Mastodawn

GrayDanceOutfit Jul 21, 2023

New project log on the Open Book’s @hackaday page! This one is a deep dive into four-year old miscalculations, the cost of making a gadget and the margin required to make it sustainably, and how two different versions of the Open Book have tried to thread the needle. I poured heart and soul into this one. https://hackaday.io/project/168761-the-open-book/log/221370-the-quest-for-a-sub-100-diy-e-book-reader/

The Quest for a Sub-$100, DIY E-Book Reader | Details | Hackaday.io

The other night I was jotting down some notes about the Open Book, trying to figure out how to write about what we did right and what we did wrong, about how we got to where we are from where we came from. In broad strokes, I imagined two parallel tracks to understanding: there’s the engineering of the gadget, the set of choices that make the thing what it is, and then there’s the economics of the gadget, the set of choices that make the thing a viable product. Of course, one of the key lessons learned from this project is that those things are so deeply intertwined that there’s no way to talk about them in isolation. The original Open Book design got a few things right on the engineering side. It got almost nothing right on the economics side. Over the course of this project, I’ve made several revisions of the concept that got closer to threading the needle and getting both right. I think I’m finally close with this latest design, the design I intend to submit for the Hackaday prize. But before we get into that, a quick aside on how these two sides of the equation relate. <h1>The Economics

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stefan Jul 21, 2023

@joeycastillo Following the project for quite some time. Sadly did not get one myself yet for money-reasons really. Importing one of the kits to the EU will add additional cost. It seems to be like a nice project to practice some soldering for me as well.

The only things really holding me off is the money and the screen (which might not be super suitable for image display since it is kinda low-res from what I remember)

I really do hope to see your efforts come to fruition. Thank for all the hard work you put into creating open electronics. I hope that I can support you one day as well

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Matt Venn Jul 22, 2023

@joeycastillo @hackaday totally agree. Many of us don't think to factor margin in until we've made and shipped a few products. 50% margin can sound greedy at first but it's part of what makes a project sustainable!