[GTALUG] Voting with our Dollars on Computing Future that Respects our Freedom.

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 12:47:55AM -0400, Scott Sullivan via talk wrote:
> There is a common refrain on this list, "Vote with your Dollars". We'll I'm
> going to put my money where my mouth is.
> 
> The EOMA-68 effort is something I've spoken on before. It's a real earnest
> attempt to put together a hardware project that meets the ideals of the free
> software community. It's matter of principle, much like recycling is matter
> or principle (recycling is not cheaper then new materials).
> 
> https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop
> 
> I've been watching Luke, the project lead, fail and succeed in various ways
> for nearly 5 years now. He's had hardware prototypes built, small
> productions runs of the A20 card done.

I must admit that having read his longwinded rants, he is among the few
people I have considered teaching my email program to flag as "Warning:
Potential troll" so I have a warning before reading it.

His ideas are rather far fetched, he manages to really piss people off
with his demands for them to do things to solve his problems, and I am not
convinced the problems he is trying to solve are really worth the bother.

> This is a early adopter scenario, it's going to be rough around the edges,
> and it's not going to be the fastest hardware. But it's got the heart.
> 
> Spend sometime reading into the details.
> 
> https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/fsf-ryf-background
> 
> In Five years, I've not seen Luke give up. He's finally found a partner
> company with a good track record (Think Penguin). And the design is done and
> tested. It just has to be built in mass.
> 
> I'm not asking that folks go for the laptop. But maybe just a Card, and a
> Cable Set for Standalone Operation. The costs of Hardware won't come down
> until we show that we are willing to put a down payment on future we've been
> asking for.
> 
> I'm backing this project, not because its the cheapest, or the fastest. But
> because I want to see more projects like in the future that will be faster
> and possibly cost competitive in the market.

I certainly won't be bothering.  There are much more interesting bits
of hardware I could get.

-- 
len Sorensen