Steps done by volunteer with passion for Free Software , Open Hardware and Common Good to build up an Open Hardware GNU/Linux based Notebook. What we can give to the community with the presentation of the electrical schematics and next steps for reach the goal.

1. Open HardwareOpen Hardware
PowerPC LaptopPowerPC Laptop

2. Power Progress Community. Is a non profit association,
registered in Italy, with members and collaborators all over the
world
We are all volunteer
●
We push forward Free Software and Hardware.
●
We like diversity and indie-pendent architectures aiming
freedom of choice
Members of a project focused on Collaboration; Positive and
Human relations between members.
Group purchase of technology
Who we areWho we are

3. Our goalsOur goals
Create a GNU/Linux PowerPC Notebook
Sharing knowledge: in particular Free Software & Hardware
Promote Tech-Diversity: Reduce computing monopolies
Promote personal digital sovereignty.

4. Not a company
Not selling products
Not interested by profits
Not interested by competition
What we areWhat we are notnot

5. Working GroupsWorking Groups
Donation Campaign
●
Online donating platform, bank account and PayPal management
●
Communication
●
Website (association and the project)
●
Forum, emails, survey and newsletter
●
Social media (e.g. twitter, facebook, YouTube)
●
Events (e.g. Linux Day, meetings, expositions)
●
Relations with other groups and initiatives
Hardware
●
Motherboard
●
Chassis
Software
●
u-boot
●
Linux kernel
●
Linux distros (e.g. Debian, Yocto,etc)
●
Software ports

6. Power Progress Community projectsPower Progress Community projects
Open Soure PowerPC NotebookOpen Soure PowerPC Notebook
Yocto
PowerPC
Yocto
PowerPC
Debian
PowerPC
Support
Debian
PowerPC
Support Revivo
Scratch
Revivo
Scratch
OSHW
Notebook
Chassis
OSHW
Notebook
Chassis
Power Progress Community
https://www.powerprogress.org/
Yocto meta layer
https://gitlab.com/oshw-powerpc-noteb
ook/meta-progress
Open Laptop Chassis
http://open-laptop-chassis.powerprogres
s.org/
Revivo with Scratch
Debian PowerPC 64 packages
http://repo.powerprogress.org/

7. The projectThe project

8. Who make the electronic design?Who make the electronic design?
●
We are around 50 volunteer, few can review the
electronic design.
●
As volunteer even whom have engineer capabilities and
professional skills have the lack of either spare time.
●
So we are doing donation campaigns useful to pay the
professional electronic design ( provided from Acube
Systems)

9. Hardware Design Process
●
Our hardware workgroup suggested components to
Acube
●
A year ago Acube proposed us the block diagram, which
we discussed together and modified.
●
Before the end of November Acube should give us the
the electrical schematics
●
Our hardware workgroup will review the circuit diagram
and in the future the PCB.

10. Brief historyBrief history
Creation of powerpc-notebook.orgCreation of powerpc-notebook.org
Donation campaign startedDonation campaign started
Open Source HardwareOpen Source Hardware
Birth of Power Progress CommunityBirth of Power Progress Community
Q4/2014Q4/2014
Donation campaign and activitiesDonation campaign and activities
Q4/2015Q4/2015
Q3/2016Q3/2016
Q3/2017Q3/2017
20182018

11. Technical specificationsTechnical specifications
CPU: NXP T208x, e6500 64-bit Power Architecture with Altivec technology
4 x e6500 dual-threaded cores, low-latency backside 2MB L2 cache, 16GFLOPS x core
RAM: 2 x RAM slots for DDR3L SO-DIMM
VIDEO: MXM 3 mobile video card interface
AUDIO: sound chip, audio in and audio out jacks
USB: 3.0 and 2.0 ports
STORAGE:
NVM Express (NVMe), M.2 2280 connector
2 x SATA
1 x SDHC card reader
NETWORK:
1 x ethernet RJ-45 connector
WiFi connectivity
Bluetooth connectivity
POWER: on-board battery charger and power-management
CHASSIS: standard notebook case 15,6”

12. FAQFAQ

13. Everyone can study, modify, build, distribute or even sell
either the project or hardware based on it.
●
Some parts could be non Open Source Hardware like
some components under NDA.
●
Open Source Hardware Certification
https://certification.oshwa.org/
– TAPR Open Hardware License vs CERN Hardware License
What is Open Source Hardware ?What is Open Source Hardware ?
Under
Under
study
study
Under
Under
study
study

14. Why PowerPC?Why PowerPC?
More recent architecture, innovative and upgraded
PowerPC architecture is used in all domains printers,
automotive, planes, medical imagery, phone equipments, space
vehicles... It is evolutive.
Energy efficient interesting for a laptop
The architecture forces us to use free software because almost
nobody writes proprietary code for PowerPC

15. Founded in 2013, the OpenPower foundation has 340 members, Power Progress
Community is one of its members.
With a hundreds of projects, it's a technical opened community, an open
ecosystem...
Who is supporting PowerPC arch?Who is supporting PowerPC arch?

16. What PowerPC computers are there?What PowerPC computers are there?
Acube AmigaOne 500: AMP Power™465
AmigaOne x5000: NXP P-series
AmigaOne Tabor: NXTP T-series
Raptor Talos II: Power9 Workstation
Raptor Blackbird: Power9 microATX
IBM Power9 servers, SBC in defense and
aerospace...

17. Donation CampaignDonation Campaign

18. Project evolutionProject evolution
Q4/2014 Q4/2015 Q1/2017 Q4/2017 Q3/2018
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
50
200
450
550
640
1
20 30 40 40
1
40 50 60 60
0 0 0
100
132
Newsletter subscribers
Core Team members
Collaborators
Donors

19. Donation CampaignDonation Campaign
Contract a company to design and build our open hardware project
which is ACube Systems Srl
Self hosted donation campaign platform. Commercial crowdfunding
platforms cannot be used:
●
they support a product production
●
they require a functional prototype
We cannot sell products to fund the project

20. What if it goes wrong?What if it goes wrong?
There will be a survey between all donators to decide to
which others association project use the funds.
Donations are free and non refundable (Italian law)

21. Donation campaign PhasesDonation campaign Phases
11
electrical schematicselectrical schematics
€€ 12.60012.600
22 PCB Printed Circuit BoardPCB Printed Circuit Board €€ 11.95011.950
33 5 prototypes5 prototypes €€ 8.8008.800
44 Hardware TestsHardware Tests €€14.40014.400
55 CE CertificationCE Certification €€ 12.50012.500
Started on 2 July 2017, completed on 7 June 2018,
Results in publication

22. BlockBlock
DiagramDiagram

23. EthernetEthernet

24. Pci BridgePci Bridge

25. Battery ChargeBattery Charge

26. USB 3USB 3

27. SATA3SATA3

28. Let’s Open Source HardwareLet’s Open Source Hardware

29. The study of possible alternatives
with which to license the electrical
schemats is underway.
Most likely it will be a
CERN OHL 1.2
Open Hardware Licence
https://www.ohwr.org/
documents/294

30. Activities to be Open HardwareActivities to be Open Hardware
●
We using the guide lines of Open Hardware Oshwa
Certification Process
●
Advice from the NYU Technology Law and Policy Clinic
to make the project as open hardware as possible, in
coordination with Oshwa association
●
Contact with chip manufacturers for authorization to
distribute the project as Open Hardware

31. On the legal side, we're
collaborating with some
doctoral students who study
at New York University.

32. The chicken or the egg?The chicken or the egg?
What to build first the motherboard or the case?
●
Plan A : buy 250 “barebone” cases at an acceptable price.
– Minimum production in Italy with contained costs : 250
motherboards
– Use an x86 laptop without motherboard and CPU, maybe an
MXM card.
●
Plan Y : DIY case, give 3D files and tell which company can do the
printing
W
ork
in
W
ork
in
progress
progress
W
ork
in
W
ork
in
progress
progress

33. X86
Notebook X86
PowerPC Open Source
Chassis
PLAN APLAN A
PLAN YPLAN Y

34. ActivitiesActivities

35. Support for Debian PPC64Support for Debian PPC64
Porting software to PPC64
Firefox, mplayer, Linux Kernel,
mesa…
Built using a Power8 instance in
OpenStack hosted thanks to
Oregon State University Open
Source Lab
and OpenPower Foundation
Debian repository available
http://repo.powerprogress.org/

36. NXP T2080 rdb Development kitNXP T2080 rdb Development kit
Making a desktop case for itMaking a desktop case for it

37. Debian Sid on NXP T2080 dev boardDebian Sid on NXP T2080 dev board
●
Optimize AMD graphic cardsOptimize AMD graphic cards
detectiondetection
●
Optimize Compilation for Debian SidOptimize Compilation for Debian Sid
●
Compile, configure and test LatestCompile, configure and test Latest
Linux KernelsLinux Kernels

38. Custom Linux PPC64 distroCustom Linux PPC64 distro
●
Yocto 2.4 Rocko in a Power8
instance ( OSU )
●
QT5 ecosystem
●
LXQT Desktop and a small
number of apps
●
Custom branding (splash
screen, sddm and lxqt)
●
Porting and patching
software
●
Runs on Power Mac G5
●
Binaries are not publicly
available yet
https://gitlab.com/oshw-powerpc-notebook/meta-
progress

39. ...and more activities...and more activities
●
Electronic schemes and PCB reviews
●
Open Source 3D Laptop case modelling
●
Tests of some components that will be used
on the motherboard

40. How to help?How to help?
●
Creation : multimedia designer to advertise (video,
animations, images, articles, etc…).
●
Hardware R&D Design and review
●
3D Mechanical Designs - Open Source Laptop Chassis
●
Translations : websites, social networks and software
●
Spreading the project : publish information on blogs,
forums, socials, handle users, organise advertising
campaigns.

41. Where to find usWhere to find us
Association http://powerprogress.org/
Website http://powerpc-notebook.org/
Wiki http://wiki.powerpc-notebook.org
Forum http://forum.powerpc-notebook.org
Survey http://survey.powerpc-notebook.org/
Newsletterhttp://powerpc-notebook.org/subscribe-powerpc-notebook-
newsletter/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/powerpcnotebook/
Twitter https://twitter.com/powerpcnotebook
YouTube search for Power Progress Community

42. Thank You!Thank You!