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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

#251

Post by UI_at_80x24 »

RickHull wrote: post #243
hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

My million dollar idea is that I take my keyboard with me. My preferred layout, keycaps, switches, etc. Inside is something like a Ryzen APU, upgradeable / swappable, with an internal battery. It has display outputs and can easily be paired to a tablet or phone for display, perhaps wirelessly, possibly harnessing the display device's processing power as well.

I just had a flashback to a C64. =) Just carrying around a keyboard.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#252

Post by cylinder714 »

hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

Zotac just introduced their new ZBOX PI336 pico pocket-sized computer:

https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/zbox-pi336-pico-wi...

It's not a single-cable device, but it has a lot of ports. It runs a slow processor, has only 4G of RAM and 128G of storage...and reviews of previous generations have not been kind.

My personal tiny PC lust object is the Ockel Sirius A Pro:

https://www.ockelcomputers.com/sirius-a/

It's six years old now?, and runs an Atom processor...and they're asking USD$800 for one, but it's got 8 gigs of RAM, 128 gigs of storage, and has a battery and 1080p touch display. Hopelessly underpowered and overpriced, I still desperately want one.

EDIT: Finally, there's the MeLE Quieter3Q, available on Amazon. See the reviews on YouTube.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#253

Post by cryptolake »

RickHull wrote: post #243
hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

My million dollar idea is that I take my keyboard with me. My preferred layout, keycaps, switches, etc. Inside is something like a Ryzen APU, upgradeable / swappable, with an internal battery. It has display outputs and can easily be paired to a tablet or phone for display, perhaps wirelessly, possibly harnessing the display device's processing power as well.

https://youtu.be/ewVp96JN0nQ someone did this with the framework motherboard check it out

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#254

Post by goosedragons »

hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

There are some mini PCs that can operate off a single USB C cable these days. For example this Minisforum UM580 can:

https://store.minisforum.com/products/um560?variant=42804330...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kNpO4ib_P0

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#255

Post by dylan604 »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #251
RickHull wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My million dollar idea is that I take my keyboard with me. My preferred layout, keycaps, switches, etc. Inside is something like a Ryzen APU, upgradeable / swappable, with an internal battery. It has display outputs and can easily be paired to a tablet or phone for display, perhaps wirelessly, possibly harnessing the display device's processing power as well.

I just had a flashback to a C64. =) Just carrying around a keyboard.

imagine a C64 designed by Ive with a butterfly keyboard!

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#256

Post by cylinder714 »

workethics wrote: post #222
hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

This may be a weird recommendation but the steam deck may be something to consider if your docks have a usb c connector. It's nearly as powerful as my desktop, and I can't find any laptops/portaPCs with similar specs at that pricepoint.

I kinda think that the Steam Deck and the other new handheld gaming PCs are the new incarnation of the netbook. Powerful enough to be useful, with a usable screen, you just need a mouse and keyboard to do basic tasks. Plug in a monitor, you're all set.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#257

Post by kragen »

criddell wrote: post #241
kragen wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you put a bigger battery into it?

The battery is big enough. Power consumption is what needs to be addressed.

I have some 400×240 memory-in-pixel LCDs here that are claimed to do 20 fps at 0.1 mW and some Ambiq Apollo3 subthreshold microcontrollers that are claimed to do 7 ARM MIPS (≈9 Dhrystone MIPS) at 0.2 mW, with the ability to run up to 96 MHz at proportionally higher power consumption. Two such displays would have more pixels than the original Macintosh, and one such microcontroller would have three times its RAM and ten times its CPU power, using 0.4 mW in total. Such a mobile workstation would take 8½ years to chew through 8000 mAh at 3.7 volts, though actually the battery's self-discharge would run it down sooner.

I'm working on a machine built around that hardware, called the Zorzpad, in a form factor similar to the Pocket Reform. My plan for the Zorzpad, though, is to have no battery at all, just solar panels. I think I can get a milliwatt from amorphous solar panels even under indoor lighting, and not having a battery should make the machine last a lot longer: no charging port to break, no battery wear, and no risk of battery fires or leakage.

But the laptop I'm typing this on is about 40'000 Dhrystone MIPS, so it's about 4000 times faster than the 0.4-mW configuration and 350 times faster than the maximum-speed configuration. I suspect the Pocket Reform is closer to my laptop in speed. The laptop has 24-bit color and 2 megapixels; the Zorzpad will have 0.1 megapixels. I think the Pocket Reform has 16-bit color and 1 megapixel.

You will never run Firefox on the Zorzpad, and probably almost no software I run on my laptop will run on the Zorzpad. Most of it will run on the Pocket Reform, but some of it might be slow.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#258

Post by dylan604 »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #239
hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

Sounds like you're looking for a modern iPad, which is basically just a laptop without the laptop parts.

Except it still has the burden of having a screen

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#259

Post by m463 »

hwbehrens wrote: post #211

Are there any devices that fit the bill of an "anti-laptop"? I despise working on tiny ( It seems silly that most of the volume and weight of the device I carry around daily are totally unused, and that most of the tradeoffs it makes are irrelevant to me, but most small desktop machines are either too large or too slow (to meet a price point, presumably?). None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thun…

maybe not your exact use case, but the librem 5 can do all this through usb-c.

https://puri.sm/faq/can-i-connect-the-librem-5-phone-to-a-mo...

I'll bet there are non-arm systems that can do the same thing.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#260

Post by sangnoir »

danans wrote: post #248
yosamino wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the things you would use a phone for in the early 2010s: * Phone calls * Video calls over XMPP * Text/XMPP messaging * Web browsing * Document editing * Writing and receiving email * Playing music ( it had a built in FM transmitter - how cool was that!) * Setting Alarms * weather widgets * Writing PHP programms * Writing python programms * ssh-ing into servers * gps navigation * take and share pictures * multi-co…

> * Writing PHP programms > * Writing python programms Honest question: what is a real world use case for writing PHP or Python programs on a tiny laptop with a 7" display that wouldn't be better served by a 13" laptop. I can't imagine writing code while standing on a train, for example. But more important, I'm having trouble imagining what kind of work situation would require that.

> Honest question: what is a real world use case for writing PHP or Python programs on a tiny laptop with a 7" display that wouldn't be better served by a 13" laptop

A computer you can take everywhere when you need to squeeze in extra computer-time into any unplanned free moment opportunistically (e.g. Leetcode practice, dissertation crunch), or being on call and only need ssh & chat access 24/7.

I carried a high-DPI 7" tablet with a keyboard case to good effect. It was less of a physical burden than lugging around a 13-incher, and was inconspicuous when outdoors or places I may have felt unsafe carrying a laptop

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