Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced • Hacker News Board

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#11

Post by emberdaway » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 3:42 AM UTC

bgorman wrote: post #4

softwarejosh wrote: post #3

what can i do woth it, its twice as expensive as a flipper

It runs Linux, has a keyboard and has a 1080p screen. I doubt the flipper even has a MMU.

Some Flippers have an i.MX6 running Kali Linux, but they do seem like completely different products.

Many more radios, but many fewer buttons and pixels.

It's nice that we have so many options for tiny computers these days, but sooner or later, someone is going to have to find something useful to do with them.

The UI and developer experience has never gotten quite good enough to drive a market the size of smartphones or laptops, so...what are we doing here? Is it time to acknowledge that the masses don't particularly want general-purpose computing machines? That there isn't much of a market for anything that isn't plug-and-play? That's a depressing thought.

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#12

Post by stephc_int13 » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 3:47 AM UTC

I would buy something with slightly different specs and design.

- square screen, possibily of higher resolution - high quality tactile switch keyboard, optimized for thumb typing - useable in bare PCB form (maybe with a two PCB sandwich) - similar design aesthetics as the pocket operators from Teenage Engineering, but built as a powerful full featured pocket computer for hackers

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#13

Post by paulie_a » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 3:57 AM UTC

postpawl wrote: post #6

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was immediately where I went. I loved my little iPAQ back in high school.

I could only afford a Handspring Vizor. iPAQs were so high-end.

I totally forgot about the handspring, I had one in high school. Great device!

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#14

Post by amanzi » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 3:59 AM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #5

numpad0 wrote: post #2

Confusing name but not related to Microsoft’s obsolete Pocket PC platform

That was immediately where I went. I loved my little iPAQ back in high school.

I preferred my Casio Cassiopeia.

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#15

Post by emberdaway » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 4:01 AM UTC

shakna wrote: post #8

> Our goal is to ensure that we get all aspects of our products mainlined so that custom kernels will not be required. I love these kinds of projects, but after being burned by the PocketCHIP, who also said this but never made it there, this is isn't somewhere I want to go again.

Yeah, ditto. Why can't mainline Linux support come first? Then they could sell a working product.

Crazy, I know. Investing in difficult R&D problems to produce a quality product is not a good business model. It's so much easier to churn out a working devkit and ask for pull requests.

Sorry for the snark and pessimism, but that's what happens when you keep getting burned. This statement does not inspire confidence:

>Finally, to ensure that Pocket P.C. has great software support out of the box, we have requested embedded development help from the community.

Why is software always an afterthought with these projects? Especially a project like this, which has clearly seen an enormous amount of effort put into the hardware design.

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#16

Post by phendrenad2 » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 4:03 AM UTC

microcolonel wrote: post #10

emberdaway wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the PCB has 10 layers! They must have had fun designing it.

Kinda does beg the question whether ten layers were really necessary, but I'm not a board designer.

I see a pretty fine-pitch BGA on there, so I'm guessing it is (but also not a designer)

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#17

Post by asveikau » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 4:06 AM UTC

emberdaway wrote: post #11

bgorman wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It runs Linux, has a keyboard and has a 1080p screen. I doubt the flipper even has a MMU.

Some Flippers have an i.MX6 running Kali Linux, but they do seem like completely different products. Many more radios, but many fewer buttons and pixels. It's nice that we have so many options for tiny computers these days, but sooner or later, someone is going to have to find something useful to do with them. The UI and developer experience has never gotten quite good enough to drive a market the size of smartphones…

> someone is going to have to find something useful to do with them

Looking at that pocket pc website... If that usb c port could drive a display it might be interesting to dock that thing and get a full desktop experience. Then take your work with you when you are ready to go mobile. On buses and trains or other places where it might be clumsy to use a laptop.

I guess this was a thing many people have fantasized about for a long time but nobody has really made practical. I guess laptops, phones and tablets being separate entities is good enough.

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#18

Post by voltagex_ » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 4:27 AM UTC

emberdaway wrote: post #15

shakna wrote: post #8

> Our goal is to ensure that we get all aspects of our products mainlined so that custom kernels will not be required. I love these kinds of projects, but after being burned by the PocketCHIP, who also said this but never made it there, this is isn't somewhere I want to go again.

Yeah, ditto. Why can't mainline Linux support come first? Then they could sell a working product. Crazy, I know. Investing in difficult R&D problems to produce a quality product is not a good business model. It's so much easier to churn out a working devkit and ask for pull requests. Sorry for the snark and pessimism, but that's what happens when you keep getting burned. This statement does not inspire confidence: >F…

The only example I have is the LibreComputer S905X based board - it took years of work with a small team to get the kernel changes upstreamed. Hell, look at the Raspberry Pi - I think mainline support is pretty recent.

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#19

Post by numpad0 » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 4:47 AM UTC

postpawl wrote: post #6

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was immediately where I went. I loved my little iPAQ back in high school.

I could only afford a Handspring Vizor. iPAQs were so high-end.

I’ve only used WM5/6 but compared to PalmOS it genuinely sucked so

Re: Popcorn Computer’s Pocket P.C. Open Sourced

#20

Post by joezydeco » Sat, Aug 08, 2020, 5:04 AM UTC

phendrenad2 wrote: post #16

microcolonel wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda does beg the question whether ten layers were really necessary, but I'm not a board designer.

I see a pretty fine-pitch BGA on there, so I'm guessing it is (but also not a designer)

BGA isn’t usually the reason for 10 layers, it’s high speed signals like SDRAM that need isolation and timing.