「ハードウェアハッカー」（拙訳、山形浩生監訳、2018年技術評論社刊）の著者で、Chunbyほかいくつものオープンソースハードウェアを手掛けているMITメディアラボのアンドリュー“バニー”ファンは、「信頼できて、毎日使えるハードウェア」として「Precursor」というプロジェクトを始めた。クラウドファンディングサイトのCrowdsupplyでは22万ドル（約2400万円）の目標に対して、40万ドル（約4300万円）を超える支持を集めている。
オンラインで行われた東南アジア最大のオープンソースイベントFOSSASIAで3月14日、バニーが語った情報をもとに、Precursorについて紹介する。スライドの全文もダウンロードできる。
Precursor looks like a mobile phone, but has no SIM card and has no phone function.The interface with the outside is minimal, only USB and Wi-Fi.The screen is also a black -and -white liquid crystal, and the CPU has only a weak performance ("XC7S50" only 100MHz) that is difficult to move the web browser.Bunny himself puts a comparison table with hardware around 2002-2005, such as "BLACKBERRY 6210", "Nintendo DS", and "Palm Treo 600", and explains that it is "almost the same."
"Why do you make hardware that can only be made almost 15 years ago? It's for" really reliable hardware "," Bunny says.
"I have a question about the security of hardware, such as Huawei's allegations, but no engineer has discovered spy chips itself, but proof that it is not in this world.Not. Unlike software, each individual is different, so proof that there is no one is much more difficult than proof that it is somewhere.I decided to make a password manager or virtual currency wallet, etc. "
And Bunny explains Precursor's design philosophy.As a result, the hardware specifications that have been realized are unexpected from the mediocre performance.
The CPU adopts a FPGA, XILINX XC7S50, which allows the logical circuit to be composed with a program, and builds a RISC-V CPU with a program on FPGA.This source code has been published and can be verified.Not only is the CPU structure visualized, but Precursor is designed so that users can verify the entire system.
"I didn't make chip parts, but the terminal itself was to make it possible to verify it because the information is handed over the parts," says Bunny.The verifications extend not only on PCB (printed board) but also on displays, keyboards, and all parts.
In some cases, a program called a key logger steals keyboard input and steals passwords.It is sometimes implemented with software, but sometimes a tip on the hardware side.Therefore, Precursor designs and incorporates keyboards that do not use chips for this.This makes it possible to verify the key input.
The screen output is also verified so that the key input can be verified.Precursor uses a resolution of 336 x 536 monochrome sprees.Even though color LCDs were commonplace in PALM and game consoles 15 years ago, it was a high -resolution compared to Nintendo DS etc.。
In order to draw the screen, the screen has a miconchip like an LCD controller, accumulate data displayed on the screen on the frame buffer on the chip, and rewrite it all at once.It is not zero to modify the information of the My Konchip.Therefore, Precursor has adopted a monochrome spay that does not have an LCD controller or frame buffer, but is an open source on FPGA and is directly driven by the CPU.At the time of shipment, it is displayed only with black and white doubles, so unless the user changes the source code himself, it will be unrelated to the fraud that the transparent button and text will be displayed on the screen.
The PCB also uses a simple two -layer board, which can be seen on the front and back of all circuits and parts that connect parts.In this way, Precursor's design philosophy can verify all hardware and software throughout the system.
"Because it is a human being that needs security and can be a security hole, the last challenge for security is to have proper usability (which many users can use)," says Bunny.I design Precursor with a view to being able to use it on a daily basis (if I want to use it).
Hackable：仕様が公開され、Hackを推奨されているライセンスのハードウェアにはArduinoやRaspberry Piなどがある。Evidence-Based Trust：FPGAをCPUに採用し、さらに厳密な検証が可能な開発ボードも、「Fomu」などがある。Pocket-Ready：バッテリーやスクリーンを備えて単体動作するものにはスマートフォンがある。
Precursor is designed as an unprecedented hardware that overlaps the three elements.
Bunny describes Precursor as "verification hardware case studies."The target of the experiment is also a subject of the experiment.
バニーはハードウェアハッカー界の巨人だ。MITで学んだ学生時代のXboxハックと書籍出版、スタートアップとしてのChumbyハードウェアの設計、その量産過程で「スタートアップとして、中国でのハードウェア量産」に取り組んで成功させたこと。そしてその後自分のデザインスタジオSutajio Ko-Usagi（ロゴには日本語でスタジオ小兔とある）を立ち上げ、すべてオープンソースのラップトップNovena、中国の山寨コピー携帯を西洋のオープンソースライセンスの元で再構成しようと試みたプロジェクトfernvale、デジタルミレニアム著作権法をハックしてテレビ放送にTwitterなどを重ねて表示するためのハードウェアNeTV——相棒のファームウェアエンジニアXobsと一緒に取り組んだこれらのプロジェクトは、「オープンハードウェアが社会に対して何を可能にするのか」を一つ一つ広げてきた。また、MITメディアラボの研究者として、研究プロジェクトを深圳で量産につなげる「Research at the Scale」を主導し、サンフランシスコに本拠を置くハードウェアアクセラレーターHAXのメンターとしてサポートしているハードウェアスタートアップは数え切れない。
PrecurSor feels that bunny careers have been culminous, asking society by creating open hardware.The concept of completely open source and hackable hardware is the same as Chunby and Novena, and the fact that the solution to the overlooked computer issues in the world is common to Netv and FernValee.
Currently, Precursor has collected $ 418,559, the target of 190 % in crowdfunding, but only 508 units in terms of number.It can be said that it is a divine business to control the complex hardware that can be almost called PDA and control chips, all parts, housing, the OS inside, and mass -produced in less than a year.See.
