[Oberon] oberonstation vs. a $9 computer

[Ken Boak]

Lars,

Perhaps you could choose a cheaper FPGA - such as the Altera iCE40 series
 ($7) and a couple of 512K x 16 SRAMs at $13.35.

Then there's the FT2232 at $6.69, and then something like a FTDI Vinculum
to act as USB host at $3.99.

A 2.25" x 4"   4 layer board  will be about   $10 from China - but MOQ is
5off. Then there's about $5 to $10 of assorted other components like the
connectors, voltage regulator, LEDS, microSD card.

So we are up to almost $65 and you haven't even placed a single component.
Add another 25% for assembly. What about programming and testing?

Right, board built, untested for $81.25.  Do you need to make a profit on
this?

Now you just have to port the risc 5 across to the Altera iCE 40 - which
should take a good FPGA engineer about a week.....

Alternatively you could run Oberon under Linux on a Pi or a chip,  or
perhaps just  order a $3 PS/2 mouse online.


Enjoy........





On 8 February 2016 at 18:12, <skulski at pas.rochester.edu> wrote:

> Lars:
>
> It is sort of funny that one can use the low price as an argument. How
> much do you value your time? Let's say it is $5 per hour, way below
> minimum wage. How much time will you spend on getting anything done with
> any piece of hardware, be it Arduino, RPi, Beagle Bone, or Oberon Station?
> Are you going to achieve anything meaningful in less than 10 hours? If so
> then I will consider hiring you for $50 per hour.
>
> The low price does indeed matter if you will use the hardware in a
> finished product. They are talking of a disposable computer. If you are
> going to basically throw it away after a single use (provided that you
> environmental soul lets you do it), then indeed $9 matters. But if you are
> going to do any development or experimentation with the HW, then you will
> likely spend hundreds of hours doing so. Then it does not matter if you
> invest $9, $90, or even $900 into your hardware. Almost any such amount is
> dwarfed by the cost of your time.
>
> Oberon Station is a development platform. The valid question is
> "development of what?". The initial dollar investment in the development
> hardware is not that important in this case.
>
> W.
>
>
> > The oberon station is tempting, but with Raspberry Pi at $35
> > or the C.H.I.P computer for $9.00... that has USB,
> > and WIFI that works like any wifi, the oberon station
> > is really priced way out of the market.  If the
> > oberonstation was around $50 more people would buy.
> > How can you possibly compete with the C.H.I.P.
> > for $9.00.
>
>
>
> --
> Oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch mailing list for ETH Oberon and related systems
> https://lists.inf.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/oberon
>
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