4 ms·

I'm stoked for the PocketCHIP.

fit2rule 10y ago
Hell yeah, me too. Its the latest in a very cool line of portable Linux machines designed for hackers to have a hell of a lot of fun. I hope that it is successful, and sits alongside other successes such as the Open Pandora (and soon: Pyra) as an example of how to do a portable, open, fun platform based on Linux, away from all the walled gardens and app jails that are prevalent on the other pocketable platforms. There is one thing that bothers me, however. With the Open Pandora, the community has been amazing - and much of that has been because the focus is on developers^3. The online repo of apps for the OpenPandora is a true treasure trove of amazing things (see http://repo.openpandora.org/ http://repo.openpandora.org/) - an app store done right, in that you have total freedom to do whatever you want with the platform, but you can also just have the plug 'n play experience of browsing a well-curated and maintained list of apps, which can be installed with a single click - no BOFH'ism required. The Pandora has proven to be a very good balance of free and curated apps. Developers can make money as well, if they choose to, and for the most part the community has been very remunerative towards the key devs pushing the platform forward. However, this doesn't seem to be a key strategy for the guys behind CHIP, who are a bit behind the ball with setting up a common, community-focused repository for developers to contribute to .. alas, it seems that its going to be a total free-for-all with CHIP development. The best we will have is "at least we can push our own .deb's up on a website somewhere to distribute our software". I seriously hope that, when the PocketCHIP starts to launch (its trickling out now, will be ramping up towards the end of the month), the NextThing guys will realize that they've got to get on top of this issue before someone else does - it'd be quite feasible, for example, to turn on a "PocketCHIP apps" section of repo.openpandora.org, and if NextThing doesn't do it - someone will. Such is the nature of the Open Handheld community. As a developer and user, I'd much rather have an 'official' repo, with curated apps and quality control for the end user, than just a free-for-all wild frontier of .deb's being passed around by all and sundry. Actually, what I'd really like to see happen is the guys behind the OS for the Open Pandora/Pyra consoles work in coordination with the NextThing team, so that maybe - just maybe - all systems could be running the same basic OS core. There really isn't any good reason for this not to happen - its only because of politics and control issues and NIMBY'ism/DRY'ishness that its not on the table at the moment.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  > Actually, what I'd really like to see happen is the guys behind the OS for the Open Pandora/Pyra consoles work in coordination with the NextThing team, so that maybe - just maybe - all systems could be running the same basic OS core. Exactly. I would say now the Pyra will run Debian instead of Angstrom and Chip runs a Debian as well there could be an option of unifying. Angstrom was kind of horrible to work with IMHO; I use my Pandora a lot but from a Debian chroot.
  - fit2rule 10y ago
    Totally agree with you. Could this be the first stages of seeing a unified Debian system for open Linux mobile systems? That'd be coool.
    - tluyben2 10y ago
      That would be excellent indeed. And now there is not much reason not to. Mobile systems (and enough embedded as well) have enough storage/memory now to run those systems and Debian has no issue installing .debs on different partitions or drives. Basically the core packages can be on the internal flash drive and others on the SD drive which would've worked fine for the Pandora too.
- jamespo 10y ago
  I'd really like to see a palmtop linux machine with Psion 5 style form factor with a similar keyboard... these tiny keys are not great.
  - codezero 10y ago
    I actually prefer the landscape mode with blackberry type keyboard to the wider models in particular because thumb typing while holding it is easier for me than having a wide qwerty in a small form factor.
- AlexeyBrin 10y ago
  Wow, if I try to order a Pandora from North America is more than $300. I mean with these money you can buy a decent Chromebook, install Linux on it and any old console simulator you need. PocketChip on the other hand looks more interesting.

Hell yeah, me too. Its the latest in a very cool line of portable Linux machines designed for hackers to have a hell of a lot of fun. I hope that it is successful, and sits alongside other successes such as the Open Pandora (and soon: Pyra) as an example of how to do a portable, open, fun platform based on Linux, away from all the walled gardens and app jails that are prevalent on the other pocketable platforms. There is one thing that bothers me, however. With the Open Pandora, the community has been amazing - and much of that has been because the focus is on developers^3. The online repo of apps for the OpenPandora is a true treasure trove of amazing things (see http://repo.openpandora.org/ http://repo.openpandora.org/) - an app store done right, in that you have total freedom to do whatever you want with the platform, but you can also just have the plug 'n play experience of browsing a well-curated and maintained list of apps, which can be installed with a single click - no BOFH'ism required. The Pandora has proven to be a very good balance of free and curated apps. Developers can make money as well, if they choose to, and for the most part the community has been very remunerative towards the key devs pushing the platform forward. However, this doesn't seem to be a key strategy for the guys behind CHIP, who are a bit behind the ball with setting up a common, community-focused repository for developers to contribute to .. alas, it seems that its going to be a total free-for-all with CHIP development. The best we will have is "at least we can push our own .deb's up on a website somewhere to distribute our software". I seriously hope that, when the PocketCHIP starts to launch (its trickling out now, will be ramping up towards the end of the month), the NextThing guys will realize that they've got to get on top of this issue before someone else does - it'd be quite feasible, for example, to turn on a "PocketCHIP apps" section of repo.openpandora.org, and if NextThing doesn't do it - someone will. Such is the nature of the Open Handheld community. As a developer and user, I'd much rather have an 'official' repo, with curated apps and quality control for the end user, than just a free-for-all wild frontier of .deb's being passed around by all and sundry. Actually, what I'd really like to see happen is the guys behind the OS for the Open Pandora/Pyra consoles work in coordination with the NextThing team, so that maybe - just maybe - all systems could be running the same basic OS core. There really isn't any good reason for this not to happen - its only because of politics and control issues and NIMBY'ism/DRY'ishness that its not on the table at the moment.

tluyben2 10y ago
> Actually, what I'd really like to see happen is the guys behind the OS for the Open Pandora/Pyra consoles work in coordination with the NextThing team, so that maybe - just maybe - all systems could be running the same basic OS core. Exactly. I would say now the Pyra will run Debian instead of Angstrom and Chip runs a Debian as well there could be an option of unifying. Angstrom was kind of horrible to work with IMHO; I use my Pandora a lot but from a Debian chroot.
- fit2rule 10y ago
  Totally agree with you. Could this be the first stages of seeing a unified Debian system for open Linux mobile systems? That'd be coool.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    That would be excellent indeed. And now there is not much reason not to. Mobile systems (and enough embedded as well) have enough storage/memory now to run those systems and Debian has no issue installing .debs on different partitions or drives. Basically the core packages can be on the internal flash drive and others on the SD drive which would've worked fine for the Pandora too.
jamespo 10y ago
I'd really like to see a palmtop linux machine with Psion 5 style form factor with a similar keyboard... these tiny keys are not great.
- codezero 10y ago
  I actually prefer the landscape mode with blackberry type keyboard to the wider models in particular because thumb typing while holding it is easier for me than having a wide qwerty in a small form factor.
AlexeyBrin 10y ago
Wow, if I try to order a Pandora from North America is more than $300. I mean with these money you can buy a decent Chromebook, install Linux on it and any old console simulator you need. PocketChip on the other hand looks more interesting.