Just a brief update: Mike’s factory has assembled the 500 Micro Desktop PCBs, though the through-hole VGA connectors still need to be hand-soldered on. These are the simpler of the two boards, so all of the Micro Desktops are being done, whereas explained in a previous update, the more complex board, the EOMA68-A20, will only be done in a smaller test run of 100 at first.

In speaking with Joshua, he’s agreed kindly to have Crowd Supply handle packing and shipping. This makes my life a hell of a lot easier: one box, sent to Portland, directly from Shenzhen, containing the PCBAs. Also, he talked me into having the A20 Cards put into their casework. It’s not going to be pretty: the original PCMCIA plastic was not designed to have user-facing connectors, and it would cost well over USD $10,000 to have an injection mold replacement designed and manufactured.

I’m back from a visit to my friend Adam in Hong Kong (it was time for another 90 day visa run). We sorted out a laptop he donated with a connection to my VPN (and a remote ssh tunnel as a backup), through which I will be able to do at least some preliminary testing of EOMA68-A20 cards, connected in Mike’s factory office, via their USB-OTG connector.

Nearly there, yet so much still to be done: this is just the beginning…

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