Hardware

Goals

• Hardware used should be easily collected from existing online retailers (e.g. Adafruit, Seeed, Sparkfun).
• Total cost of hardware involved should stay below a $200 USD limit.
• All hardware used should be under an open hardware license. New hardware developed should be released under the CERN OHL.

TODO

Pick an open hardware platform. Currently looking at:

• Cubieboard 2 ** PROS: Native audio ports ** CONS: Not as open hardware as imagined. :/

• BeagleBone Black ** PROS: Open hardware, made in Amurrrica (fuck yeah), small ** CONS: Only one USB port, no native audio; USB would have to be split for wifi and USB audio

• Raspberry Pi ** PROS: Two USB ports, hella open, magnet for SEO ** CONS: No native audio, CPU not as powerful as other platforms

Make it battery-powered

None of the hardware platforms being looked at are designed to run off a battery. They run at 5V and most rechargable Lithium-ion batteries run at 3.7 volts. A means of charging a 3.7V lithium battery to run a 5V device must be adopted or developed.

Build a mic and speaker

Might need to build a USB speaker/mic or use an adapter if there's not native audio ports on the board. Surface transducer (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10917) might be best since that makes it ideal for noisy environments (keeping design for real humans in mind)