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Flipper One – we need your help

blog.flipper.net

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Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#411

Post by matheusmoreira »

mr_machine wrote: post #150
d3Xt3r wrote: post #2

Cool, but I think they're holding themselves back with that weird form-factor. I would've preferred if they'd included a full QWERTY keyboard, like the the GPD Pocket 4[1] or the GPD Win Mini. With a proper keyboard, I could write code on the go, easily edit files, navigate a terminal and mess with things... and do so much more in general. Also, 8GB RAM is barely enough these days, whereas the GPD comes with upto 64G…

GPD already makes such things, as does ClockworkPi. The Flipper One is exciting in significant part because it offers a different, smaller form factor.

Wish there were better options than those... Other than the uConsole, handheld computers with thumb keyboards seem to be in the category of literally handmade cyberdecks.

https://hackaday.io/project/202522-cyberdeck-handheld

https://youtu.be/u8kYHgKKhjY

https://youtu.be/IB5OJr_MimQ

Trying to make my own too. Ordered some prototype keyboard PCBs. No idea if I'll get anywhere but I'll try.

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#412

Post by jonah-archive »

dylan604 wrote: post #337
hyperbovine wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow this crazy -- "Built-in Pomodoro timer" means they are literally replacing a $5 plastic tomato-shaped mechanical timing device with something that costs $220 and features WiFi and app integration. What could be more antithetical to the original pomodoro ethos, I don't know. It's like an episode of Silicon Valley.

If that's crazy to you, let me introduce you to Juicero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juicero

This teardown and commentary remains a favorite of mine, really worth reading through: https://blog.bolt.io/juicero/

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#413

Post by dylan604 »

vel0city wrote: post #408
jjkaczor wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am so "teh old", that honestly - I can't say whether or not that product was worse than the "CueCat": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat (Naw - the CueCat was better, at least it was a generic barcode scanner)

CueCat was just ahead of its time. These days scanning graphics to load links is quite common. I see QR codes and similar all the time.

Part of the success of QR codes is the ubiquity of the device to scan those codes. CueCat needed a wired device which is not something as easy to use as a wireless mobile device.

So yeah, ahead of its time to be sure

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#414

Post by rincebrain »

swiftcoder wrote: post #345
rincebrain wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say pretty directly in the post that they didn't want to deal with the hassles around dongles and uncommon ports for using this as a Linux PC in their pocket.

is usb-c really an uncommon port these days? I think I have more usb-c to hdmi cables lying around than actual hdmi cables

In contrast, I have never owned a USB-C to HDMI cable, and I don't know of any device except perhaps my phone that might be able to make use of one.

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#415

Post by [deleted] »

hoherd wrote: post #402
swiftcoder wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is usb-c really an uncommon port these days? I think I have more usb-c to hdmi cables lying around than actual hdmi cables

Imagine you check into a hotel, and want to use the in-room TV as your display. There is probably a set top box there with an HDMI port going to the TV. You would be able to unplug that and plug it into your Flipper One because it has a full-sized HDMI port. Go to any store, and look at what cable they use to connect their POS computer to the display. It's probably HDMI. For better or worse, HDMI is extremely ubiquit…

[deleted]

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#416

Post by TheGRS »

tombert wrote: post #348
verelo wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good Tl;dr; is never a bad thing in a world where everyone is being pulled in different directions for attention. I agree with you for the most part, but after reading the post, it's a mess and could do with a clear summary at the top...hell, even an index of relevant sections and sub-headings.

I feel like especially when someone is asking something from me, they sort of have an obligation to make it clear, early on, what they're actually asking for. Tangential but related; when I used to work for BigCo, I would get old acquaintances message me on LinkedIn. They would act like they're really interested in my life and I'd interact, and then after a day or two they would ask me for a referral for a job, I'd d…

That is the way to do it. And IMO it should extend to all business communication. I hate getting "hey" in my DMs with no other context. Like...."hey? whats up?". Just get to the point, the day is too busy for this.

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#417

Post by jmole »

greatgib wrote: post #393
jmole wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had the same frustration with rockchip, but if you search the lkml you'll find that they are indeed trying their best: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/?q=rock-chips.com the biggest issue is that actually contributing to upstream is an *incredibly* difficult and painful process.

Maybe also because they don't release proper specs?

Silicon is a dog eat dog game. You release too much and you get sued for patent infringement by NPEs or competitors copy your designs and run with them. There is basically no upside unless you are running a charity like Raspberry Pi.

Margins are incredibly thin unless you're on the bleeding edge. It's not an easy business. You need to move millions and millions of chips to make a profit, and that means your FAEs are working directly with companies who are actually paying you for chips instead of trying to write perfect documentation for the open source community.

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#418

Post by dylan604 »

jonah-archive wrote: post #412
dylan604 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's crazy to you, let me introduce you to Juicero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juicero

This teardown and commentary remains a favorite of mine, really worth reading through: https://blog.bolt.io/juicero/

"high-voltage custom power supply that converts 120V/240V AC line voltage to 330V DC power for the motor and 3.3V/5V/12V DC for the communications board"

When I read that, my brain flipped thinking surely that has to be a typo. Then, "he motor is seemingly custom to account for the exceptionally high rated power (stalls at 5A at 330V DC, which is hard to believe, possibly even a misprint on the motor casing)"

So if it's a misprint on the motor, they designed a power supply for something totally unnecessary. Otherwise, if it's not a misprint, that's one helluva motor

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#419

Post by Y_Y »

monocasa wrote: post #361
mrandish wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to help us polish RK3576 support Having a few various RPi's (as one does), when they've been out of stock, I've looked into the huge variety of similar SBCs (OrangePi, etc) which can be even faster, with more ports and features for around the same money as an equivalent RPi. Many are powered by various RockChip SoCs, which extend up to desktop replacement-level, but the Linux driver support is usually lacking in so…

> I don't get why RockChip doesn't budget the money in the business plan to fund full driver support for at least some of their more capable chips. I guess maybe too many of these chips are used in non-OS contexts to be worth it? They have drivers in most of these cases; at a bare minimum the silicon was tested by the DV teams, and that generally includes running drivers.[0] The issue is getting drivers upstreamed ra…

> First off, the drivers in the vendor BSP are simply not at a quality level that would be accepted upstream.

You're quite right, morally and practically. I can't help but wonder though, if the like of Rockchip or other big faceless chipmakers released whatever inadequate source they had, that it wouldn't somehow end up in a nice upstream high-quality driver.

Re: Flipper One – we need your help

#420

Post by dnnddidiej »

wateralien wrote: post #122
azalemeth wrote: post #5

This looks flippin' amazing, but also like the definition of project scope creep. I imagine it will be brilliant, unaffordable, surprisingly cheap, terrible and awesome (in both senses of the word) all at the same time. 3GPP really needs a light shining through it. I sincerely hope I work out a way of getting someone else to buy the thing for me. And the push towards all in-tree source is fantastic. Genuinely impress…

Some projects are meant to scope creep. Like this one. If the project manager of the swiss army knife had defended it from scope creep it would have 1 knife.

Scope creep only can happen after you decide what you want though.
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