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Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

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Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#181

Post by stormbrew »

morcheeba wrote: post #145
pharke wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why the contacts on the demonstrated devices would be any more vulnerable to the real world than the port on an iPhone. I'm not sure these devices would be mass market since some skill is required to understand and use the software but they would absolutely have a good run at serving the same size market as 3D printers. They could even work hand in hand with 3D printers by providing the 'brains' for proto…

Besides the wiping, these connectors are missing two other features: ESD protection and connection-sequencing. Most user-facing connectors have a metal shield around them connected to frame ground. The idea is that any ESD shock goes safely through this first instead of to a sensitive data line. Connection-sequencing ensures that the ground and power is connected before data lines are. If you look inside a cable-side…

I think you could effectively connection sequence this interface? Though it'd be electronic sequencing rather than a physical one like on usb ports, you could make it so that a particular non-symmetrical set of pins need to be in a certain position before power is delivered through any power pins. Assuming there are multiple grounds, it could be continuity through all the ground pins that would allow power to flow.

And since the snap-in boards are all rigid you don't really need to worry about the possibility that contact will be made in like.. a rolling way. Either the pins are on the board or they're not.

But I'm not an EE, just a hobbyist, so maybe there's something I've missed there and what I'm thinking is way more complicated than I think.

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#183

Post by stavros »

renonce wrote: post #64
philliphaydon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1 person? Man it's an absolutely incredible feat. I'm also blown away, and I want to play around with it. I would love to try and automate parts of the house and such.

Pockit is just one of the small parts needed to automate parts of your house. All your devices have to cooperate smoothly and this will require a standardized IoT API from manufacturers.

That exists, eg Zigbee or Z-Wave. I have Zigbee (it's an open standard) and I love it.

Having the home automation communications be a message queue instead of a general-purpose communication protocol is so much better.

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#184

Post by Solder_Man »

lanewinfield wrote: post #8

As far as I can tell, this is a single individual that has done all of this work. I am floored at the design and intricacy of this project. Really, truly blown away. I'm sure there are plenty of edge cases to correct for but I haven't gotten so excited by a demo in a long time. I've obviously signed up to learn more.

Hey HN, Solder_Man here. I am the guy behind Pockit. Thrilled to see this modularization effort has the support (and useful criticism) of so many deep thinkers in this thread.

First, a clarification: Since people have brought up the topic of "hard to believe one guy handled all aspects", I want to state that while this is my concept and my project (and I've devoted nearly every waking hour since 2020 to it), I'm no jack of all trades.

In the last two years, for example, I've gotten occasional but much-needed help (and knowledge) from two freelancing developers for some aspects that I don't have expertise with, including Linux intricacies, DMA-based firmware programming, UI design details, and some other subtleties. A more experienced PCB designer (colleague from past) has also helped me, particularly with the recent 6-layer PCB layouts. Plus, an assistant in the past has aided with the soldering of some tightly packed boards.

Last but not least, my SO has contributed graphics + Adobe Premiere effort for my videos; her equally important contribution was being a frequent listener, and sometimes a much-needed boundary, to my evolving thoughts through this project's journey.

As the project evolves to its next phase, I do hope to get more people into primary development of this modular ecosystem, in the form of both team members and eventually custom Block designers from the community, once I organize and release the necessary files + documentation for everyone to work with.

I'm perhaps late to the party, but I'll try to answer as many questions as I can on this thread now, including hopefully the ones posted several hours ago!

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#185

Post by stormbrew »

If anyone else is curious, like I was, about what the signal bus is like on the pins, and couldn't find much detail on the website, the person behind this explained a bit on the reddit AMA someone linked: https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/ta85ql/my_small_modu...

So it seems like it's kind of like low-pin-count ISA-ish bus with direct pin connections to the cpu's pins. Presumably that limits how big a board you can have to the number of gpio pins you've got, or you'd have to build some kind of multiplexing like oldschool irq/port sharing...

I'm really curious if it would be possible to do this as, essentially, single lane PCIe blocks instead. I think it would be harder from a hobby-project perspective (and also probably complexify the blocks), but PCIe is kind of built around flexible topologies so you could build it around a pcie root complex/switch instead of just directly exposing pins to the devices ISA-style.

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#186

Post by snek_case »

toqy wrote: post #165
snek_case wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because of what's happening with climate, pollution and e-waste, the future is modular. Modular phones, computers, cars and even nuclear reactors. Sounds cool, but the reality is that in order to get the best efficiency, you often want a purpose-built, specialized design. In the case of electric cars, you need your car to be very light and to have a very integrated design in order to maximize energy efficiency. I'm…

> I think it's necessarily going to be more expensive and less flexible compared to alternatives What are the alternatives? Is there something like this I can get my hands on now?

The alternative is a Raspberry Pi with a USB webcam and sensors you can buy on AliExpress for a few dollars a piece. You can get your hands on that now.

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#187

Post by Solder_Man »

FR10 wrote: post #77
ktpsns wrote: post #10

https://pockit.ai/ – for those who prefer text/images instead of video.

TBH the linked demo video is really good, I was really amazed after each module. I feel the website is a bit empty in comparison.

The project has taken so much focus that I haven't had the time nor skill to heavily improve the website's CSS/aesthetics. Or if you mean just the content, any suggestions for what I could consider adding now (besides the existent timeline posts)? I'd love for the site to not feel 'empty'!

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#189

Post by Solder_Man »

cs702 wrote: post #99

Wow. I've rarely come a cross a demo in which things keep getting better and better and better and better. I find it hard to believe that one individual plus a small community of hackers have built all of it. Amazing, amazing work. The one question I kept asking myself as I was watching the demo: Is there a mass market for such a beautiful, elegant, modular computing device?

I think @roughly provided a good balance of practicality + optimism in their answer.

My thoughts: Not immediately, but yes, eventually. Humans have an innate willingness and desire to tinker+make things. Those qualities have gone into hibernation due to the vast array of mass-manufactured, off-the-shelf devices in the last decade. But many (have and will) come to realize that the satisfaction ceiling is so much higher when you build something yourself, getting your hands dirty, and looking at the product of your efforts.

Just that reason is enough to give rebirth to the experimental/inventive attitude that pervaded the 20th century. But there's also the fact that a personalized something can allow you to do stuff that a typical consumer product couldn't.

Pockit just aims to enable and accelerate the above realization for hardware, the way that libraries and frameworks have done for the programming world.

Re: Pockit: A tiny, powerful, modular computer [video]

#190

Post by natpalmer1776 »

Solder_Man wrote: post #184
lanewinfield wrote: post #8

As far as I can tell, this is a single individual that has done all of this work. I am floored at the design and intricacy of this project. Really, truly blown away. I'm sure there are plenty of edge cases to correct for but I haven't gotten so excited by a demo in a long time. I've obviously signed up to learn more.

Hey HN, Solder_Man here. I am the guy behind Pockit. Thrilled to see this modularization effort has the support (and useful criticism) of so many deep thinkers in this thread. First, a clarification: Since people have brought up the topic of "hard to believe one guy handled all aspects", I want to state that while this is my concept and my project (and I've devoted nearly every waking hour since 2020 to it), I'm no j…

Your work is truly inspiring, keep it up!
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