FreeCalypso hardware subsidy program

[Mychaela Falconia]

Hello FreeCalypso community,

Now that 2019 is fully underway and we have working hardware available
to give away to those who deserve it, it is time to clarify our
FreeCalypso hardware subsidy program.  There are two categories for
this program: FC developers and non-developer supporters.

Developer category
==================

If you are a potential developer and you are willing and realistically
able to work on one or more of the tasks which I as the Mother deem to
be important, then you are fully entitled to a subsidized development
board - if you don't have one already, please ask and I'll send you
one.  The development tasks which qualify for automatic hardware
subsidy are as follows:

* Getting digital voice over MCSI working in the Magnetite Standard
Modem environment;

* Revisiting my source reconstruction of TI's OSL and OSX layers and
getting it to work as well as the blob version, including filling in
the missing pieces (must work with the TMS470 compiler too, not just
gcc);

* Debugging Selenite-gcc firmware version and getting it to work as
well as the TMS470 version;

* Reverse-engineering TI's ccdgen.exe Windows binary and writing a
perfect form, fit and function source replacement;

* Getting ofono to work with our FreeCalypso modems and getting this
support integrated upstream.

If you are willing and realistically able to work on one of the above
tasks, please write to me in detail, spelling out which task you are
interested in taking on, and if you can convince me that you are
serious and genuine, a development board will be on its way to you
promptly.

Non-developer supporter category
================================

The developer tasks listed above are highly specialized, and there may
be many project supporters who are not up for taking on something of
that level.  You don't need to be a developer in order to be a project
supporter, you can be a very effective supporter just as a user.  In
order to spread awareness of FreeCalypso, i.e., to get more people in
world to realize the power of a full commercial quality GSM modem with
fully published source code and to advocate on behalf of our project,
we need to put our hardware into the hands of more people than just
core developers as above, which means more subsidy.

Specifically, I have decided to give away up to 4 boards per year to
non-developer supporters, i.e., not counting any boards issued to
prospective developers promising to work on one of the listed tasks.
Since board recipients in this category aren't going to be developers,
the product becomes more of a demonstration and evaluation board
rather than development.

In order to qualify for a subsidized board in the non-developer
category, you need to satisfy the following requirements:

* Your interest in getting one of our boards MUST be solely for the
purpose of running our official FreeCalypso modem firmware, and NOT
for the purpose of running OsmocomBB.  Running OsmocomBB on FCDEV3B
hardware is considered off-label use (term borrowed from the
pharmaceutical field, where it means using a drug for a purpose other
than that for which it was developed, without any approval or support
from the manufacturer), and we do not approve or subsidize such misuse
of our products.

* You MUST thoroughly understand the irreconciliable philosophical
impasse between me and FreeCalypso on one side vs. the mainstream FOSS
crowd like GNU and Osmocom on the other side, and you MUST take the
side of FreeCalypso.  Specifically, you MUST agree with the FreeCalypso
position that refusing to make direct reuse of a perfectly good and
working GSM MS implementation out of deference to potential copyright
claims by some very dead ghosts and working on OsmocomBB instead is
morally wrong, and you MUST pledge to not support the severely
misguided and unethical OsmocomBB effort in any way.

* If you live in a geographical region that still has extant GSM/2G
service (which fortunately still includes most of the world at this
moment), you MUST be willing to insert an operator-issued SIM into
your subsidized FreeCalypso modem and proudly connect from that modem
to the public commercial GSM network in your area, proudly showing to
the world that you are a happy FreeCalypso user.

* You MUST commit to promote and spread awareness of FreeCalypso in
whichever FOSS forums you belong to.  You MUST spread awareness of the
existence of our FreeCalypso solution, you MUST tell people how well
it works and how happy you are with it, and you MUST show everyone
around you how safe it is to use in practice despite any claims of
illegality.

If you are genuinely interested in our FreeCalypso modem solution. and
I mean the complete hw+sw solution as opposed to just the hw part, you
have a strong desire to play with a FreeCalypso modem of your own, and
you are willing to agree to the moral-philosophical guidelines above,
then by all means, please apply for a subsidized board!  The limit is
4 recipients per year, thus if I receive more than 4 applications, I
will have to be selective, but if you qualify in general but don't
make it in this year's quota, you can always reapply next year.

How does one apply?  Simple: by writing me an email.  Please be as
verbose as you can - the more verbose you are, the more likely you are
to be accepted.  (One-or-two-liners will NOT be accepted!)  In your
application essay, please elaborate in your own words, as verbosely as
you can, what is your understanding of FreeCalypso and the project
mission and purpose, in what way does our project appeal to you
personally, how you would benefit from having a fully functional
commercial quality GSM modem with fully published source code, and how
you can help us achieve our goals in terms of marketing, awareness-
spreading and outreach.

Hasta la Victoria, Siempre,
Mychaela aka The Mother