101–110 of 299 posts
MNT makes some pretty cool devices. I follow them pretty closely. This pocket reform is in the R&D stage, the photo in the article is a preliminary render. They're expensive though. The current reform laptop is fantastic but its a thousand dollars thereabouts. The pocket reform will probably be close to that in price, at the very least not comparable in price for the specs, but with open hardware. If that's worth it…
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Well.. I mean, I've been using $100 PCs-on-a-stick for about a decade now, plugging them into hotel room TVs or my projector at home or wherever I go... just need a cheap wireless keyboard/trackpad. I use that for about half my home entertainment viewing as well. Definitely no need to strap hardware to my head to game/code/surf on a big screen with a tiny device.
Yes, and people brought their Machintoshes 512k to work with a bag. I sincerely don't understand how your PC-on-a-stick experience has any relation to what I was talking about. You have to connect it to a screen and bring your own peripherals. I don't believe that's what people think when they hear "pocketable PC".
You do have to bring your own peripherals, but being able to move your computer around previously set-up work points is already an improvement from not being able to carry it at all, or carrying around a laptop.
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…
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>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
I love seeing these projects but can't imagine what in the world I'd do with one of these devices. Small computers that don't benefit from the mobile UX tradeoffs and don't quite have keyboards or screens or a hinge to support putting it down and typing on it. They're cute though. If you had one, what would you be doing with it?
I remember looking forward to getting a Pandora[0], eventually I gave up on what are gimmick devices, most of them only sell a couple of hundreds, are yet another form factor to run MAME, and are gone afterwards just like several 8 and 16 bit devices that hardly anyone remembers. [0] - https://openpandora.org/
I think it's a cool device, but it's definitely not worth that much.
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> 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.
GP adapted the the form factor to his needs.
The remote form factor was created for a long gone use case of 'zapping' through channels coming from an analog source.
Home theater nowadays has no similarity with the interface needs of cable/satellite TV, so why would you be hung up on using the same remote control interface?
Remote controls have been tortured into fitting smart TVs with ever more ridiculous tiny buttons and confusing silk labels the remote control concept needs to be retired anyway.
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Yes, and people brought their Machintoshes 512k to work with a bag. I sincerely don't understand how your PC-on-a-stick experience has any relation to what I was talking about. You have to connect it to a screen and bring your own peripherals. I don't believe that's what people think when they hear "pocketable PC".
For one, a PC on a stick is much lighter than a Macintosh 512k. And it has no CRT or hard drive that can be smashed during transport. You can slip it into a work backpack or briefcase - try doing that with the Macintosh. You do have to bring your own peripherals, but being able to move your computer around previously set-up work points is already an improvement from not being able to carry it at all, or carrying arou…
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>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.
Fair but the point is you are trying to solve the problem with the wrong tool. GP adapted the the form factor to his needs. The remote form factor was created for a long gone use case of 'zapping' through channels coming from an analog source. Home theater nowadays has no similarity with the interface needs of cable/satellite TV, so why would you be hung up on using the same remote control interface? Remote controls…
My point is that drastic I/O adaptation almost always require UI/UX adaptations, which doesn't happen with these enthusiast projects.
>Home theater nowadays has no similarity with the interface needs of cable/satellite TV, so why would you be hung up on using the same remote control interface?
Because that's what people use. If we went by some "blank slate" argument then we could make a ton of things possible, but that's not what this problem is about. Additionally, even if you had a keyboard+touchpad combo, would you rather use your TV from your couch with GNOME or XFCE or would you prefer Kodi's interface?