A Personal Computing Device For all children age 9-99
Balthazar Personal Computing Device, secure, fast, inexpensive, open, robust, up-gradeable, and sustainable
Balthazar Personal Computing Device is a 13.3″ upgradable and expandable laptop that is based on a few concepts inspired by EOMA68, but powered by RISC-V processor(s) open architecture or FPGA boards running emulation as a Computing Module Standard boards and other Systems on a Module that run on Linux OS or all of those running together with added co-processing power such as FPGA Lattice Diamond – ULX3S.
It contains all the hardware and continuously developing software and firmware features preventing data-theft and any unwanted 3rd party intrusion into the system by default. It should run default low-level security layer software based on LUKS , Libreswan and is also envisaged to be GNUnet ready. Its keyboard should be also inter-swappable with known x2xx ThinkPad keyboard replacement via developed adapter and a frame.
The makers of the BPCD are not computer manufacturers. It is about the concept, the special benefits that an open source can offer to a special community of users.
Why yet another laptop?
It is very expensive to buy an “advanced” or a secure laptop, and it comes with usually “customized” and mostly proprietary software that bounds a user to a manufacturer. This is where BPCD comes in at the most possible lowest retail price that should be affordable to everyone — from an individual up to a big-budgeted large institution. (From the FAQ on the https://balthazar.space website
The initiative is supported by NLnet
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