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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

#281

Post by int_19h »

sneak wrote: post #149
vladvasiliu wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could do this on a work provided phone, so the data could be managed the same way they do on a PC. Also, BYOD is still a thing, so there's that. Regarding heat dissipation, you have a point. But I think it depends on the use case, which is the reason why we also have laptops going from paper-thin under-powered models all the way to models requiring a forklift to move around. I think many "office jobs" could be do…

Secure BYOD is mostly unsolved wrt most common/popular Android phones. (Windows is also “a thing” but that didn’t stop Maersk or whoever from getting ransomwared, did it?) Most serious orgs prohibit BYOD unless you are on Pixel or iPhone where MDM can actually work securely. There is no meaningful way to secure corporate data on an employee-owned Galaxy, for example. It is the rare corp that can do BYOD securely. The…

I don't know about Samsung, but even some random Chinese smartphones pass the MDM checks these days. I had Unihertz Atom XL as my BYOD work device for quite a while with no issues.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#282

Post by int_19h »

kragen wrote: post #257
criddell wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

This sounds interesting. Is it a one-off custom build, or are you planning to sell them?

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#283

Post by int_19h »

Apocryphon wrote: post #75

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

I own a Cosmo. The keyboard is great. The software is atrocious, and Linux support can be best described as "it exists", last I tried it. From what I heard, Linux on Gemini is even worse, and there are no expectations for things to improve there.

On top of it, heavy users have discovered that the build quality isn't great, either - lots of complaints about broken screen cables etc.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#285

Post by kragen »

int_19h wrote: post #282
kragen wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

This sounds interesting. Is it a one-off custom build, or are you planning to sell them?

A one-off custom build, but I'm planning to do the physical part with almost full automation, and of course I'll make all my files available under open-source licenses, so it'll be as easy as I can make it for other people to print their own. You might need Google Translate if you don't speak Spanish, though.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#286

Post by throwaway290 »

throw10920 wrote: post #215
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…

While all of these things are possible on a tiny PC, many of them are very sub-optimal - like how many languages are Turing-complete but not of equivalent use (e.g. assembly is not as useful as Rust in the vast majority of programming domains). Things like "writing PHP/Python programs" and "document editing", while things that you can do on a pocket-sized laptop, are much better to do on a real laptop or desktop. A t…

I used to think the only proper way of reading books is paper (or at least large format eink) but I see most people these days reading from tiny phone screens. Thanks to increased mobility they easily do it where it's too much hassle for me.

For many people with good eyesight it is just fine to use a small screen for programming.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#287

Post by possiblydrunk »

guestbest wrote: post #276
possiblydrunk wrote: post #191

Early 2000's (2002?) there was a pocket PDA device that ran linux and had a workable keyboard - the Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D (developer edition). 32 Mb RAM! Had a JVM installed. Got mine at Java One with a Linksys 802.11b Network Card. Fun (at the time) to boot up linux and SSH into my servers. Processor: StrongARM (206 MHz 32-bit SA-1110) Operating System: Linux 2.4 (Embedix) Memory: 32 MB SDRAM, 16 MB Flash ROM, Displ…

I had one as well. I even installed gcc on the device. No camera but who cares, right? It didn’t need video conferencing as it could do irc with any number of clients. It even had centerim . It became openzaurus then openembedded and is still alive. Work around to install Wikipedia on an SD card and gutenbrowser make it ver useful except for the 2-3 hour battery life. I think it is because we require heave duty web b…

Wow, didn't know it was still alive (in one form or another). I remember getting gcc running and installing busy box. It became something of a challenge to see what you could install and run on this tiny machine.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#288

Post by throw10920 »

throwaway290 wrote: post #286
throw10920 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While all of these things are possible on a tiny PC, many of them are very sub-optimal - like how many languages are Turing-complete but not of equivalent use (e.g. assembly is not as useful as Rust in the vast majority of programming domains). Things like "writing PHP/Python programs" and "document editing", while things that you can do on a pocket-sized laptop, are much better to do on a real laptop or desktop. A t…

I used to think the only proper way of reading books is paper (or at least large format eink) but I see most people these days reading from tiny phone screens. Thanks to increased mobility they easily do it where it's too much hassle for me. For many people with good eyesight it is just fine to use a small screen for programming.

Whether or not a large number of people do something isn't really relevant to whether its efficient or healthy. Many people in the US have addictions to social media (unhealthy) and use few keyboard shortcuts (inefficient) and draft emails on phone keyboards (inefficient).

It's also not fine to use a small screen for programming even if you have good eyesight, as it will worsen your eyesight even if you hold it as far away from your body as you can with your arms straight - the constant focusing on an object near your face will cause your eye muscles to weaken and give you myopia. You'll also damage your neck unless you hold your phone at eye (or at least chest) level - something that I've seen literally nobody do.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#289

Post by throwaway290 »

throw10920 wrote: post #288
throwaway290 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think the only proper way of reading books is paper (or at least large format eink) but I see most people these days reading from tiny phone screens. Thanks to increased mobility they easily do it where it's too much hassle for me. For many people with good eyesight it is just fine to use a small screen for programming.

Whether or not a large number of people do something isn't really relevant to whether its efficient or healthy. Many people in the US have addictions to social media (unhealthy) and use few keyboard shortcuts (inefficient) and draft emails on phone keyboards (inefficient). It's also not fine to use a small screen for programming even if you have good eyesight, as it will worsen your eyesight even if you hold it as fa…

No, it's about what is practical and productive and habitual for a specific person. I hate large screen setups and I love drafting emails on the go and your opinion that it is somehow less healthy than doing that while stationary indoors (probably sitting, too) is just that, your opinion.

By that measure, looking at any screen or reading strains your eyes but I don't think you'll be switching exclusively to voice control programming and audiobooks any time soon because oh right this is not habitual or productive for you. (And if you do, now it strains your ears... I guess life itself is unhealthy, after all it's known to cause death.)

And no, it does not mean it causes nearsightedness. This is grandma's tale. Plenty of people have 100% vision while spending inordinate amounts of time in front of screens. Research points out this is more about spending too much time indoors, no matter screen size get enough sunlight on your retina especially as child.

I can only imagine how much nicer would it be to do the things I often do on the go (messaging, issue management), possibly more (programming), with proper physical keyboard. Swipe typing is just not helping much.

Re: Open Source PC That Fits in Your Pocket

#290

Post by vidarh »

kragen wrote: post #205
vidarh wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you can't, it has 8000mAh total battery capacity there are plenty of 30,000mAh+ battery packs on Amazon. If you can really get 5 hours out of 8000mAh, relying on a battery pack for the instances where you expect there's a chance of spending 5 hours using it somewhere without a charger seems reasonable...

Most of those "30,000 mAh" battery packs on Amazon are actually 8000 mAh, as you can compute by dividing their volume by a trustworthy source of information about lithium-ion battery energy density like https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sanyo%20NCR20700B... . That aside, in a lot of the situations where I'd like to use a portable computer, it would be very inconvenient, and sometimes dangerous, to have it ca…

The largest I have is currently is ~20,000 or so, and the weight is in well in line (~450g) and capacity seems to match well with what it's meant to be. One of the 30,000 mAh ones that shows up for me on Amazon even has a picture of it on scales with a big "Note: Bulky and a bit heavy" and showing a weight of 659g for the pack compared to 61.2g for the 4000mAh cells shown on the site you link. I don't doubt there are fakes out there, but so far I've not run into any.

But that's besides the point, really which is that you if it works for you - and it sounds like it doesn't for you (but it does for me) - then battery backs solves the capacity issue. Obviously if you can't or won't use battery packs then it won't.

For me battery packs is very much preferable to having the device itself be bigger and heavier, because it means I can adjust the bulk I carry with me depending on where I'm going.

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