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Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

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Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#91

Post by dijit »

sneak wrote: post #80
protoman3000 wrote: post #77

When will I finally live a life where my work iPhone is plugged into a USB4 dock with mouse, display and keyboard and it makes my whole work desktop? M2 is already here, why can't we do this?

Heat dissipation mostly, phones aren’t designed to shed wall powered thermals. You can do this today with an iPad Pro with keyboard cover. Also, pretty much nobody wants this. Most people who use work computers have them provided by the workplace. The workplace does not want the employee phones running the call center apps with customer data, etc. I for one do not want any work data physically present on any personal…

I hear you, but ubiquitous "phone booths" where you can have a quiet call or type up an email with a physical keyboard and large screen would be amazing.

Don't let the decline of the telephone system fool you, when phones booths were widely used they were not disgusting toilets that you found in the late 90s-early-00s.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#92

Post by ElCheapo »

yosamino wrote: post #86
ElCheapo wrote: post #46

Can we stop with this absolute fantasy about PCs that "fit in your pocket"? The medium is the message, the form is the functionality. Smartphones have been "pocketable PCs" for more than a decade already, but are dumbed down because their inputs and outputs are limited. You can't type effectively, your screen is small, your battery is limited. Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remo…

No. It's not a fantasy. The Nokia N900 was amazing . It functioned as a phone with a touchscreen to deliver the experience that had now become the dominant one. But also, by sliding up the screen, it had a fully featured keyboard, and essentially transmogrified into a "pc that fits into your pocket". So you could with a one handed push go from the touchscreen-only experience back to edit documents by using a combinat…

It was amazing at doing.... what? You've just listed a bunch of hardware functionalities without actually saying what you managed to use it for.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#93

Post by capableweb »

protoman3000 wrote: post #77

When will I finally live a life where my work iPhone is plugged into a USB4 dock with mouse, display and keyboard and it makes my whole work desktop? M2 is already here, why can't we do this?

Since none of the other comments currently suggest it, the PinePhone can currently do this!

I got the PinePhone to evaluate if it could be used as a daily phone. It cannot, it is way too early for that. But as a portable laptop? Works excellent! Not for programming big programs, but it's surprisingly effective as a terminal-on-the-go and even vim is not that difficult to use with it.

Then when I come home, I can plug it into my display+mouse+keyboard and use a normal laptop to finish off whatever I wanted, push it to my git repository and then continue from my proper desktop machine.

Another not as portable setup is the Steam Deck. Ships with a proper linux distribution and works with the same docking stuff you have for the PinePhone, so basically connect a hub that has HDMI+USB and you're up and running with a proper Linux distribution, and with better heat dissipation than the PinePhone. Not as portable obviously, but more powerful than the phone.

Both setups are pretty open, as both of them can run basically the same operating system you use on a desktop computer (non-macos obviously, and no Windows on the PinePhone)

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#94

Post by mdp2021 »

ElCheapo wrote: post #46

Can we stop with this absolute fantasy about PCs that "fit in your pocket"? The medium is the message, the form is the functionality. Smartphones have been "pocketable PCs" for more than a decade already, but are dumbed down because their inputs and outputs are limited. You can't type effectively, your screen is small, your battery is limited. Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remo…

> having AR glasses project a full desktop in front of us and let us control it with an imaginary keyboard and touchpad by somehow analyzing our hand movements [...] only if ... fast and hold a decent battery

I have been there. Speed and battery do not seem to be much of a problem - even with the not-recentmost technology I use, there have been laptops which "do" and last less. While having a quite decent resolution, the displays do not replace the real world experience for offering virtual keyboards - better input systems must be adopted.

Mobile systems are not «"dumbed down"»: they have more frequently found leaner options depending on the main purpose of the device, but you do e.g. control Android with physical keyboards, complete with shortcuts and function keys.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#95

Post by mastazi »

ElCheapo wrote: post #46

Can we stop with this absolute fantasy about PCs that "fit in your pocket"? The medium is the message, the form is the functionality. Smartphones have been "pocketable PCs" for more than a decade already, but are dumbed down because their inputs and outputs are limited. You can't type effectively, your screen is small, your battery is limited. Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remo…

> Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remote? How about XFCE? Or GNOME? No

Yes. After struggling with every single type of Smart TV platform (Google TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV). I settled for a Linux HTPC that I control with a Logitech K400. I finally found what I needed and I'm never going back to looking for crappy apps on some semi-empty store. Walled gardens are really sad.

You just need a remote with QWERTY and trackpad, and a few adjustments to the OS (e.g. 125% UI scaling works pretty well for me).

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#96

Post by IgorPartola »

phh wrote: post #88
JBiserkov wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has been possible, in different forms for 7 years now... 2015 Microsoft Continuum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Display_Dock 2017 Samsung DeX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_DeX

2011 Motorola Atrix https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/03/motorola-atrix-the-u...

To be fair, I owned the Atrix (or I should say four of them) and it’s build quality was absolute garbage. The fingerprint sensor on the back, when touched, would cause the touchscreen on the front of the phone to glitch out. I had exchanged several of them and all had this issue. Oh and after a very short bit Motorola said they won’t support any more upgrades to it with new Android versions and you couldn’t install anything open source on it either as the bootloader was locked. This phone is why I’ve been using iPhones since.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#97

Post by meltedcapacitor »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #48

I hate those square-grid-style keyboards. Not sure what they're called but I've had one before in a foldable keyboard. It always felt wrong. I know the current layout was built for mechanical reasons so that typewriter rods wouldn't overlap. But 40 years of muscle memory is not something I want to give up :)

Normal staggered layout also matches that the operator's hands are at an angle to the keyboard in a normal position. It's an ergonomic version of the ortholinear layout lol.

(Maybe that's less relevant on a tiny device?)

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#98

Post by ElCheapo »

mastazi wrote: post #95
ElCheapo wrote: post #46

Can we stop with this absolute fantasy about PCs that "fit in your pocket"? The medium is the message, the form is the functionality. Smartphones have been "pocketable PCs" for more than a decade already, but are dumbed down because their inputs and outputs are limited. You can't type effectively, your screen is small, your battery is limited. Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remo…

> Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remote? How about XFCE? Or GNOME? No Yes. After struggling with every single type of Smart TV platform (Google TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV). I settled for a Linux HTPC that I control with a Logitech K400. I finally found what I needed and I'm never going back to looking for crappy apps on some semi-empty store. Walled gardens are really sad. You…

>You just need a remote with QWERTY and trackpad

Sure, if you change your requirements and sidestep mine then everything becomes easy. Now try doing the same with an actual TV remote, which my question actually asked about.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#99

Post by thanatos519 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #75

Just get a Gemini PDA or another retro-smartphone device from Planet Computers.

The Gemini is amazing except for the bit where I am stuck at Debian Stretch using libhybris for the hardware because of all the Android proprietary binary blobs.

It's super awesome, and OpenGL ES works great, but it's not following me into the future.

My Sony VGN-P720D was similar: amazing hardware with great Linux support out of the box, and ... the same Linux support 5 years later, because the blobs I got the month after I bought it were the last blobs they ever released.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#100

Post by mastazi »

ElCheapo wrote: post #98
mastazi wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you want a command line interface on your Smart TV using only a remote? How about XFCE? Or GNOME? No Yes. After struggling with every single type of Smart TV platform (Google TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV). I settled for a Linux HTPC that I control with a Logitech K400. I finally found what I needed and I'm never going back to looking for crappy apps on some semi-empty store. Walled gardens are really sad. You…

>You just need a remote with QWERTY and trackpad Sure, if you change your requirements and sidestep mine then everything becomes easy. Now try doing the same with an actual TV remote, which my question actually asked about.

Is there some law that mandates using a remote? I don't really understand your point
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