a possibility for the future?

[schepers_cp]

maybe pine64 should set a public development goal for new boards.
like $xxxx R&D for a new addon board or seperate dev board.
with a public counter on the website.
with each sold iten, let's say 2% of the paid amount goes to that R&D budget

and let users choose on the forum for which modules needs to be developed first (a thread with poll for example)
this way users get to have more interaction with what they want towards the dev teams and such
it's a win-win: users simply can vote for what they want the most.
and that'll be made first, where pine64 listens to the ideas and makes what the users really want, giving (possible) higher sale numbers.

note that this would be nice to have, and this could pine64 really competetive with other solutions where the ideas are only based on devs.

i am not trying to rework the pine64 business model, but just thinking out loud about a ideal way for customers and devs for pine64.

[Siliconserf]

I would like to see an effort made to produce a tablet based upon the Pinebook hardware design. Such would require a touch screen, new case (only two pieces this time and with knockouts provided for mounting a pair of HD cameras - add-on, not standard), no track module or keyboard (on screen, requiring a driver). The existing Pinebook PCBs wouldn't need to change. Very limited engineering effort required. Any support for this idea? Maybe a separate Kickstarter campaign?

[Luke]

I would like to see an effort made to produce a tablet based upon the Pinebook hardware design. Such would require a touch screen, new case (only two pieces this time and with knockouts provided for mounting a pair of HD cameras - add-on, not standard), no track module or keyboard (on screen, requiring a driver). The existing Pinebook PCBs wouldn't need to change. Very limited engineering effort required. Any support for this idea? Maybe a separate Kickstarter campaign?

Lets just say that this ... has been considered for some time. Stay tuned.

[stuartiannaylor]

I think the RK3399 is a really interesting SoC but if you look at the RK3328 and the speed of adoption I think Pine will go where they feel is best, when they feel.

RK3399 is just too pricey at the moment but I presume we will see a rake of Arm64 4Gb+ dual channel, EFI, HS400 eMMC SoCs and I guess it will just be timing to what is of interest at the time.
I think success will come by low cost modular boards rather than ones of dedicated bloat where a core set of peripherals will be augmented by a series of mPCIe slots with a wider choice of modules. 
If Pine want to set public development goals then they could harness that collaborative model to positive effect.
I don't think product should have any set level of R&D tax though.

I do think they should swap the purchase model to a donation one, which to be honest is exactly the same as each product has a minimum donation value but allows a pay-what-you-can premium. The minimum donation value is the product cost, but if you are like "Wow, I like this" you can give them a tip that is directly related to the product of like.


I am a big opensource fan freak of the "Cathedral & the Bazaar" type where the Bazaar is a market place of transactions of much more than just core product. It strikes me as strange that much Opensource lets this pass whilst the likes of Apple & Google sort of clicked what a Bazaar could be.
Pine should own a marketplace and allow traders of product and service, that is set along a minimum donation level, which if its minimum enough its free.
Own the marketplace, control the payment gateway and take a cut, use a peer review feedback system so rogue traders can be removed.

Say if you take Ayufan and the amazing work he does and the plethora of images he provides let the community provide feedback to what is of worth, that is of benefit to Ayuafan & Pine.
Let him set his stall out and the minimum donation value should be of his dictate.
Maybe people will submit tutorials, services, product so we are not forced to the cathedral but be part of the bazaar that surrounds that church.
Feedback networks of donation & analytic gold.
New development should be crowdfunded again in a donation model of pay-what-you without caps so that the quantity of fund and number of funders can be a expression of interest & need.
Development proposals may only be gauging the crowd and may never see the light if funding levels are not met, giving options for more ideas without the need to invest time.
Pay-what-you-can donation has far more value than click-bait-whim votes of no investment.