The Balthazar laptop: An all-European Free Hardware computer
- Reference: 1675957154
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/02/09/balthazar_free_hardware_laptop/
- Source link:
[1]Balthazar is an interesting hardware project which we were told about at the Open Source Policy Summit in Brussels last week. It's a project to build a standards-based, fully open source RISC-V laptop "for all children age 9-99" .
The plan is to put a RISC-V SoC in an [2]EOMA68 form-factor package. Long-term readers may remember that [3]we wrote about such kit in 2012 , when it was the first product from AllWinner, whose processors later went on to power several devices from [4]open hardware vendors Pine64 . This will fit in a chassis that has its own ergonomic keyboard layout, but can also accept a ThinkPad X2** series keyboard, a [5]firm Register favourite as well as of this particular vulture, who has about five of them.
[6]
Our attempts to contact the project have been in vain, but there has been activity on their GitHub [7]pages in recent months. The Dutch open internet foundation [8]NLNet is a [9]backer , and the project has received funding from [10]NGI , the EU's Next Generation Internet initiative.
[11]Open Source Policy Summit: Where FOSS and government meet
[12]Transmission FOSS BitTorrent client hits version 4.0
[13]LibreOffice 7.5 update: A great time to jump on this FOSS productivity suite
[14]WINE Windows translation layer has matured like a fine... you get the picture
The project puts us in mind of several forerunners. Of course, given that the renders are green, it has a slightly weird keyboard, and it has educational aspirations, it puts us in mind of the lamented [15]One Laptop Per Child XO-1 , which is now quite a sought-after device.
Another is the [16]MNT Reform Arm-based laptop, which [17]we've mentioned in the past in connection with its mechanical keyboard. (If the keyboard appeals, you can [18]buy it separately.) Although it's Arm-powered, the Reform's CPU cores are not very powerful – it's comparable to a Raspberry Pi 3, and of course Arm is not a Free design. Nonetheless, the Reform attracted a lot of interest, raised several times its intended crowdfunding, and a new [19]model should arrive later this year.
[20]
A [21]Pocket model is also in development, and there are [22]plans for an [23]adapter to give it a brain transplant via a [24]Raspberry Pi 4 Compute Module – [25]if you can find one to buy – to give a welcome performance boost. ®
Get our [26]Tech Resources
[1] https://balthazar.space/wiki/Balthazar
[2] https://elinux.org/Embedded_Open_Modular_Architecture/EOMA68
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2012/05/10/product_round_up_arm_mini_computers_the_best_and_the_rest/?page=5
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/21/pine64_announces_new_open_tablet/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2011/06/30/lenovo_thinkpad_x220t_review/
[6] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/02/09/balthazar.jpg
[7] https://github.com/balthazar-space
[8] https://nlnet.nl/foundation/
[9] https://nlnet.nl/project/Balthazar/
[10] https://www.ngi.eu/about/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/09/open_source_policy_summit/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/08/transmission_bittorrent_v4/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/03/libreoffice_75/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/03/wine_80_dxvk_21/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2008/01/17/review_xo_laptop_hands_on/
[16] https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2020-05-08-the-much-more-personal-computer.html
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/06/ortholinear_keyboard_laptop/
[18] https://shop.mntre.com/products/mnt-reform-usb-keyboard-standalone
[19] https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-12-24-december-update.html
[20] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y@UmtHdL8EuGOOy0ytnBaQAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[21] https://mntre.com/media/reform_md/2022-06-20-introducing-mnt-pocket-reform.html
[22] https://community.mnt.re/t/quartz64-cpu-epaper-screen/496
[23] https://source.mnt.re/reform/mnt-reform-raspberry-pi-cm4-som
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/19/pi_compute_module_4/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/12/100k_raspberry_pis/
[26] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Odd designs
Why does every do-good, free-as-in-freedom hardware project* seem to use people they believe are "egonomic keyboard designers" -- people who, based on their results, are terrible at designing good keyboards?
Forget the general aesthetics of the unit -- look at their keyboard, which is a critical system interface (magnify the image as needed):
https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/02/09/balthazar.jpg
Two tiny little buttons instead of a space bar?!
*I am in favor of such projects.
Re: Odd designs
well, if you can swap the keyboard for a lenovo one, that's fine. Now, those two black circles, and a square in the middle - is it supposed to be a panda's face? Or a pair of speakers? And a... touch pad?!
Re: Odd designs
[Author here]
> Two tiny little buttons instead of a space bar?!
I think I can answer that one, at least.
Space bars are tricky. You need supports underneath so that when the user presses at one end, the whole thing doesn't seesaw -- you want it to depress evenly to trigger the mechanism, but that means when pressed off-centre, it needs to be pulled down in the middle.
The MNT Reform has the same issue, and by using 2 large keys the size of Shift or Backspace, you can use the standard key mechanism.
This is quite common on Japanese keyboard layouts.
Also, for people addicted to horrible old Unix editors, you can put Alt or Ctrl keys in the middle where it's easy to press with the thumbs, rather than the weak little fingers which share a tendon with the ring fingers.
I don't like it, but it _is_ a thing.
Display
I'm pretty sure the display isn't European made. No manufacturer in Europe has had the abilitity to make state-of-the-art LCD's for at least two decades.
Re: Display
From the picture I could believe the display was second rate two decades ago.
this particular vulture, who has about five of them.
damn, I thought I'm the king of the block with three. I'm SO disappointed!
Re: this particular vulture, who has about five of them.
[Author here]
> I'm SO disappointed!
In my defence, they're pretty cheap now. I bought a £150 Core i5 T420, liked it, so bought a Core i7 one. I have a quad-core W520 which is lovely but about as portable as a brick. And most recently, I bought a mint i7 X220 with docking station to replace my well-travelled but battered i5 one.
Design decisions
Whilst the overall impression of the Reform is a chunky, oddly shaped form, I think it does have some interesting features :
- the batteries, iirc, were off-the-shelf (rechargeable) sizes.
- Everything is designed to be accessible and replaceable, and
- it has a clear perspex base, which, whist just a gesture, does imply openness.
I wonder what SoM they're thinking of using. The most powerful RISC-V offering at the moment, is the Sipeed Lichee, so far as I know. Who knows, maybe there's a European alternative in the works (and if it came with v1 of the Vector extension, that would be something).
Odd designs
Why do projects like this end up with weird looking designs? OLPC was the same.
Why do they think making something that looks either like a child's toy, or something rendered by someone the first time they tried Blender, is good? Surely it reduces the appeal of the entire project?