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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

#261

Post by riedel »

yosamino wrote: post #116
ElCheapo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

Playing text adventures was a nice past time. I had Psion those days and a Nokia 6800. I really wonder what it would be like to have a nice android phone with a keyboard those days... But I guess this is mostly nostalgia.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#262

Post by rjsw »

freedomben wrote: post #237
rjsw wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of the FM transmitter was to be able to use the N900 with a car head unit to play music from the phone.

Oh wow, that's a badass feature. I'm legit impressed (this is not sarcasm)

There are FM dongles that plug into a headphone socket, but building it into the phone from the start says to me that Nokia really knew how people would want to use it.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#263

Post by danbee »

tristor wrote: post #219
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…

> None that I know of is designed to operate from a single Thunderbolt cable like a docked laptop can. The Mac Mini is basically exactly this, with one exception, which is power. I really wish this existed as well. An M2 Mac Mini that supported being powered over TB with PD, would be perfect for me, because I have multiple work locations that each have monitors that provide 90W of PD power over TB, and I could simply…

The Udoo Bolt will happily run entirely off a single USB-C cable. 4K video output, power, and USB.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#264

Post by danans »

sangnoir wrote: post #260
danans wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * 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…

> It was less of a physical burden than lugging around a 13-incher,

I guess this is a very personal thing, but I've always found the weight difference between a 7" tablet and a slim 13" laptop to be pretty minimal, and I walk-commute on average 3 miles a day carrying a laptop.

> and was inconspicuous when outdoors or places I may have felt unsafe carrying a laptop

It's probably a lifestyle choice, but if I were to feel unsafe using a laptop in a space, I probably wouldn't be able to focus enough to work, and instead of using a less conspicuous device, I would relocate somewhere that I felt safe. Also if I were on-call I would doubly want to be in a place where I felt I could focus completely on my work. I don't doubt that the market niche for inconspicuous general purpose computing devices exists, but I don't think it's huge.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#265

Post by mek6800d2 »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #136
ElCheapo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're being extremely vague about the things you are using your GDP for. Nothing you've written strikes me as something that couldn't be achieved with a proper I/O module attached to a smartphone.

I think the point is this: > Smartphones have their on OSes, UX, applications, etc. The point of projects like GPD Win or the one linked above is to run the same programs, OS, etc as you'd run on a regular laptop or a desktop PC. Sure, an Android device could probably be hacked to do that. But most Android devices are usually locked-down, whereas the GDP & friends make it a point to be open. I guess we should probabl…

YADD = YACC++ ? ("yet another different device") :-)

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#266

Post by cylinder714 »

RL_Quine wrote: post #6
c54 wrote: post #3

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?

Until the hardware totally gave out, I used a Sony Vaio P which is of similar size, but had a keyboard usable by a human being. I loved the thing as just a terminal on the go, if I had ever repaired the 3G modem it would have been literally perfect. Sadly the hardware is miserably old now and nobody has many anything like a replacement with a keyboard that doesn’t have its own stress injuries named after it.

I saw those at the Sony store at the Metreon in San Francisco. I'm glad it worked well, I couldn't justify the purchase but loved the concept.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#267

Post by random314 »

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.

Raspberry pi 400 is close except for the Ryzen.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#268

Post by sjs382 »

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…

MeLE Quieter3C https://a.co/d/9tpIgwQ

At work, we deploy a previous version of this (without the display/power/etc through usb-c) as an appliance and its a great little machine.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#269

Post by dspillett »

ElCheapo wrote: post #141
dspillett wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But then you move the goalpost Let us be fair here: you moved the goalposts first by going from “it is an absolute fantasy” to, once people pointed out that they already exist, “but I can't see a use for one”.

>Let us be fair here Why even say this if you immediately proceed by not being fair? Pocketable computers are not a "fantasy" in the sense that there aren't any devices capable of running a desktop OS while being pocketable. This was never the argument, as also demonstrated by my other replies in the thread. My argument is that using a pocketable device as a desktop or laptop is a fantasy. It's something that sounds…

> >Let us be fair here Why even say this if you immediately proceed by not being fair?

Pointing it hypocrisy is fair in my book. If you significant change of wording isn't a shift of the goal posts then neither is the others posters clarification.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#270

Post by dredmorbius »

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…

Again, not a single-cable system, but CappuccinoPC make a range of Mini-ITX, fanless, and other small-form-factor PCs and devices.

They're full-featured computers, they're portable. They typically have multiple connectors, however, and they don't have integrated battery storage, though that's something you might be able to add modularly at this point.

Typical dimensions are ~ 8" x 10" x 3", though there are a few smaller 4"x2"x6" models, e.g, https://www.cappuccinopc.com/Fanless_Computer/4_LAN_Ports_SP...>. Can be stuffed into a bag, but aren't svelte like a laptop.

https://www.cappuccinopc.com/>

I'd owned one of their earlier models quite some time ago, haven't had any recent experience (past decade or so).

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