Hardware ideas

Projects and proposals    +/-
Content ideas	Content projects
Hardware ideas	Hardware projects
Software ideas	Software projects

A list of hardware ideas. See also Category:Hardware ideas

Experimental idea: smartphone

THE CONTENT BELOW IS JUST AN EXPERIMENT (TEST MOCK-UP), NOT A NEWS ABOUT PILOT MODEL FOR A TECHNICALLY MATURED PRODUCT

We are now making a prototype of XO Smartphone prototype based on Openmoko and Chumby frame as well as various linux smartphones such as E28. Our ultimate purpose is NOT to make a brand new machine, but ONLY to reduce the physical size of XO to hand-held machines.

An OLPC Smartphone is for college students of South Korea, almost 100% of them now having both (laptop or desktop) computers and mobile phones. So, our goal is to provide an XO derivative which can substitute those computers as well as mobile phones. Though the Larger XO for secondary school students can also be applied to college students, we think a mobile-phone type XO will be much more easily adapted by those students, because of their peculiar interests on mobile phones.

The hardware and software architecture is all the same to those of OLPC, except;

• perhaps MX31 or MX31L rather than x86 processors. As you know, changing CPU of OLPC makes all peripheral circuits to be changed also. Our interests are how to move the SUGAR architecture to a new hardware frames such as Openmoko-based FIC Neo1973 smartphone, which even without marvell mesh wi-fi chips.
• additional input/output device, consisting of one display and one keyboard.
  • we hope a college student may select any size among 12.1", 13.3", 14.1" and 15.4" wide panels.

There are some problems in attaching marvell wifi chips on boards such as that of FIC Neo1973. If those problems are solved, sample test machines will be distributed no later than 15th, May, 2007 (about 100 units). However, we don't expect those test machines be well harmonized with SUGAR. There must be too many difficulties left before pouring SUGAR on those smartphone-type XO models. --User:Php5

ONCE AGAIN, IT'S JUST A TEST. NOT A REAL MODEL FOR MASS PRODUCTION.

Sugar on Chumby

One of the two OLPC smartphone mock-ups is to sprinkle SUGAR on Chumby, a radio on open source platform.

Changing the current 266 Mhz MX21 freescale cpu of Chumby with MX31 or MX31L (which provide much better graphic function) may be sufficient to load SUGAR on it and to operate external display devices.

However, the board of Chumby is too big to be a mobile machine. We are looking for somewhat smaller boards for Chumby.

Sugar on Neo1973

From the aspect of size, FIC Neo1973 is an appropriate one to load SUGAR on it. Because the marvell wi-fi chips such as libertas 88w8305,88w8381,88w8385 and 88w8388 series are too big (size) and too hungry (power consumption) to be on the Neo1973 board, the FIC team is currently looking for some smaller ones.

However, as we (OLPC Korea) don't need GSM related modules as XO doesn't, we are now removing those chips from both hardware and software specs of NEO1973. By removing those, there will be sufficient physical space and power supply for the Marvell Libertas 88W8388+88W8015 chips.

Additional feature we expect is Dual User Interface, one Openmoko & the other SUGAR. When the smartphone stands alone (as a phone), it's 2.8" display panel will show Openmoko interface on Linux 2.6.x kernel. However, when connected to an external Input/Output device such as our 12.1" wide display panel and keyboard set we design, then SUGAR will show on that wide screen.

No later than the end of May 2007, we hope to show our prototype mock-up sample.