[HN Gopher] Framedeck: A Cyberdeck built with the framework main...
___________________________________________________________________
Framedeck: A Cyberdeck built with the framework mainboard
Author : modernerd
Score : 414 points
Date : 2022-05-15 21:07 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| sprkwd wrote:
| This is certainly an aesthetic I can get behind. Kudos to
| Framework for supporting things like this.
| [deleted]
| dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
| I think Framework really has something going here with their a la
| carte approach to laptop sales. People want to tinker and build
| their own ideas and there is a dearth of options for portable
| motherboards which are truly modular, versus doing something like
| gutting a laptop.
|
| They may have stumbled into a nice niche that is all their own. I
| Hope they lean into it.
| [deleted]
| zionic wrote:
| ranger207 wrote:
| having opinions and running your own website isn't
| censorship. it's exactly what freedom of speech is there to
| protect
| bowsamic wrote:
| Some of the stuff that I see [flagged] [dead], and more
| importantly, some of the stuff that isn't, is pretty
| shocking on this site.
| dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
| It's off-topic grievance peddling. Pretty annoying. Often
| the larger (HN specific) context is missing when finding
| these sunk posts.
|
| Conversely even weird or offensive posts that are
| thoughtful or genuine are perfectly fine I think as long
| as they are on topic or at least topic adjacent.
| bowsamic wrote:
| Perfectly fine according to you, but others will
| disagree. For example I've noticed that those who posts
| religious messages will be rarely tolerated here, even if
| they are on topic or insightful
| dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
| My comment doesn't imply I support bigotry, but is
| religion on topic? On a tech forum that would likely be a
| stretch. I think downvoting wouldn't reflect intolerance
| rather a clash of mentalities: strict rationalism versus
| whatever religion falls under.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| Free speech absolutionists only stick with their opinion
| because they don't actually realize what absolute free
| speech / lack of moderation will look like.
|
| In practice, they want to be offensive and racist on the
| internet without consequence, for a big audience. "Free
| speech for me but not for thee".
| AceJohnny2 wrote:
| If anything, this is a great ad for the flexibility of
| Framework's mainboard.
| wly_cdgr wrote:
| [deleted]
| hnusersarelame wrote:
| grp000 wrote:
| I think this project is nostalgia-bait, but it's a good example
| of what you can do with the framework mainboard.
| jxf wrote:
| I'd absolutely buy one of these for a kid. This looks like a ton
| of fun for someone's first computer.
| criddell wrote:
| I wonder if it would be a good replacement for the Alphasmart-
| type machines that are made mostly for writing? A computer that
| can run for weeks on AA batteries could be useful.
| criddell wrote:
| I can't edit my comment, so I'll add it here: after looking
| into it more, this Cyberdeck wouldn't be a reasonable
| replacement for an Alphasmart or even for the original Model
| 100. It's way too power hungry.
|
| Is there a board out there you could build a machine around
| that is low power and fanless? Something that could run on a
| 4 AA batteries for a month? the Tandy machine couldn't make
| it that long, but we've come a long way since then. Along the
| way there have been machines from other companies -
| Alphasmart, Psion, Sharp, Casio, etc...
| jfb wrote:
| I love be a cyberdeck, but the idea that we'd all be running
| derivatives of '70s game firmware after _50_ years of putative
| progress kind of puts lie to Gibson 's futurism, which required a
| certain panache and optimism to technology that has clearly not
| come to pass.
| mxuribe wrote:
| > ...we'd all be running...
|
| I think this is not an all or nothing sort of present that we
| live in...and i think maybe there will be some (maybe non-
| trivial) slice of the computing population who might - at least
| for some of the time and for some tasks/work - be quite
| interested in tools like cyberdeck. I have no hard data to
| support my claim of course, its only my opinion...and in fact
| my opinion is based on the popularity that i'm seeing with a
| tiny portion of tech entusiasts more and more interested in
| things like TUIs, command-line based tools, Gemini protocol and
| associated Gemini sites for engaging with content, etc. Maybe
| its just a cycle of 70s/80s computing nostalgia, or maybe its a
| reaction to the annoying consumer web (the lay web? the
| layperson web?) and all its bothersome bells and whistles, ads,
| privacy invasion, etc...?
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| I love the design, but wow, that keyboard is unusable. I know it
| looks cool but it's going to need so many layers to be practical
| that it becomes... impractical.
| skyfaller wrote:
| I admit it's a little small for my tastes at only 36 keys, but
| I do a lot of typing on an Planck EZ with 47 keys which is only
| 9 more keys... ok actually that's a significant percentage of
| the keys, this is ~20% smaller.
|
| I enjoy typing with layers, but I find it annoying when a
| keyboard gets too different from a normal laptop keyboard
| because it makes it harder to type on anyone else's computer.
| This might be a bridge too far for me, but I can see how
| someone with slightly different preferences / habits from me
| would love it.
| folkrav wrote:
| Great board but in retrospect, I do enjoy a dedicated number
| row, as they get way too often combined in chord shortcuts
| like Ctrl+Alt+1 to hide them for my usecases. I own a Planck,
| but in retrospect I should have went with the Preonic. Planck
| is a little bit much in terms of layer dancing for me, made
| it work with my Iris which has a number row (on top of the
| small thumb cluster).
|
| All in all, I still find 40% to be on the annoying to use
| side. But I really love that those boards even exist in the
| first place, so many possibilities.
| mcluck wrote:
| It's about the size of my Ergodox and I only use 2 additional
| layers for most things
| opan wrote:
| The ergodox has significantly more keys.
| WesleyLivesay wrote:
| Maybe 3-4? Once you get used to it you probably save so much
| time by never having to move your hands.
| rgoulter wrote:
| I'd say with layouts like this (and, say, the Dvorak keyboard
| layout), the more significant benefit is comfort rather than
| speed.
| lytedev wrote:
| It's only missing the extra pinky column for my preferences (6
| keys), but I know plenty of programmers who love layouts like
| this (see CRKBD/Corne 5x3)
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Did I miss the space bar?
| WesleyLivesay wrote:
| Probably one of the thumb buttons that are dark blue.
| JohnTHaller wrote:
| And the enter key. I'm betting on key combos for them.
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| nah usually they're the keys where your thumbs are and
| aren't hidden behind a layer because they're so commonly
| used... so the bottom left down arrow is the spacebar and
| the bottom right up arrow is enter
| mewse wrote:
| It's pretty common to use one or both of the innermost
| thumb buttons on the bottom row as the space bar, for this
| style of keyboard (you often have to learn to partly ignore
| the labels on the keycaps, when your keyboard is this
| minimal).
|
| (I use both of the innermost thumb buttons as a space bar
| on my split keyboard, with the left one also acting as a
| layer shift which gives me arrow keys on hjkl while holding
| it down. If you're a vim user, this arrangement becomes
| second-nature startlingly quickly, I found)
|
| I'm on a 42-key keyboard; two 6x3 halves plus three thumb
| keys on each side. I would dearly love to try living with a
| (5x3+3)*2 keyboard for a week but I just can't see how I
| would replace the outside columns; I just need my tab,
| shift, control, and quote keys too much, and I'm pretty
| doubtful about the prospects of putting those keys onto
| separate layers or otherwise chording them. (backspace and
| enter are likely to be issues as well, although I could
| maybe adapt to ctrl-h and ctrl-m for those the same way
| I've adapted to ctrl-] for escape. And now that I've
| mentioned it, I could do tab on ctrl-T. So that brings down
| the number of extra keys I need to just shift, control, and
| quote. I guess I could do 'shift' with a hold of z or / and
| a tap of the opposite-side key to be capitalised. Not sure
| what I'd do about quote or enter, though.)
| regularfry wrote:
| It's 8 keys less than on my atreus, which I run with 3 layers,
| not all of which are full. I can see how I'd get there from
| here.
| nivenkos wrote:
| A Steam Deck would be an order of magnitude cheaper and more
| practical.
| x62Bh7948f wrote:
| I'd sacrifice having a screen for more palmrest space. If I were
| to use this for terminal-only work, a 65% layout with no
| trackball would be perfect.
| mindvirus wrote:
| Oh how I wish laptops had keyboards like that, mechanical or
| otherwise. Framework is doing great work democratizing higher end
| computing, had no idea they released their mainboards separately.
|
| Really appreciated the build tour:
| https://github.com/brickbots/framedeck/blob/main/docs/build_...
| lasersandleds wrote:
| These guys do a mechanical keyboard on a laptop. similar idea
| as framework, maybe a bit more raw.
|
| https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform
| ryukafalz wrote:
| Definitely more raw, but lots more open hardware on the
| Reform than you'll get from Framework:
|
| https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform
|
| But yes, it's a slow ARM system, so you have to temper your
| expectations. I've been using mine a bit more lately and
| enjoying it though. :)
| h-w wrote:
| Yea this is the real hacker dream machine, I'm always sad
| framework is getting more love when it's not open hardware or
| open source.
| mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
| $1500 for a machine which is so underpowered it's hardly
| anything more than an expensive toy for programmers with
| too much money. I love the trackball and mechanical
| keyboard though. Shame it's far too overpriced and
| underpowered for any kind of daily driver usage.
| bowsamic wrote:
| I mean, that's literally what it is, an expensive toy for
| hackers
| mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
| Well, I would give my left nut for a laptop like this
| that's actually useful though.
|
| But $1500 for a fun weekend project is a disgusting waste
| of resources that I can't afford. I used to have to live
| off of less than that for the whole month, so the mere
| thought of it makes me angry.
| bowsamic wrote:
| I don't think the fun of it will last only a weekend, and
| I don't think you have to get angry at expensive toys.
| It's more than I would want to pay though.
|
| I currently use the "digital piano" measure of price. My
| Roland FP-10 + stand cost me around 500 euros, and that
| is going to bring me many hours of practise and interest.
| I don't think it's likely that this laptop will beat
| that, so it's not great value. I don't think it's really
| terrible though
| mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
| I really don't think it would last more than a weekend.
| If I can't use this thing for anything peoductive, why is
| it even in a portable form factor? If I wanted to tinker
| with computationally cheap software on the go, any shitty
| laptop from 10 years ago would be fine. If the only thing
| I want is tinker with hardware, that's only gonna happen
| at home anyway, might as well just get a raspberry pi. I
| just don't see a point of this being portable with such
| weak components, at that price.
|
| It's my dream laptop form factor with useless hardware in
| it. Just too good to be true I guess. Maybe someone will
| make a board with a real computer for it, fingers crossed
| bowsamic wrote:
| I know a few people whose main hobby for many years has
| been fiddling with their Linux distribution, so I can see
| it lasting a long time for people like that
| opan wrote:
| The SoM can be swapped out, and other ones are in
| development. The ability to just slot in 18650s for the
| battery means it could outlast most other laptops (as a
| portable machine) as well.
| goodpoint wrote:
| > democratizing higher end computing
|
| Framework's PCBs and schematics are proprietary and patented.
|
| It's just a proprietary laptop with some parts made easier to
| replace.
|
| If you are referring to the price - they are not exceptionally
| cheap.
| nani8ot wrote:
| They don't design PCB's completely themselves. Usually these
| designs are created with the actual manufacturer, which don't
| allow open sourcing of their designs.
|
| Framework is not perfect, but they come way closer than other
| companies. Not even companies like System76, which are open
| source focused, are able to go that far (they use Clevos with
| Intel ME largely disabled).
| goodpoint wrote:
| How is this "democratizing higher end computing"?
| sowbug wrote:
| With the other DIY Framework machine on HN earlier today[1], is
| anyone maintaining a list of such Framework projects?
|
| 1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31387055
| junaruga wrote:
| Yes, we are maintaining the list here.
| https://community.frame.work/t/a-company-or-individual-drive...
| klysm wrote:
| If it doesn't already exist, I anticipate a awesome-framework
| will get created on GH.
| jimmygrapes wrote:
| Is there money in those, or is it a labor of love?
| fragmede wrote:
| Well, an aspiring hacker will (hopefully) create one as a
| labor of love but in creating it, will build a brand and
| that's worth money, so there's that.
| hardwaresofton wrote:
| System76 and Framework both exist. Nvidia just released their
| drivers as open source. What a time to be alive.
| goodpoint wrote:
| > What a time to be alive.
|
| What?! It's 2022 and all CPUs and chipsets are closed source,
| incredibly complex, designed by very few companies and
| manufactured by a monopolist (TSMC).
|
| End users are increasing using laptop and phones (instead of
| desktops) that are entirely proprietary and not modular.
|
| All hardware runs tons of closed source software below ring 0,
| with no way to remove it for 99.9% of users.
|
| Hardware security vulnerabilities abound. As complexity
| increases every year, reliably detecting bugdoors/backdoors has
| become a pipe dream.
| troyvit wrote:
| Everything you say is true. It's been true to some degree
| since the beginning of consumer-level computing. What is also
| true though is that open companies like Framework and
| System76 (who I work for) actually are developing the power
| and scale to push back on this paradigm and ... sorry for the
| drama ... bring out a new era of open hardware, software and
| firmware. It's so hard to claw back freedom from these
| megaliths, but it is actually happening.
| ekianjo wrote:
| > Nvidia just released their drivers as open source
|
| Not at all. They just released the kernel modules which is a
| tiny part of what is needed to make GPU work.
|
| > System76 and Framework
|
| Lenovo has been around for a very long time and their thinkpads
| have been repairable well before these two brands ever shipped
| anything.
| arnaudsm wrote:
| Some of the recent ThinkPads have soldered RAM.
| ekianjo wrote:
| Unfortunately. The more expensensive ones outside of the x1
| carbon line are still upgradable.
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| Owning both Lenovo and Framework myself, Lenovo doesn't hold
| a candle to Framework.
| lynndotpy wrote:
| I use Linux, but Lenovo's reputation is still burned in my
| eyes ever since the Superfish incident. I'm very happy we
| have other names in the Linux laptop game.
|
| (Context: Lenovo installed universal root CAs on their
| laptops during the 2010s, so they could serve ads. They were
| tied to firmware IIRC, so, reinstalling Windows would not
| remove the malware.)
| GuB-42 wrote:
| I understand why you have a problem with Lenovo following
| the incident, but ThinkPads are something else, and they
| weren't impacted by Superfish.
|
| Non-ThinkPad Lenovos are not great by any mean. They are
| unremarkable consumer-grade laptops. ThinkPads are a legacy
| from IBM that Lenovo is smart enough to keep separate from
| the rest.
| javert wrote:
| Still not acceptable. It would be hard for me to buy a
| ThinkPad (I have bought many in the past).
|
| Obviously Lenovo has zero integrity and will spy on us or
| cheat us in some other way if they think they can do it
| without getting caught.
|
| Sad that nobody else makes laptops with the little nub
| for pointing the mouse.
| smaudet wrote:
| I used a TP from the 2013, 2014 era, and I have my
| current main laptop as a TP from 2017...
|
| The old TP was fantastic. Really out of date hardware,
| but it did the job. New one is great, in theory (spec-
| wise), but its a much cheaper build, breaks more, and
| just generally has far more issues than I remember with
| the old one. I think I had one in the middle too which
| was just straight up an awful peice of junk...
|
| When Lenovo got bought out by China, they weren't really
| that smart - they tried to consumerize their TP and
| thereby cut costs - the features they brought back to
| modern TPs are still nice but you just don't get the same
| attention to detail anymore...IMHO.
| imwillofficial wrote:
| That was over 10 years ago, a mistake which the company has
| shown no signs of repeating.
| BaseballPhysics wrote:
| As a long time ThinkPad/Lenovo fan, suggesting that Lenovo's
| repairability is in the same league as the Framework suggests
| to me you've never actually worked with a Framework. It
| really is on a whole other level.
| h-w wrote:
| Are you joking? Thinkpads for decades have had all the
| parts replaceable with off the shelf components. Framework
| is barely caught up with my 2008 thinkpad lol.
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| Framework's hardware is nice because it takes advantage
| of CPUs, ports, RAM, screens etc that are more recent
| than 2008
|
| I know for some old ThinkPads (edit: The IBM branded T60
| from 2006) you can get a custom motherboard that works
| with modern CPUs, but the price for the mobo alone is
| more than a Framework laptop
| drewzero1 wrote:
| I also have a 2008 and a 2009 Thinkpad. I've looked at
| some recent ones and we've lost so much since then.
| smaudet wrote:
| Can you custom design parts with pinouts for your 2008
| thinkpad?
|
| If not, I'm not sure I believe you know what you are
| talking about - its nice lenovo (in past) has been so
| rugged, repairable, but using reverse engineered parts is
| a very different thing to a set of components that can be
| extended.
|
| Put it like this - can you put a lenovo part on a
| framework laptop? No? Why?
|
| Until you can, Framework is in a whole different
| category....
| sleepymoose wrote:
| 2008 ThinkPads are machines from a different era. Lenovo
| doesn't build them the same anymore.
| RealStickman_ wrote:
| Have you looked at any more recent thinkpads?
| ekianjo wrote:
| good luck finding cheap parts for your framework laptop.
| Lenovo however can be repaired for years with off the shelf
| components and at very low cost.
| commoner wrote:
| Some business laptops from Lenovo, Dell, and HP rank
| among the most repairable laptops. But Framework goes
| even further by making their parts store and repair
| guides accessible to everyone:
|
| - https://frame.work/marketplace
|
| - https://guides.frame.work/c/Framework_Laptop
|
| The prices of the parts are very reasonable, and each
| part is labeled with a QR code that can be scanned to
| access repair instructions.
| greyhair wrote:
| Dell Vostro laptops are not as sleek as their consumer
| models, but they are tanks, and they are a breeze to
| repair.
|
| I do like what Framework is doing, and my next laptop
| will likely be from them.
| piceas wrote:
| One of my Lenovo laptops has firmware to prevent me from
| upgrading its WiFi card using off the shelf components.
|
| If it's successful one would expect availability to
| increase.
| greyhair wrote:
| Is it a Lenovo ThinkPad, or one of their other models?
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| FWIW I just look up 6 parts for the Thinkpad (battery,
| keyboard, webcam, speakers, audio board), and all the
| prices were within $5 of the framework equivalent.
| Granted, that doesn't necessarily mean the prices will
| still be comparable a decade from now.
| Octoth0rpe wrote:
| Worth pointing out that while linux has usually worked quite
| well on thinkpads, _official_ support for linux was very
| infrequent until recently. Also, support for linux on non-
| thinkpad lenovos was much more of a crapshoot. For corporate
| linux support, Dell (edit: and HP!) has always been a better
| option.
|
| Edit: And apparently even today is very limited. Just checked
| Lenovo's website, and apparently only two models can be
| ordered in the US with linux preinstalled: X1 Carbon, and the
| Yoga. That's it.
| rozab wrote:
| Even for framework, the official Linux support isn't much
| better. They don't ship with Linux and it's only recently
| all the kinks have been mostly ironed out with the distro
| they recommend, Ubuntu 21.04. They have been making
| proactive steps with Linux support, like providing
| prerelease hardware to maintainers of lots of distros, but
| they don't officially support any distro.
| imwillofficial wrote:
| Do you understand what "not at all" means?
|
| If they did part of the work, then clearly it is "some" work,
| and not "none at all"
| endgame wrote:
| And this is why we must never give up and "be pragmatic". We
| need to get things done today, sure, but we must also never
| stop pushing for a freer tomorrow.
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| This. In the entire history of the world, nothing ever got
| better by accepting what is. Be the sand in the gears any
| time the gears don't work for you or for the common good.
| genericone wrote:
| "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the
| unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to
| himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable
| man."
|
| -- George Bernard Shaw
| likeclockwork wrote:
| "I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be
| unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do
| unreasonable things."
|
| -- Marvin Heemeyer
| mastazi wrote:
| For those who like me did not know what's a cyberdeck, here are a
| couple links I've found:
|
| What is a cyberdeck? https://cyberdeck.cafe/mix/what-is-a-
| cyberdeck
|
| Some examples https://www.makeuseof.com/best-raspberry-pi-
| cyberdecks/
|
| Reddit community https://libredd.it/r/cyberDeck/
|
| Even though I wasn't familiar with the term, this is actually
| something I always wanted (a self-built portable device, that I
| can customise in the same way I can customise a desktop
| computer).
| anuvrat1 wrote:
| Isn't framework mainboard the best bank for the buck x86 SBC,
| alas a tad bit bigger?
| [deleted]
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| I would love to have one of these
| bitwize wrote:
| Framework is probably the coolest non-Apple laptop to come along
| in a long time. I love how they've connected with the hacker and
| maker communities to enable... well, things like this, but beyond
| that a more open and honest hardware ecosystem for x86 portable
| machines.
| Extropy_ wrote:
| This is really cool. I'd love to see more devices like this. As I
| don't exactly have the resources to build one on my own, I'd also
| be interested in the opportunity to buy one.
| Retr0id wrote:
| These cyberdecks _look_ awesome, but I don 't really understand
| the ergonomics of the screen. Don't you have to crane your neck
| to look at it?
|
| Has anyone here used a form-factor like this for any length of
| time?
| goodpoint wrote:
| These are really not designed for ergonomics. They are
| obviously much worse than a phone on your neck and back.
|
| Cyberdecks are craft objects, made for show, like many
| mechanical keyboards.
| [deleted]
| jhbadger wrote:
| This was actually the form factor of numerous 1980s portables,
| most notably the TRS-80 Model 100 mentioned in the article, but
| also others such as the Epson HX-20 and Clive Sinclair's Z88.
| You don't really "crane your neck" any more than you do with
| modern smartphone which likewise has the (virtual) keyboard in
| the same plane as the rest of the screen.
| grp000 wrote:
| I don't really see myself thumb typing with a cyberdeck
| though.
| xixixao wrote:
| It could pair perfectly with screen glasses like these:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31393483
|
| You could even drop the built-in display. I totally see a
| future now where I'll have a screen-less MacBook with a pair of
| glasses like these for on the go and plugging into a monitor at
| home/work.
| codethief wrote:
| Damn, this is what I've been waiting for for years! No
| mention of PC/laptop compatibility, though. Do you happen to
| know anything about that? (I _guess_ any machine with HDMI
| out should do but before spending hundreds of dollars I guess
| I should make sure.)
| the_gipsy wrote:
| I just want a laptop with an ortho keyboard (grid layout instead
| of staggered rows).
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Any of these open source DIY projects would make it easy to
| drop in your choice of keyboard, no?
| blangk wrote:
| That would be amazing - like the framework laptop diy edition
| and you can customise the keyboard part and the hinges or
| something and run low profile mechanical switches in whatever
| layout you and keymap you want
| TranquilMarmot wrote:
| It definitely looks like with this one at least you could
| make it ortho
| the_gipsy wrote:
| Yea with the framework it's very much doable, but I myself am
| not that good at this kind of DIY. I have done assembling and
| soldering on mechanical keyboards, but the parts were already
| designed by people who know what they're doing.
| henriquecm8 wrote:
| I wish we had good and discreet ar glasses to use with cyberdecks
| klysm wrote:
| Unfortunately I think discrete is far off for that tech
| lukasb wrote:
| oh wow, yeah. a good AR/VR mobile setup might be what it takes
| to get me off Macs (unless Macs get there first.)
| stuntkite wrote:
| What about Project Northstar?
| throwawayben wrote:
| not sure that fulfills the "discreet" requirement
| stuntkite wrote:
| It's pretty self contained. I guess the apple glasses or
| something is what you mean. Eh.
| DoingIsLearning wrote:
| What is the display interface on this motherboard?
|
| Could I use a large matte display instead of the framework glossy
| LCD display?
| contingencies wrote:
| Can anyone comment on "Gazzew Boba" as a source of key movements?
| I recently acquired a few Cherry devices but have not found them
| to be either to spec, bug-free or supported. I'd like to support
| an alternative company (more whole-keyboard than DIY but would
| DIY if needed) and figure this is semi on-topic.
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| I am using a fully custom Boba linears (assembled from spare
| parts bought from the man), 55gr springs to reduce the load on
| fingers.
|
| They are nice
| Animats wrote:
| What's this thing for thick subnotebooks with tiny screens all of
| a sudden?
|
| I liked subnotebooks, and they're now hard to get. I have a bunch
| of Eee PC 1000 series machines I bought off eBay for about $50
| each for semi-embedded applications, or to carry around. I
| replace the battery, wipe the hard drive to get rid of Windows,
| and install XUbuntu. Newer machines at a similar price point
| would be nice.
| cestith wrote:
| https://www.clockworkpi.com/ has RISC-V and ARM (Raspi CM3 or a
| Rockchip module) models of their DevTerm slab system. The
| schematics are GPL v3. There's micro HDMI if you need an
| external screen for a while. The ARM versions run Ubuntu,
| Debian, their own ClockworkOS, or most other things that will
| run on Raspberry Pi. $260 to $340 or so for the ARM ones new,
| not including the 18650 batteries.
| nrp wrote:
| The sudden growth in cyberdeck projects comes out of the
| convergence of three things:
|
| 1. The mechanical keyboard DIY and modding community.
|
| 2. The availability of small ultrawide LCDs, mostly from the
| automotive space.
|
| 3. The Raspberry Pi ecosystem.
|
| We're basically enabling that community with a higher power x86
| option.
| regularfry wrote:
| Funnily enough the original EEE PC 701 happened (in part)
| because of the availability of automotive parts, in
| particular the screen. Same spec as the built-in sat-nav
| units that started to trickle into the mainstream in the
| 1998-2003 era.
| AlanYx wrote:
| I think another big part of it is a desire to return to
| "personal computing" in the personal sense, as a reaction
| against subscription everything, sandboxed app everything,
| polished everything. Cyberdecks are under your control, from
| the design to the keyboard, and a person is probably more
| likely to be running something personal like Emacs on these
| machines than some Electron groupware.
| wolpoli wrote:
| There does appear to be a small unserved niche for people
| looking for an open computing device that's portable but with a
| keyboard.
|
| As you mentioned, subnotebooks are hard to come by. Android
| phones with keyboard are also hard to find. Android tablets
| with keyboard sleeves are clunky. Android programs are designed
| for touch also.
|
| iPads have a decent keyboard case but are also locked down.
| mxuribe wrote:
| > ...Android phones with keyboard are also hard to find...
|
| To this day, my partner - who is not a tech person - believes
| that the days when mobile phones had physical, slide out
| keyboards was the epitome of tech design. She felt is was the
| proper balance for the tech- and non-tech audiences. She
| feels like typing into glass is either kid-like or too far
| fetched for the not-yet-Star-Trek-like world that we live in.
| Go figure! :-)
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-05-16 23:02 UTC)