Idea for RP silk screen

[RichardUK]

So when the silk screen is updated next, I was thinking it would be nice, if you have space, to add names of scientists the foundation or the community think would be good to add. Would be a nice little "Easter egg". I don't know how easy it is to update the silk screen, maybe each time a new batch of boards are needed for manufacture change the names??

[fruitoftheloom]

So when the silk screen is updated next, I was thinking it would be nice, if you have space, to add names of scientists the foundation or the community think would be good to add. Would be a nice little "Easter egg". I don't know how easy it is to update the silk screen, maybe each time a new batch of boards are needed for manufacture change the names??

How would the extra costs involved further the Raspberry Pi Foundations stated Charitable Aims ?????????

[RichardUK]

Good question, we don't know what the costs would be yet. It can be done when a change needs to be made.

I was thinking of the people reading these names or quotes and googling them to see why, which would be a learning exercise. The Amiga had the names of tracks from the B52's on their motherboards. The community really liked that touch. Seeing Grace Hopper on the silk screen would be cool. Or maybe Tommy Flowers. Or the famous quote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" Isaac Newton in 1676

You get the idea, I thought it would be a nice touch, maybe even if it's done when other required changes were being made, meaning the cost impact would be minimal. I.E just the time to add it.

[rpdom]

Good question, we don't know what the costs would be yet. It can be done when a change needs to be made.

I was thinking of the people reading these names or quotes and googling them to see why, which would be a learning exercise. The Amiga had the names of tracks from the B52's on their motherboards. The community really liked that touch. Seeing Grace Hopper on the silk screen would be cool. Or maybe Tommy Flowers. Or the famous quote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" Isaac Newton in 1676

Or (can't remember exactly) Eben Upton "If we're lucky, we may sell a few thousand"

[fruitoftheloom]

Good question, we don't know what the costs would be yet. It can be done when a change needs to be made.

I was thinking of the people reading these names or quotes and googling them to see why, which would be a learning exercise. The Amiga had the names of tracks from the B52's on their motherboards. The community really liked that touch. Seeing Grace Hopper on the silk screen would be cool. Or maybe Tommy Flowers. Or the famous quote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" Isaac Newton in 1676

You get the idea, I thought it would be a nice touch, maybe even if it's done when other required changes were being made, meaning the cost impact would be minimal. I.E just the time to add it.

So it is just another fanciful utopian dream whilst sitting in your ivory tower, even at a cost of 0.005p per board it is money that could be spent on Charitable Aims and satisfy the Charities Board that money was not spent on frivilities.

[gregeric]

Nice idea! They change the (bottom) silkscreen every couple of weeks anyways, updating the PCB production date stamp - why not add a nugget of a quote?

[W. H. Heydt]

Good question, we don't know what the costs would be yet. It can be done when a change needs to be made.

I was thinking of the people reading these names or quotes and googling them to see why, which would be a learning exercise. The Amiga had the names of tracks from the B52's on their motherboards. The community really liked that touch. Seeing Grace Hopper on the silk screen would be cool. Or maybe Tommy Flowers. Or the famous quote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" Isaac Newton in 1676

You get the idea, I thought it would be a nice touch, maybe even if it's done when other required changes were being made, meaning the cost impact would be minimal. I.E just the time to add it.

Augusta Ada King-Noel.

[RichardUK]

So it is just another fanciful utopian dream whilst sitting in your ivory tower, even at a cost of 0.005p per board it is money that could be spent on Charitable Aims and satisfy the Charities Board that money was not spent on frivilities.

Check gregeric's post, seems it's updated regularly anyway. If that is automated then would not be hard to pick the next one of an ever growing list. More I think about it the more I think it should be done.

[RichardUK]

Augusta Ada King-Noel.

Yup, has to be a must addition to the list. Also not forgetting Dorothy Vaughan.

[DougieLawson]

Don't forget Rr Adm(LH) Grace Hopper.

The World still runs on COBOL.

[W. H. Heydt]

Don't forget Rr Adm(LH) Grace Hopper.

The World still runs on COBOL.

Already mentioned. And the rank of hers that you mention has to be the one that anyone holding it wants out of as soon as possible.

However, I'm sensing a--refreshing--trend here, so let me make another suggestion for someone who probably had a lot of say in the very existence of the Pi, if behind the scenes, Liz Upton.

[RichardUK]

Don't forget Rr Adm(LH) Grace Hopper.

Sounds good to me. Of cause we could have mr www himself, Tim Berners-Lee

But it could also be used to highlight community members who have made an outstanding contribution to the success such as the team behind Raspbian, such as Mike Thompson.

[W. H. Heydt]

Don't forget Rr Adm(LH) Grace Hopper.

Sounds good to me. Of cause we could have mr www himself, Tim Berners-Lee

But it could also be used to highlight community members who have made an outstanding contribution to the success such as the team behind Raspbian, such as Mike Thompson.

And, of course, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, and John von Neuman.

[hippy]

So it is just another fanciful utopian dream whilst sitting in your ivory tower, even at a cost of 0.005p per board it is money that could be spent on Charitable Aims and satisfy the Charities Board that money was not spent on frivilities.

If having it sells one extra board, that would cover the cost of having added it to 100,000 boards.

If production targets were one million boards a year; having it would require selling 10 extra boards to recuperate costs. If it sells 11 extra boards it will have generated more money than it has cost.

I don't see how spending money to generate more profit would be seen as frivolous by anyone, let alone any 'Charities Board'.

[CarlRJ]

So it is just another fanciful utopian dream whilst sitting in your ivory tower, even at a cost of 0.005p per board it is money that could be spent on Charitable Aims and satisfy the Charities Board that money was not spent on frivilities.

"Utopian dream"? "Ivory tower"? Where'd that come from? Easier to attack the questioner than the question? I don't expect there'd be a per-unit cost in changing the text on a silkscreen if they are, indeed, regularly revising it anyway. And given that the Foundation's mission is educating people about computers, this doesn't seem out of line.

Probably generate increased sales to a few hobbyists trying to collect boards with particular quotes, as well. And increased sales are ultimately beneficial to the Foundation's goals.

Other possible names: Niklaus Wirth, Edsger Dijkstra, Donald Knuth, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (did something called Unix), Vinton Cerf (TCP/IP).

[rpdom]

don't expect there'd be a per-unit cost in changing the text on a silkscreen if they're regularly revising it anyway.

I suspect the changes are per batch.

If having it sells one extra board, that would cover the cost of having added it to 100,000 boards.

How do you work that out? Is it "One extra board = £5.00 (100,000 * 0.005p)"? That would then assume that there is 100% profit on that one board.

[W. H. Heydt]

To the best of my--admitted, very limited--knowledge, "silk screen" masks have a limited life span. You can only make so many copies from each one. I dare say that the industrial ones used for board manufacturing last as long as it is practical to make them do so. Still they'll have to be replaced moderately often. Of course, so long as they don't change, they are probably made from a common mastering process.

On the flip side, there could be a *very* lively collectors market in boards with different historical figures from computing on the boards. There are people who would pay pretty good money to get a complete set. Think...Magic the Gathering card collecting comes to the Raspberry Pi...

[RichardUK]

On the flip side, there could be a *very* lively collectors market in boards with different historical figures from computing on the boards. There are people who would pay pretty good money to get a complete set.

I'm in. Got to collect them all.........

[hippy]

If having it sells one extra board, that would cover the cost of having added it to 100,000 boards.

How do you work that out? Is it "One extra board = £5.00 (100,000 * 0.005p)"? That would then assume that there is 100% profit on that one board.

It's an illustrative guesstimate, but yes, they probably would need to sell a few more extra boards to cover the cost of having it for one million rather than just eleven.

Unless someone is going to tell us exactly what profit there is on each board, exactly how much such silk-screening will cost, we can only guesstimate.

The point I was making is that the cost could be easily recuperated, that it could easily generate profit for the RPF to pursue their educational remit rather than be a frivolous loss.