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Precursor – A mobile, open source electronics platform
Precursor (pre·cur·sor | \ pri-ˈkər-sər): 1. one that precedes or gives rise to; a predecessor; harbinger 2. a pocketable open development board
bunnie's blog
Another contribution from FETguy and Renew Computers ! I found this board to be interesting mainly because I always wondered how these things worked . The construction reveals a trick which ended up as a surprise, at least to me!
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Update on Novena Open Laptop
Back in December, I posted that we’re building an open laptop . The post generated hundreds of comments, and I was surprised there was so much interest.
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What is a System-on-Chip (SoC), and why do we care if they are open source?
Note: This post originally appeared as an update in the crowdfunding campaign for Precursor.
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Open Hardware on Its Own Doesn’t Solve the Trust Problem
A few years ago, Sean ‘xobs’ Cross and I built an open-source laptop, Novena, from the circuit boards up, and shared our designs with the world. I’m a strong proponent of open hardware, because sharing knowledge is sharing power. One thing we didn’t anticipate was how much the press wanted to frame our open hardware…
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From Gongkai to Open Source
About a year and a half ago, I wrote about a $12 “Gongkai” cell phone (pictured above) that I stumbled across in the markets of Shenzhen, China. My most striking impression was that Chinese entrepreneurs had relatively unfettered access to cutting-edge technology, enabling start-ups to innovate while bootstrapping…
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Open Source Could Be a Casualty of the Trade War
When I heard that ARM was to stop doing business with Huawei, I was a little bit puzzled as to how that worked: ARM is a British company owned by a Japanese conglomerate; how was the US able to extend its influence beyond its citizens and borders? A BBC report indicated that ARM had concerns over its US origin…
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Precursor’s Custom PCBs
While the last few updates about Precursor have focused on evidence-based trust and security, this update is more about the process of making Precursor itself. There is an essential link between evidence-based trust and understanding the manufacturing process: to convince yourself that something has been constructed…