Shortly after the conclusion of the crowdfunding campaign, we shipped 8 hand-built beta devices and collected some last minute feedback. Based on the feedback and our own learnings during this last test assembly phase, we further refined some aspects of the MNT Reform design.
Team member Lucie has been in the last stages of the MNT Reform Next development and successfully debugged why the MicroSD Express card (PCIe) didn't link in the latest motherboard revisions. The left port board was completed at the beginning of November and features the EQCO5X31C0 reclocker/redriver for USB 3.0, new data and power mux details, a hard reset button, and LEDs next to the USB-C Power Delivery port.
As the Crowd Supply campaign is coming to an end, we interviewed Lukas F. Hartmann, lead engineer and electronic designer of the MNT Pocket Reform, about how he sees the future of MNT Research and what comes next in terms of development and manufacturing.
This update walks through the boot image build process (including a demo video), brushes on hardware-level, blobless H.264 decoding, points to a Libre Lounge podcast we were recently featured in, and announces an AMA on June 3rd at 1pm Pacific.
There has been a change of plans regarding crowdfunding order fulfillment. We will handle all fulfillment of crowdfunded units, even non-EU units, by ourselves. Read this update for more details. Also, we've received positive feedback from the first MNT Reform backers who already got their devices!
Thank you for all of your enthusiasm during the campaign! We truly appreciate the time you took to ask questions, send us ideas, and especially your generous orders. We couldn't make devices without your support.
Happy new year! Thank you for your patience. We're getting ready to ship the first batch of post-campaign MNT Reform laptops to Crowd Supply, after which they'll be sent to you. We currently expect the majority of open orders to ship by the end of February, with the remaining orders shipping by the end of April, at the latest.
Coming Soon: MNT Station, Dr. PD, Move Ultralight, TopCurrent, Romu; In Stock: *omu, Hornet Nest Alarm Panel, NeTV2, Cyntion, Genesis IoT Discovery Lab, Bela Gem and Stereo; Teardown: The rise and fall of an open hardware synth company
Reform now runs KiCAD with "Accelerated Graphics", which took a good bit of work, including some etnaviv reverse-engineering. And 4K HDMI 2.0a video output now appears to be working with the i.MX8 module.