[HH] modularity trend

[Ming kuo]

> This is trend is happening evidenced by 1) standardization of
> cellphone chargers...

Chargers? I'm not following what chargers have do with the Tango PC.

I mentioned chargers, because due to the standardization of cellphone
chargers, greater number of devices are using 5VDC and then we are able to
share wall chargers among devices..interchange among android, apple,
tablets, cellphones, cameras etc.

As for standardization, there was no mention of the motherboard they
used being an open standard. I assume proprietary, with a soldered-on
mobile CPU. I believe they did say you could user-upgrade the RAM.

Yes I would guess the Tango is proprietary especially they mentioned
patents, but if the ideas takes out, I would guess that the industry would
trend towards the same idea of modularity and standardization of the I/O
pins between the modules.

Google Ara project
yes I agree, the project is pretty ambitious and I am not convinced that
the consumer will take to it.
But, the concept with certainly pushing into other electronic device
designs.  This is what got me to think about Arduino/Raspberry and the
like.  If Ara is able to do this modular design with something as compact
and complicated as a smartphone, why could it not happen with much simpler
electronics....ie Arduino/Raspberry and the like

yes there are some modularity already going on in the maker space,
fundamentally these are modular designs as go down to the component level
and also with shields and expansion boards.  But what if keep standardizing
and making it more consumer friendly.  The Grove system have done a great
job with the number of modules and standardizing the pins to a couple
designs.  http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/GROVE_System

my idea is to make the space more consumer friendly, more accessible with
kids and lower level experience, and less conflicts in setups.

My idea is basically Ara for the makers space.  Imagine if there was a main
board such as Arduino/RPI with standard ports that are PLUG and PLAY, like
USB that is acting as a HUB for all modules.  So you can plug a LED module
or a DC motor module into the same port and the board will recognize the
difference. The individual modules, will also have these ports to accept
other modules.  So each module becomes a part of the greater HUB.  Same
that can be done with 12C, SP1?, USB protocol, and Thunderbold.  Each
module will be self identify when connected to the board and appropriate
"drivers/scripts" will be loaded.

The IDE will be like Scratch programming, so it is graphics based and when
certain modules are plugged, it shows up on the "pallet" of Scratch..

Finally, the "modules" will be encased by Lego compatible blocks.  So that
kids can easily build "things" to have form instead of a board and bunch of
wires.. The wires in this concept will be cleaner as are one wire with
multiple cores connecting to a standardized port..

Sorry for all the rambling, but as you can tell, I have kinda been playing
with this in my head for a while.

Comments??

Ming
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