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The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

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Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#61

Post by flyingfences »

csydas wrote: post #27
tluyben2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The Pocket seems dubious to me - the article got my attention, but the price tag I'm seeing on Amazon ($600+) makes me shy away. Refurb 11" MacBook Airs are in that range, plus any other number of low-end Windows laptops, or even hacking away at a Pi-Top.

You can get it on AliExpress for under $500.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#62

Post by k_bx »

ansible wrote: post #42

I used to be sort of obsessed with some kind of handheld Linux machine. Devices I've had included: HP 200 LX with 40MB PCMCIA storage. Tried to run a cut-down 16-bit version of Linux on it, but I don't think I ever got that running properly. Original Sharp Zaurus, the first Linux PDA. Tried to run Linux on a Compaq iPaq at some point too. Asus EEE PC 401 with the 7in screen and 4GB of storage. The first of the netboo…

But which Chromebook is it and is it good? (touchpad, smooth two-finger scrolling, screen etc.)

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#63

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

ekianjo wrote: post #48
lostmsu wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's Lineage OS

Do you still have to download their builds on shady servers?

It has auto-updates built in, not sure about where they're hosted, though. Still probably more trustworthy (and up to date) than the stock OnePlus Android builds that my phone includes by default (OP3).

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#64

Post by zokier »

jokoon wrote: post #22

For years I was reluctant to type with a tactile screen, but after trying the "swype" mode to type, I found that I'm actually faster with it than with a classic keyboard. So a keyboard now seems obsolete for me. I admit that there are still issues with it, like for example this annoying bug when it does 2 words suggestions However, I still have to find an adequate solution to efficiently type code (offline or online,…

I suppose you mean touch screen, which is pretty much the opposite of tactile.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#65

Post by mattnewport »

mads wrote: post #5
sexydefinesher wrote: post #2

How could they not mention the most important and groundbreaking one, although it doesnt release in 2018. https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Building a phone isn't easy (obviously ;)). Been there myself and it may not even be due to incompetence from Purism's side. Your leverage as a small manufacturer with low quantities is just almost non-existing. Their main problem is probably not going to be on the software or hardware design and I think they can probably get a good working dev-kit out in Jun-2018 as they state. Their main challenge is probably going…

I have my preorder in for a Librem 5 and I kind of hope they just give up trying to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung on making a super slim form factor. I don't know how much it simplifies the mechanical design but I'd love a phone that just throws a huge battery in even if it's twice as thick as an S9.

My last Samsung phone ended up being more than twice as thick anyway due to needing a Mophie external battery case just to make it through a full day of ordinary use. My ideal is a phone with a huge battery and sturdy enough not to need a protective case, if that makes it 16mm+ thick I'm absolutely fine with that.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#66

Post by mncharity »

Hmm... with standalone HMDs coming out this year, I wonder what might be the VR equivalent of linux handhelds?

HMDs based on qualcomm's snapdragon 835 vr chipset are android, so perhaps someday linux on android on HMD.

But you can also think of HMDs as merely fancy monitors. And use a bluetooth keyboard (for flexibility). Leaving you with simply a portable headless linux box. Acting as a wifi hub.[1] Serving say a WebVR RDP client to the HMD.

So imagine a standalone android HMD (like [2]), decorated with a linux single-board computer. Or several. Maybe with power from the HMD battery (~4k mAh) via USB. So power-on all, run chromium in the HMD, browse to the linux board, run Xpra RDP in stereo. For passthrough AR, one often wants more cameras and associated computes than an HMD provides out of the box (for dynamic range, and high-res narrow-FoV to see lecture slides, and fisheye for better situational awareness (eg on public transport), and optical tracking of hands and keyboard and such). So imagine a Pi-based ecosystem of linux HMD-mounted symbiotes. And any boards with their own battery, and not doing camera, can stay in a backpack or pocket, simply connected by wifi. Thoughts?

Linux headhelds.

[1] https://learn.adafruit.com/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-as-a-wi... [2] https://www.anandtech.com/show/12297/lenovo-details-its-stan...

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#67

Post by ytjohn »

f_allwein wrote: post #38
Joeboy wrote: post #37

I really like the idea of having the Gemini or Pocket for occasionally writing on the move, but I don't think I can justify them at that price. Is there any cheaper option for somebody who's not too bothered about Linux or powerfulness? I note the cool but ancient Psion 5mx still seems to go for £200 or so on ebay. Is there any kind of pocketable writing workhorse in production at a sensible price?

How about keyboard + storage + minimal display? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart

I actually picked up a couple of these with the idea of putting a PiZero in them. There's a good bit of space in the area on both sides of the screen. If we could make the keyboard recognizable by the pi in some capacity (perhaps with an arduino translator), definitely some possibilities.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#68

Post by saagarjha »

squarefoot wrote: post #21
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…

The Linux users/developers ecosystem is dominated by techies who mostly find the typical Android/iOS user interface inadequate; very far from the normal phone/tablet user: we love to use the shell to get things done or spend time customizing the system here and there, therefore the lesser incentive to have a finger oriented interface. Most people looking for native Linux handhelds probably either don't need/like that…

> The Linux users/developers ecosystem is dominated by techies who mostly find the typical Android/iOS user interface inadequate

I think this is a shame, honestly. It’s really optimized for the needs of the minority and keeps it away from the majority.

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#69

Post by saagarjha »

nine_k wrote: post #53
leadingthenet wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And those people are exactly the reason why Linux will never be the OS of choice on desktop for the vast majority of people. Which it should be, because it's a great piece of software, underneath the horrible UX.

In this sense, Linux already is the OS for hundreds of millions, in the form of Android. It just got a very different UI and somehow reworked userland. Is this what you'd prefer on the desktop, too?

Personally, I think so. Leave the custom Arch or Debian builds for those who need it, and have a polished Linux distro “for the masses”. That’s basically what Chrome OS is, and it’s pretty popular (though, I’d like it if it was more customizable like Android is rather than just being a web browser).

Re: The world of Linux Handhelds in 2018

#70

Post by michaelmrose »

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…

This is ad copy which I find dubious. It's neither the smallest nor the lightest and having a SD card which you could pop out but no reasonable person would does not increase security. It's also 200 usd for quite frankly a bad computer you will never use.
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