GNU/Linux Open Hardware PowerPC Notebook Project Publishes First Motherboard Gerber Files
Major milestone reached, but the source files are in a proprietary format — and more funds are required for prototype production.
The GNU/Linux PowerPC Notebook project, which was founded by Roberto Innocenti to produce an open-hardware laptop based around POWER instruction set architecture (ISA), has announced a milestone: the publication of Gerber files for the motherboard.
Designed to be as open as possible, though not quite yet to the point where it implements the free and open source OpenPOWER ISA, the GNU/Linux PowerPC Notebook is built around NXP's T2080 processor with four dual-threaded 64-bit POWER cores, room for two sticks of DDR3L RAM, an MXM3-format AMD Radeon graphics card, C-Media 8828 audio codec, and dual SATA 3.0 and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) M.2 storage, all designed to fit into the existing Slimbook Eclipse laptop chassis and run mainline Linux.
Following the launch of a crowdfunding campaign to produce functional prototypes back in 2017, work on the project has been ongoing — and has now reached the point where the Gerber files for the motherboard can be made available. They do not, however, yet include the source files — and when they do, they'll require work before being compatible with open source EDA software.
"The engineers in charge of the design used the software Mentor Xpedition to carry out the design, and in a couple of weeks we will publish their original sources of the PCB from which the Gerber files were exported," the team behind the project explains. "The cause of the delay in the publication of the sources is because the PCB simulations still are being performed, and until then the sources — and consequently the Gerber files — might change.
"We are perfectly aware that providing source files created with proprietary software is not ideal, therefore we are investigating how we could provide the PCB sources for the Open Source KiCad software. A first attempt we are testing is to load the Mentor Xpedition sources using the PCB Design Software Altium, and from there, convert the source to KiCad. We are looking for volunteers that could help us in the source translation process."
The release of the Gerbers, and pending release of the source files, is a major milestone for the project, but it brings with it some bad news: Costs have considerably risen since crowdfunding began, with some components doubling in price, so the funding target has been increased to €12,500 (around $15,000) to fund production of three functional prototypes and a lower-cost non-functional dummy board for mechanical fit testing.
Full details, including a link to donate to the crowdfunding campaign, can be found on the project website; the Gerbers, meanwhile, have been published to GitLab.