
Kano - Make a computer - kunai
http://teaser.kano.me/
======
talles
The page before the teaser:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130820041047/http://kano.me/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130820041047/http://kano.me/)

~~~
timdorr
That is a much better version of the page. I instantly understood what was
going on without having to watch a minute-long video of a monkey bashing a
computer to dubstep that ultimately made no sense.

~~~
X4
They keyboard on the video looks much much better than to keyboard on the
archived version though.

~~~
alexnklein
You can see our first prototype – white box – at the archive link!

(You can also contribute to repairs at The Internet Archive here, just got hit
by a fire: [http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/internet-archive-from-
lond...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/internet-archive-from-london-with-
love))

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alexnklein
Great dialectic and questions – that’s why I love HN.

I'm Alex, cofounder and product at Kano.

On monkey – thanks for kind words all. Her name's Lily, used to work in VC.

We’re working hard to make Raspberry Pi accessible to everyone. Challenge was
first set by my 7-year-old cousin, to "make it as simple as Lego." The Pi is a
brilliant piece of tech and the most promising "vector" yet to infect a new
generation with open source.

That’s why we’ve designed and built our own custom hardware and made sure that
everything – from the touchpad keyboard to the DIY speaker – works perfectly,
and sparks curiosity.

We’re also rolling out our own Debian distro, Kano OS, with new UI, utilities,
and software projects – all of which we’ll be open sourcing and pushing up-
stream where possible. Some cool integrations too (Minecraft, Pong,
Codecademy).

We’ll try to trickle these out here amid the Kickstarter (Nov 19) for
raves/heckles.

Cheers, Alex

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goeric
Really just seems like you're reselling Raspberry Pi with fancy packaging and
some accessories. Hardly would classify that as building a computer.

Great video and design, though.

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kjhughes
"Kano is the first computer that anyone can make."

That's a bit of a stretch even for a marketing slogan.

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fit2rule
I strongly agree with you. The prerogative use of "first" and "best" in the
description just hurts my feelings. I really _like_ the looks of this thing,
all cased up like that, but the copy I do not grok.

I like the content of the box, but I stopped reading at the lede.

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Geee
What? It looks like Raspberry Pi and a case. That's not how computers are
built.

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codezero
For $99, it's a great introduction to the basics for people who don't have
access to a bunch of white box equipment, like kids.

The package looks well put together.

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p1esk
For $99, you can buy a decent starter FPGA board, where you can really make a
computer (and learn a whole lot in the process).

I wish I had one when I was a kid.

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malandrew
Link to a good one for the curious? How do you get into FPGAs for the
completely uninformed? I've yet to see any posts on HN for getting into them.

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p1esk
[http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400...](http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2)

At the bottom of that page there is a couple of textbooks on digital design.
One of them you can find as a free pdf. These books provide an easy to follow
intro with examples, intended for this board.

You can get into FPGA just like you get into any other hobby - start with
something simple, then progress to something complex, one step at a time.

For example, start with implementing an adder. By implementing I mean writing
a description of the adder in a hardware description language. The description
can be structural (describe the circuit which does the addition), or
functional (describe the desired output of the circuit given specific inputs).
Then you load that description into the board, and your circuit will created
there from logic gates. This is not much different from regular programming
(actually simpler, because you're much closer to hardware, so you can see
better what your "program" is doing).

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ingrownpsyche
An adder in functional Verilog:

a + b

Best go with structural if you want to actually learn something. This book (
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Computing-Systems-
Princip...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Computing-Systems-
Principles/dp/0262640686) ) is _very_ good and I think still stands as the
best introduction to this type of stuff I've seen. It's also presented in a
straight forward enough way that it's good enough self-study for anyone with
some programming experience.

~~~
p1esk
Here's a link to the course based on that book:
[http://www.nand2tetris.org/course.php](http://www.nand2tetris.org/course.php)

Note, however, that it does not use actual hardware, nor a real hardware
description language - it's just a hardware simulator (this might be important
for someone who's interested in FPGA per se).

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chadwickthebold
That, my friends, is how you make an engaging teaser video. Kudos to the
fellows who put it together!

~~~
kennywinker
Allllllmost good enough to excuse the dubstep. Almost.

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kenrikm
Looks like a bunch of off the shelf hardware (Raspberry Pi, small monitor,
keyboard etc.) put into a nice box and offered for a reasonable price? Not a
bad idea, I was thinking about doing the same for my 23 month old now that
he's mastered his iPad. He's really interested in my desktop and like to move
the mouse and click on stuff :) anyway looks cool if I did not already have
most of the components I would buy one. (still might)

~~~
X4
awesome, I was also curious about buying this for my little cousin (6). I
think my other 10y cousin would love this too, she already told me how good a
netbook fits to her tiny fingers, so sweet. But the tutorials, manual and
software is all English, so he'd first have to learn English :-/

Wish people would value internationalization much more, other than just
assuming English fits all.

~~~
alexnklein
You read our minds. We're going to launch with the Kano books translated into
Spanish and Arabic, to start, and then continuing to add languages. Really
important IMO to recognize that next digital generation won't just speak
English, live in SF, London, etc.

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pcurve
If it required 100+ soldering points, and was much harder to build, they would
actually sell more copies.

~~~
gcb1
agree. this is just a "battery operated toy" for kids from parents with too
much disposable income.

there is already tons of alternatives for 1. buy soc board and put in case (4
screws maybe not even that). 2. attach to monitor. 3. turn it on.

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sarreph
I'll promptly rip my MacBook Air to pieces as soon as Kano is available.

P.S. Not sure how happy Kano the rapper is going to be about you using his
name:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_(rapper)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_\(rapper\))

~~~
citizens
Then Kano from 1980 must really be pissed:
[http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kano](http://www.discogs.com/artist/Kano)

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p1esk
I can't tell, is the idea here to actually make a computer (wire the
datapath+control+memory+IO on a breadboard or something)?

Or is it simply another PC assembly kit for dummies, where no understanding of
computers is needed?

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duskwuff
Scroll down. It's a Raspberry Pi, accessories, and manual in a shiny box.

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fat0wl
cool for kids i guess? but growed ups should be making desktops!!

it's totally easy. the only step that can not be described as screwing/un-
screwing/plugging-in is when you have to put the thermal paste on the
processor. & heat efficiency of modern parts is so good that cooling otherwise
isn't really an issue anymore -- i have an i7 running with a single case fan.

i did it a few months ago, built a BLAZING computer with multiple hard drives
for ~$900

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lmz
For new builds you don't even have to apply the thermal paste. The Intel boxed
processors I used have come with pre-applied paste on the cooler. No
additional paste needed.

~~~
fat0wl
o weird i got an boxed unlocked i7 a few months ago, no paste. it was 3000
series tho (3770k?) so maybe that is a VERY new consideration in packaging

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robzyb
No, it's been like that for years. Years and years.

Thats how my AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz came in 2001.

I suspect that your unlocked CPU didn't come with pre-applied thermal paste
because it's aimed at enthusiasts who can get their CPUs a few degrees cooler
by using proper thermal paste.

(The gunk that comes standards can cost you a few degrees of CPU temp)

~~~
fat0wl
ah true I was thinking maybe it was an unlocked thing as well. sometimes i
don't realize what a true baller i am, paste-wise

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dhaneshnm
Pretty creative I would say.But need to market the hell out of it ,because the
product as such is neither new nor fits any particular use case.IMHO.

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murali44
Beautiful design. I wish my desktop looked like this.

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RodericDay
Meccano!
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano)

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sciguy77
Raspberry Pi + $65 + Monkey = Kano

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GhotiFish
damn good value on the monkey, if you ask me.

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MWil
I'm excited other than what my poor eyes first perceived to be a Hitler
favicon

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reeses
Genius my ass!

