URL:
http://kerneltrap.org/Hardware/Open_Graphics_Project_to_Announce_Pre-OrdersOpen Graphics Project founder Timothy Miller recently noted on the
project's mailing list that they are set to announce that their first
hardware, the OGD1, is ready for pre-order. "The OGD1 design has
actually been finished for a couple of months now," he began,
explaining that they've been setting up a way to process pre-orders for
the first 100 boards. The board will retail at $1,500, with a $100
discount offered for the first 100 pre-orders. "These are pre-orders,
not orders, Timothy continued, "that means the lead time is
unpredictable. We don't have a stock. We will purchase a stock based on
the number of pre-orders we get. Also, this means that if we never get
a large enough number of pre-orders, we will be unable to fulfill them;
all pre-orders would be canceled, and no one would be charged
anything." He then explained that though the OGD1 could function as a
graphics card, it is instead offered as a competitively priced FPGA
development kit, "we need to make it clear what OGD1 is and why buying
one is an important step for Free Software," adding:
"OGD1 is for hardware hackers. This isn't just about graphics. If all
you wanted was a graphics card that worked with Free Software, we've
had that for a long time with Matrox, for some time with Intel, and
most recently and significantly with ATI. Where our graphics pipeline
will be competitive is in embedded systems. As for long-term goals of
this project, there are many different types of peripherals for which
we do not have good Free Software support; for instance, wifi. But
let's not get ahead of ourselves here. OGD1 is for hardware hackers.
It's for the community of people who want to tinker with their own
hardware ideas, students who want to learn, and professionals who need
a prototyping platform. And of course full schematics and design
details for OGD1 are offered under the GPL."
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