14 DAY TRIAL // A while back we brought you news of DIY tablet that was created using a Raspberry Pi (a Linux computer the size of a credit card). But let’s go further on imagining and ask what if we could build a laptop from scratch?
The creators of the Novena Project set out to do just that and managed to design a notebook with open source hardware (meaning hardware whose specs are available to just everyone).
The whole thing started because inventors Sean “xbos” Cross and Bunnie Huang wanted to have some fun and “learn new things while making something we would actually use on a daily basis”, as they explain on Makezine.
Inside the laptop, the duo has packed a whole range of wonders and surprises, like a FPGA on the motherboard, dual Ethernet sockes, a USB OTG port plus a Freescale iMX6 quad-core ARM CPU.
Furthermore, the laptop bundles Vivante GC2000GPU, micro SD card slot, mini PCle-slot, 4GB of RAM, a header for Wi-Fi module, HDMI socket, and USB 2.0. Finally, the notebook has a 13-inch screen with 2560 x 1700 pixels and 239 ppi.
“The motherboard, battery board and display adapter board are design from whole cloth. Every trace on those PCBs was place on my hand.”
The case was also designed by the duo and they used a 3D printer to bring it to life. As for proprietary firmware, they used the open source Das U-Boot.
The laptop is quite bulky, or as Huang puts it, “it’s no feather” but that’s to be expected from a home-made device like this. But Novena makes up for what it lacks in looks, with clear as water transparency.
“If you see something suspicious in the hardware, you have the opportunity to look it up in the reference schematics and see if it really is a cause for concern.”
The two inventors are planning a crowdfunding campaign that will allow them to finance a more user-friendly version of their laptop.
While you wait on that, the specs are available on the project’s Wiki page, if you want to take a chance at building your own.
