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<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>Hi,</FONT></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Bearing in mind the revolutionary ideas behind the MinnowBoard Max,
and the fact that these boards are now starting to arrive in the hands of ‘end
users’, I have to say that I am quite surprised at the lack of general
information available, and indeed the absence of even a general discussion forum
anywhere…. and I have not even found an unboxing video on You Tube yet… or seen
one for sale on eBay!</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>It is possible of course that I am completely missing the point
here, but I am placing this product in the same league as the Raspberry Pi, the
Beagle Board together with other recent updated SOC boards such as the Banana
Pi, Cubieboard etc.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>These are all so called development boards, which (as a basic
example) just require a power supply, a USB keyboard/mouse plus a monitor, and
of course a suitable operating system or Linux based ‘distro’ to turn them into
a simple personal computer… as I assume can the MinnowBoard Max, and thus have
also caught the attention of the home hobbyist, or small computer
enthusiast.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>That being the case I would have thought that a few ‘fanboy’ or
‘enthusiasts’ websites would have appeared by now, together with third party
offering of such items as cases, cables, power supplies, pre-programmed micro SD
cards etc. Not everyone will be interested in this sort of thing of course,
certainly not the more advanced developers, but there are a lot of no so
experienced prospective customers out there who certainly would be… me
included!</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Perhaps it is still early days or possibly the MinnowBoard Max is
not really suitable for use in this way, although I sincerely hope it
is!</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
face=Calibri><FONT size=3>Please don’t take this as a criticism of the
manufacturers in any way, but I genuinely cannot understand why there is not a
lot more coverage, in one way of another on the ‘web’ of this board, or even
some initial reviews! <SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: en-us; mso-ansi-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-language: ar-sa'>Personally,
although I tend to follow developments in this area fairly closely, it was only
a few days ago that I really became aware of the MinnowBoard Max for the first
time.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>I am sure that I am about to be enlightened though!</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Regards,</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>David</FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>