[hpsdr] Hermes II Specs and Progress

[Nick Uchalik]

Thank you for everyone who is contributing to the Hermes II conversation and project, this is very interesting.

My first question, from a hardware development perspective, is how far along is the Hermes II project?  I ask, because it appears that there are a lot of competing requests for capabilities.  Is there a desired specs page anywhere or a potential final build/ cutoff date?  I apologize if someone already put one together, but I think it might be helpful.  I also ask because I want a Hermes II of course, and it seems like people are purchasing other alternatives because they (like myself) can’t get a Hermes or a Mercury to play with.

Also, question 2, in terms of the interface with a PC, is the plan to use Ethernet, USB 3.2 (or even 2.0), Thunderbolt 2/3, or PCIe?  Obviously Thunderbolt and PCIe are faster, but Thunderbolt requires special equipment that is just becoming mainstream now (at best) and PCIe has both thermal issues (especially if you also have GPUs) and I assume potential interference the same as an internal sound card.  

My interest with Hermes II world be for my team to play with different applications for machine learning (which uses multiple high-powered GPUs and a 1600/1500 watt PSU in each desktop), so how it connects and where it can be housed for optimal performance is important.  I’m not opposed to setting Hermes II up on a separate specialized computer or even a Pi server, but that adds a layer of complexity and cost.  

Thoughts on both the above questions are welcome.  Thank you.