[Cryptech Core] starting to plan a novena test run

[Randy Bush]

[ @core: this is a bit thinking ahead, but if we don't ... ]

tl;dr: trying to start the planning for a novena-based release in june
  o @core: are we gonna be ready?  can we update dashboard, please?
  o @funding: we would need to lay out $10-15k to get some assurance
    of novena availability (see bunnie's reply to me)

the longer version, but probably still too terse 

with alpha pushing toward the end of 2015, the novena is going to have
to be our test delivery vehicle.  so friends and testers will need to
use novenas.  they kinda fall into a few classes

  o a few critical people we'll want to beg to take one and we pay, russ
    has nominated let's encrypt, i might nominate george michaelson

  o a half dozen important folk we can ask to pay but we want to make
    sure they get a board asap so we should pre-purchase and buffer
    novenas, and

  o the rest can go to crowdsupply.  but, as you can see from bunnie's
    reply below, lead time could be 16 weeks, not cool.  so i suggest
    we buffer a dozen or two.

  o for folk who funded us, we can paint the board gold, slow down the
    clocks, halve the ram and ssd, and remove all the connectors.  hey,
    it seems to work for apple :)

so i am suggesting we get 18-24 novenas in the queue now.  i will
personally front cash if needed.  if we are lucky, and folk really want
to get our stuff, we may have to be cautious allocating them.  imiho,
we'll care most about critical funding sources and critical testing
folk.

i am assuming bare novena boards, not laptops, because of price and
availability, see <https://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena>, boards
will be $550.  we can receive them in portland oregon, which is where
both crowdsupply and my daughter are; she has a small shop and can
reship.  hint: oregon has no sales tax.

we will also have to make noise boards.  if we want to ship them out of
portland, i can carry a bunch from s'holm to nanog/sf and do a hand-off
there.

we will also have to make a package, wiki, git, ... that someone with a
novena, noise board, and a laptop can use and be successful.

randy

---

Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2015 15:13:19 +0800
From: bunnie <bunnie at bunniestudios.com>
To: Randy Bush <randy at psg.com>, Sean Cross <xobs at kosagi.com>
Subject: Re: lead time

> hi bunnie and sean,
> 
> we are approaching when we want to have software in people's hands and
> the novena is how we want to deliver for the nonce.  crowdsupply web
> site gives me no idea of lead time for boards.  can you?  thanks.

The lead time varies from "in stock" to about 16 weeks. Our commitment
is to refresh stock twice a year, but demand is hard to predict.

Our next refresh is due in about 1-2 months, once the final shipments
have been made of the laptops, the production excess will become
available on the site to sell.

Then, based on sell-through data there, we'll place another order and at
that point a 16 week clock starts.

We'll do our best to keep ahead of demand but also it's extremely hard
to predict if there will be demand, and the boards are expensive enough
that we can only keep a couple hundred in stock. Thus, it's quite
possible we could be wiped out of stock if there's upside beyond our
expected production level.

thanks,

-b.