying degrees of "fine". I'm sure it's acceptable, but according to tests, even Chromebooks with octa-core 1.8 GHz Exynos chips are somewhat laggy compared to Intel-based alternatives. Chrome OS is basically a browser on Linux, after all. I know the variety of hardware; started with ZX Spectrum (3.5 MHz 8-bit Z80), programmed TCP stack on a 25 MHz 16-bit CPU and I could be fine with a six-year-old laptop (typing on one, actually). Still, premium-priced laptop could use more power; especially if it's ARM, there's never too much.
      - soapdog 12y ago
        that speaks more about the architecture and requirements of ChromeOS than about ARM SoCs. For example, I have Firefox OS running pretty well on an APC Paper with specs so modest that they are trumped by most mid-range smartphones these days. Both systems are very similar in the sense that its a linux kernel and the interaction with the user happens on HTML5 based apps but one is striving to run on single core with 128mb of RAM and the other is running on Chromebook Pixel which is one of the best laptops available in the market today.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Bunnie Huang is definitely one of the Good Guys. One of the signs that he really "gets it" regarding open source software and hardware is at the bottom of his web page: "This work by Andrew (bunnie) Huang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported." Also see: Wikipedia: Novena (computing platform) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena_(computing_platform) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena_(computing_platform) Wikipedia: Andrew Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang Wired: The Almost Completely Open Source Laptop Goes on Sale http://www.wired.com/2014/04/novena/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/novena/ Laptop Magazine: Novena Helps Hackers Build Their Own Laptop http://blog.laptopmag.com/novena-open-source-laptop http://blog.laptopmag.com/novena-open-source-laptop Crowd Supply: Novena Open Laptop https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop) Crowd Supply: Novena Open Laptop Stretch Goals https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop/stretch-goals https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop/stretc... Note: I have no connection with Bunnie Huang or Novena other than as a fellow engineer and interested potential customer.

mmastrac 12y ago

Always happy to see updates on this project. I waffled for a long time about backing this project, but ended up not doing so mainly because the time wasn't right for myself. I'll probably pick one up in a future revision, although if they shipped one cheaper than the heirloom but with a keyboard built in I'm definitely in.

blueintegral 12y ago

Boy, hardware is hard. I've designed lots of small things, but never anything this complicated or mass produced. There are so many things you can get wrong, so many little adjustments that need to be made. One of the reasons I've loved following Novena and Bunnie in general is because of his illumination of the design and production process.

kolev 12y ago

Is this pretty expensive though? "Just the board" costs more than a fully-equipped laptop. I understand this is not for the mass market given the pricing and other things, but still...

listic 12y ago
Yeah, looks kinda expensive. And not too fast, too: 1.3 GHz quad core CPU's in an age where there are at least twice faster CPU's in smartphones already? Even 1.8 GHz octa-core Exynos 5420-based ARM Chromebooks are laggy, judging by reviews. Of course, I understand: doing hardware is hard, and there is an acute shortage of open source ARM SoC's. Still, I wish they could figure out a way to provide more hardware for a smaller price. If nothing else, it would help the adoption of an open hardware laptop greatly: it's kinda weird that all this work is so that only some 1,000 people would get their laptops.
- sounds 12y ago
  1.3 GHz is not bad at all for an ARM. It's not trying to compete with x86 for the performance crown. It's decently fast and runs linux apps like a web browser just fine.
  - listic 12y ago
    There are varying degrees of "fine". I'm sure it's acceptable, but according to tests, even Chromebooks with octa-core 1.8 GHz Exynos chips are somewhat laggy compared to Intel-based alternatives. Chrome OS is basically a browser on Linux, after all. I know the variety of hardware; started with ZX Spectrum (3.5 MHz 8-bit Z80), programmed TCP stack on a 25 MHz 16-bit CPU and I could be fine with a six-year-old laptop (typing on one, actually). Still, premium-priced laptop could use more power; especially if it's ARM, there's never too much.
    - soapdog 12y ago
      that speaks more about the architecture and requirements of ChromeOS than about ARM SoCs. For example, I have Firefox OS running pretty well on an APC Paper with specs so modest that they are trumped by most mid-range smartphones these days. Both systems are very similar in the sense that its a linux kernel and the interaction with the user happens on HTML5 based apps but one is striving to run on single core with 128mb of RAM and the other is running on Chromebook Pixel which is one of the best laptops available in the market today.