Bunnie Huang, the brains behind the Chumby internet appliance, is working on another cool creation: a DIY open source laptop. While it looks like many other dev boards on the market (like theRaspberry Pi or Odroid), Huang’s goal is to create an ARM-powered laptop with “some wacky features in it for hackers.” The wacky features lists includes things like a Raspberry-Pi compatible expansion header, and both analog and digital inputs and outputs.
Huang is currently working with a quad-core Freescale iMX6 processor clocked at 1.2GHz. The board looks like a tinker’s dream, with standard So-DIMM, SATA-II, and mini-PCIe connectors, micro SD and SD card slots, two USB ports, and a single USB on-the-go port. HDMI and LVDS outputs are available for pushing video to displays, and both 10/100 and gigabit Ethernet ports are supplied. The dual network ports might also fall under the wacky features heading as well, since they’d allow a laptop (or desktop or tablet) built using Huang’s board to serve as a firewall device.
The design started taking shape early this summer, and Huang says he’s already got an ARM-friendly Linux distribution booting. Anyone who’s interested can download datasheets and programming manuals for all the key components. It’s enough information to allow those with the skills to create their own bootable firmware from scratch, says Huang.
While this started out as a labor of love, Huang notes in his blog post that others might be interested in purchasing a board like the one he’s created. If there’s enough interest, he may even launch a Kickstarter campaign to facilitate the production of a small run of the open hardware. Don’t expect them to come as cheaply as the Raspberry Pi or Odroid, however. Huang’s after a “low-volume, hand-crafted laptop made with uniquely open-source components,” and would price the kit accordingly.
