Crowdfunding campaign for cloning the GTA02

[Spacefalcon the Outlaw]

Hello Openmoko community,

As many of you know, Openmoko GTA01 and GTA02 phones are/were the only
two smartphone models in all of history on which it is possible -
albeit unofficially - to run free firmware on the baseband processor.
In the case of this elderly TI Calypso baseband there is not just one,
but two free software projects working toward running fully free and
fully functional firmware on the baseband: OsmocomBB and my own
FreeCalypso.  But this total liberation of the phone including the
baseband is only possible with the elderly baseband chipsets from TI:
while the Calypso can make phone calls and send/receive SMS *today*
using only free software (either OsmocomBB or FreeCalypso), to the
best of my knowledge no one has been able to do anything comparable
using any of the newer modem chipsets or modules.

But we all know that Openmoko GTA01/02 phones are no longer made, and
the remaining surplus has been fully exhausted.  THAT is the problem
we need to solve, and I have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on
Indiegogo seeking to solve this very problem:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/free-software-cellular-baseband

As you can read on the campaign page, I seek to build several different
kinds of cellular-interfaced devices using exactly the same Calypso
core modem design as found in the Neo Freerunner by Openmoko.  Or
closer to the immediate short term, produce a quadband Calypso
reference design and put it out free to the world so that anyone else
in the world can reuse it freely as they see fit - for example, the
Neo900 team will be able to offer a free-firmware modem option if they
so choose.

The vast majority of the work in the project does not need any money,
only my own labor - but there is one exception.  Before I can start
the PCB layout of my own quadband Calypso modem module, I need to see
Openmoko's original layout to use as a reference.  I have exchanged a
few emails with Sean Moss-Pultz and others, and the impression I got
is that the original layout files appear to have been irretrievably
lost - just like the case moulds, apparently.  One of the people I have
corresponded with told me that the files exist on a defect HDD -
unreadable, I assume.

With the original layout files not being obtainable, the only remaining
option is to recover the layout through reverse engineering.  There is
a company in Colorado who can do a superb job of imaging all 8 copper
layers (2 outer and 6 inner) of a sacrificial GTA02 PCB, but the
estimate I got is that it will cost about $6000.  That is a cost
beyond my immediately available personal budget, and I don't have a
projection as to when I might be able to afford it on my own - it may
be a year or two.

Therefore, I have started the crowdfunding campaign above specifically
to address this one particular need of the project.  It is now up to
you, the community at large, to decide whether or not an actively-
produced (as opposed to discontinued) GSM modem module that can run
fully free firmware is something worth building - and if you do agree
with me that such a gadget is worth building, now is the time to make
it happen through monetary contributions to the campaign.

Thanks for reading,
SF