gta02-core (was Re: OM future)

[Eric Olson]

Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman) wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:41:24 -0800 (PST) Rafael Ignacio Zurita
> <rizurita at yahoo.com> said:
> ...
> 
> i'm getting at the fact that the hw side is stuck - it wont work without a pot
> of gold. the hw side that WORKS are the big companies with lots of pots of gold
> already. if you want to make something work - work with them on the software
> side... but you are free to ignore this advice and continue with your idea that
> you "need to work on the process" as you'll be working on it without anything
> being produced for a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long time (read - never) unless you
> find a pot of gold. it's the hw side  that has these costs that unlike
> software, can't be replaced by someone simply spending their time on
> evenings/weekends. it costs real money - get your pot of gold and it can
> happen, or ork with those who already have the pots of gold - and produce
> hardware. until then you're an armchair sportsman. you can yell about how that
> pass was bad or whatever... you won't affect the game - ever. you'll just cover
> your tv with spittle. :)
> 
> 

Doom and gloom :)

I still like the idea of a modular 3g modem in your phone.  Design your 
next openmoko/qi/openwhatever linux pda and leave in a usb port and a 
cavity for the smallest 3G usb stick.  Maybe place it on the end of the 
phone and reduce the case size later.  It's not perfect, but it allows 
replacement of the cell module which gives you lots of flexibility. 
Similar things already happen -- QI's Ben gets wifi for free with an SD 
card slot.  It just became much more useful.  This is just an example 
that you don't need a pot of gold for everything.

These solutions aren't for everyone, and neither is GNU/Linux on the 
desktop, but for some it will be the preferred choice.

Open hardware is still fairly new -- and you _can_ make progress without 
pots of gold.  You won't be able to get everything, but you might get 
more (look at GNU/Linux's progress, although I know big companies 
support some of its development now).  Thank you to gta02-core, QI, and 
other people for working on open hardware.

Eric