[Showme-devel] Sponsoring the ShowMeBox

[Jonas Smedegaard]

Quoting Bernelle Verster (2015-11-04 16:23:19)
> On the other hand, in Kris's competition people weren't forced to use 
> any particular box or software, but there was only support for Beaker.

A key strength of Beaker compared to other Notebook tools is, I believe, 
its ability to run on both Windows, MacOS and Linux, and to integrate 
with many software tools.  Therefore not surprising to me that their 
competition was relaxed about those variables.

A key strength of Debian compared to other operating systems is its 
ability to be deployed on many different hardware architectures - 
including cheap ARM boxes...

Let's make this a demo of Debian's ability to run on cheap boxes.  But a 
demo on _usability_ rather than _variety_ of that - so just one box that 
we tested ahead, exposed to users interested in a software challenge 
(not a variety of boxes less tested - that would require users 
interested in hardware tinkering).


> Another thought I'm still grappling with is how to build collaboration 
> and mentorship between student entrants and the wider Debian 
> community.

Maybe try get others involved who are already experienced with this: 
https://www.debian.org/women/mentoring 
https://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode2015


> Then this raises more questions:
> * Will [any non-student] be able to buy the ShowMeBox for themselves?

Short answer: Yes!

ShowMeBox uses generally available hardware.

Debian generally decides which hardware architectures to support based 
on a) availability of enthusiasts hacking on it and b) availability of 
the hardware in shops.  As an example of that, the architecture we call 
"i386" nowadays is a subset of IA32 _excluding_ i386 and we currently 
discuss if it is time to also stop support i486 (or is it even i586?).

Specifically, Olimex OLinuXino A20 LIME2 is for sale worldwide from 
Olimex themselves and also from multiple resellers.


> * and if so, could they subsidise the students' boxes? In other words,
> we make e.g. 200% 'profit' on their Box that we then use to buy Boxes
> for students?

I have no interest in that.  If others do then enjoy!

Beware that such activity might be too commercial in nature for Debian 
or SPI, so you may need to find some for-profit legal body to operate 
within.


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

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