Re: The University of São Paulo's intent to join Openmoko development

David Reyes Samblas Martinez david at tuxbrain.com
Mon Jul 13 14:03:25 CEST 2009


Jon you finally succed :), Happy to hear that awesome news, I will try
to translate and push that news and communicate to other universities.
I hope those with relevant contacts in other universities do the same
and create something big (well bigger than really is now)

2009/7/13 Yorick Moko <yorickmoko at gmail.com>:
> this seems to be really good news,
> good work!
>
> On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 1:02 PM, Jon 'maddog' Hall <maddog at li.org> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Openmoko Community,
>>
>> In light of the refocusing of Sean's company on consumer items, there
>> has been a perceived vacuum created in the Openmoko community's efforts
>> to create next-generation open cellular smart phones.
>>
>> I happened to be working with Dr. Marcelo Zuffo, a full professor and
>> the head of the Laboratory for Integrated Systems at the University of
>> São Paulo, Brazil, on an unrelated project.  I asked Dr. Zuffo if the
>> university would be willing to join the Openmoko community and to
>> provide critical resources to the task at hand.
>>
>> I subsequently have met with Dr. Zuffo several times on this matter,
>> have seen his facilities (which include a very modern and
>> state-of-the-art SMT line) and have discussed the goals of the community
>> to design and prototype a completely open design for a cellular phone.
>> Dr. Zuffo and the university understand your issues, understand free and
>> open source software and hardware and are willing to assist the
>> community with this project.
>>
>> I might add that the university can bring several new capabilities to
>> the community:
>>
>> First of all, Dr. Zuffo has discussed the Openmoko project with the
>> Minister of Telecommunications of Brazil, and the Minister is very
>> enthusiastic about the concept.  Having the support of the government of
>> the twelfth largest economy behind the project might really help us with
>> various negotiations with vendors.
>>
>> Secondly the University has been working on several aspects of
>> telecommunications for a long time, and therefore has expertise in
>> telephonic security and codecs (among other things) that could be of use
>> to the Openmoko community.
>>
>> Third, the university has the ability and expertise to design new
>> integrated circuits.  Recently they designed a a range of analog-digital
>> chips.  Therefore the possibility of developing, manufacturing and
>> freely licensing new chips to help reduce the cost of the phone is
>> possible.
>>
>> Forth, while the facilities I mentioned are capable of producing up to
>> 10,000 units at the rate of one circuit board every 30 seconds,  the
>> purpose of the facilities is research, developing and support projects
>> that can lead innovation, the lab's charter does not allow them to
>> manufacture more units then the 10,000 because that would be "commercial
>> production".  Therefore the university has a goal of freely licensing
>> the design to companies for manufacture.
>>
>> Fifth, the university would be happy to host the mailing lists and
>> forums of the Openmoko project.  If some of the software projects need
>> hosting and can not find hosting services other places, the university
>> will consider acting as a primary hosting facility for these projects.
>>
>> Sixth, personally I would like to see this concept extended, of inviting
>> more universities and their facilities to help with this project
>> world-wide.  I hope that the leadership of the University of Sao Paulo
>> will help create the structure and inspiration for this to happen.
>>
>> Finally, the university has a non-profit legal entity, LSITEC, which can
>> easily do the type of paperwork that Sean's company did (NDAs,
>> certification) so the community can leverage off that.
>>
>> I know that there will be a lot of questions and considerations to take
>> before the community is comfortable with this relationship.  Dr. Zuffo
>> has asked that I help coordinate the joining together of the university
>> with the community, and in the interest of seeing Openmoko continue to
>> do the fine work started by Sean and all of you, I will be glad to help
>> in this capacity.  I am monitoring the community mailing list, and
>> people are also welcome to email me directly (maddog at li.org) with
>> questions that you do not (for any reason) wish to post to the list.
>>
>> A copy of Dr. Zuffo's letter of intent is below.  I have the original
>> PDF if anyone would like to see it, but it was too big to make it
>> through the community's standards on mailing lists unmoderated, and I
>> thought you might like to see this as soon as possible.
>>
>> Warmest regards,
>>
>> Jon "maddog" Hall
>> President, Linux International
>> CTO of Koolu, Inc.
>>
>>
>> ==========================================================================================================
>>
>> São Paulo, 8th July 2009,
>>
>> Mr. Jon Maddog Hall
>> The Executive Director Linux International.
>>
>> Dear Mr. Hall, according our conversation LSI-USP the Laboratory for
>> Integrated Systems at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, is interested
>> in hosting the OpenMoko Community to design innovative cell phone
>> designs.
>>
>> We would like to offer the community the following facilities:
>> ‐  State-of-art facilities for SMT (Surface Mounting Technology)
>> prototyping of complex electronics boards;
>> ‐  State-of-art facilities and expertise for design HW and SW in
>> telephony and communications;
>> ‐  Expertise in testing and certification;
>> ‐  A new building located at a Center position at USP São Paulo, to host
>> community meetings, as well as computational infrastructure for email ,
>> WEB servers and project databases.
>>
>> -LSI has a long term expertise in designing complex electronics systems,
>> including integrated circuits, and we would like to involve also our IC
>> design team that could eventually design some components of the OpenMoko
>> models.
>>
>> All legal procedures will be conducted by LSITEC, our non-profit
>> organization to help technology developing.
>>
>> Finally I would like to be completely available for any further
>> questions and discussion.
>>
>> My regards,
>>                                       Marcelo Knörich Zuffo
>>                                       Full Professor
>>                                       Laboratory for Integrated Systems
>>                                       University of São Paulo – Brazil
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Openmoko community mailing list
>> community at lists.openmoko.org
>> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> community at lists.openmoko.org
> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
>
>



-- 
David Reyes Samblas Martinez
http://www.tuxbrain.com
Open ultraportable & embedded solutions
Openmoko, Openpandora,  Arduino
Hey, watch out!!! There's a linux in your pocket!!!



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