poly wrote:Pfalcon, thanks for that insight. That's a useful way of thinking about it. Presumably a board that used the same processor as something proven would simplify that? I'm not sure what the BOM looks like for the current boards or how that would scale with volume (that may be in the public domain but I would understand if it was not).
Yes, so the main insight should be that MicroPython boards price of course includes MicroPython price, that's how it's developed further. And here's my insight. I'm personally got used to the fact that most Kickstarter projects are inactive half-year after the campaign end (like, you can't buy a product), and dead after a year (like, forum gone, site is placeholder). Well, as you know MicroPython feels well, there're new version almost every month with bug fixes and improvements to Python compatibility. But some time ago Damien (author of MicroPython) posted this patch:
https://github.com/micropython/micropython/pull/1516 . It effectively adds real-time processing capabilities for single-precision floats. I (#2 contributor per
https://github.com/micropython/micropyt ... ntributors) asked: "But it's niche feature, why spend time on that?". He answered "PyBoard needs it". You see, I love well-supported products (and know few), and spend time to make MicroPython better myself. But even I was surprised that 2 years after the release, PyBoard gets update of such level. Bottom line: official MicroPython boards are worth every penny.
I'm not sure what the BOM looks like
BOM is not in public domain, it's under copyright, but is available under open-source/hardware license.
But if you don't know how that stuff works though, I suggest you trace existing project's history first. There was a project to make a $5 ARM board, started in 2011, called McHck:
https://github.com/mchck/mchck . In 2013 they achieved their aim. Exact achievements are:
Let me quote the last doc: "Kit cost is $60 including PayPal fee and international shipping." So yes, you can have your $5 ARM board. And of course, you can have it for $5 e.a. too - just invest $50000.
But that's not the main point. Main point is that their site
https://mchck.org/ isn't being updated since 2013. Indeed, why - mission accomplished, "because we can" worked, and noone in their right mind would spend their time on $5 thing, there're so many interesting things in the world (and sometimes you need to pay bills too). And there's of course software needed to use board - it's half-finished. Because it's easy to make hardware (just spend weekends on it for 2 years). But software... what, 2 more years?.. No-o-o-o!
I write above not deter someone, just to set expectations right. If you're serious about doing something like above, then we're eagerly looking for someone to organize ESP8266 MicroPython port Kickstarter campaign, to finish the port for it. It won't be $5 though (or feel free to make it $5 and finish port yourself, just please kindly do it right - like original Kickstarter benefited not just PyBoard, but the whole community, please try to do the same).