I haven’t blogged on technology in quite awhile, so this is past due. My friend and regular WUWT and Climate Audit commenter Steve Mosher has started out on an open-source/open hardware project that is pretty impressive. I thought it would be worth noting here since so many WUWT readers are also techies. So many of the PDA gadgets like Palm and iPod are closed platforms, that for those that want to develop competing hardware products with niche applications, the challenge is huge. Mosher has started a company call Qi Hardware, which offers an alternate way of developing handheld device applications both at the hardware and software level. Qi Hardware builds copyleft hardware running a stable Linux kernel and free software. Their first product is the NanoNote™ a small multifunction device, seen at left. It folds like a micro-sized laptop or net-book.
The mission: provide free software developers with stable, mass market quality hardware that they can develop compelling end user applications on.
The initial product ships in fall 2009. If there are any readers that can envision applications for this, now is the time to check it out. I can envision several industrial and scientific uses for this platform. I’ve included Mosh’s description and vision of the product below. – Anthony
Qi Hardware, founded on the belief in open hardware, produces mass market quality hardware applying free software principles to consumer electronics. The three fundamental elements in our development are copyleft hardware, upstream kernels and community driven software. Each of these form a vital part of our Qi or “energy flow”. Only if developers truly know how the device functions can they exploit its maximum potential, only if we maintain and move the kernel upstream can applications make use of the newest technology, and only if we listen to the community and work together with our customers can we redefine freedom. For a short overview on Qi check the FAQ.
The first time the NanoNote was put into my hands it was “simply” an electronic dictionary. But when I heard the music, watched the video, and played around with a few of the applications it became clear to me that I was holding an ultra small notebook computer, or an ultra small netbook. I saw beyond what I held in my hands. But the only way to make that vision a reality, in my mind, was to open the device. Open it for the software development required and open it for the hardware enhancements we would need to make. As it stands, the device is a great beginning. We call the first version “ben” signified by the Chinese character 本 which loosely means “origin” or the beginning place.
Above all else the size of the device offers a compelling promise. In today’s market we see a variety of devices all competing for that valuable space in your pocket, purse or backpack. We see capability being pushed into phones. We see notebooks shrinking to netbooks. For us the NanoNote has a unique form factor in this dynamic marketplace. It’s small enough to be a “phone” and capable enough with its color screen and keyboard to work as a netbook or ultra small notebook.
The technical specifications are relatively straightforward. It is powered by an Ingenics XBurst processor, which is a MIPS compatible core, clocked at 366 MHz. The roadmap for this processor family is strong with follow-on versions. Strategically, we think that Chinese processor suppliers have competitive MIPS compatible CPUs and developers who are keen to work on a processor that can compete with ARM/Intel offerings will find that the NanoNote presents an interesting and cost effective development platform. That CPU also has the ability to boot from USB. This makes the device instantly “unbrickable”. Nobody foresees a situation where they will “brick” their development platform, but Murphy’s law rules and “unbrickability” is a key design criteria at Qi hardware.
In addition to having a unique processor, the NanoNote comes with a color display. That immediately makes the device a candidate for development aimed at image content. We were pleased to see that the device could support playback of video files and that the display of pictures. With the right software you have a small form factor video player, or small photo album device. And if you add in the fact that it can record and playback audio, then you open up other possibilities. We’d love to see a device dedicated to displaying Creative Commons content.
Finally, the last thing that appealed to us was the storage. Currently the flash in the device stands at 2 GB, but going forward we can increase that to 8 GB. And the device has a microSD slot and supports SDIO. With microSD cards supporting up to 32 GB of storage, it’s clear that the device has the ability to store and use a good amount of data. We can see users storing music on the microSD, or OpenStreetMap data, or an offline version of Wikipedia, or OpenCourseWare, or photos, or movies, or caches of the web. You name it. But the microSD slot gives us more than that. Through SDIO we belive that we can support SDIO peripherals such as Wi-Fi over microSD, GPS over microSD. There is even a camera that can be attached via the microSD slot.
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Boris Gimbarzevsky (21:47:25) :
Yup. you get it. In my former company Openmoko we did an openphone with wifi and gps and touch screen and accelerometers and etc etc etc. And my inbox filled with mail from people like you who wanted to do something different than WE imagined. I said this repeatedly. The creativity outside the company dwarfed that inside the company ( and this from a guy who shipped the first HD mp3 player) On my view what was missing was this: giving those with different visions a way to make the device they wanted. Copyleft software freed software developers. my hope is that Copyleft hardware will do the same for HW geeks.
I want one!
BTW, the MIPS chip has selectable “endian”ness, so the “bigendian” data problem with getting STEP4_5 to of GIStemp to run is not a problem on the MIPS chip. (Hadley makes a SST dataset that feeds into GIStemp, but it is in “bigendian” format and that’s a bit of an issue for FORTRAN data files on a little endian PC platform…)
Bottom line: If it can have a compiler installed on it (like g95) for FORTRAN and has C and Python, I’ll happily port GIStemp to it for free (just give me one 😎
Being a Linux open source base and with switchable endianness it ought to be a one weekend job to do. Just think of the fun of having your own personal hand held copy of the data series creation and anomaly mapping product!
steven mosher (22:11:50) : You get what most people miss. Large CE companies will rarely address niche markets. By being open with the design we allow developers to roll there own special device.
Steven, you are in the “enabling business”. There are 6 billion folks on the planet and a few million of them have a Big Idea that they would like to create. That the iPod or iPhone or {whatever} does some “cool thing” does NOT let them do THEIR cool thing.
I was once involved with a paralyzed guy who was VERY interested in custom voice activated gadgets. You think a closed hardware closed OS CE phone is going to do it for him? No way… no matter how much BT, WiFi, whatever you pack into it.
The custom hardware gadget business is a tough one, but you nailed it when you pointed out the zillion and one folks with a Big Idea who just need access to figure out how to make their cool thing happen.
Thanks EM. I have a couple dozen first articles that are going to be headed toward final assembly..I’ll see what I can do. If not shortly then as soon as I hit MP, you get one. WRT MIPS..
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/06/mips_android_port_open_sourced/
steven mosher (19:39:53) :
The Battery life is fairly good since the original design served as a electronic dictionary. with another .5mm, I’ll squeeze in a higher capacity Li-on. WRT the various RFs, those will get added first through peripherals ( SDIO and USB) and then integrated. Long road ahead.
If it does USB host I can live with a cable to the phone. I came across a bit of linux software which handles the Win-mobile internet sharing protocol, and a fatter battery in the pda would help keep the phone up longer too. I’d like to see a power port for charging the thing from a solar panel while internet connected. Or a charging dock for a spare battery?
I go backpacking. To get around the screen size/res/power problem for mapping work, a way of passing real time map data to an ebook reader with a vizplex screen via BT would be cool. You’d only have to update the position cursor and then shift the maptiles when the cursor got near the edge.
In fact, for a device aimed at text browsing/editing, a vizplex screen and epson graphics engine would be the way to go IMO.
jeez (20:03:23) :
Something that does not show up in the specs:
Every hot chick (including several strippers), who has the slightest knowledge of computers, that we have shown the prototype wants one.
I do hope they make an appearance in the screensavers directory. 😉
Reply: Some of them just might ~ charles the moderator aka jeez
Sounds like it wll be a useful device, but in its current spec will need a USP to make it a big enough sucess to have a decent sized development base, I feel. Perhaps if you can find a ‘killer app’ this will give you enough sales to fund future development.
Good luck with the project – I too think ‘open’ is the way to go.
H.R. (17:21:34) :
Just don’t be scanning MY pockets 😉
DaveE.
Interesting (and thanks, Anthony for thinking out of the box!). I have a whole lot of latent ideas that could make use of something like this…
1) Datalogging/data analysis/graphing/custom domain-specific calculations – think WoodForTrees generalised, offline, and in your pocket… Actually, WFT in your pocket at all might keep some folks here amused, I think. Beats playing golf on your phone for those long train journeys 🙂
2) Interactive services for computer-phobics / digitally excluded. I’ve worked a lot on this in the past with a focus on TV, but a *cheap* handheld device (i.e, not an iPhone) would work in some markets, too.
So, some tech questions:
– WiFi / Bluetooth / GPRS / 3G expansion: Is it possible to do this essentially within the envelope of the device – i.e., no fiddly and breakable dongles hanging out?
– Graphics acceleration / video: Any H/W support? If not, what bitrate/resolution is feasible for (e.g.) H.264 or MPEG-2? or any other codec…
– Audio output?
Best of luck with this, anyway!
woodfortrees (Paul Clark) (03:41:50) :
WoodForTrees generalised, offline, and in your pocket… Actually, WFT in your pocket at all might keep some folks here amused, I think. Beats playing golf on your phone for those long train journeys 🙂
Ooooh yeah!
Is there an ‘API’ for adding new series Paul?
steven mosher (23:33:20) :
WRT MIPS..
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/06/mips_android_port_open_sourced/
Ok, where do I sign up for one of the first batch. 🙂
Steven,
any chance of two micro SD slots so one can be used for peripheral hardware via SDIO while the other is available for extra storage/software?
I hope we see more of this type of device. A phone is sometimes too small, but a 4-5″ screen is often enough. I like having a keyboard and touch-screen. The choice is good.
It is a common misunderstanding that the iPhone and iPod Touch are closed devices and the “average” person cannot develop an app for them. On the contrary, the complete development system for Mac OS X is included with every Mac. It is not installed by default, but it is on a disk in the package. If you have a Mac, you can develop apps.
Mac OS X is a pretty GUI built on top of BSD Unix. It includes many open-source UNIX applications, it is not too big of a deal to find a good app and then use Cocoa (Apple’s application framework) to make a nice interface for it. Or you can just use it as-is in the Terminal application.
Another open software device is the Pandora handheld.
See http://www.openpandora.org/index.php
While the hardware is closed, it was designed collaboratively, and the entire OS is an open platform.
It was designed specifically for gaming emulation, but its graphics and keyboard make it a powerful Linux handheld.
It is nearing completion, and the forums for this device are abuzz about that fact.
It is about a year overdue, but appears to be on track for a November delivery.
Long time Pandora faithful are frustrated by delays, which may be at an end.
Unofficial Blog (with links to more info):
http://openpandora.wordpress.com/
JP (18:47:54) :
This is not true in general. BIOSes in most computers, even ones running free software from the kernel up, are still proprietary precisely because the hardware specifications are kept under wraps.
Point taken. On second thought unwrapping a BIOS would certainly make creative apps and hacks more accessible. Reversing those things is a bear. And according to Steve, he wants to open paths for innovators outside the co. As we’ve seen with successful gadgets (iPhone) third party apps and accessories abound.
So how ’bout forget the LCD and use a direct retinal stereo projector? Better than a heads up display, in virtual 3D, and great for us dim-eyed boomers!
Scott Gibson (20:44:10) :
It might be worth your while to head over to http://www.qi-hareware and join the developer list. WRT to field mapping. With the current device you would have to use a peripheral GPS ( SDIO version) The are available and we will be looking at getting one that has GPL drivers. Down the road of course the GPS would be integrated, either as a discrete or as part of a GSM module. Opensource software projects off the top of my head, navit, tangogps, openstreetmap.
james allison (22:05:26) :
It’s not at all comparable to an iPhone. The best way for me to illustrate that is to tell a little story about some guys I visited the other day. They had a great idea for some hardware that they wanted to add to the iPhone and the iPod. They signed the agreement with Apple to get the interface information. They explained the idea to Apple. Apple said great. They spent their money building prototypes. They showed it to Apple. And Apple said no. Why? Because Apple wanted to do it. In another case Apple didnt want any liability. Is that Apple’s right? of course. Did a little guy get the shaft? of course. What can I do to free people with great ideas? Open hardware.
tallbloke (02:01:03) :
All good ideas. The blog over at qi-hardware has comment sections where people can weigh in and make their suggestions. This project will be community driven. We start with a very simple seed and open that design for people with a better idea or their own idea. Since it has USB you can obviously power it from an external source and since the schematics are open most guys who are handy can DIY their own external pack if they want. And even sell it. Here is a dirty little truth about cell phone chargers, lets take USB chargers for example. The Cost of goods for a typical charger are around 5 bucks. And you might pay 30 or 40 bucks for this. Some people also put in resistors for doing an ID on the charger. The other day a friend with a blackberry asked to use my USB charger. Standard right? Nope. the phone screamed that I had not put in a standard charger ( read charger with the “right” ID resistor in it) Same goes for batteries. A cell phone battery costs about 5 dollars. Since proprietary companies want to make huge profits off accessories they will “customize” these batteries.
j.pickens (07:54:59) :
Yup. Pandora is a community driven project. I would characterize the differences thusly. If somebody wants to fork our project and create their own device, they don’t need to get everyone to agree. They just need the tools ( freely available) and the ability.
tallbloke (04:12:36) and other posts.
Just head over to qi-hardware. sign up for the lists. I’m putting together a “projects” list. WRT two SDIO. Ya that’s on my wish list. Like most gadget freaks I want lots of ins and outs, mechanical willing.
WFT
“Interesting (and thanks, Anthony for thinking out of the box!). I have a whole lot of latent ideas that could make use of something like this…”
Yup. When I held it in my hands light bulbs went off all over the place.
Since I can’t fund them all I asked myself “how do I enable others to do
stuff that they want to do? Answer. copyleft.”
“1) Datalogging/data analysis/graphing/custom domain-specific calculations – think WoodForTrees generalised, offline, and in your pocket… Actually, WFT in your pocket at all might keep some folks here amused, I think. Beats playing golf on your phone for those long train journeys :-)”
Yes. the OpenZim guys will be doing an offline wikipedia project. There will be an audio project, wikidictionary and hopefully some Creative Commons projects. One thing I’ve learned is this. there are always two movements in markets. A movement toward a swiss army knife and a movement toward content specific devices. the existence of a swiss army knife does not kill the markets for spoons or knives or screwdrivers.
Further, if you want to brand a content expereince the best way to do that is with a dedicated device.
“2) Interactive services for computer-phobics / digitally excluded. I’ve worked a lot on this in the past with a focus on TV, but a *cheap* handheld device (i.e, not an iPhone) would work in some markets, too.”
Yes. There are some developing parts of the world that demand ( by law) open devices. markets big enough for me.
“So, some tech questions:
– WiFi / Bluetooth / GPRS / 3G expansion: Is it possible to do this essentially within the envelope of the device – i.e., no fiddly and breakable dongles hanging out?”
The device is the first of 4 devices. Its the seed. We are already posting design files for the addition of other components. The mechanical will have to grow for the addition of some of these. The biggest issues are:
1. finding open components ( datasheets with no NDA)
2. Stacking ( where EE meets mechanical)
3. RF design ( black effin magic)
“- Graphics acceleration / video: Any H/W support? If not, what bitrate/resolution is feasible for (e.g.) H.264 or MPEG-2? or any other codec…”
Despite the existence of OpenGl-es the chip makers are notorious ( I used to be one) about exposing specs. WRT video. I’ve seen mpeg 4 ( proprietary code) running on the device. So, the horse power is there.
“- Audio output?”
Yes. There is a audio jack out and I’ve got some proprietary MP3 players on it. This software will be removed and we will sponser a project to put open codecs on the device. I’ve also invited an audio engineer to have a look at the schematics ( they are posted) and start discussions about improving the audio, the current S/N is acceptable. Also there is a microphone, so If you are so inclined you can buy the device turn it into a handheld opensource audio device. And if you like you can buy them as a VAR add your software and resell it.
Jim Stegman (06:42:09) :
When we talk about free we mean GPL.
steven mosher (10:21:34) :
Yes, the projects are different.
The Pandora has a proprietary hardware build.
However, for anyone doing software and external hardware control, there is no limit to what you can do with the Pandora, as all the software is GPL, and the hardware interfaces are well documented.
The Pandora’s advantage is that it has a more powerful CPU, and the graphics are 800 by 480 pixels.
That said, I understand the desire to be totally open, both hardware and software.
steven mosher (10:41:55) :
Yes. the OpenZim guys will be doing an offline wikipedia project. There will be an audio project, wikidictionary and hopefully some Creative Commons projects.
It might be worth dropping in at http://www.openinkpot.org and their forum at
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=169
Thy have an offline wikipedia done in German already for their open linux distro built using a modified version of SLINE running on several of the visplex screened e-reader devices on the market. It might be worth a look at their methods for decoding ebooks too. Seems there could be a nice hookup to open content there.
tallbloke (11:43:45) :
Thx. on it. Had a nice meeting with creative commons folks today