The Upgradeable Allwinner Dev Board That's Laptop-Compatible Raises $50k So Far

[lkcl]

Boycotting a product from a vendor that looks to sell a modicum of Allwinners minimum order quantity is only upsetting to one of them.

Seeing as what they have on offer is the closest to attaining a laudable goal, you can practically get behind it, in the name of not only getting something, where options are limited, but also sending a message to Allwinner that this is a viable business-model.

One that Allwinner could get behind across the board, making a no-brainer of the currently some-brains-required market that is atm maybe big enough, but will grow to give back tremendously once everyone pulls in the same direction.

Yes, Allwinner is Allwinner, coincidentally, that is not nobody. Also, this project is not just about one initial board, but the modularity and ecosystem thereof.

couldn't have put it better, man

[lkcl]

i got 1080p60 hardware-accelerated video playback working btw, which is awesome.

[phoron]

i got 1080p60 hardware-accelerated video playback working btw, which is awesome.

I think I know what you meant but yet I'd like you to say it yourself.
Did you mean:
"I (lkcl) got 1080p60 hardware-accelerated video playback working btw, with 100% free software, no proprietary code and (of course) no stinking GPL violating code, thanks to mine (lkcl) and cedrus team efforts, which is awesome, and video also works in the 720p laptop enclosure display."

Congrats, Luke.

[lkcl]

I think I know what you meant but yet I'd like you to say it yourself.
Did you mean:
"I (lkcl) got 1080p60 hardware-accelerated video playback working btw, with 100% free software, no proprietary code and (of course) no stinking GPL violating code, thanks to mine (lkcl) and cedrus team efforts, which is awesome, and video also works in the 720p laptop enclosure display."

Congrats, Luke.

well, all i did was just test the compiled code, it's running on the HDMI monitor so is full1920x1080 display, haven't got the laptop hardware PCBs here (they're on the way by sea shipping)... correct about the libre code, oh and the parabola team have packaged it all up - *already* - in pcr which is totally awesome.

[phoron]

well, all i did was just test the compiled code, it's running on the HDMI monitor so is full1920x1080 display, haven't got the laptop hardware PCBs here (they're on the way by sea shipping)... correct about the libre code, oh and the parabola team have packaged it all up - *already* - in pcr which is totally awesome.

Already packaged? wow. I guess Parabola did the packaging, cedrus people the reverse enginnering and lib coding and you did the hardware it's all running on (which one could call a little more than just compiling cedrus) ?
So thanks to each of the three, surely.

Is it just me or you and your gadgets are difficult to track ? The other day you post a LO and Gimp video and now you're overseas from your laptop hardware...

[lkcl]

Is it just me or you and your gadgets are difficult to track ? The other day you post a LO and Gimp video and now you're overseas from your laptop hardware...

i've been in NH, USA, all this time for the crowdfunding campaign, except when we went to NYC for hope2016.

[phoron]

i've been in NH, USA, all this time for the crowdfunding campaign, except when we went to NYC for hope2016.

Sorry, my fault. I thought the LO and Gimp videos were with the laptop but they were with an external monitor. Just like the last update with the video playback. The laptop (open but turned off) appears in the background. But it must be without the PCBs.

[lkcl]

The laptop (open but turned off) appears in the background. But it must be without the PCBs.

yeahyeah - there are some videos of the PCBs (operational) online, search "eoma68" on youtube

[ljones]

Only just found out about that device here btw. I must admit though to being in two minds about it. On the one hand, I like the idea that it's a tiny computer and that it is based around having non-propietary bits and pieces. That's good. On the other hand it dosen't really seem ready for the "big time", so to speak. Let me explain. I've seen the videos of this device on the crowdfunding page and on youtube. The problem as far as I can see is that - unless I am wrong - the device seems to be so slow as to be almost unusable. In this video the device is shown running XFCE4. But openoffice seems to be taking a *long* time to open there, and the device is experiencing .... connection issues as well ("Network unavaliable" in the web browser, pages eternally loading...). Also in this page there's a video of gimp being loaded up and used, and again it seemed to be very slow loading. Must admit I'm quite concerned -- from what I see the device looks like it is already struggling. I'd imagine that webpages loading in a full blown browser such as firefox would be painfully slow to the point of unusability :-( . Is it just me, is this some sort of driver issue (is there no 2D acceleration?) or what is going on? ljones

[lkcl]

Only just found out about that device here btw. I must admit though to being in two minds about it.

appreciate your honesty.

On the one hand, I like the idea that it's a tiny computer and that it is based around having non-propietary bits and pieces. That's good.

yeah

On the other hand it dosen't really seem ready for the "big time", so to speak. Let me explain. I've seen the videos of this device on the crowdfunding page and on youtube. The problem as far as I can see is that - unless I am wrong - the device seems to be so slow as to be almost unusable.

well, at least you know i'm being honest about it. but bear in mind: (a) this is with an older kernel that uses I/O for some of its transfers instead of DMA - comparisons against the 4.7 mainline kernel show a whopping 25% or greater increase in data transfer speed to micro-sd cards for example (b) we can always upgrade later, that's the whole point (c) if you *really* don't want to get one of the A20 computer cards we always have the pass-through card https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/m...s-through-card

In this video the device is shown running XFCE4. But openoffice seems to be taking a *long* time to open there,

i've been around computers for a long time, i remember running libreoffice and firefox on pentium III 800mhz systems... compared to those, this is quick!

and the device is experiencing .... connection issues as well ("Network unavaliable" in the web browser, pages eternally loading...).

yep, like i said, just as with the mythbusters i'm not "hiding things" from you. most marketing material is done under "optimal conditions" with a nice, slick team, with several retakes. i'm operating from the *LAST* functional prototype, and i'm doing things in a single take. it's less than ideal.... but it's honest. if i forgot to "clear the connection" when i previously started the web browser during a previous run where i hadn't connected the USB Ethernet dongle, guess what you get to see?

Also in this page there's a video of gimp being loaded up and used, and again it seemed to be very slow loading. Must admit I'm quite concerned -- from what I see the device looks like it is already struggling. I'd imagine that webpages loading in a full blown browser such as firefox would be painfully slow to the point of unusability :-( . Is it just me, is this some sort of driver issue (is there no 2D acceleration?) or what is going on? ljones

this is a 2.5 watt processor, and a bit of digging around tells us that the 3.4 kernel was written by an inexperienced team at allwinner without the help of *anyone* from the general linux kernel community. they did an extraordinary job under the circumstances, but they left no time in their schedule for optimisation. "it works.... let's ship it" being the general order of the day.

the 4.7 kernel is *significantly* faster.... is written by the sunxi team and is now mainline... but also is unstable as it's still under development. i get crashes at any point from 30 seconds to 5 minutes into the boot with 4.7, whereas i've left the 3.4 kernel on for several days (so far) and it's still up.

yes there's 2D acceleration: using xf86-sunxi-fbturbo which has already been kindly packaged by the parabola-arm team.

what you're seeing here is the first publicly-available proof-of-concept modular upgradeable computing platform that's *not* brought to you by a conglomerate with a profit-maximising axe to grind. when we say "we bring you hardware that respects your privacy" that's not just a marketing exercise, we've *ALREADY* released the full source code and have been operating as a libre software project with public archives right from day one.

if we had even $100k in funding we'd be able to bring you the latest-or-greatest processor - a quad-core, or even an octal-core - if we could get one that is (see https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/m...ng-a-processor ) - but we're operating from the budget of a single small-to-medium-sized company's resources. that means going slowly, and also going step-by-step.

this critical phase *is* one of those steps. we'll get there... but we have to get there by way of this slightly-slower-than-modern processor, because it's the only one available that at the same time meets the strict privacy-respecting and ethical criteria that we've set. if you don't agree with those criteria, and are prepared to compromise on privacy to get speed, you can always buy a librem laptop, where the spying back-door co-processor is still enabled.

this is more an indictment of the state of computing in 2016 than it is a reflection on what we're doing. we choose to only include processors that are ethical. that there *aren't* any modern ethical processors available for sale in 2016 gives you a clear indication as to how far down the george orwell rabbit hole we really are. this project is very much a wake-up call as it is anything else.