Teardown session 6: open source laptops, FOSS and beautiful documentation with Lukas F. Hartmann
Join Crowd Supply's Helen Leigh as she chats with Lukas F. Hartmann, CEO of MNT Research and lead designer of the open source hardware laptop, MNT Reform (https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform). Listen in as they discuss DIY computers, beautiful documentation, the FOSS community in Berlin, and how to deliver a large, complex crowdfunding campaign.
They also discuss user experience, designing for open hardware, user-testing, and how to go from a project to a product. Plus lots of sneak previews of upcoming modules and a cameo from Tina the Dog (and Ball).
*Playlist*
00:01:47 - Lukas' interest in hardware design was inspired by a project to port an Amiga graphics card to an FPGA
00:06:43 - Lukas explains why he chose to take on such a large project as an entire laptop
00:09:05 - The role of Novena (https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-k...) in inspiring the Reform design model
00:16:25 - A look at some of the earliest Reform prototypes
00:24:06 - Early vs. current keyboard prototypes and designs
00:26:24 - Selling a few of the second prototypes provided essential market validation
00:29:08 - Tina the dog makes a guest appearance!
00:30:56 - Audience question: How much time passed between the first and second prototypes?
00:35:30 - Audience question: Why did you change from a pouch type battery to individual cells?
00:38:00 - Making open hardware can, and should, influence design decisions, component choices, and more.
00:39:32 - Make everything in the user experience beautiful, from the UI to the documentation.
00:41:40 - Audience question: what would you share with a maker who is trying to go from project to product?
00:46:00 - Murphy's Law can be a good baseline when considering to take on a project or not
00:46:18 - A sneak peek at the forthcoming MNT camera module
00:49:01 - Audience question: Can you talk about the Layerscape module and how it was funded?
00:55:03 - A sneak peek at the forthcoming MNT camera module
00:56:33 - A preview of the external keyboard and case.
*About MNT Reform*
Mobile personal computers are becoming more and more opaque, vendor controlled, and hard to repair. Modern laptops have secret schematics, glued-in batteries, and components not under user control, like the Intel Management Engine or the Apple T2 security chip. Many people decide to tape over the built-in cameras of their laptops because they don’t know if they can trust the device or the software running on it.
Reform goes in the opposite direction. It is designed to be as open and transparent as possible, and to support a free and open source software stack from the ground up. It invites you to take a look under the hood, customize the documented electronics, and even repair it yourself if you like. The Reform laptop has no built-in surveillance technologies, cameras, or microphones, so you can be confident it will never spy on you.
*Links & Resources*
MNT Reform https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform
MNT Repo: https://github.com/mntmn/reform
MNT Research GmbH: https://mntre.com/
*Links from Lukas*
Article with original concepts https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/ref...
Article about the pink version https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/201...
Redesign notes https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/201...
New camera https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform-c...
Layerscape SoM https://source.mnt.re/reform/mnt-refo...
Keyboard https://shop.mntmn.com/products/mnt-r...
*About the Teardown Sessions and Crowd Supply*
Welcome to The Teardown Sessions, a series of interviews and hands-on learning sessions with Crowd Supply creators, staff, and the occasional special guest. Also possibly some cats.
Crowd Supply is the crowdfunding platform of choice for engineers, hackers, designers, and idealists. We help them with the funding and support they need to deliver respectful, thoughtfully crafted, open source hardware to their delighted backers.
Come on by and see what our creators are making: www.crowdsupply.com.
Follow us on Twitter: / crowd_supply
Or, stop by our Discord server and chat with backers and creators directly: / discord
Like, Link, and Subscribe! / @crowd_supply
#crowdfunding #opensource #hardware #teardown #maker #hacker #PCBA #linux #laptop #personalcomputer #electronics #righttorepair #diy #privacy #productdevelopment #manufacturing