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The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

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Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#11

Post by tluyben2 »

primitur wrote: post #3

I have pretty much every Linux handheld ever made, and my original First Batch Open Pandora is still the one I go to for my casual gaming needs. The reason is that the community around this device continues to produce absolute gems for the machine, as can be witnessed in what would have to be one of the most underrated app-store/repo's around: http://repo.openpandora.org My next-favourite device is the GPD Pocket. It…

I really like the Pocket; everyone (including you) complains about the keyboard but it just takes a few days to get used to it imho. It has stellar battery life (ubuntu + i3wm gets me well over 20 hours while coding). For casual gaming my OpenPandora is still my go to. Indeed a Switch seems tempting but I like having a device I can code on, again, stellar battery life, and I have spare batteries for the thing so I can go hiking for days and do some gaming + coding at night. Can't wait for the Pyra indeed.

My ideal device would have unibody, swappable battery and 3g, so the Pyra. The Gemini seems great but not sure about the battery life on it. Or the Linux support although they seem serious about it.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#12

Post by FullyFunctional »

Sloppy article. The Gemini is shipping now and a, eh, handful, have landed in early backers hands. The question of future support have come up repeatedly and Planet Computers understands this and have promised to "open source what they can". While this leaves a lot of question, the specifically mentioned boot loaders. Thus, bleeding-edge Linux support might depend on community support, but it's not impossible.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#13

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

qengho wrote: post #7

Check out Noodle Pi – http://noodlepi.com It’s the world’s smallest and lightest handheld computer. And unlike most of these devices with tiny built-in keyboards, it features a modular docking system so you can dock it with a range of different keyboards, from a tiny thumb keyboard to a full-sized one, or a gamepad. Noodle Pi can be assembled, disassembled, repaired and upgraded by users, with no soldering or tools r…

> It’s the world’s smallest and lightest handheld computer.

Only for very specific definitions. Some phones are smaller than that, and there are GNU+Linux wrist watches.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#14

Post by primitur »

tluyben2 wrote: post #11
primitur wrote: post #3

I have pretty much every Linux handheld ever made, and my original First Batch Open Pandora is still the one I go to for my casual gaming needs. The reason is that the community around this device continues to produce absolute gems for the machine, as can be witnessed in what would have to be one of the most underrated app-store/repo's around: http://repo.openpandora.org My next-favourite device is the GPD Pocket. It…

I really like the Pocket; everyone (including you) complains about the keyboard but it just takes a few days to get used to it imho. It has stellar battery life (ubuntu + i3wm gets me well over 20 hours while coding). For casual gaming my OpenPandora is still my go to. Indeed a Switch seems tempting but I like having a device I can code on, again, stellar battery life, and I have spare batteries for the thing so I ca…

I got used to the keyboard eventually, but it was devilish few weeks until I did. As a vim user, the placement was bonkers .. but a bit of retraining of muscle memory was, admittedly, in order anyway.

Pyra is going to be great - only wish it had the Pocket form-factor/design ethos. The chunky plastic is a bit gauche for my tastes, and if we think the Pocket keyboard is terrible, well .. Pyra ain't no better! (Have played with a prototype for a few hours .. that muscle memory thing ..)

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#15

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

fyfy18 wrote: post #6
saagarjha wrote: post #4

My personal take on Linux handhelds is that they're held back by their user interfaces. None of the options I've seen have the polish of iOS and Android; they just look ugly and painful to use. On desktop this is 1. improving and 2. partially masked by the paradigm that you're supposed to "get work done", but mobile is in a large part still a platform for consumption and issues such as these make it difficult to seri…

I use Linux on the desktop and this is my biggest gripe their too (well it’s the same on BSD too, nothing Linux specific). Sometimes I wish the desktop environments were a bit more opinionated like MacOS (but without all the restrictions). I’m keeping a close eye on elementary OS to see where that ends up.

more opinionated like MacOS (but without all the restrictions).

Isn't this a contradiction? Pick for you, but still let you pick?

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#16

Post by ekianjo »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #12

Sloppy article. The Gemini is shipping now and a, eh, handful, have landed in early backers hands. The question of future support have come up repeatedly and Planet Computers understands this and have promised to "open source what they can". While this leaves a lot of question, the specifically mentioned boot loaders. Thus, bleeding-edge Linux support might depend on community support, but it's not impossible.

> Gemini is shipping now and a, eh, handful, have landed in early backers hands

the same can be said for the GPD2, but that does not make it "officially released" until you can purchase it anywhere, anytime.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#17

Post by chx »

You can put a Linux in a chroot on most (? all?) Android devices , even non rooted https://www.xda-developers.com/guide-installing-and-running-... and the Moto Z family has a landscape keyboard upcoming https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/physical-keyboard-mod-for... so that should be a contender too, I feel.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#18

Post by digi_owl »

fyfy18 wrote: post #6
saagarjha wrote: post #4

My personal take on Linux handhelds is that they're held back by their user interfaces. None of the options I've seen have the polish of iOS and Android; they just look ugly and painful to use. On desktop this is 1. improving and 2. partially masked by the paradigm that you're supposed to "get work done", but mobile is in a large part still a platform for consumption and issues such as these make it difficult to seri…

I use Linux on the desktop and this is my biggest gripe their too (well it’s the same on BSD too, nothing Linux specific). Sometimes I wish the desktop environments were a bit more opinionated like MacOS (but without all the restrictions). I’m keeping a close eye on elementary OS to see where that ends up.

Opinionated and restrictive goes hand in hand...

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#19

Post by ekianjo »

chx wrote: post #17

You can put a Linux in a chroot on most (? all?) Android devices , even non rooted https://www.xda-developers.com/guide-installing-and-running-... and the Moto Z family has a landscape keyboard upcoming https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/physical-keyboard-mod-for... so that should be a contender too, I feel.

It's not optimal because your have to go thru Android anyway and since Android phone end up having a very limited lifetime of updates you will have to run a chroot on top of an unsecure/obsolete Android version over the long run.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#20

Post by ekianjo »

FullyFunctional wrote: post #12

Sloppy article. The Gemini is shipping now and a, eh, handful, have landed in early backers hands. The question of future support have come up repeatedly and Planet Computers understands this and have promised to "open source what they can". While this leaves a lot of question, the specifically mentioned boot loaders. Thus, bleeding-edge Linux support might depend on community support, but it's not impossible.

> While this leaves a lot of question, the specifically mentioned boot loaders.

How about graphic drivers? is the Mali GPU properly supported in the mainline kernel?

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