A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15 • Hacker News Board

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#91

Post by rsync » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

mrandish wrote: post #40

A similar but more powerful and flexible device is the Core2 from M5Stack. It's expandable through stackable snap-on blocks, USB, multiple I2C and a full set of GPIO and signal pins on a header. It has ESP32 CPU, Wifi, Bluetooth, 2" color touchscreen, microphone, power indicator, 6-Axis IMU, vibration motor, I2S codec, amplifier, speaker, RTC, power button, reset button, 10 x RGB LEDs, SD card slot and 3 programmable…

Here is the QWERTY keyboard for the m5stack:

https://www.robotshop.com/en/m5stack-faces-qwerty-keyboard-p...

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#92

Post by donpdonp » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:42 PM UTC

For those of you who are intrigued by this cyberdeck, there is an active community around such DIY small computing platforms. Check out https://cyberdeck.cafe/ and especially their discord server. There are tons of amazing projects there.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#93

Post by 1MachineElf » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:44 PM UTC

I'm in love this device and would pay 10x the cost to have one if it included Wifi and QMK firmware for the keyboard. Bluetooth and NFC would be great too, but not critical. The keyboard reminds me a lot of the Atreus42, which is ideal for me. Too many of these small devices follow a conventional keyboard layout (looking at you, ClockworkPi DevTerm and Popcorn Pocket Computer).

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#94

Post by shakna » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:46 PM UTC

kwhitefoot wrote: post #74

nine_k wrote: post #7

This is nice. This is a simple, straightforward design, and a reasonably convenient form factor. Two biggest limitations are RAM and wireless interfaces, or rather lack thereof. This thing has less RAM than my router (admittedly a $70 box), and has neither WiFi nor BT. It does not seem to have many GPIO pins, too. With the amount of RAM installed, it's mostly a handheld terminal, and maybe a handheld console with emu…

Surely an ESP32 should be able to run Linux. Then you would get Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. After all Linux used to run on 486, BSD ran on 386.

> Surely an ESP32 should be able to run Linux. Then you would get Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Yes, but it wasn't easy, and only recently achieved. [0][1][2][3] Unfortunately, for both those examples, the WiFi module itself had to be disabled so that Linux had enough memory to function.

Though, of course, they should be able to do something like my favourite tiny Linux board, which wired in extra RAM. The 8bit Atmega [4], that only takes 4 hours to boot Ubuntu.

[0] https://twitter.com/xiaohui10556190/status/14163071689916047...

[1] https://whycan.com/p_66202.html

[2] https://www.cnx-software.com/2021/07/18/linux-5-0-esp32-proc...

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/dtlj7n/booting_linux...

[4] https://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/04/02/191203/gnulinux-ru...

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#95

Post by dhosek » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:46 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #62

undecisive wrote: post #25

> I’m changing the title of this page just to screw with mods on the orange website Loving it! What orange website could they be talking about? I wonder what would be achievable, around the $15 mark WITHOUT needing a minimum order of 1000? (Presuming access to a 3d printer and a reasonably cheap PCB fab company)

> I wonder what would be achievable, around the $15 mark WITHOUT needing a minimum order of 1000? A Raspberry Pi Zero?

I was thinking about the fact that 40 years ago there was the Sinclair ZX80, a $100 computer that you could hook to your TV and there's not really a whole lot in that space/price point¹ now other than the hobbyist Raspberry Pi/arduino/other hobbyist machines. I'd have to think that it's possible to make a consumer-grade PC that you hook up to your own monitor for around $100, although I guess the cost of a Windows license is an obstacle to that. Surely someone could build a windows PC (or I guess Linux) that's inside a keyboard enclosure for around $100 that could be commercially successful now.

⸻

1. We can ignore inflation adjustments because computer prices have generally stayed flat or gone down (the rule used to be that the PC you wanted was around $2000–3000 and nowadays if we're talking about a desktop system, assuming one even specs such a thing, it's less than that).

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#96

Post by all2 » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:47 PM UTC

markus_zhang wrote: post #38

I'm wondering if we can use the same principle to design a miniature cell phone: can only text and make phone calls, very small screen, small keys, etc, using cheap components.

I've been thinking about this, too. On Linux this looks like a configuration nightmare of bodging together USB GSM/3G/4G/5G modems and piped commands [0].

No doubt there's a better way.

[0] https://www.techytalk.info/send-receive-sms-using-gsm-modem-...

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#97

Post by hungryforcodes » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:47 PM UTC

undecisive wrote: post #25

> I’m changing the title of this page just to screw with mods on the orange website Loving it! What orange website could they be talking about? I wonder what would be achievable, around the $15 mark WITHOUT needing a minimum order of 1000? (Presuming access to a 3d printer and a reasonably cheap PCB fab company)

http://www.orangepi.org/

?

Pretty much a possible competitor. I have several OrangePi boards...and they run linux and cost me around $15.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#98

Post by whatshisface » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:47 PM UTC

addaon wrote: post #83

jsheard wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advanced HN mod troll: write a dozen slightly different titles and pick a random one on page load

Ars Technica basically does this (with two headlines), since the Conde Nast acquisition. Drives me nuts, and makes a significant portion of the post-article discussion incomprehensible.

There's something so hilarious about the idea of an HN thread full of people who only read the title, while the website is A/B testing ten different titles.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#99

Post by MikusR » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:47 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #35

undecisive wrote: post #25

> I’m changing the title of this page just to screw with mods on the orange website Loving it! What orange website could they be talking about? I wonder what would be achievable, around the $15 mark WITHOUT needing a minimum order of 1000? (Presuming access to a 3d printer and a reasonably cheap PCB fab company)

> Loving it! What orange website could they be talking about? In case that's a serious question: what website has an orange theme, and an aggressively enforced rule against editorialising submission titles?

I would also want to know. Because news.ycombinator.com is quite selective about the enforcement.

Re: A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

#100

Post by __float » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 5:48 PM UTC

It seems the author is now redirecting the blog post to a static image, presumably to screw with HN even more: https://github.com/bbenchoff/bbenchoff.github.io/commit/9e77...