i'm contacting this list because i believe that it will have a high concentration of people who may be interested in having a non-Intel-based 100% free software compatible laptop: if i am mistaken in that assumption, i apologise: feel free to hit delete and ignore this message.
in order to avoid sending a looong message to this list, here is a link instead to the original, which i recommend that you read _before_ asking any questions (esp. to list) along the lines of "have you done your research before putting this in front of us?" to which the answer will be "yes: lots. read the link and you'd see": http://advogato.org/person/lkcl/diary/649.html the basic question is this: is there anyone else who is fed up of not being able to get a decent non-x86 laptop, fed up enough to group together with _other_ people also fed up, such that, through sheer bulk purchasing power, it's possible to get what you want made-to-order? this was - is - the success story behind the http://open-pandora.org. 2 years ago, 4,000 people said "yes! here's my money!" when the OP designers asked the exact same kind of question on the gpx32.com forums. the result is a micro-laptop costing around $300, which is just going into mass-production now (see status page). so - replicating that, but in the context of "100% free software laptop" rather than "games console masquerading as micro-laptop", i am _guessing_ that these are the kinds of basic specs that people would be interested in (but see advogato diary link above for full "guess") * 1ghz CPU, 1gb of DDR2 RAM, 1gb NAND Flash, bootable SD/MMC * minimum of 1200 x 768 screen (i.e anything that calls itself WXGA) * 10in+ screen size (but keeping to a size which doesn't eat power) * 8+ hour battery life (see above) * decent keyboard (e.g. the one on the Asus 1000HE) * nipple as well as trackpad - and a _decent_ trackpad i come to _approximately_ a $212 BOM if you use a 1ghz Samsung S5PC110 or a Freescale 1ghz iMX51, and you "reuse" an EXISTING case design. there _are_ ways to get cheaper than that, but it would be intolerable: the point is to have a decent machine not a mass-market cost-shaved one that has unsatisfactory compromises. so the opportunity i'm inviting people to consider is this: _talk_ to one another; if you feel that you're not the only one who would like a decent non-x86 laptop, one that's actually designed with free software and free software users in mind, _say_ so. don't let the mass-market retailers make that decision for you, because you know full well that they think you will only buy a windows laptop, and will charge you for the privilege. so - **** 'em, let's cut them out the loop. ideas, input, feedback welcome. talk to one another. think about it. what could you get made, if there were 1000 or 5000 other people who wanted what you also would like, and how do you find out who those other people are? l. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/h2vced5f0f61004091310p9462b6d6p622cab69e7da6...@mail.gmail.com