Whither open hardware ?

[Dave Ball]

Laszlo KREKACS wrote:
> There is also the openpandora project:
> http://www.open-pandora.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=2&lang=en
>
> Is it unsuitable for a phone because of power inefficiency?
> Can be the "ARM Cortex-A8 600Mhz" used in a future phone?
>   

The pandora (and beagleboard) use the OMAP3530 which (afaik) is just a 
retail package of the (oem only) OMAP3430 used in the palm pre and 
motorola droid. [1]

The docs are open [2] (except the power VR 3D subsystem), and from first 
looks it should be fine in a future phone - though it would be a radical 
departure from our existing designs.


Dave

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_OMAP
[2] http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/omap3530.html