Dear Crowd Supply Backers,

We hope you are all staying safe and healthy in these unprecedented times. We’ve got a few updates to share with you regarding the Hackboard 2 shipping schedule and board updates.

First, we have moved our schedule back a few weeks to accommodate some testing and component availability. While this is a few weeks behind where we expected to be, we are confident that the first shipments to our backers will go out by the second week in October. You are our first priority - we’re committed to providing all our backers with a quality product that’s ready to go. Thank you for your patience!

Second, we’ve made a couple of additional updates to the board. To provide some additional storage flexibility, both M.2 modules will be SATA. This allows for easy interoperability with all of the storage and connectivity options you may want to use. We’ve also elected to remove the 3.5 mm CTIA audio jack. We’ve tested the Bluetooth on the board and it works great with stereos, headphones, etc. These additional changes are due to issues with component availability and lead times and will allow us to ship the final product as soon as possible.

We’ve also changed the Linux OS to Debian Linux. After speaking with a number of colleagues in the industry, we’ve determined that Debian will ensure greater compatibility with the various Pi HATs in the market.

We’ve approved the final Gerber files of the board. We thought you’d like to see some of those images.

We cannot thank you all enough for your continued support, feedback and encouragement along the way. As always please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or just to say hello at support@hackboard.com.

Best,
The Hackboard Team