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Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

0x0f0f0f.github.io

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Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#21

Post by olivil »

dvdkon wrote: post #11
jokoon wrote: post #9

I'm less and less convinced that a handheld keyboard can really be justified if you want to do some linux or programming stuff on such a device. Touch screens can be simple enough if you get used to them, they save a lot of space on the device and I think they are cheaper than a keyboard. Touch-swipe features will also make things much, much easier on a touch keyboard, and I'm sure it's totally possible to add linux…

"Soft" keyboards on a touchscreen have a number of disadvantages, the biggest for me is that they take up a large part of the screen. I could use the terminal or edit source code just fine on my phone's screen, but only if at least 40% of it wasn't taken up by a keyboard. Secondly, I think you're underestimating the number of "weird" sequences of characters programmers and terminal users regularly type. Sure, a prope…

But a hardware keyboard takes up a lot of potential screen space, even when it's not in use.

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#22

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #16

It is exciting to see cool handhelds like this! I really want to have a handheld / phone that can handle all of my on-the-go computing and connect to my servers if I need more compute power. As a tangent, if you have an Android phone and need to do some Linux-style computing on the go, consider Termux ( https://termux.com/ ). Termux enables your Android phone to run command-line utilities, text editors (vim and emacs…

What I'd really wanted to see, and not sure why it's still not a thing, is some standardized laptop that would allow upgrading it's core SoC. Latest Pis are quite capable for basic tasks and will only get more powerful.

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#24

Post by qwerty456127 »

stamps wrote: post #2

Excited to see the final build. The author provided a list of _obscure_ handhelds that you could try and get your hands on. On that list there is the Pyra[0] which is very near completion. It has some interesting features such as a replaceable CPU board (nonstandard) for future upgrades. [0] https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/

Pyra is near completion? I thought it was abandonned (I have been waiting for almost 10 years already). It looks like an almost-perfect handheld device, what it should actually be (according to my vision). The only thing missing is an RJ-45 NIC port (which would make it really useful for admins) but a USB-attached one will probably do just fine.

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#25

Post by westmeal »

jokoon wrote: post #9

I'm less and less convinced that a handheld keyboard can really be justified if you want to do some linux or programming stuff on such a device. Touch screens can be simple enough if you get used to them, they save a lot of space on the device and I think they are cheaper than a keyboard. Touch-swipe features will also make things much, much easier on a touch keyboard, and I'm sure it's totally possible to add linux…

Psst blackberry key two with termux running a REPL

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#26

Post by pergadad »

stamps wrote: post #2

Excited to see the final build. The author provided a list of _obscure_ handhelds that you could try and get your hands on. On that list there is the Pyra[0] which is very near completion. It has some interesting features such as a replaceable CPU board (nonstandard) for future upgrades. [0] https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/

Hmm I don't understand this. Why pay 600€ for a handheld with a 1.6ghz dual core if I can buy a netbook/13" with better specs for less? What is the use case for this device?

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#27

Post by LeoPanthera »

stamps wrote: post #2

Excited to see the final build. The author provided a list of _obscure_ handhelds that you could try and get your hands on. On that list there is the Pyra[0] which is very near completion. It has some interesting features such as a replaceable CPU board (nonstandard) for future upgrades. [0] https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/

Do you have a source for “near completion”? I was under the impression the project was dead. It’s been “coming soon” for nearly a decade.

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#28

Post by dvdkon »

olivil wrote: post #21
dvdkon wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Soft" keyboards on a touchscreen have a number of disadvantages, the biggest for me is that they take up a large part of the screen. I could use the terminal or edit source code just fine on my phone's screen, but only if at least 40% of it wasn't taken up by a keyboard. Secondly, I think you're underestimating the number of "weird" sequences of characters programmers and terminal users regularly type. Sure, a prope…

But a hardware keyboard takes up a lot of potential screen space, even when it's not in use.

This doesn't apply to devices which have slide-out keyboards or a clamshell design. The linked design is more "Blackberry-style" as far as I can tell, but those are not the devices I primarily had in mind.

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#29

Post by LeoPanthera »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #22
thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #16

It is exciting to see cool handhelds like this! I really want to have a handheld / phone that can handle all of my on-the-go computing and connect to my servers if I need more compute power. As a tangent, if you have an Android phone and need to do some Linux-style computing on the go, consider Termux ( https://termux.com/ ). Termux enables your Android phone to run command-line utilities, text editors (vim and emacs…

What I'd really wanted to see, and not sure why it's still not a thing, is some standardized laptop that would allow upgrading it's core SoC. Latest Pis are quite capable for basic tasks and will only get more powerful.

What I want more than anything in the world is a Psion-sized portable computer where the brains are provided by the Rasperry Pi compute module: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/compute-module-3-plus/?...

I’m genuinely surprised that this isn’t already a thing, since it would make upgrades trivial.

Re: Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

#30

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

jokoon wrote: post #9

I'm less and less convinced that a handheld keyboard can really be justified if you want to do some linux or programming stuff on such a device. Touch screens can be simple enough if you get used to them, they save a lot of space on the device and I think they are cheaper than a keyboard. Touch-swipe features will also make things much, much easier on a touch keyboard, and I'm sure it's totally possible to add linux…

As someone who loved his Nokia N900 with Emacs running on it, a physical keyboard was vital to being able to have that efficient and powerful workflow. Emacs’ keybindings are already part of my muscle memory from my desktop computer, and it was nice to be able to draw on that on my phone, without having to learn a whole new touch-based workflow.

> Touch keyboards can also have their layouts changed.

So could the N900’s physical keyboard. I work in multiple languages and need ready access to a lot of diacritics, and I was able to create my own perfect keyboard layout since the N900 ran X and so could handle an ordinary Xmodmap file.

People often claim that touch keyboards are fine and just as efficient, if not more so. But the decline of longform text on the internet seems to coincide with the arrival of smartphones with touch keyboards as most people’s default computing device.

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