Live data from Hacker News

A Minimum Viable Computer, or Linux for $15

bbenchoff.github.io

321–330 of 408 posts

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

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So true. I recently helped a friend build a little bit of a backyard carpentry project and I was struck by the fact that I got the same creative satisfaction from building little pieces of software. With one big difference: that 2-day carpentry project cost around $1000 in materials. People wanting to create these kinds of things have to pay a big price. Whereas with code (and lots of free-tier cloud services etc) I…

The other big difference is that you generally can’t make mistakes in woodworking. Made a mistake in your code? No problem, you fix the bug. But not in woodworking. Cut a piece too short? You’re hooped. Drilled a hole in the wrong place? You’re hooped. Misalignment during glue-up? Hooped. Woodworking scratches many of the same itches as programming for me, with one key difference: it’s unforgiving of mistakes, so req…

Just wait until it’s machining! Wood working at least most of the time tolerances are +- 1/8”. Throwing away a thousand dollar part because you were .003” off is lame.

At least if you have a grinder, welding can sometimes be more forgiving.

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

#322
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played MP3 files in realtime on my old Pentium 75 with 16MB of RAM with plenty of CPU and memory to spare. This thing is way more powerful than you need for simple music playback. Getting audio out however may be a challenge, maybe USB speakers?

MP3 already made such a PC sweat though. I doubt it could play 256 kbit AAC, and forget about HE-AAC or FLAC.

FLAC would be easier, maybe. But at minimum it should be played on a MMX Pentium.

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

#323
Would buyers prefer this split keyboard layout, or a blackberry-style layout?

Personally, my ideal handheld would be something like my old Nokia E61, but with open hardware, mainline Linux, at least .11n WiFi, and isolated 4G/5G cellular. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_E61

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

#324
post #222

> It costs $10,000 USD to build one of these > The ten thousandth one costs $15 As a software engineer, I'm used to being able to build essentially whatever I want, with the only cost being my time. I'm often unpleasantly reminded that software is an outlier in that regard and as soon as physical items are concerned, especially hardware, it turns out that manufacturing even a simple thing is prohibitively expensive i…

I've seen people build one-of-a-kind custom electronics for themselves. There are PCB manufacturers that specialize on small orders with no setup costs (I think you can get as little as 3 copies?) and you can 3D print or laser cut the case if you need one.

Though the thing that does stick out to me as a software engineer is that you need parts and thus can't iterate on your ideas nearly as quickly. You can't just pull in a library or something, you have to order a part and wait for it to physically get to you. And the cost of any mistake is in actual real money because wiring something incorrectly can destroy things.

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

#325
post #222

> It costs $10,000 USD to build one of these > The ten thousandth one costs $15 As a software engineer, I'm used to being able to build essentially whatever I want, with the only cost being my time. I'm often unpleasantly reminded that software is an outlier in that regard and as soon as physical items are concerned, especially hardware, it turns out that manufacturing even a simple thing is prohibitively expensive i…

No post body was provided.

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

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive never purchased anything but Logitech, to ensure all of my mice work, so they are pretty standardized to me.. but again I may be a minority in this opinion...

Well yes, they may be "standardized" within one brand, but that isn't standardized. Why include a Logitech mouse/keyboard radio in a mobo when the one making the mobo isn't Logitech?

Uhm, you know how many sub-chipsets are from different OEMs on a mobo?

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

#327
post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coding... what? Coding on other retro technologies? I guess if you enjoy working on system software sure, but if I can't even allocate enough memory to hold a large-ish JSON payload in memory, then I'm not going to be able to do much with the system. Only protocols like SMTP or NNTP are built around the ability to parse with minimal overhead (and even they can have large line lengths.)

Eh, wait a moment. I did several fun stuff with just CLI and C/tcl under the zipitz z2. Even with TLS. You understimate what we did in the 90's too with just 32 or 64MB of RAM. Jabber uses XML and I did it fine under a system daemon like Bitlbee AND an IRC client on top of that. 48MB overall on the Zipit z2, 32MB + compressed ZRAM. The total usage was about ~16MB with a tiny MUSL build, tmux, ash, bitlbee and sic. SM…

Sure I'm not saying it's not possible. I did stuff in the 90s too. But usually you had to put a lot of effort into arena allocators and reusing pointers. Also lots of software then was pretty jank and would just segfault and errnos we're often not handled.

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

#329
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting take, I guess trees can be pretty cheap if you grow them yourself.

I'm fairly decent with clay, always wondered if I could make something like a raspberry pi case with sculpey. But not curious enough to ruin my toaster...

> I'm fairly decent with clay, always wondered if I could make something like a raspberry pi case with sculpey.

The short answer is yes you can, but it's a PITA. Among other problems you have to deal with shrinkage and drooping. I'd only use that approach for a quick and dirty prototype that just needed to hold parts together and survive rough handling.

A better option is to build a case from parts you cut out of a sheet of plastic (anywhere from 1mm on up) that you then glue together. Once built, rounding the edges will make it a lot nicer to hold, but it will still basically be a box, and the glues you use are generally pretty toxic so don't breath in the fumes OR get it on your hands.

More involved would be making the case by vacuum forming a heated sheet. The forms (one each for the top and bottom instead of the two you need for injection molding) are typically hand sculpted or machined from wood, filler and primer rather than metal, and vacuum forming is something a hobbyist can accomplish at home with a DIY setup. You can get a case nearly indistinguishable from an injection molded part, at least from the outside. The more complex the shape the more labor intensive the fit and finish will be (for example, getting the edges of the case halves to match up).

However you make the case, there would be a lot of keyboard holes you'll need to carve out with something like a dremel rotary tool. It might be easier to make the case with a single large hole that you glue a thinner insert into that will be easier to cut holes in with a hobby or utility knife, but I've sliced my hands up a lot when doing this sort of work. A rotary tool seems scarier if you're not already familiar, but with as little as 30m of practice you'll probably have much better control than you would over a knife and lower risk of injury (as long as you use eye protection, etc. You really don't want the plastic shavings flying around getting into your eyes).

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

#330
post #322
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MP3 already made such a PC sweat though. I doubt it could play 256 kbit AAC, and forget about HE-AAC or FLAC.

FLAC would be easier, maybe. But at minimum it should be played on a MMX Pentium.

I doubt it has the memory capacity or bandwidth for a lossless format like FLAC.
Post reply on HN