On 15/11/2011 4:02 a.m., Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
Q: Does it work with a GTA01 case? A: Yes. You will even get stereo speakers since the speaker box of the GTA01 has two. One was sacrificed in the GTA02 to provide WLAN.
If anyone in New Zealand wants to buy my GTA01 for NZ$150 let me know. Just think how awesome stereo speakers would be on your GTA04 :D Ben. On 15/11/2011 4:02 a.m., Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
Dear all, I take for granted that you all are eagerly waiting for an annoucement that another batch of GTA04 boards becomes available. We did wait with an announcement until we can really answer all questions. Now, we think we can. Components have all been ordered for another (small) batch so that we can get them from production in December. If everything goes well, we can even ship out some boards before Christmas. The boards are named GTA04A4 (meaning the PCB revision). They are fully featured from hardware side: * DM3730@800 MHz * UMTS module with 3.75G (up to 14.4 MBit/s) * Sensors (Barometer, Compass, Gyroscope, Accelerometer) * GPS * connector for optional camera module * well documented building blocks so that you can write your own boot loaders and kernels. Nobody stops your creativity and nobody is pretending to protect you from yourself! So you get something that is unique. A motherboard upgrade for a handheld device. With open documentation to develop free and open software. And, a community dedicated to continue the pioneering work of the first Openmoko team. Last but not least, a team that listens to your wishes for future upgrades and trying to fulfill them. How much will it cost? We know that most of you do expect that it is not too expensive, something in the range of the GTA02. Unfortunately, we can't fulfill this specific wish. There are two main reasons (besides we are not financial magicians): 1. the device has some very expensive components (CPU + Memory + UMTS module) 2. we have really small production batches and therefore, have to pay much more for the components than e.g. Apple or HTC (factor 2-3 compared to reports from iSuppli). And, we can't subsidize devices because this is not a feasible long-term strategy from an economical point of view. But since raising the size of the batches ("bulk purchasing") has a big effect ("economies of scale"), we have developed a strategy that should make everyone happy: A) there will be units available from (limited) stock shortly before Christmas, at a high price. We try to produce more of these units to fulfill orders within days. This offer is also good for getting samples for projects. B) you can participate in a group-buy at a lower price. This requires that we reach a certain number of units before we can start production. So the price and availablility are: a) 666,66 EUR; available for shipment from stock; planned to start on 19th December b) 499.99 EUR; requires 300 ordered units before 10th February 2012 (week after FOSDEM); production start expected for April 2012. There is also a rebate for the first 100 early bookings. There are rebates for quantites: 5% for orders of 5 units, 10% for 10 units, 12% for 50 units. So if you build buying groups (like for the Freerunners), you can save some more money. Both offers are ready for preorder/subscription through this link: http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04 There is a third type of offer - a customized GTA04 board. This means you can order a board variant where not all components are installed. And the display connector can be replaced by a Board2Board connector. This allows to plug the GTA04 like a module on a master board and develop different handhelds and tablets based on the GTA04 design. An example of such a device can be seen here: http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%20Custom Finally, I have compiled some FAQ we have received in the past. If your question is not amongst them, please ask. So let's prove that the Openmoko community can not only design and build samples of a GTA04 but also go into perpetual mass production. Nikolaus Schaller FAQ: Q: Do I need a GTA01 or GTA02? A: Yes. The GTA04 is a motherboard that fits into a GTA01 or GTA02 case. It does not have all electromechanic compontents. Missing are: GSM antenna, internal GPS receiver, Earpiece speaker, Handsfree speakers, Vibracall motor, Battery holder, Battery, USB power supply, and very important: it does not include a display module. So you have to take all missing parts from an existing GTA01 or GTA02. The only exception is the LCD module where we can provide spare parts. But you can operate the board without these components - but then it is not a handheld portable computer with phone functionality. Or you can try to build your own case. Some inspiring proposals and samples have been shown recently (e.g. wooden case). Q: Does the device support the US frequencies? A: Yes, it is Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA (3.75G), but not CDMA2000 1x nor EV-DO Q: Does it have FCC and CE approvals? A: At the moment partially. The UMTS module and the WLAN chipsets are fully precertified. And the GTA04 system has successfully passed the CE emmission tests, that it does not produce harmful interferences. We are just missing the CE ESD and safety tests. Q: Why do I have to wait so long if I participate in the group buy? A: The reason is that our project has no external funding and needs to collect enough money before we can order chips and components. This introduces two types of delay: the preorder-window and then the delivery time of components. E.g. PCBs are built to our specific request and that needs between 20 and 30 working days. And producing and testing several 100 units needs quite a while :) Q: Will there be variants? A: We have decided to run only a single variant with all components installed. It turned out to be cheaper in total than to have a low-end variant (e.g. without sensors) and a high-end variant. We have one variant that we can provide on demand: the module version. You can use it as the basis for connecting larger displays and experiment with alternate cases. Details how to mount mechanically and the pin layout can be found in the System Manual Q: Does it work with a GTA01 case? A: Yes. You will even get stereo speakers since the speaker box of the GTA02 has two. One was sacrificed in the GTA02 to provide WLAN. Q: Do you have complete phones? A: We have a handful of complete phones built from returned GTA02 units. They are also available in the shop: http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%20Complete Q: Do I get the money back if the group buy does not reach the minimum quantity within the preorder window? A: Yes. 100% (less money transfer cost). Q: What is the status of the software? A: We (Goldelico) do offer a hardware validation kernel and a Debian/LXDE rootfs, but this does not comprise a phone software. Projekts like SHR, QtMoko and others are in the middle of porting their distros to the GTA04 platform. So the software is not completely ripe but on good progress. But we already can do phone calls by a simple shell script and apt-get install through UMTS. Q: Is there driver support for every bit and piece of the hardware? A: We do not yet have drivers for Camera, IrDA, Audio IN, Torch/Flash, FM radio. If you can support the development, please help! Please also note that these hardware parts have not been tested in detail. So they may not work at all. Q: Where are the schematics? A: The System Manual includes the schematics: http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-main/downloads/37/ They will be updated soon to reflect the changes from the GTA04A3 (Early Adopter) to the GTA04A4 board. Q: Do you have spare components like case, antenna etc.? A: We can't buy or produce these parts and have no steady supply. We will try to get some replacements, but can't promise. Q: Is it possible to downgrade from the GTA04 to GTA02? A: If you swap the display again, yes. You can also get a second display module so that you can simply swap the GTA02 and GTA04 boards+display units within minutes: http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=LCD%20Module Q: Do I need a debug board? A: No. The TI OMAP is "unbrickable" and you just may need a RS232 cable to boot and reconfigure NAND flash parameters. Q: I want to use it in a project and need 50, 100, 500, 1000 units. A: For samples or small quantities, please order them from our shop. For larger batches, please contact us and we will find out how fast we can produce and at which volume rebate. Depending on quantities, we can develop and produce variants. Q: What can I do to increase the likelihood that the group buy reaches the minimum quantity? A: Convince your fellow GTA01/02 owners to think about buying a GTA04 board. Talk, Mail, Blog about the GTA04 to make it known that the Openmoko project did lift off again. Q: I don't feel comfortable to replace the motherboard myself. A: The most critical part is to remove the LCD module from the GTA01/GTA02 board. Either find someone to do it for you. Or get a spare part. Or send the device to us and we will do it for you at a small fee. Please follow the instructions like for a buzz rework: http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%20Installation%20Service Q: I am a reseller. How can I get devices? A: You are welcome to support the Openmoko movement. But we can't give any big dealer margins because the components and production are already very expensive. Please contact us for details. Q: My country is not listed in your shop. A: Running export into all countries on this world needs a lot of paperwork and knowledge to follow all the customs regulations. And worse, we have some US-Technology inside the GTA04 that is classified by EAR. So we need a re-export permission. This is all beyond our capabilites. Therefore we have to regret that we can't serve all countries on this world. But you may find friends who live in a country we can directly serve and you manage the export yourself. _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
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