On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 4:48 PM, Peter Robinson <pbrobinson(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 11:01 PM, Eric Smith
<spacewar(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 2:28 AM, Peter Robinson <pbrobinson(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> There's also hardware available but define "affordable"... at the
>> moment the first gen widely available hardware will set you back about
>> USD$ 3K
>
> Where can one get that? I don't want to spend $5-6K, which is all the
> prices I've seen, but $3K is nearly within my budget for development
> hardware.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/who-we-are/corporate-information/events/arm
So it turns out that AMD is not actually willing to sell these for
$3K. They are willing to rent them out for two years for $2999, but
the agreement requires that they be returned to AMD or destroyed (at
AMD's option) at the conclusion of the two year term. The term can be
extended by mutual agreement in two month increments, but AMD is under
no obligation to do so.
Perhaps $125/month rental (paid in advance for two years) is still
worthwhile for some developers, but I'm not willing to do that. If I
pay $3K for a system, I'm willing to agree to non-disclosure for up to
two years, but not that I have to surrender posession in two years.
Since production hardware should be available fairly soon (claimed
4Q2014, but I think 1H2015 is more believable), I'll wait and buy
hardware that I can actually own.
Eric