Open Terminal Client - some history
The second blog post of our company will be devoted to the history of the development and production of the first batch of DS-110 “Computer-on-board” boards.
Below I will touch on some aspects of this project, namely:
where to start
I cannot name the exact date of the decision to release anything of my own. Somewhere in the middle of 2012. It was a long time ago to see the decision, but they decided around the middle of 2012.
')
The era of selling foreign terminal customers was ending - it would be unprofitable to transport little by little, you would bring a lot - the manufacturer would lower the price, and there would be a lot of old stocks in stock. I wanted to control this moment. In general, as in any other business, buy-sell (this opinion is based on my experience and may have nothing to do with how it really is).
Requirements for the terminal client were formed from communication with customers, some of them:
Based on these requirements, the following decisions were deliberately excluded:
Next was a search for "boards-for-development" and ready-made "computers-on-board", which did not lead to anything. There was no board suitable for the requirements.
But an analysis of the available boards for development revealed the existence of the Allwinner A10 System-on-Chip (SoC) and the Cubieboard on it. Having plunged deeper and superficially after reading about the possibilities, it came to be understood that here it is, the very thing from which it can turn out! Allwinner A10 has an open specification, unlike, for example, the SoC that forms the basis of the Raspberry Pi. This meant that you can build your board on it.
On Allwinner A10, you can build from Android source code and specially sharpened Linux - Sunxi , as well as Debian and Ubuntu. This greatly reduced the cost of developing and supporting the firmware and opened up the possibility of using the board not only as a terminal client. You can maintain in the case of open codes indefinitely - you can always finish something yourself - while the hardware is being released. And these dopilivaniya can be used in other projects and / or share with the community.
Specified requirements have been generated.
Elementary base:
At the same time looking for someone to do it. The ability to hold a soldering iron and understanding what the oscilloscope shows was clearly not enough. Immersion in the development of digital technology would have postponed the time to “never.”
Therefore, plunged into the search.
Reading different forums of the Russian-speaking part of the Internet on the subject of "do it yourself", "I will make to order", with your own hands, etc. Several times I tried to fit in with the authors of the messages, only a few answered, maybe because the forums did not send a personal mail, and the author does not enter the forum. Maybe the author is not interested in this topic. Maybe the letters got into spam. May be something else. But units answered, a few continued correspondence, quite a few called price and terms.
According to the results of the search, the impression was that it would be realistic to develop a payment for money in which this undertaking would not be unprofitable. Domestic developers asked for payment in advance, without a guarantee that it would work without prototyping, this development did not include software development (doping), i.e. needed a separate developer for the software.
He began to look for companies - the experience is very similar, only much (at times) more expensive. But in this case, you can get a prototype in the gland and there may be some kind of contract on our territory, and therefore compensation for damage in case of non-fulfillment of obligations. Manufacturing of prototypes is possible, although it increased the deadlines to a year ... Probably because it is possible to manufacture a 6-layer board only in China, then bring it, assemble and start testing, and this time.
Drew attention to the foreign language Internet. All sorts of translators and communications for communication helped in this. I haven’t yet seen a representative of a contractor live, via Skype or by phone ... I haven’t heard ...
Features search and correspondence with:
It turned out that in a country that produces everything - China - there are firms involved in the development of complex devices. According to the results of communication, one company seemed more adequate than others.
Namely:
The contract was made by themselves - the experience of the importation of "Chinese" devices.
And at the end of December 2012, we paid the entire amount of the contract through the bank. Practically saying goodbye to a sufficiently large amount - they didn’t see the contractor ... To be tried in China, taking into account the term of the court proceedings, will definitely be more expensive than they have already paid.
It was interesting to contact directly with the developer of the PCB - we agreed to receive the board file daily. Elements of the board were gradually placed on the board simultaneously with the clarification of the location and answers to the questions. It took more than a month until the documentation was ready. By this time, we solved all the issues with the final dimensions and connectors. Were obtained datasheet'y all components.
- in contract
- upon completion of the board development
Then the prototype and delivery. It was not possible to influence these stages, except for pulling the manager with his monotonous questions.
The deadline for the development of documentation and production of prototypes was 3 months. And he was ripped off. It was not only the contractor’s fault, but our bright expectations. The contract indicated the working days. And in China it turns out that the new year does not work for two weeks (that's just that it is over). And they have 5 working days in a week, not six, although sometimes on Saturdays you could talk with the manager and then the developer.
About a month after the expiration date, we were sent prototypes.
By the way, I don’t have a negative to the RF post - they carry it slowly but cheaply. Customs is the same as for courier companies, but broker services are not imposed. They could not even tell where to turn for help. It was difficult to confirm the cost of the prototypes and their purpose - there were no analogues. It was also not easy to explain to the customs officer the purpose of this fee. But it turned out, though with 5 times, i.e. A set of documents arranged for the customs officer for the 5th arrival at the customs. When you carry the goods for the second time - it is already easier, the customs officer has the fact of transporting this product and he, being based on this fact, is more understanding.
So in May 2013 we received prototypes. As a result, about 5 months passed from the moment of payment until the receipt of prototypes in the mail. Some time was spent on software testing.
Everything was fine ... ((from) the words of my son at the age of eight).
However, the prototype did not fit in the housing height - a large number of connectors and their sizes interfered.
There were 2 outputs - it was possible to change the connectors or housing. There was a third way out - quit everything, but it was a pity and it was a pity, and it was not considered.
Dual horizontal USB or vertical connectors did not fit. Changing the case was not an option - it is very expensive to develop the board again. It was almost a dead end - the board is designed and working, the case is there - only now it is impossible to assemble. Money has already been spent a lot ...
Again, immersion in the search for USB connectors, what they are, how they differ, who produces and how quickly you can buy a lot and not far from the factory where you have almost prepared production.
The search led to connectors which, with a slight change in the board, allowed the case to close normally.
They decided to produce through the developer's company - they took over the purchase, production control, packaging and shipping to us. All options to produce on the territory of our country turned into production in China, plus greatly increased terms. But this option had a very big plus - the goods were already produced on the territory of the Russian Federation and the manufacturer solved the problems with customs clearance.
There were two payments in this contract - before the start of production 50% and after the end of production 50% before shipment. And again, the dates were broken. This time, because of the search for a supplier of new USB connectors. As a result of stormy correspondence with a very large number of suppliers of connectors, he was the only one who agreed to supply the necessary type in a short time. New connectors were much more expensive than those budgeted in the estimates. About 5 months took the production and delivery of the first batch.
After receiving the boards, they were engaged in finishing the case - one detail had to be done specifically - one of the "Chinese" terminal clients does not fit due to the increased number of connectors.
- missing insert
- assembled
It is very expensive to make a press mold for the above reasons. Saw "on the knee" again, expensive. Milling and 3D printing - also shooting expensive shells at sparrows.
Saved out, as before the country that produces everything - China. Found a supplier who agreed for relatively little money to make the missing part.
We signed a contract, paid for (again 100% in advance), the hulls were shipped - we are waiting.
About financing.
While it is possible to do without external borrowing - this allows you to more freely resolve emerging issues and problems.
The exchange rate for the period of the project strongly jumped, this risk can not be controlled and predicted, it remains only to cross your fingers and hope that there is enough money.
In principle, managed to stay within the business plan (as it sounds pathetic).
Today we have a working fee and the time when we will be able to ship the device “terminal client” - and this term is near.
What now:
References:
Link to the first post of our company
Our site opensourceclient.org
Our forum opensourceclient.org/forum
For our board, you can build Android , openbox system and it works.
You can build Sunxi Linux and it works too.
You can use pre-made Andoid and Linux images .
Below I will touch on some aspects of this project, namely:
where to start
- analysis of the characteristics and properties of competitors
- the requirements that had to be met and the conditions in which it was still profitable
- search for a development and manufacturing contractor
- contract, especially the conclusion and compliance
- shoals in the process, the courage and stupidity of such projects
- finance
I cannot name the exact date of the decision to release anything of my own. Somewhere in the middle of 2012. It was a long time ago to see the decision, but they decided around the middle of 2012.
')
The era of selling foreign terminal customers was ending - it would be unprofitable to transport little by little, you would bring a lot - the manufacturer would lower the price, and there would be a lot of old stocks in stock. I wanted to control this moment. In general, as in any other business, buy-sell (this opinion is based on my experience and may have nothing to do with how it really is).
Requirements for the terminal client were formed from communication with customers, some of them:
- low price
- reliability (including lack of active cooling)
- more USB ports
- connect to different dsub / hdmi / dvi monitors
- the case allows to fix on the monitor
Based on these requirements, the following decisions were deliberately excluded:
- based on wince and other operating systems for embedded systems with license fees. For example, a license that allows you to run a client for RDP costs $ 15. for the manufacturer. BSPs are usually paid, development tools are only for money, a limited period of support (of course, the CE lifetime of the CE line is 10 years, but they are counted from the release of the first release, which cannot be used, because the corresponding hardware is expensive. Orientation to low-cost solutions are not allows you to use the latest version of the embedded OS and, accordingly, the period of support is much less than 10 years).
- having a fan in the cooling system is another point of failure.
- x86 based on architecture - to compete with motherboard manufacturers with soldered processors on their territory is possible only if you are such a manufacturer.
Next was a search for "boards-for-development" and ready-made "computers-on-board", which did not lead to anything. There was no board suitable for the requirements.
But an analysis of the available boards for development revealed the existence of the Allwinner A10 System-on-Chip (SoC) and the Cubieboard on it. Having plunged deeper and superficially after reading about the possibilities, it came to be understood that here it is, the very thing from which it can turn out! Allwinner A10 has an open specification, unlike, for example, the SoC that forms the basis of the Raspberry Pi. This meant that you can build your board on it.
On Allwinner A10, you can build from Android source code and specially sharpened Linux - Sunxi , as well as Debian and Ubuntu. This greatly reduced the cost of developing and supporting the firmware and opened up the possibility of using the board not only as a terminal client. You can maintain in the case of open codes indefinitely - you can always finish something yourself - while the hardware is being released. And these dopilivaniya can be used in other projects and / or share with the community.
Specified requirements have been generated.
Elementary base:
- SoC - Allwiner A10
- 1 GB of RAM, theoretically, it was possible to strike at two, but at that time there were not even development boards with 2 GB of RAM
- More than three USB ports - three in the experience of selling Chinese devices is not enough
- Powered by an external power supply - determined by the purpose of the device and a possible power supply
- The “Chinese” terminal customers sold earlier prompted the case and determined the size of the board, as well as the power supply unit. The development of one’s own hull and its production is justified only in very large batches, for example, the manufacture of a press mold for one part of the hull from 100,000 rubles. - There are usually more than one piece in the case. This is the cost of manufacture without developing a mold. There was no point in releasing the case under our board. The case did not fit completely; we had to replace some parts with specially made boards for ours. The prices for the manufacture of the hull were obtained from a weak attempt to study the production of the hull in our country, this time it was not possible to produce in our country.
- Packing from cardboard is what you can not carry from China, on our volumes it is cheaper
At the same time looking for someone to do it. The ability to hold a soldering iron and understanding what the oscilloscope shows was clearly not enough. Immersion in the development of digital technology would have postponed the time to “never.”
Therefore, plunged into the search.
Reading different forums of the Russian-speaking part of the Internet on the subject of "do it yourself", "I will make to order", with your own hands, etc. Several times I tried to fit in with the authors of the messages, only a few answered, maybe because the forums did not send a personal mail, and the author does not enter the forum. Maybe the author is not interested in this topic. Maybe the letters got into spam. May be something else. But units answered, a few continued correspondence, quite a few called price and terms.
According to the results of the search, the impression was that it would be realistic to develop a payment for money in which this undertaking would not be unprofitable. Domestic developers asked for payment in advance, without a guarantee that it would work without prototyping, this development did not include software development (doping), i.e. needed a separate developer for the software.
He began to look for companies - the experience is very similar, only much (at times) more expensive. But in this case, you can get a prototype in the gland and there may be some kind of contract on our territory, and therefore compensation for damage in case of non-fulfillment of obligations. Manufacturing of prototypes is possible, although it increased the deadlines to a year ... Probably because it is possible to manufacture a 6-layer board only in China, then bring it, assemble and start testing, and this time.
Drew attention to the foreign language Internet. All sorts of translators and communications for communication helped in this. I haven’t yet seen a representative of a contractor live, via Skype or by phone ... I haven’t heard ...
Features search and correspondence with:
- Funny English and especially translators. It so happened that in all educational institutions I studied German. By virtue of a hobby, learned and written English. Then it came in handy at work. This knowledge, GoogleTranslate, and the vision of the goal was enough to search for and conclude contracts for the development, production and delivery. “The courage of the city takes,” sometimes the truth is not courage, but recklessness and naivety. But if too much (long) to think and decide - there may be someone who thought less and decided faster.
- About customs - do not be afraid of it, unless of course you are ready to comply with the laws and pay duties. More than necessary by law they will not take you, only the documents must be properly processed. In this, too, there are no special problems, find out which code of foreign economic activity corresponds to your product and in advance take into account the customs duty in the business plan. Do not forget about the customs value and cost of services of a customs broker. We managed to do without the services of a customs broker - I prepared the documents myself.
- The exchange of pictures is an integral part of my searches and negotiations. During negotiations it is very important that you and your potential partner talk about the same thing. This is greatly helped by pictures (photos) and paint for markings (I exaggerate of course about paint).
- There are no trifles that could be trusted to the performer - everything must be controlled, otherwise you can rely on the performer, and the performer will make this trifle based on his interests. This is usually a reduction in the quality and cost of production.
- "Great Chinese firewall" - no, not heard. But seriously, during the search and communication, I never ran into any restrictions or manifestations of this phenomenon, there were also no obstacles in transferring money and delivering cargo (customs on our side does not count)
It turned out that in a country that produces everything - China - there are firms involved in the development of complex devices. According to the results of communication, one company seemed more adequate than others.
Namely:
- the manager asked questions that I expected to hear (other questions were also asked, some questions proved useful)
- the manager bargained very badly, the price practically didn’t go down, but the price included the development of documentation for board production, software development, prototyping and prototype delivery to us
- the company agreed to sign the contract only with 100% prepayment. It was terrible to send funds to the village of grandfather Liao, but this greatly reduced the price of the development project
The contract was made by themselves - the experience of the importation of "Chinese" devices.
And at the end of December 2012, we paid the entire amount of the contract through the bank. Practically saying goodbye to a sufficiently large amount - they didn’t see the contractor ... To be tried in China, taking into account the term of the court proceedings, will definitely be more expensive than they have already paid.
It was interesting to contact directly with the developer of the PCB - we agreed to receive the board file daily. Elements of the board were gradually placed on the board simultaneously with the clarification of the location and answers to the questions. It took more than a month until the documentation was ready. By this time, we solved all the issues with the final dimensions and connectors. Were obtained datasheet'y all components.
- in contract - upon completion of the board developmentThen the prototype and delivery. It was not possible to influence these stages, except for pulling the manager with his monotonous questions.
The deadline for the development of documentation and production of prototypes was 3 months. And he was ripped off. It was not only the contractor’s fault, but our bright expectations. The contract indicated the working days. And in China it turns out that the new year does not work for two weeks (that's just that it is over). And they have 5 working days in a week, not six, although sometimes on Saturdays you could talk with the manager and then the developer.
About a month after the expiration date, we were sent prototypes.
By the way, I don’t have a negative to the RF post - they carry it slowly but cheaply. Customs is the same as for courier companies, but broker services are not imposed. They could not even tell where to turn for help. It was difficult to confirm the cost of the prototypes and their purpose - there were no analogues. It was also not easy to explain to the customs officer the purpose of this fee. But it turned out, though with 5 times, i.e. A set of documents arranged for the customs officer for the 5th arrival at the customs. When you carry the goods for the second time - it is already easier, the customs officer has the fact of transporting this product and he, being based on this fact, is more understanding.
So in May 2013 we received prototypes. As a result, about 5 months passed from the moment of payment until the receipt of prototypes in the mail. Some time was spent on software testing.
Everything was fine ... ((from) the words of my son at the age of eight).
However, the prototype did not fit in the housing height - a large number of connectors and their sizes interfered.
There were 2 outputs - it was possible to change the connectors or housing. There was a third way out - quit everything, but it was a pity and it was a pity, and it was not considered.
Dual horizontal USB or vertical connectors did not fit. Changing the case was not an option - it is very expensive to develop the board again. It was almost a dead end - the board is designed and working, the case is there - only now it is impossible to assemble. Money has already been spent a lot ...
Again, immersion in the search for USB connectors, what they are, how they differ, who produces and how quickly you can buy a lot and not far from the factory where you have almost prepared production.
The search led to connectors which, with a slight change in the board, allowed the case to close normally.
They decided to produce through the developer's company - they took over the purchase, production control, packaging and shipping to us. All options to produce on the territory of our country turned into production in China, plus greatly increased terms. But this option had a very big plus - the goods were already produced on the territory of the Russian Federation and the manufacturer solved the problems with customs clearance.
There were two payments in this contract - before the start of production 50% and after the end of production 50% before shipment. And again, the dates were broken. This time, because of the search for a supplier of new USB connectors. As a result of stormy correspondence with a very large number of suppliers of connectors, he was the only one who agreed to supply the necessary type in a short time. New connectors were much more expensive than those budgeted in the estimates. About 5 months took the production and delivery of the first batch.
After receiving the boards, they were engaged in finishing the case - one detail had to be done specifically - one of the "Chinese" terminal clients does not fit due to the increased number of connectors.
- missing insert - assembledIt is very expensive to make a press mold for the above reasons. Saw "on the knee" again, expensive. Milling and 3D printing - also shooting expensive shells at sparrows.
Saved out, as before the country that produces everything - China. Found a supplier who agreed for relatively little money to make the missing part.
We signed a contract, paid for (again 100% in advance), the hulls were shipped - we are waiting.
About financing.
While it is possible to do without external borrowing - this allows you to more freely resolve emerging issues and problems.
The exchange rate for the period of the project strongly jumped, this risk can not be controlled and predicted, it remains only to cross your fingers and hope that there is enough money.
In principle, managed to stay within the business plan (as it sounds pathetic).
Today we have a working fee and the time when we will be able to ship the device “terminal client” - and this term is near.
What now:
- We sell ready-made fee and deliver to the Russian Federation - link .
- Upon receipt of the enclosures, everyone who bought the board will be able to purchase the parts missing to the kit (case, mount, power supply, packaging).
- Until the end of the quarter, we hope to start selling the completed terminal client device.
References:
Link to the first post of our company
Our site opensourceclient.org
Our forum opensourceclient.org/forum
For our board, you can build Android , openbox system and it works.
You can build Sunxi Linux and it works too.
You can use pre-made Andoid and Linux images .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/211779/
All Articles