Open source PPC laptop bounty

[utri007]

There is a bounty to develop Opensource PPC laptop. First step goal is %&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!8364;12,600.00.

1.Hardware components research, analysis of the architecture, and design of the electrical schematics [12600 euro, 30 net days];
2.Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Gerber format delivery of the electrical schematics [11950 euro, 30 net days];
3.Production and delivery of five working prototypes [ 8800 euro, 40 net days];
4.Hardware testing using software provided by the producer (ACube) [14400 euro, 30 net days];
5.Pre-certification CE certification [12.500 euro].

Those who are interested might want to contribute.

https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/campaigns/electrical-schematics-notebook-powerpc-motherboard-donation-campaign/

[bloodline]

Good luck! I of course have little interest in such a device (since ARM have competently filled that gap), but I am curious as to which PPC variant you plan to use?

[amir_amd]

CPU: NXP T208x, e6500 64-bit Power Architecture with Altivec technology
4 x e6500 dual-threaded cores, low-latency backside 2MB L2 cache, 16GFLOPS x core
RAM: 2 x RAM slots for DDR3L SO-DIMM
VIDEO: Radeon HD
AUDIO: sound chip, audio in and audio out jacks
USB: 3.0 and 2.0 ports
STORAGE:
NVM Express (NVMe), M.2 2280 connector
2 x SATA
1 x SDHC card reader
NETWORK:
1 x ethernet RJ-45 connector
WiFi connectivity
Bluetooth connectivity
POWER: on-board battery charger and power-management
CHASSIS: standard notebook case 15,6"

[toRus]

I have little interest in laptops but I wish you best of luck.

[Raffaele]

@bloodline and toRus:

If your little interest amount at least at one dollar, please consider donate it. It is very cheap amount of money but ny donation will help this fab project to reach its goal! You're welcome in this project!

Remember that the team will release any design and Gerber CAD files for free as they believe in Open Source movement.

[polyp2000]

CPU: NXP T208x, e6500 64-bit Power Architecture with Altivec technology
4 x e6500 dual-threaded cores, low-latency backside 2MB L2 cache, 16GFLOPS x core
RAM: 2 x RAM slots for DDR3L SO-DIMM
VIDEO: Radeon HD
AUDIO: sound chip, audio in and audio out jacks
USB: 3.0 and 2.0 ports
STORAGE:
NVM Express (NVMe), M.2 2280 connector
2 x SATA
1 x SDHC card reader
NETWORK:
1 x ethernet RJ-45 connector
WiFi connectivity
Bluetooth connectivity
POWER: on-board battery charger and power-management
CHASSIS: standard notebook case 15,6"

Will it run AOS 4.x ?
Not much point for me otherwise.

[amir_amd]

Will it run AOS 4.x ?
Not much point for me otherwise.

No
It will run Linux PowerPC

[utri007]

Only Linux PPC is promised, but it is produced By aCube. So if it materializes there is a good change it will have OS4 or any other amigsh OS.

[Iggy]

Will it run AOS 4.x ?
Not much point for me otherwise.

That is up to Hyperion.
But Timothy De Groot is aware of the project and has made the comment that the matter is open for discussion.

However, you need hardware before you can port software.

[polyp2000]

CPU: NXP T208x, e6500 64-bit Power Architecture with Altivec technology
4 x e6500 dual-threaded cores, low-latency backside 2MB L2 cache, 16GFLOPS x core
RAM: 2 x RAM slots for DDR3L SO-DIMM
VIDEO: Radeon HD
AUDIO: sound chip, audio in and audio out jacks
USB: 3.0 and 2.0 ports
STORAGE:
NVM Express (NVMe), M.2 2280 connector
2 x SATA
1 x SDHC card reader
NETWORK:
1 x ethernet RJ-45 connector
WiFi connectivity
Bluetooth connectivity
POWER: on-board battery charger and power-management
CHASSIS: standard notebook case 15,6"

Given that this is supposed to be an "open source" laptop how did you manage to get licenses to use Radeon and PPC/Altivec ? Last time i checked these were proprietary. If the only open source component is Linux , whats the point ? might as well stick with Intel , which also runs Linux ? This sounds like making a rod for your own back.

[Raffaele]

Given that this is supposed to be an "open source" laptop how did you manage to get licenses to use Radeon and PPC/Altivec ? Last time i checked these were proprietary. If the only open source component is Linux , whats the point ? might as well stick with Intel , which also runs Linux ? This sounds like making a rod for your own back.

AW! Come on!

We already have Altivec software both on AmigaOS and MorphOS so there will be no problem porting it.

Linux Drivers of this machine will be available Open.
Any Amiga Developer enough skilled could made a port for AmigaOS or MorphOS of its Graphic Chip drivers.

What's the problem if Linux Drivers are reversed engineered from original proprietary ones?

This machine is a very interesting beast, more powerful than any Amiga ever, and people calculated its cost will be from 600 to 900 Euro (I talk personally with Mr. innocenti of the Laptop Project Team on about price) and the fact it sports Laptop design, it just means you need no extra money to buy case, memory modules, power supply and GFX card.

If Hyperion and/or MorphOS team will realize a porting of their respective Operating Systems we'll have the coolest fastest Amiga ever and it will be reasonably cheaper than X1000 or X5000!!!

It will be same price of AmigaONE (850 Euro at its launch) but with enormously more horsepower and remember it will need no extra money to assembling it in order to make it run!

I cannot believe you will renounce donating from 1 to 5 Euro for that. i is a very small sum suitable for any people's pocket, and you will keep a door open to Amiga too, and contribute maintaining the dream alive...

At least it is like playing your state Lotto but with chances to win in the orders of 1 to hundreds, instead than impossible 1 on 47 millions as any lottery jackpot.

[Iggy]

I wouldn't start quoting prices just yet, and those seem a little on the low side for the components being considered, but I'm really hopeful that we can pull this off.
And I just exchanged a couple of messages with Roberto myself last night and this morning to confirm we were still planning on using MXM form factor video boards (which could allow for future upgradability).

As far as a comparison to X64 goes, this cpu is slightly slower than my i7 laptop, but supports twice as many threads.
Under Linux, it should be more than adequate.
And there is some interest amongst the community in maintaining big endian PPC linux distros (which would benefit all PPC Mac and AmigaOne users as well).

[nicholas]

Given that this is supposed to be an "open source" laptop how did you manage to get licenses to use Radeon and PPC/Altivec ? Last time i checked these were proprietary. If the only open source component is Linux , whats the point ? might as well stick with Intel , which also runs Linux ? This sounds like making a rod for your own back.

Since when has anyone needed a "licence" to buy an IC and use it?

[polyp2000]

Since when has anyone needed a "licence" to buy an IC and use it?

I think you are missing the point . The architecture of the chips is not open. Can you supply complete schematics for the GPU and CPU? I think not.

[klx300r]

@ utri007

this looks like a great project by one of our respected hardware suppliers so I'll be donating for sure:hammer: