Jeremy McNaughton wrote: > 1. That the open source hardware development processes pioneered by > gta02-core get formalized as part of the structure of the new > organization
There's always room for improvements, so I wouldn't nail down too many details. But the overall goals, i.e., the use of Open Source wherever possible, yes. > 2. That the people who are working on the gta02-core will continue to > work together as part of the new community organization. Definitely, yes. > Of course, the community organization (heh... we need a name!) should > encompass more than just hardware. The open hardware part will likely > just be a part of what the organization does. Even in the hardware area, there's more than just low-risk implementation projects. E.g., there should also be activities that take on the risky bits and bring them under control. Such "pioneer" efforts can then be integrated into the next "safe" design. Also, we haven't touched the whole area of case design and manufacturing yet. There's a number of Free CAD tools that should be up to the task. We've briefly discussed them on the "gta03" list a while ago. Also turning a CAD design into a prototype is not an impossible task. There are relatively inexpensive CNC mills (i.e., within the reach of many hobbyists) that should be able to make reasonably good prototypes. Access to mills or 3D printers may also exist through academic institutions or projects like "Fab Lab": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fab_lab I don't know if anyone actually made a case from the CAD files Openmoko released about a year ago. The CAD files themselves may not be directly useful with Free CAD tools except for making very minor changes. But I think a case-making project that follows the same approach as gta02-core, namely reconstructing and prototyping the existing design with Free tools (and making some small changes) could be rather useful for establishing the know-how that can later be used for more ambitious work. - Werner _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community