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How to create a handheld Linux terminal

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Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#41

Post by fit2rule »

Karunamon wrote: post #37
fit2rule wrote: post #8

If you don't want to build your own, you can buy one: http://openpandora.org/ Its not just a terminal, though .. ;)

Everything related to Pandora has seemed sketchy as hell from day one. For instance, right now, both of the resellers on that site that service the USA don't appear to actually sell the damned thing. I also recall stores of pre-orders not being served for upwards of a year with little to no contact by the seller.

Yeah those days are over .. the survivor of the OpenPandora project - EvilDragon/Michale Mrozek - is the owner of the DragonBox Shop, and he has been the only trustworthy guy in the project so far, which was severely hamstrung by the financial mis-management of the originator of the project, Craig Rothwell. That is all water under the bridge now - EvilDragon has been selling the OpenPandora through his shop, and he is the principle organizer of the sequel to the Pandora, called the Pyra.

(You can follow EvilDragon and see his involvement in the community here: http://boards.openpandora.org/user/1-evildragon/)

I'm the happy owner of two of the original first batch Open Pandora machines, and was lucky to get them (F5 for the win) .. I've signed up for the Pyra too, as I really believe that EvilDragon, and his minions, are a fantastic group of like-minded adventurers, and I have absolutely zero hesitancy in recommending him to anyone interested in this project. He has been a stable part of this whole party ..

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#44

Post by Karunamon »

fit2rule wrote: post #41
Karunamon wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything related to Pandora has seemed sketchy as hell from day one. For instance, right now, both of the resellers on that site that service the USA don't appear to actually sell the damned thing. I also recall stores of pre-orders not being served for upwards of a year with little to no contact by the seller.

Yeah those days are over .. the survivor of the OpenPandora project - EvilDragon/Michale Mrozek - is the owner of the DragonBox Shop, and he has been the only trustworthy guy in the project so far, which was severely hamstrung by the financial mis-management of the originator of the project, Craig Rothwell. That is all water under the bridge now - EvilDragon has been selling the OpenPandora through his shop, and he i…

This is great to hear - the Pandora is a cool enough device and really needs some more love, but the experience for a random person wanting to buy one is still fantastically bad. Opaque storefronts which lead to opaque "unavailable" messages (despite the previous page declaring "in stock now!"), a news page that looks like the default from some ecommerce package.

Let me give you my money! Please! :(

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#45

Post by zokier »

The end result looks nice, I'd say even surprisingly so all things considered. This sort of thing is something I have wanted to do for some time, but have been pushing back due lack of money/time/tools/skills. Albeit in my grandiose plans I was thinking of more "engineered" approach, using some nice ARM module[1] instead of stripped RPi, bare LCD[2], custom keyboard[3] etc.

[1] e.g. https://www.toradex.com/computer-on-modules/colibri-arm-fami... looks quite nice and so-dimm form factor is inherently relatively thin.

[2] e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-6-1280-800-TFT-LCD-HV056WX1-100-Lc... bit bigger than what OP has, but still should be very portable

[3] This is surprisingly something that seems quite difficult to do. Maybe I'll need to 3d-print some keycaps. Or use mechanical switches, like these ones https://www.e-switch.com/product-catalog/tact/product-lines/...

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#46

Post by walterbell »

freehunter wrote: post #25
erikb wrote: post #23

I think the key point to efficient mobile linuxing is neither the hardware nor the basic software but the language input. I feel touchpads and mobile keyboards are both not handy to communicate with bash/vim in the subway. We need a better mobile keyboard for that. Does anybody know who's working on something in that direction?

I was trying to find a small Blackberry-like keyboard for a side project I was working on about a year ago. Doesn't exist, at least not in a form-factor that is easy to integrate (USB, Bluetooth, etc). The best I could find is a USB wireless keyboard that they sell on Adafruit that really, really, really sucked and was still way too big.

Too bad a Blackberry can't function as a BT keyboard.

Nokia N900 and E7 had good keyboards.

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#47

Post by gh02t »

extra88 wrote: post #35
erikb wrote: post #23

I think the key point to efficient mobile linuxing is neither the hardware nor the basic software but the language input. I feel touchpads and mobile keyboards are both not handy to communicate with bash/vim in the subway. We need a better mobile keyboard for that. Does anybody know who's working on something in that direction?

How about a chording keyboard? Having one strapped to your thigh would be the wearables pioneer approach. The Twiddler3 is a modern one-handed keyboard product. There are also projected laser keyboards with a traditional layout; the projected keyboard takes up a fair amount of space and really needs a flat stable surface (not good for use on public transportation or while queueing) but the hardware is quite small. ht…

I'm not a fan of the laser keyboards, but the chording keyboard looks nice. However, the thought of using either of those with Vim already makes my hands hurt...

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#48

Post by zokier »

deaconblues wrote: post #15

This is truly one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. I can't help but think of the little Atari Portfolio John Connor has in Terminator 2.

> I can't help but think of the little Atari Portfolio John Connor has in Terminator 2.

Late eighties/early nineties seemed like an interesting period for these sort of handheld computers. Another great example is the HP LX series, eg 95LX or 200LX http://i.imgur.com/pHa8YWD.jpg

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#49

Post by j_s »

freehunter wrote: post #25
erikb wrote: post #23

I think the key point to efficient mobile linuxing is neither the hardware nor the basic software but the language input. I feel touchpads and mobile keyboards are both not handy to communicate with bash/vim in the subway. We need a better mobile keyboard for that. Does anybody know who's working on something in that direction?

I was trying to find a small Blackberry-like keyboard for a side project I was working on about a year ago. Doesn't exist, at least not in a form-factor that is easy to integrate (USB, Bluetooth, etc). The best I could find is a USB wireless keyboard that they sell on Adafruit that really, really, really sucked and was still way too big.

Boxee was one of the first to do a USB wireless keyboard in a nice form factor, though it is primarily a remote. They are tough to find, especially the 'sold separately' edition with the USB dongle (instead of de-soldering the receiver from a Boxee). Here's one on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111569863840

There are a number of knock-offs now, such as http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092KDSQW/

However, if the AdaFruit 'smallest wireless USB keyboard available' didn't work out then these probably won't either.

Re: How to create a handheld Linux terminal

#50

Post by [deleted] »

erikb wrote: post #23

I think the key point to efficient mobile linuxing is neither the hardware nor the basic software but the language input. I feel touchpads and mobile keyboards are both not handy to communicate with bash/vim in the subway. We need a better mobile keyboard for that. Does anybody know who's working on something in that direction?

[deleted]
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