Re: re: Smart box / Dumb box

Jeff,

(snips, inserts/responses below)

>The 'dumb box' parts would be more than that. Have you ordered any
>custom made pc boards in small quantities lately? You're looking at
>$50 right there.

No. I do small quantity pc bds in house with either mechanical or
chemical processes. Mariss' recent reply would tend to support your
view, as he said axis cards for the 'dumb' box would be $25 each. And
gave no cost for the 'motherboard'. So we're at $75+ if the bds come
from Mariss...

>>Really?! I know of at least three 2 member teams who have
>>completed this "project" in less than three months, with updates
>>and improvements since...

>Really?! Then why don't I just buy one of those? Have I missed
>something here?

They are proprietary systems and their price is too high, according
to the posts in this thread. What I'm saying is that it has, and
continues to be done. And not by huge design teams!

>It's never going to get close to PC type volume. A PC will always
>give us more bang for our buck than any special purpose box.

I agree with your premise and have posted in support of the PC only
approach for many months now... But I do believe there are other
ways too.. And if someone wants to pursue them, I'm going to use my
knowledge and experience to help them, if I can... We all will
benefit from increased choices and knowledge.

Why does it need to be PC type volume anyway?!? It just needs to be
cost-effective in the eyes of the target consumer. Which at first, is
US.

>We can't escape the constraint that you have to spend real money to
>develop real hardware. You can do open source software projects with
>nothing but people's spare time. Someone has to put up money, in
>front, to build hardware. They generally want some ROI. I don't
>expect Jon and Mariss would be dumping their time and money into
>even a 'dumb box' project without expecting some return.

Of course! And both Jon and Mariss HAVE 'put up money', and effort!
And if you want to support their quest for ROI, you can! I'm also
most certainly 'spending' some time to help this come together! Dan M
is another who has done a good job of creating a 'revenue stream'
from the needs expressed on this list (he recently mentioned he would
be only TOO glad to buy some boards for the 'dumb' box!) I too, have
some ideas about how I will use the smart and/or dumb box to create
some income.

It is the size of the market which allows many of us to benefit from
the efforts of the few who will actually get involved in this.
Electronic magazines have existed for years on the belief by authors
that publishing an article to build something will result in some
ROI. And don't forget, not EVERYONE needs a MONETARY ROI!! Some
people are happy to have the experience, or the status, or just the
good feelings of helping. Don't believe it? Check out the pay of MANY
corporate board members...

>A 'smart box' would soak up much more. Are we going to take up a
>collection here?

You know, that's not such a crazy idea! But I think we would need to
be a little further down the road with specs and criteria before many
would be comfortable with such a collection...

>No, no, no, I don't want to kill anything, I want us to do something
>that I can actually afford, and get it done sometime next year. I
>have a hard time believing a 'smart box' project will ever get much
>past the talking stage.

One thing to keep in mind is that these 'public' emails on list are
not the whole story. People find each other, agree to collaborate,
work together off-list. For instance, until Matt S spoke up, I had no
idea he was the genesis of Jon E's project. Did you?

The best way to get past the talking stage is to get "through" the
talking stage! If you have a different "this" in mind, speak up!

>I agree 100%. I just have a little different 'this' in mind.

Hope this helps.

Ballendo