To open source - or - To Not open source

I don't know, would like some input. I really think this needs to be developed - and open to everyone.
There has already been a device realeased to the public for purchase( search iodd ). I'm thinking that selling something new like that would just slow the spread of knowledge - give it away.

New devices or new thoughts patterns should be shared. And being that all of the code used in this project is either created by me or code borrowed from public domain....... Why not share this?

I'm not 100% there yet - it's kinda my baby... I would like some input - Please share your thoughts.

Peace,
CReno

I'm still here.

Have not worked on the project for about a month now. Got a little burned out! But in the next couple of days I will start again. I got to the point where there where only a couple of bugs left to figure out. One big bug is within atmels MassStorage framework code. On certain op codes combinations it would cause an infinite loop within the usb out stall routine, unfortunately I don't have a 100% knowledge of the inner workings of the usb  protocol and just putting some sort of counter within the loop to drop out fixed it - or I should say patched it. Being a patch I have noticed a couple of glitched where the scsi op codes that should have processed correctly doesn't here and there. unfortunately being who I am - I cannot live with "mostly" working code.... I need to dive deeper into this bug. The other minor bugs are just cleanup from within my code no biggie. It sure would be nice to have a couple people working on this project with me, but for the time being I would like to keep this closed source.

It's that time again.

Haven't posted in a while. Well figured out where I had a major slowdown. The qtouch routine to read buttons was slowing down USB comms. Rewrote the routine and gained some speed - alot of speed. Average throughput went from 4MB per second to 13MB per second. Running a benchmark program the cdrom's raw i/o went from around 20x cdrom to 85x cdrom speed. Booted Ubuntu Live in about 40 seconds flat!

Remember even though the raw i/o is 85x speed there is no mechanical overhead - no moving parts so seek speed is way faster than a normal cdrom drive. Equivelant speed probably ends up well over 100x cdrom speed.

Emulation on new EVK1104 board going good

Have almost all the code done on the X2 version of the emulator. Once I'm done I'll start working on the hardware end - Will be developing an AVR32 devel board of my own, Without all the extra hardware not needed. So it will be cheaper to sell these things. Besides It's next to impossible to find avr32 devel boards for under $100.00 - I figure the board itself will sell for anywhere between $40 and $65. Where else can you get a USB High-Speed AVR32 devel board for that price! Once the board is done, then I'll add the qtouch and video interfaces. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.... It's been a long ride so far so good.

Emulation running on evk1104

Well got the emulation running a few minuts ago. the code i'm using for the sd card is not the fastest about 4mb per second. I have played around with faster, but already started down the path with this. but it's booting cd's faster that the fastest internal cdrom I have played with. good sign so far. will post back once tested further......

I'm still here

Figured I'd post something, it's been a while.

Still working on the EVK1104 board, if anyone tells you it's easy to switch from AVR 8bit to AVR32 bit processors they are lying!

I'm finaly getting the hang of the internals of the processor. It takes alot of read of spec sheets and reading the framework code to get a grasp of things.

The current dev is going to use the SD card slot for MassStorage, the LCD for display and the QTouch buttons for input. So far I have the MassStorage portion of the CD Emulator and some menu commands working. Within a couple of days I'll have the CD emulation code working.

Got the new EVK1104 dev board

Received the new board on sunday, awsome device - Full graphics LCD, sd/mmc/ce-ata interfaces and tones of ram. oh yeah - high-speed usb interface and on-the-go usb hosting support. The qtouch buttons are kinda cool too.

But unfortunatly the DFU bootloader is corrupted - so I have to use a jtag programmer to get the bootloader reloaded. From what I read it's a common problem. BUT I don't have a jtag progammer! Well ordered that yesterday. (I feel like a kid at christmas that got that awsome new bike, only to realize that I cannot ride it till sommer!)

PS: this board is overkill for this project, but once I have it running on this platform and find out what I don't need i'll make my own boards for a fraction of the price.