AN0oooo on Nostr: @jack @excellion @paoloardoino ...
@jack @excellion @paoloardoino
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1677252438208684033?s=19
BeagleBoard/BeagleBone/Pandaboard/RasberryPI/CubieBoard etc. do not provide you the complete solution. The critical missing piece that makes a device a phone is cellular connectivity. With these boards you would need to add a GSM/3G module to achieve that. But the device you build is going to be bulky and power inefficient. Not to mention expensive.
That is not how most phones are built.
Phones today are build around SoCs which do a lot of things in a single chip. This allows the devices to be smaller, cheaper and consume less power.
If you want something that is close to a real phone, you'd have to contact an OEM in China and convince them to give you access to basic technical docs.
This is going to be difficult because they are not interested in catering to hobbyists and would be worried about the design being leaked. Too much risk for an insignificant sale. Only way to do this is to have a good relation with the boss. There are lot of small manufacturers in China and you can try your luck with them. I am not sure about the legality of doing this because the OEMs have Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA) with chipset vendors.
To my knowledge, as of today it is not possible to build a phone whose full technology stack is opensource because the nuts and bolts at the lowest level of cellular technology are highly guarded closed source properties.
Even OEMs don't have access to it. Chipset vendors such as Mediatek & Qualcomm wrap this IP in their SDK which they provide to OEMs under an NDA.
Even if someone has the know how, they can't opensource the stack because of the NDAs.
After clearing those hurdles, you still need an IMEI to legally use the device. For that you'd have to become a member of GSM Association and that will cost a fortune besides having to qualify their membership criteria.
To conclude, you can build a device that has all the features of a modern phone using opensource hardware and a closed source GSM/3G module.
Also checkout Project Ara from Google. They are bulding a modular phone where components (modules) of the phone can be swapped in an out easily. This will allow you to build just the part you are interested in customizing and use other modules without modification.
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1677252438208684033?s=19
BeagleBoard/BeagleBone/Pandaboard/RasberryPI/CubieBoard etc. do not provide you the complete solution. The critical missing piece that makes a device a phone is cellular connectivity. With these boards you would need to add a GSM/3G module to achieve that. But the device you build is going to be bulky and power inefficient. Not to mention expensive.
That is not how most phones are built.
Phones today are build around SoCs which do a lot of things in a single chip. This allows the devices to be smaller, cheaper and consume less power.
If you want something that is close to a real phone, you'd have to contact an OEM in China and convince them to give you access to basic technical docs.
This is going to be difficult because they are not interested in catering to hobbyists and would be worried about the design being leaked. Too much risk for an insignificant sale. Only way to do this is to have a good relation with the boss. There are lot of small manufacturers in China and you can try your luck with them. I am not sure about the legality of doing this because the OEMs have Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA) with chipset vendors.
To my knowledge, as of today it is not possible to build a phone whose full technology stack is opensource because the nuts and bolts at the lowest level of cellular technology are highly guarded closed source properties.
Even OEMs don't have access to it. Chipset vendors such as Mediatek & Qualcomm wrap this IP in their SDK which they provide to OEMs under an NDA.
Even if someone has the know how, they can't opensource the stack because of the NDAs.
After clearing those hurdles, you still need an IMEI to legally use the device. For that you'd have to become a member of GSM Association and that will cost a fortune besides having to qualify their membership criteria.
To conclude, you can build a device that has all the features of a modern phone using opensource hardware and a closed source GSM/3G module.
Also checkout Project Ara from Google. They are bulding a modular phone where components (modules) of the phone can be swapped in an out easily. This will allow you to build just the part you are interested in customizing and use other modules without modification.