Where True North fits in

True North is our vision which we are working towards. To not get lost in the middle, we created the V²Agile System. In the tree diagram below you can see how and where True North fits in:

V² Mission

Making Missing Mini PC Standards Mainstream

Our mission is to develop, publish, promote, and maintain all missing standards to enable anyone to develop, make, assemble, use, and maintain Mini and All-In-One Computers to lower any entry barriers, reduce cost, and reduce trial and error in development and assembly.

At V² we are a global community of architects, thinkers, engineers, and marketeers working together to achieve our vision of an open modular mini or All-in-One PC Standard. We believe this act of human collaboration across an open platform is essential for individual and collective growths.

Analogy to ATX Desktop PC Standard

Desktop ATX computers were the best selling PC form factor, because the ATX standard made them to be lowest cost, fastest to develop, and easiest to build and upgrade. But this de facto standard is 30 years old and was never updated to fit the needs of mini and all-in-one form factors. The V² Standard fills this vacuum. By using the exact same principles that the ATX standard used on desktop PCs, the V² Standard is lowering the cost, increasing development speed and performance, and simplifying upgrades for mini an All-In-One PCs. In doing so, V² is breathing new life into mini and All-In-One PCs.

V² Benefits

Reduce Cost

Today’s mini and All-In-One PCs are significantly more expensive than an ATX Desktop PC with identical specs. After V² becomes mainstream the cost of mini and All-In-One PCs will be identical to a desktop ATX PC with identical specs.

Save the Planet

Computer waste with all their hazardeous materials is one of the ecological problems of our planet. The modular nature of V² PCs allows the user to replace the broken or bottlenecked component to extend the service life. By trashing only a few parts versus the entire PC, computer waste is greatly reduced.

Simplify DIY

Standardization of parts, ready made configurations, benchmarks, and DIY Know-How articles are all published in open source. They aim to reduce the learning curve and trial and error in building a custom PC.

Flexibility

V²PC is modular, giving the user greater customization and optimization options for his/her needs. We give you the necessary tools to make configuring what you want easy and intuitive.

Fluid Form Factor

The owner of a V²PC can change the form factor of their PC from desktop to mini to All-in-One at any time, avoiding the need to buy a new PC in case they need a different form factor.

Portability

V²PCs are more portable than traditional PC counterparts, giving users portability without sacrificing performance; this opens new creative use cases.

Life after V²

How life looks after V² has become mainstream from the point of view of computer users, retailers, and manufacturers.

Life after V² as Computer User

A computer user of a V² compatible PC enjoys lower buying costs while at the same time getting higher performance for applications due to increased customization of their V²PC. Further cost savings are realized during the lifespan of V²PC due to easy upgrading of parts that bottleneck the performance. In case of a computer failure, downtime is reduced by either DIY repairs or using the V² Repair Service in a shop around the corner.

Life after V² as Computer Retailer

The modular design of V² Product family reduces the inventory cost of a computer retailer selling V² compatible PCs while at the same time increasing availability of different computer models. The fast and low cost repair service gives the shop a tool that helps customers quickly and easily, minimizing their computer down time and increasing customer loyalty.

Life after V² as Computer Manufacturer

A computer manufacturer using V² Standards has a shorter development time with less risks. Production is faster with lower costs and less custom tooling. Inventory costs are reduced by fewer custom parts and increased number of standardized parts that are shared across products.

V² Principles

These are the principles that guide our mission to promote openness, innovation, & opportunity in using, making, and designing computers. This list of principles is also known as manifesto.

Open Source

We will publish all knowledge, specifications, standards, and design as open source. We will use Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in development and publish all files in file formats compatible with FOSS.

Zero Cost License

All V² licenses are and always will be at zero cost to the licensee.

V² Standards

All standards are published early on in open source under CC-BY license. The standards are developed in parallel with Trailblazer Products. The standards provide the specs for anyone to build their design implementation of a Mini or All-in-One PC compatible with the V² Standard.

Trailblazer Products

During development of new standards corresponding trailblazer products are developed in parallel to verify and demonstrate feasibility and efficiency of the new standard. V² Trailblazer products are but one possible design implementation of the V² Standard. During the Spreading Period they provide early adopters, press, and developers with bleeding edge products and rapid development kits. During this period they also serve V² as our funding. After the Spreading Period their design is published as open source.

Easy Contribution

We will provide one system - V²Flow - that makes contribution easy and accessible to everyone. The only requirement is to have a GitHub account. V²Flow will be used for any kind of feedback or contribution. Learn it once, use it anywhere.

Community Quality Management

Quality management is very important. Specifications and test procedures are published in open source. Anyone can perform independant quality assurance tests or provide such services to the community. We will provide a public database as a central location to publish and share such test results.

Community Driven Features

Any initial drafts of specs or features are drawn up by community members and are published open source early on. Anyone in the community can make improvements using V²Flow.

Agile Development

All development of specs, standards, test procedures, trailblazer products, electronic design, mechanical design, and artwork are developed using the agile development system.

Public Road Map

Our Road Map is published publically. It encompasses three views: five years ahead, 18 months ahead, and six months ahead. The closer you get to Now, the more detailed it gets. Our Road Map is published for all to see and has three main timestamps: six months, 18 months, and five years. The recent months are more detailed while farther down the road is less so due to not having all of the details finalized yet.

Public Dashboard

In the public dashboard we publish all milestones, issues, and tasks that we are working on at the moment in a hierarchical fashion. As always, you can contribute with feedback or get actual work done using V²Flow.

Gating Free

All work that we publish must be free of any kind of gating items or processes. Examples of gating items to avoid: single source components, mandatory agency approval, etc.

Discrimination Free

Everyone must have full access to all materials. License agreements can not single out certain licensees. All license agreements only require the agreement of the licensee.

Modular Design

Whenever possible we will use a modular design versus a monolithic one. All interfaces are specified in a corresponding V² Standard, enabling interoperability of parts of various makes and brands. Examples are V²Case-VESA, V²Case-Feet, and V²Case-Access.

Continuity by Full Time Core Team

To ensure consistency and continuity of standard publication we use a full time employed core team, funded by sales of Trailblazer Products.

Development by V²Community

Most development is contributed by industry experts within the community.

Eating our own Dogfood

Wherever possible we use our own standards, specs, apps, and products in our development. E.g, all members of the V²Core team develop the V²Standards using a V²PC.

Easy to Fix

All V² Products are conceived, designed, made, and documented with the goal of making it easy for the end user to identify and replace the faulty part.