17 ms·

Show HN: Beepberry – a portable e-paper computer for hackers

731 points by erohead 3y ago

Hi. I heard HN likes e-paper gadgets so I wanted to share a little side project I’ve been working on with @sqfmi. We’re building Beepberry - a portable e-paper computer for hackers, designed for chatting on Beeper. My day job is running Beeper [0], but I will always have a soft spot for building hardware. I wanted to create a ‘weekend’ device that would let me stay in touch with friends and family, without the distractions of a full smartphone. I imagined a tiny, hackable e-paper screen with a physical keyboard, powered by a Raspberry Pi, that I could use to chat around my home…and pretty much nothing else. Before Beeper, the idea probably would not have gone anywhere. Most chat apps do not have an API, making it practically impossible to hack something like this together. Enter Beeper, with connections to 15+ chat networks. Built on top of Matrix, Beeper is fully hackable. You can write alternative fun clients [1], bots [2] and more! Today, sqfmi is starting to take pre-orders at https://beepberry.sqfmi.com https://beepberry.sqfmi.com for the first batch. It’s $79 (or $99 including a Pi Zero). Specs: Sharp Memory LCD (same display tech as in Pebble!), Pi Zero (BT/WIFI), physical keyboard, 2000mAh lipo. On top of being an amazing Beeper chat device, it’s basically an e-paper Cyberdeck that fits in your pocket. It’s a ton of fun to hack on. Keep in mind - THIS IS NOT A REAL FINISHED PRODUCT. It’s basically a devkit. More info in the blog post: https://blog.beeper.com/p/beeper-x-sqmfi-beepberry https://blog.beeper.com/p/beeper-x-sqmfi-beepberry, or join the Discord/Matrix channel https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/getting-started#join-the-beepberry-discord https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/getting-started#join-the-be.... I’ll hang out a bit here to answer questions as well. [0] https://beeper.com https://beeper.com [1] https://github.com/tulir/gomuks https://github.com/tulir/gomuks [2] https://github.com/maubot/maubot https://github.com/maubot/maubot

landgenoot 3y ago
LCD and e-paper are different things. E-paper keeps its content without power. You are using both terms. What is it you are using?
- erohead 3y ago
  There is no legal definition of e-paper, but I have been using this term for over a decade to refer to Memory LCD and it's worked out fine. This definition nitpicking is getting oooooold https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3828249 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3828249
  - Malcx 3y ago
    No this nitpicking is people wanting to know the specs of something they might buy. What most people on HN probably think of as e-paper is not the same as and LCD tech.
    - eichin 3y ago
      Part of the problem is there's some use of e-paper to mean "e-ink but we don't want to trigger their trademark lawyers" polluting the space. (The part of the description that actually made sense to me was where it said "same display tech as in Pebble!" ... which is pretty neat, and not-at-all-eink...)
  - chrismorgan 3y ago
    Almost every single reader will assume you’re talking about a completely different technology with significantly different properties. That’s not nitpicking, that’s reality check. (It’s not very papery in appearance, either. All up, I don’t know how best to convey the type of display that it is, but e-paper ain’t it.)
- numpad0 3y ago
  Sharp “Memory LCD” is just reflexive LCD with SRAM(?) bits integrated to pixels. Visually more cold in tone than typical displays, somewhat of black chrome on satin. Agreed that calling them “e-paper” is a loose usage of the term as it does require power to hold display content.
- no_carrier 3y ago
  > E-paper keeps its content without power You're thinking of e-ink. e-paper has always been used to describe this type of low power LCD screen. I first came across the terminology with the Pebble watches.
  - chrismorgan 3y ago
    I cannot think of ever having encountered “e-paper” being used to refer to any kind of LCD, but I’ve come across it being used to certainly refer to electrophoretic displays many times, and that’s all I obviously find by a general web search too. (Pebble? I dunno, I thought they used e-ink. Never saw one in person. If it is not so, I’m curious whether they ever used e-ink, or whether it was an extremely widespead misunderstanding through all of their history.)
jwildeboer 3y ago
Ordered. Nuff said :)
aa_memon 3y ago
@sqfmi is there any chance that we might/could get a blackberry client for beeper? it would give all those old blackberrys sitting in drawers a new life and might actually help with growth of beeper as well.
sqfmi 3y ago
Hey SQFMI here! Happy to answer any questions :)
- wferrell 3y ago
  How did you manage to keep the BOM so low. Very impressed!
  - sqfmi 3y ago
    Low margins :) This is a passion project and we wanted to make it accessible
    - wferrell 3y ago
      Well done! Its just so hard to keep costs low.
- antoineMoPa 3y ago
  This looks quite epic! Is this an original used blackberry keyboard or a new one build specifically for this? Who owns the trademark for this blackberry icon nowadays? Is there risk that a random company owning the trademark will sue you?
- traverseda 3y ago
  As you're going to see in this thread everyone wants to turn this into it's own device. Personally I think it's great for field work, I'd like to see a GPS module, lora, and a solar panel. Given that everyone wants a slightly different hardware customization I'd just like to say I think if you do a version 2 you should seriously consider having some kind of standard expansion cards system. Something like arduino/rpi "shields" of adafruit feather's "wings"?
  - calvinmorrison 3y ago
    Stemma/ Quiic would be absolutely insane
- 3y ago
ano-ther 3y ago
Excellent idea. Am close to ordering. You say e-paper, but the technical drawing “Sharp Memory LCD” which sounds different to me. And it would be great to have a case, or a 3d file.
- erohead 3y ago
  STL for the case https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures e-paper != e-ink (which is a specific type of e-paper)
  - masukomi 3y ago
    so, if e-paper != e-ink is e-paper "a digital screen you can read text on" ? or.. I'm confused. (actual question not being a jerk) I, too expected an e-ink screen and was disappointed to find it was an LCD. Wikipedia seems to think that e-paper and e-ink are in fact the same thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper
    - googlryas 3y ago
      I read it as the screen maintains the last contents written and generally operates with low power requirements while screen content is not being written. Per the data sheet, to have the screen in a state where it gets all of its pixels written once every 30 seconds, it consumes 135μW of power.
- ZiiS 3y ago
  https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures
rsre 3y ago
This is amazing! A hacker friendly Cybiko/TwitterPeek with the power of Matrix. Feels like the ultimate chat device.
- sqfmi 3y ago
  I miss the Cybiko, it was ahead of it's time and was so much fun to play with. They can still be found on eBay.
  - focusedone 3y ago
    I miss it too! Ya know what can't be found on ebay (or even IRL when new)? Other people nearby to play games with. Those things were so cool!
    - sqfmi 3y ago
      Get the Beepberry and play games with friends across the globe (via WiFi)!
syntaxing 3y ago
Love the idea but a Zero W is pretty underwhelming. I have couple and it’s barely useful because of the single core limitations. I’m guessing it’s a supply chain issue? Also, does this have to work with beeper? What if I have my own synapse running?
- giobox 3y ago
  People have built essentially the same idea before but used the far more powerful Pi CM4 boards, which aren't really that much bigger at all than the Zero: https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole That said, I ordered a uConsole when it was announced and have heard nothing, I should really chase this... My guess is the decision here to use a Zero wasn't one of availability, they sell it without a Zero too so you can roll your own. There is probably less complexity in using the Zero's GPIO support to attach to the host device vs the CM4's much more complex pin out which may have been a bigger factor.
  - syntaxing 3y ago
    Wow the Devterm looks amazing. Unfortunately according to reviews, the quality is extremely subpar. I get it’s niche but at that price, it’s probably a better financial design to get an iPad mini with a small keyboard.
    - giobox 3y ago
      Yep, I weighed the risk of the poor Devterm reviews when deciding to preorder the uConsole. My hope is with the uConsole being a simpler device with a traditional 4:3 display etc there will be more scope to just treat it like a plain ole Linux computer, but absolutely it's a niche toy for me too - neither of the devices make financial sense as a work tool! I also love the design of the Devterm and would absolutely have bought one if reviews were better.
    - ecliptik 3y ago
      I have a DevTerm R-01 and it is basically a beautiful $200 novelty cyberdeck that sits on my desk. The R01 version in particular is greatly under powered and is really only usable with twm and a Xterm. I mostly use it to read gopher:// and the kids love printing things off using it's thermal printer.
KingOfCoders 3y ago
Thanks! Ordered two.
rwl4 3y ago
I've ordered my share of little Linux gadgets. I said no more because they were wholly impractical. Well, congrats, you just caused me to pull out my wallet and buy. This looks incredible! You should sell a case as well for people like me who don't want to bother with 3D printing.
- sqfmi 3y ago
  Thanks! We plan to offer 2 cases (CNC aluminum and clear transparent plastic) once we're happy with the design
  - Zanovis 3y ago
    Do you need support with this design? Happy to help out!
    - sqfmi 3y ago
      We'll be sharing the STEP model of the device and the enclosure here https://github.com/sqfmi/beepberry-hardware https://github.com/sqfmi/beepberry-hardware Feel free to hack away!
  - TheFreim 3y ago
    Will the device be able to slot into an enclosure later or will more assembly be required?
    - sqfmi 3y ago
      The CNC version will definitely involve some screws to make it more secure
  - dabluecaboose 3y ago
    What are the odds of the clear plastic being purple and green in classic Nintendo fashion?
    - 3y ago
deegles 3y ago
I would love to hook this up to a LoRa receiver and use it around town, will be fun to hack on.
- erohead 3y ago
  I recommend the PineDio USB LoRA adapter from Pine64! https://pine64.com/product/pinedio-usb-lora-adapter/ https://pine64.com/product/pinedio-usb-lora-adapter/
deleted 3y ago
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iFire 3y ago
Does this have any relation to https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor 's comms app?
- sqfmi 3y ago
  It does not, but both use the same display technology https://sharpdevices.com/memory-lcd/ https://sharpdevices.com/memory-lcd/
boomskats 3y ago
Awesome, you're my hero. I just ordered two of these. It looks to be using the same Q10 keyboard as a few of the other hacks (i.e. Fairberry[0], but with the addition of the dial/hangup buttons. Are you only using them for the trackpad? Any ambitions for a touchscreen-only variant? (if so, I've got like 15x of those Q10 keyboards scattered across my desk) [0] https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry
- sqfmi 3y ago
  The dial/hangup buttons map to modifier keys and power control, and the trackpad can be mapped to mouse/arrow/scroll keys. No plans for touchscreen yet :)
rglover 3y ago
Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Just snagged one. Can't wait to play with it.
igetspam 3y ago
I do not need this. At all. Not one bit. Not for a second. It would be foolish of me to spend money on this. Two, please! Very cool.
- amysox 3y ago
  Your reaction was similar to mine: "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" :)
throwaway894345 3y ago
This seems super cool; have you considered selling a model with a battery and case? I would think that would be far more useful to most?
- sqfmi 3y ago
  It comes with a battery. No case included for now, but you can 3D print your own with the STL files. Later on we will offer 2 cases (CNC aluminum and plastic).
  - andai 3y ago
    Very cool project. How is the battery life?
    - sqfmi 3y ago
      We haven't done extensive testing or optimizations (i.e. sleep, idle power down, etc.) yet. But with the stock battery of 2000mAh and Pi Zero @ ~80mA idle, it should be around ~20h always on. We're estimating a week of battery life once the optimizations are implemented.
      - andai 3y ago
        That's fantastic. I read in another comment that the startup time of the Pi is 5 seconds. Could this be optimized further? Afaik most of the startup time of Linux is detecting and initializing the hardware, so presumably this could be significantly optimized when the target hardware is known ahead of time. I'm also sort of disillusioned with modern computing when I see a video of a home computer from the 80s that you press the power button and it's on (command prompt) before you've even removed your finger!
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
Non-hacker here. Is there any possibility of this being made into a non-touchscreen 5G/4G-VoLTE phone that can be carried in a pocket without damage?
- csdvrx 3y ago
  It should be possible to alter the case to support a slide cover, like for graphing calculators: slide it off, put in on the back when in use. slide it off, put it on the front when not in use. It should be resistant to puncture damage to the screen and prevent keypresses. For LTE modules, as long as you have USB, you are able to connect one. If you want 5G, check the Qualcomm SDX55 and SDX65 (submm wave + 5G SA) on Telit. The easiest way is to get a Telit EVB + a Cinterion module. The only difficulty would be routing the audio pathways and maybe IMS registration for VoLTE, but you could use a Quectel EG25 like on the pinephone: the module can be controlled by AT commands and the existing work for audio routing could help you get started: check https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro and the audio part of https://xnux.eu/devices/pine64-pinephone.html https://xnux.eu/devices/pine64-pinephone.html like https://xnux.eu/devices/feature/audio-pp.html#toc-voice-call-audio-routing-setup https://xnux.eu/devices/feature/audio-pp.html#toc-voice-call...
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    I said, "non-hacker" :D Thanks, though. If someone wants to turn this into a cell-phone product with a finished case (importantly not 3d printed with odor- or toxin-emitting plastic), audio, etcetera, I'd buy at least one, as long as it could be added to an MVNO plan.
copperx 3y ago
I'm sure young me would have found a ton of use cases for this, but now I'm old. Can someone tell me one or two things this could be useful for? I want to buy it just because it looks awesome.
- traverseda 3y ago
  Daylight readable display and physical keyboard make it excellent for all kinds of field work. If you're out doing things in real life this thing seems like a good choice to me. Quick calculation when you're building a chicken coop, use as a glide computer or a biking computer. Lots of outdoor stuff really.
- calvinmorrison 3y ago
  using the GPIO. But you'd need to build some piggyback connectors. In fact if this had a JST or other connector it would be a lot better. Things like reading resistance values from sensors and displaying them back is pretty trivial, and being able to just load up different scripts to do that instead of, say arduino where you really would need to flash a program for each sensor say, would make it useful.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > I'm sure young me would have found a ton of use cases for this, but now I'm old. Invert the problem: get one and try to hack to do whatever. That may help you regain some teen spirit :) It may be better if you found some ideas naturally (chasing a rabbit down its rabbit hole is fun, but chasing your own rabbit is even funnier) However, if you want ideas, here are some simple ones: - listen to your bluetooth devices like toothbrushes, scales, thermometers: try to decode and display what they send. There are many free software projects doing just that for Xiaomi devices - connect a 4G module and try to send SMS. Most 4G modules can be driven with just AT commands so it shouldn't be too hard. The Quectel EC25 is extensively documented thanks to being present in the PinePhone: https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/blob/kirkstone/docs/SMS_INTERFACE.md https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/blob... - then try to add a GPS antenna to make a field GPS: check https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro#GPS_/_GNSS https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro#GPS_/_GNSS - then try to have a LTE data connection, using w3m with its sixel mode to visit google news https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#w3m-integration https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#w3m-integration - try to integrate SMS, twitter etc within one client (twitter example: https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#twitter-client-integration https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#twitter-client-integrati... ) to post your GPS coordinates to your friends - one everything works, increase the difficulty: flash a free firmware on the Quectel, and try to improve it, or add functions that would help your other projects, for example A-GPS to get a faster lock: https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/tree/kirkstone https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/tree... Each one of this project should take at most one day, and may give you ideas to do more! If you need help, get in touch, my email is in my profile.
jbm 3y ago
-edit- As pointed out below, there is an early access program for developers a little further down on the order page that I missed. Original comment below ----v I love the product but I take issue with the term "Order now" on the website. > Below is the shipping timeline for Beepberry: > Beepberry without Raspberry Pi Zero W: ~ August 2023 > Beepberry with Raspberry Pi Zero W: ~ September 2023 I think it would be more helpful to call it a pre-order on the button. If I click "order now", I'd expect it in 6 weeks, max. Regardless, I like the concept and look forward to buying it after a few people try it out.
- koinedad 3y ago
  It says 50 are available in the site
  - jbm 3y ago
    Ah, I see what you are talking about now. > Beepberry Early Access Program > We have 50 units available to ship immediately to developers and hackers. If you would like to be one of the first to receive a Beepberry, please fill out the form below after placing your order. I'm not sure how I missed that, thank you for pointing it out!
f1shy 3y ago
I like it! But I wouldn‘t buy it… What I would totally buy, is a HHKB keyboard with a Raspberry inside, as the ols home computers. Like the R Pi 400, but with a MX keyboard, and HHKB layout…
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Pawka 3y ago
This piece looks really nice and I almost want it! But have no idea what to do with it. What are your plans folks? How you are using similar hardware?
- csdvrx 3y ago
  I would use it to ssh and tmux to my servers, to display stats/logs and start simple scripts when needed, like a "wireless KVM". I understand many people use smartphones or tablets for that, but I don't like the idea of having a smartphone with me at all times: I have one, but in a drawer. I charge it and use it when I need to travel. It's too intrusive otherwise. I can use ssh from my laptop, but I like a distraction free environment: most of my apps run in full screen, to help me maintain my concentration. So a separate device I could turn quickly, check what's happening, and type commands, would be very valuable. I would certainly try to find a way to add sixel support to the terminal (BSD console terminals have that) then have gnuplot display some key measurements like latency scatters on top of the moving averages. Another role would be very natural thanks to being cheap: the USB port could help me check devices without having to fear hardware damage to my laptop USB ports (voltage issues etc) or software issues (virus/trojan etc)
  - TheFreim 3y ago
    > I understand many people use smartphones or tablets for that, but I don't like the idea of having a smartphone with me at all times This is where I stand. Regrettably it becomes harder and harder now that everything uses 2FA, cannot leave home without the phone.
    - csdvrx 3y ago
      > cannot leave home without the phone. You most certainly can: I do that every day. > Regrettably it becomes harder and harder now that everything uses 2FA Which companies cause you problems? Maybe I can offer suggestions. I barely tolerate TOTP (thanks to oathtool), but any business that want to impose SMS 2FA on me will not have me as a client.
souwecera 3y ago
A PocketChip built by the same person that made the Pebble Time Steel 2 that's on my wrist right now. Take my money. Again.
- ecliptik 3y ago
  I loved my Pocket CHIP until it just stopped working a few days ago, and this Beepberry post today is a perfect coincidence. Since it's an RPI0w can use it as an ad-hoc serial terminal too.
- souwecera 3y ago
  'Doh, original Time Steel (my P2+HR died a couple months ago). If you have any Time Steel 2s laying around...
Animats 3y ago
At least it's only $99. Sadly, it's not a shipping product yet. It's a "preorder".
AlphaWeaver 3y ago
I recently switched to Beeper and as exciting as this looks, I wish that the team spent a little bit more time working on their primary app rather than working on what appears to be a toy hardware project. Beeper is supposed to be a "universal messenger" that acts as a central place for all your messaging apps. I originally signed up because I wanted to be able to iMessage on my Android device, which has worked relatively well. In order to use the app's SMS bridge though, you have to set the app as your default SMS app (an Android requirement, no getting around it.) Unfortunately, it's just really difficult to compete with the system-level messenger app. I've been chatting back and forth with them, and their support team has been pretty responsive, but I'll likely stop using it soon. Their app is just too buggy to be such an important part of my workflow as a default SMS app. No RCS support, notification issues, totally missing SMS messages entirely with no way to recover them? (Rare, but destructive.) Love the idea, but needs a good bit more work. (Sorry to the team, I know some of them are here on HN.)
- erohead 3y ago
  Tough to penalize us because Android does not expose RCS APIs. If the only part of Beeper that you don't like is the SMS part, I would recommend disabling that - go back to using Google Messages for SMS and use Beeper for the 14 other chat networks that we support.
  - drabbiticus 3y ago
    Hey just found out about Beeper through this post and it looks like it could be a very nice fit for communicating with Apple friends/co-workers while on Android. It is very nice to find out about this app. > Tough to penalize us because Android does not expose RCS APIs As someone speaking from a genuine place of ignorance, the Google page relating to RCS https://jibe.google.com/ https://jibe.google.com/ seems to imply that RCS is just a universal specification and there are a number of documents that seem relevant after a search for "gsma rcs specification". Is this an Android permissions thing where the only practical way to implement RCS support would be through a Google-supplied API?
    - 3y ago
mustacheemperor 3y ago
I continue to await my beeper invite, but this looks great. I have been itching to tinker with e-ink for a while and this seems like a great entry point. Cheers, I'm in for $99!
- corn13read2 3y ago
  It's an LCD, poor titling.
bg0 3y ago
If we order it, can we get access to beeper lol
jeffbee 3y ago
Trying to determine if this is really more hackable than an actual BlackBerry 957. This appears to have the keyboard from the BlackBerry Classic, where the straight-across rows were not very desirable. The real BlackBerry 957 is a 386 with 512KB of RAM, a serial port, and a battery life measured in weeks. As a "for hackers" device it is hard to beat.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  What interesting things can you do with a 957 at present? Can it run a Matrix client at present?
anonzzzies 3y ago
Lovely little thing. When you start selling cases as well, please can you set up a mailing list or post again when you start sending including case? Without case I am sure I won’t use it (blew up far too much stuff with static electricity in my life).
- sqfmi 3y ago
  Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/sqfmi https://twitter.com/sqfmi and join our Discord https://discord.gg/QERrSferdF https://discord.gg/QERrSferdF ! We'll share the latest updates on Beepberry development there.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    I'm surprised you don't push people towards open standards like an email newsletter or a Matrix channel. Twitter? Discord?
    - sqfmi 3y ago
      Good idea! Maybe we should start a newsletter. There is a Matrix bridge to our Discord now.
      - hammyhavoc 3y ago
        An RSS feed would be great too. After Twitter's acquisition, I'm leaning more heavily than ever on RSS, despite being a former hardcore Twitter user. I could see the BeepBerry being very cool for RSS and email too.
vrglvrglvrgl 3y ago
[dead]
rchaud 3y ago
Very cool! I was just recently feeling that I have LCD fatigue, and wondered what it would be like to have a mobile computing device with a similar screen as a Nokia from 20 years ago. Can I ask why you copied the classic Blackberry keyboard almost entirely? Even the symbol on the "Menu" button is BB's. There are keyboard phone OEMs like Unihertz that specifically changed their keyboard design to not resemble BB so as to avoid patent disputes.
- ryukafalz 3y ago
  This is almost certainly an actual BlackBerry keyboard. There have been a number of recent hobbyist projects using them, I don't know if they're old parts lying around warehouses or gutted from unsold phones... but they're out there.
  - opan 3y ago
    The screens from the BlackBerry Q5 are also being used in Game Boy Colors now for a nice upgrade. Not sure how they source those either.
StrangeATractor 3y ago
The only gripe I have about this is that it appears to be dependent on a microsd card for storage. Is there an alternative? I've been burned one too many times by corrupted storage on those to go there again. Other than that, I want five of these.
- sqfmi 3y ago
  Corrupted storage is a pain :( The Beepberry firmware can safely shutdown the Pi before disconnecting power, so hopefully that will help with SD issues. raspi-config also has a read-only overlay filesystem option now.
- bityard 3y ago
  I started buying high endurance SD cards years ago and have never had a problem with them.
  - csdvrx 3y ago
    BTW are they more sensible to X rays? I've had one die early.
  - kajecounterhack 3y ago
    +1 they're quite cheap now -- as of writing, $17 for a samsung 128gb, $15 for sandisk 128gb on Amazon. I have a fleet of Raspberry Pi that have been using these cards. The other thing you can do is to buy two and clone your SD card (or back your card up as a `.img`).
anoncow 3y ago
Looks very good. Can we have a more polished version? And please remove the blackberry logo from the keypad.
- askvictor 3y ago
  Looks like it might be an actual blackberry keyboard.
razerbeans 3y ago
I'm a huge fan of Squarofumi. I've bought two Watchy kits and have absolutely loved coding all kinds of interesting things for them. Given that it's powered by ESP32, it makes development super easy.
- sqfmi 3y ago
  Thanks!
user3939382 3y ago
To borrow from Jerry Maguire: you had me at physical qwerty.
conor_f 3y ago
I love the form factor here. A few questions: 1) Have you considered how this could be made more mobile friendly? Most places I could see myself using a device like this, I wouldn't have access to WiFi. Is there an equivalent of a USB SIM card adapter that would fit here? 2) What sort of battery life can be achieved with this? Looks great though! Am very likely to order an iteration of this :)
- erohead 3y ago
  1) maybe? this is just a hacker device for now. You can easily add a USB LTE modem if you'd like. 2) battery life will depend on which OS you use, peripherals, software duty cycle etc. It's a hacker device, don't expect it to work without putting in the effort to tune/tweak it.
  - csdvrx 3y ago
    > You can easily add a USB LTE modem if you'd like. Would you like some help with that? I was only planning to add sixel support, but I could prepare you a simple configuration to use a cheap 4G module like the Quectel EC25 () at least for sending/receiving SMS, and maybe acting as an access point. () Other options would also be possible, like Qualcomm SDX55 and SDX62/SDX65 for 5G, but the Quectel has more community support since it's also used on the linphone
    - jskulski 3y ago
      (Not OP) I’d find value in this if you were considering publishing a guide. Been working on a pi400 eink solar powered cyberdeck but haven’t done anything with cell connection yet. So could follow long for that and for the blackberry.
      - csdvrx 3y ago
        I'd certainly publish a guide and a set of files to flash. Using an internal Qualcomm SDX module, I've already got both 4G and 5G working great on my Thinkpad with just a few AT commands, so I don't foresee any practical difficulty except maybe getting MLC03 submmWave antennas (I can't find any, so I stick to B71 on 5G)
MrBruh 3y ago
Could someone tell me how many hours of battery life you could get out of it?
epiccoleman 3y ago
This is ridiculously cool!
digging 3y ago
FYI the FAQ page gets a 404: https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/FAQ https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/FAQ
kragen 3y ago
i almost didn't open this because it said 'e-paper' and i've sort of dismissed e-paper for this kind of thing this is much more interesting than an e-paper device; it's a memory-in-pixel lcd device, which means 100 times better refresh rate and 1000 times better power consumption than e-paper. the lcd in question (ls027b7dh01, i assume, though that information is missing from the web pages) is supposed to run on 175μW at 20fps, so you can get a full usable computer system in submilliwatt territory, so the 2.2 kilojoules in a cr2032 can power it for weeks however, i think that, as a low-power device, this is probably fatally flawed. the rp2040 dooms it; the rp2040 lacks a reasonable deep-sleep mode; its lowest-power mode is nearly a milliwatt, so it will drain the battery flat when it's not being used also it's unclear, in this design, how much the rp2040 can do without powering up the pi zero, which is a humongous power hog, using over 1000 milliwatts. so instead of weeks of active use from a cr2032 (and months of standby if you use a low-power micro instead of an rp2040) you get hours what's the point of using a super expensive memory-in-pixel lcd to get the display power consumption down from e-paper's 10-100 milliwatts into submilliwatt territory if you're just going to burn a thousand milliwatts in a raspberry pi? just use a conventional lcd then, maybe one with nice 24-bit color. old nokia lcds will run on a milliwatt maybe an esp32 would be a better middle ground if you aren't willing to go all the way to an ambiq apollo3 or something, which can (hypothetically) give you submilliwatt power consumption with workstation-class performance, as long as you don't need virtual memory; you probably want an esp32 or equivalent in there anyway for wi-fi usb-c is a great way to be able to hook up a full-size external keyboard, but speaking usb-c to a keyboard is also probably beyond the capabilities of the rp2040, and so would also need to power up the giant power hog pi zero
- knodi123 3y ago
  > its lowest-power mode is nearly a milliwatt, so it will drain the battery flat when it's not being used Add a hardware power button?
- dheera 3y ago
  I'm not too sure of this trend of rebranding 1980's monochrome LCDs as the "new" e-paper. The refresh rates are nice but it's really not the same, and in direct sunlight on a hot California day you can see a world of difference between the contrast and glare of a high school graphing calculator and a Kindle.
vhodges 3y ago
A lot pricier of course but there's https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor too for the same kind of uses this is for.
bodge5000 3y ago
Have been wanting to get a device just like this for a long time to do live-coding (Glicol) on. So glad you had the foresight to expose the rpi pins so I can just stick an audio hat onto it to get audio in/out
hemmert 3y ago
How cool is that! Pebbltastic!
nmstoker 3y ago
Seems to only mention Zero W directly, but would a Zero 2 W also work? Kind of expecting it would but thought it better to check
- sqfmi 3y ago
  Yup! It should be a drop-in alternative. Other SBCs should also work but requires a bit more tinkering with the software.
- Quillbert182 3y ago
  I believe it would, as they said in another comment that anything that fits the Zero W form factor would work, and the Zero 2 W has the exact same layout.
mortenjorck 3y ago
So that appears to be an actual Blackberry keyboard – are they reclaimed? OEM surplus?
- erohead 3y ago
  Someone is still manufacturing replacement parts apparently!
- matbatt38 3y ago
  Is it even legal? (Serious question)
  - girvo 3y ago
    Why would it not be? BlackBerry the company (as in the hardware one) doesn’t exist anymore, if parts exist why wouldn’t people be able to use them?
    - filmgirlcw 3y ago
      It does. They just don’t sell hardware. They sold most of the patents but still retain some and they’ve sued over the keyboard before (Google BlackBerry vs Typo keyboard) so it isn’t a dumb question. That said, if someone else is selling an OEM-like part, I doubt this is high volume enough for the people left at BlackBerry to care.
      - girvo 3y ago
        Okay, I didn’t know that, which was why I asked.
- m0dest 3y ago
  The trademark issues with the BlackBerry logo on the keyboard, combined with the "Beepberry" name, are going to be a problem.
atentaten 3y ago
With all the excited responses to this post a feel like a fool because I don't understand how one would go about using this. Admittedly I'm knew this type of product, but I want to be excited too or at least be able to come up with some use cases where I can make an informed choice on whether this product is useful or not. Is there a list or site with ideas on how to make use of products like this?
- jack_riminton 3y ago
  Me too, I can’t think of a situation where this would be useful although I’d like to hear how others would use it
  - nirav72 3y ago
    So one possible use case. At least for me and other people that want quick access to a terminal without having to fire up a notebook or pc.
    - sr-latch 3y ago
      ssh into your home computer through your phone or use Termux if you're on android
      - EamonnMR 3y ago
        Termux used to be really nice but it's fairly broken now if you installed it from google play.
        tjoff 3y ago
        ... don't install it from google play then. "Problem" solved.
- allig256 3y ago
  If you're trying to trim down on phone time, but still want to be somewhat contactable? I guess this would require a phone with a WiFi hotspot when you're out and about, but if you're at home and not wanting to reach for that phone this device could help.
opan 3y ago
Sad to see such a cool project using Discord.
nirav72 3y ago
The refresh rate for that epaper screen is better than I thought it would be. Might not be a bad device for quick admin work for the homelab. Will it work with a pi zero 2 and how is this type of screen under lowlight conditions?
- megablast 3y ago
  It’s not epapper
- erohead 3y ago
  works great with pi zero 2. Needs a front-light to see in low light.
amstan 3y ago
Nit about the website: Tiny little youtube videos with a condescending: "Full screen is unavailable. Find out more"
PointyFluff 3y ago
[dead]
beebeepka 3y ago
Love the form factor but Pi Zero W is a no go, tinkering or not. Stuff like this fuels my deep disappointment with the way smartphones are being treated. So powerful, yet locked down. Need legislation to fix incredible waste because clearly capitalism, by itself, won't.
EamonnMR 3y ago
Coincidentally, I finally got my Watchy set up today. Though the case is bulky enough that I might take it out and just use a NATO strap.
dotancohen 3y ago
Honestly, this form factor is exactly what I'm looking for in an Android keyboard. I'd love an external, tactile keyboard like this that lets me see the text before it is sent to the Android host as input. If you could enable bluetooth keyboard functionality as a feature, and support typing in multiple languages too (mine are English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Greek) then I'll be the first to order.
rtpg 3y ago
A fancy expensive version of this concept exists as the Precursor. All open, built off of some FPGAs, though with a much bigger security focus
zeckalpha 3y ago
A predecessor to this concept: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipit_wireless_messenger_(Z2) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipit_wireless_messenger_(Z2...
pkphilip 3y ago
What is the possibility of connecting a GSM module and using this for making and receiving calls and staying connected on the go?
- girvo 3y ago
  4G modules with calling are incredibly power hungry, and take ages to get a fix typically from a cold boot. Even just basic data NB-IoT ones use heaps of power.
derefr 3y ago
Makes me curious: is there an open firmware for old Blackberries? As I feel like it could be just as interesting to play around with that (at the bare metal level, I mean; just writing apps for the Blackberry OS isn’t too interesting.)
- filmgirlcw 3y ago
  Not that I’ve seen. The hacker/tinkerer community never adopted BlackBerry the way they did iOS or Android (or even Palm or Windows Mobile) and the BlackBerry focus on security (putting aside giving foreign governments BBM keys for a minute) meant that unlocking bootloaders on the BBOS and QNX BB10 devices would be more challenging than other phones of that vintage, since a huge selling point to IT admins was that it was safe to put these things on your network. Obviously someone could jailbreak the bootloaders with enough effort, but I very much doubt many of the components would have drivers in the Linux kernel (the Bold 9900 which was the most powerful BBOS device ever released I think had a Snapdragon SoC and Qualcomm really doesn’t like to open up its drivers) and the effort involved in even trying would almost certainly be more trouble than it was worth.
BiteCode_dev 3y ago
With lora support, it would make for a nice off the grid communication device.
- rkwasny 3y ago
  can lora work p2p? or needs a powered router somewhere
  - BiteCode_dev 3y ago
    https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction
    - rkwasny 3y ago
      Awesome, just bought two :-)
prmoustache 3y ago
This sound like one of the millions of gadgets that are just made for the heck of it and ends up in a drawer after being used for a week. This is just e-waste in the making. I don't see it as a positive thing. Unless you are one of the very few who still don't own a mobile phone or use a very limited one, you already own a portable networked terminal.
- rollcat 3y ago
  On the other hand, if you do actually want a small screen and a tactile keyboard for an RPi Zero, this looks like a nice package.
- tartuffe78 3y ago
  Do you know how many people are buying smart tooth brushes for their kids to ignore, digital picture frames that there parents don't use, and smart appliances they use once a year? This is a drop in the ocean.
  - prmoustache 3y ago
    So if people are doing shitty thing it makes it ok to do it yourself as well?
lucasfcosta 3y ago
It looks absolutely awesome. Congratulations on the launch. This is exactly the kind of thing I'd like to play with. Also, I find the actual BB keyboard better to type code in as I can get some tactile feedback (swipe is too imprecise for my fingers).
sandbx 3y ago
Looks like teenage engineering pocket operators :)
notorandit 3y ago
When will we get a tiny Linux handheld with 1 or 2 GB RAM and a couple of cores? Any core, I mean. RISC-V my favorite, but anything else in the 32-bit range would be ok too. I mean a real battery-operated product I can slip in my pocket. NOT a smartphone, though.
aftergibson 3y ago
Ordered, should be a fun device to hack on. There's already some hacky e-ink projects I've go I'd like to port to this form factor.
arminsergiony 3y ago
I think it would be more helpful to call it a pre-order on the button. If I click "order now", I'd expect it in 6 weeks, max.
eggy 3y ago
Looks like my Blackberry and my KeyOne with that keyboard. I like small dedicated things like this. I have a BT keyboard the size of a credit card I bought in Shenzen in 2012 that still works great with tiny joystick with a small thumb rubber pad on it. I am currently using a Numworks calculator with color screen for fun small projects with the latest Omega OS for it. Python scripts, GB stuff, etc. I also do engineering/technical work, so the Numworks is used for both business and pleasure!
ENadyr 3y ago
Great to see that you're still exploring hardware, Eric! I'm definitely planning to get one of these, but as some others have mentioned, I might attempt to convert it into a LoRa peer-to-peer communicator. Currently, I rely on MestTastic relays, which can be quite cumbersome due to the need for an iPhone or Android device.

731 points by erohead 3y ago

landgenoot 3y ago

LCD and e-paper are different things. E-paper keeps its content without power. You are using both terms. What is it you are using?

erohead 3y ago
There is no legal definition of e-paper, but I have been using this term for over a decade to refer to Memory LCD and it's worked out fine. This definition nitpicking is getting oooooold https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3828249 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3828249
- Malcx 3y ago
  No this nitpicking is people wanting to know the specs of something they might buy. What most people on HN probably think of as e-paper is not the same as and LCD tech.
  - eichin 3y ago
    Part of the problem is there's some use of e-paper to mean "e-ink but we don't want to trigger their trademark lawyers" polluting the space. (The part of the description that actually made sense to me was where it said "same display tech as in Pebble!" ... which is pretty neat, and not-at-all-eink...)
- chrismorgan 3y ago
  Almost every single reader will assume you’re talking about a completely different technology with significantly different properties. That’s not nitpicking, that’s reality check. (It’s not very papery in appearance, either. All up, I don’t know how best to convey the type of display that it is, but e-paper ain’t it.)
numpad0 3y ago
Sharp “Memory LCD” is just reflexive LCD with SRAM(?) bits integrated to pixels. Visually more cold in tone than typical displays, somewhat of black chrome on satin. Agreed that calling them “e-paper” is a loose usage of the term as it does require power to hold display content.
no_carrier 3y ago
> E-paper keeps its content without power You're thinking of e-ink. e-paper has always been used to describe this type of low power LCD screen. I first came across the terminology with the Pebble watches.
- chrismorgan 3y ago
  I cannot think of ever having encountered “e-paper” being used to refer to any kind of LCD, but I’ve come across it being used to certainly refer to electrophoretic displays many times, and that’s all I obviously find by a general web search too. (Pebble? I dunno, I thought they used e-ink. Never saw one in person. If it is not so, I’m curious whether they ever used e-ink, or whether it was an extremely widespead misunderstanding through all of their history.)

jwildeboer 3y ago

Ordered. Nuff said :)

aa_memon 3y ago

@sqfmi is there any chance that we might/could get a blackberry client for beeper? it would give all those old blackberrys sitting in drawers a new life and might actually help with growth of beeper as well.

sqfmi 3y ago

Hey SQFMI here! Happy to answer any questions :)

wferrell 3y ago
How did you manage to keep the BOM so low. Very impressed!
- sqfmi 3y ago
  Low margins :) This is a passion project and we wanted to make it accessible
  - wferrell 3y ago
    Well done! Its just so hard to keep costs low.
antoineMoPa 3y ago
This looks quite epic! Is this an original used blackberry keyboard or a new one build specifically for this? Who owns the trademark for this blackberry icon nowadays? Is there risk that a random company owning the trademark will sue you?
traverseda 3y ago
As you're going to see in this thread everyone wants to turn this into it's own device. Personally I think it's great for field work, I'd like to see a GPS module, lora, and a solar panel. Given that everyone wants a slightly different hardware customization I'd just like to say I think if you do a version 2 you should seriously consider having some kind of standard expansion cards system. Something like arduino/rpi "shields" of adafruit feather's "wings"?
- calvinmorrison 3y ago
  Stemma/ Quiic would be absolutely insane
3y ago

ano-ther 3y ago

Excellent idea. Am close to ordering. You say e-paper, but the technical drawing “Sharp Memory LCD” which sounds different to me. And it would be great to have a case, or a 3d file.

erohead 3y ago
STL for the case https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures e-paper != e-ink (which is a specific type of e-paper)
- masukomi 3y ago
  so, if e-paper != e-ink is e-paper "a digital screen you can read text on" ? or.. I'm confused. (actual question not being a jerk) I, too expected an e-ink screen and was disappointed to find it was an LCD. Wikipedia seems to think that e-paper and e-ink are in fact the same thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper
  - googlryas 3y ago
    I read it as the screen maintains the last contents written and generally operates with low power requirements while screen content is not being written. Per the data sheet, to have the screen in a state where it gets all of its pixels written once every 30 seconds, it consumes 135μW of power.
ZiiS 3y ago
https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/enclosures

rsre 3y ago

This is amazing! A hacker friendly Cybiko/TwitterPeek with the power of Matrix. Feels like the ultimate chat device.

sqfmi 3y ago
I miss the Cybiko, it was ahead of it's time and was so much fun to play with. They can still be found on eBay.
- focusedone 3y ago
  I miss it too! Ya know what can't be found on ebay (or even IRL when new)? Other people nearby to play games with. Those things were so cool!
  - sqfmi 3y ago
    Get the Beepberry and play games with friends across the globe (via WiFi)!

syntaxing 3y ago

Love the idea but a Zero W is pretty underwhelming. I have couple and it’s barely useful because of the single core limitations. I’m guessing it’s a supply chain issue? Also, does this have to work with beeper? What if I have my own synapse running?

giobox 3y ago
People have built essentially the same idea before but used the far more powerful Pi CM4 boards, which aren't really that much bigger at all than the Zero: https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole That said, I ordered a uConsole when it was announced and have heard nothing, I should really chase this... My guess is the decision here to use a Zero wasn't one of availability, they sell it without a Zero too so you can roll your own. There is probably less complexity in using the Zero's GPIO support to attach to the host device vs the CM4's much more complex pin out which may have been a bigger factor.
- syntaxing 3y ago
  Wow the Devterm looks amazing. Unfortunately according to reviews, the quality is extremely subpar. I get it’s niche but at that price, it’s probably a better financial design to get an iPad mini with a small keyboard.
  - giobox 3y ago
    Yep, I weighed the risk of the poor Devterm reviews when deciding to preorder the uConsole. My hope is with the uConsole being a simpler device with a traditional 4:3 display etc there will be more scope to just treat it like a plain ole Linux computer, but absolutely it's a niche toy for me too - neither of the devices make financial sense as a work tool! I also love the design of the Devterm and would absolutely have bought one if reviews were better.
  - ecliptik 3y ago
    I have a DevTerm R-01 and it is basically a beautiful $200 novelty cyberdeck that sits on my desk. The R01 version in particular is greatly under powered and is really only usable with twm and a Xterm. I mostly use it to read gopher:// and the kids love printing things off using it's thermal printer.

KingOfCoders 3y ago

Thanks! Ordered two.

rwl4 3y ago

I've ordered my share of little Linux gadgets. I said no more because they were wholly impractical. Well, congrats, you just caused me to pull out my wallet and buy. This looks incredible! You should sell a case as well for people like me who don't want to bother with 3D printing.

sqfmi 3y ago
Thanks! We plan to offer 2 cases (CNC aluminum and clear transparent plastic) once we're happy with the design
- Zanovis 3y ago
  Do you need support with this design? Happy to help out!
  - sqfmi 3y ago
    We'll be sharing the STEP model of the device and the enclosure here https://github.com/sqfmi/beepberry-hardware https://github.com/sqfmi/beepberry-hardware Feel free to hack away!
- TheFreim 3y ago
  Will the device be able to slot into an enclosure later or will more assembly be required?
  - sqfmi 3y ago
    The CNC version will definitely involve some screws to make it more secure
- dabluecaboose 3y ago
  What are the odds of the clear plastic being purple and green in classic Nintendo fashion?
  - 3y ago

deegles 3y ago

I would love to hook this up to a LoRa receiver and use it around town, will be fun to hack on.

erohead 3y ago
I recommend the PineDio USB LoRA adapter from Pine64! https://pine64.com/product/pinedio-usb-lora-adapter/ https://pine64.com/product/pinedio-usb-lora-adapter/

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

iFire 3y ago

Does this have any relation to https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor 's comms app?

sqfmi 3y ago
It does not, but both use the same display technology https://sharpdevices.com/memory-lcd/ https://sharpdevices.com/memory-lcd/

boomskats 3y ago

Awesome, you're my hero. I just ordered two of these. It looks to be using the same Q10 keyboard as a few of the other hacks (i.e. Fairberry[0], but with the addition of the dial/hangup buttons. Are you only using them for the trackpad? Any ambitions for a touchscreen-only variant? (if so, I've got like 15x of those Q10 keyboards scattered across my desk) [0] https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry

sqfmi 3y ago
The dial/hangup buttons map to modifier keys and power control, and the trackpad can be mapped to mouse/arrow/scroll keys. No plans for touchscreen yet :)

rglover 3y ago

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Just snagged one. Can't wait to play with it.

igetspam 3y ago

I do not need this. At all. Not one bit. Not for a second. It would be foolish of me to spend money on this. Two, please! Very cool.

amysox 3y ago
Your reaction was similar to mine: "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" :)

throwaway894345 3y ago

This seems super cool; have you considered selling a model with a battery and case? I would think that would be far more useful to most?

sqfmi 3y ago
It comes with a battery. No case included for now, but you can 3D print your own with the STL files. Later on we will offer 2 cases (CNC aluminum and plastic).
- andai 3y ago
  Very cool project. How is the battery life?
  - sqfmi 3y ago
    We haven't done extensive testing or optimizations (i.e. sleep, idle power down, etc.) yet. But with the stock battery of 2000mAh and Pi Zero @ ~80mA idle, it should be around ~20h always on. We're estimating a week of battery life once the optimizations are implemented.
    - andai 3y ago
      That's fantastic. I read in another comment that the startup time of the Pi is 5 seconds. Could this be optimized further? Afaik most of the startup time of Linux is detecting and initializing the hardware, so presumably this could be significantly optimized when the target hardware is known ahead of time. I'm also sort of disillusioned with modern computing when I see a video of a home computer from the 80s that you press the power button and it's on (command prompt) before you've even removed your finger!

anonymouskimmer 3y ago

Non-hacker here. Is there any possibility of this being made into a non-touchscreen 5G/4G-VoLTE phone that can be carried in a pocket without damage?

csdvrx 3y ago
It should be possible to alter the case to support a slide cover, like for graphing calculators: slide it off, put in on the back when in use. slide it off, put it on the front when not in use. It should be resistant to puncture damage to the screen and prevent keypresses. For LTE modules, as long as you have USB, you are able to connect one. If you want 5G, check the Qualcomm SDX55 and SDX65 (submm wave + 5G SA) on Telit. The easiest way is to get a Telit EVB + a Cinterion module. The only difficulty would be routing the audio pathways and maybe IMS registration for VoLTE, but you could use a Quectel EG25 like on the pinephone: the module can be controlled by AT commands and the existing work for audio routing could help you get started: check https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro and the audio part of https://xnux.eu/devices/pine64-pinephone.html https://xnux.eu/devices/pine64-pinephone.html like https://xnux.eu/devices/feature/audio-pp.html#toc-voice-call-audio-routing-setup https://xnux.eu/devices/feature/audio-pp.html#toc-voice-call...
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  I said, "non-hacker" :D Thanks, though. If someone wants to turn this into a cell-phone product with a finished case (importantly not 3d printed with odor- or toxin-emitting plastic), audio, etcetera, I'd buy at least one, as long as it could be added to an MVNO plan.

copperx 3y ago

I'm sure young me would have found a ton of use cases for this, but now I'm old. Can someone tell me one or two things this could be useful for? I want to buy it just because it looks awesome.

traverseda 3y ago
Daylight readable display and physical keyboard make it excellent for all kinds of field work. If you're out doing things in real life this thing seems like a good choice to me. Quick calculation when you're building a chicken coop, use as a glide computer or a biking computer. Lots of outdoor stuff really.
calvinmorrison 3y ago
using the GPIO. But you'd need to build some piggyback connectors. In fact if this had a JST or other connector it would be a lot better. Things like reading resistance values from sensors and displaying them back is pretty trivial, and being able to just load up different scripts to do that instead of, say arduino where you really would need to flash a program for each sensor say, would make it useful.
csdvrx 3y ago
> I'm sure young me would have found a ton of use cases for this, but now I'm old. Invert the problem: get one and try to hack to do whatever. That may help you regain some teen spirit :) It may be better if you found some ideas naturally (chasing a rabbit down its rabbit hole is fun, but chasing your own rabbit is even funnier) However, if you want ideas, here are some simple ones: - listen to your bluetooth devices like toothbrushes, scales, thermometers: try to decode and display what they send. There are many free software projects doing just that for Xiaomi devices - connect a 4G module and try to send SMS. Most 4G modules can be driven with just AT commands so it shouldn't be too hard. The Quectel EC25 is extensively documented thanks to being present in the PinePhone: https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/blob/kirkstone/docs/SMS_INTERFACE.md https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/blob... - then try to add a GPS antenna to make a field GPS: check https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro#GPS_/_GNSS https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro#GPS_/_GNSS - then try to have a LTE data connection, using w3m with its sixel mode to visit google news https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#w3m-integration https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#w3m-integration - try to integrate SMS, twitter etc within one client (twitter example: https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#twitter-client-integration https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel#twitter-client-integrati... ) to post your GPS coordinates to your friends - one everything works, increase the difficulty: flash a free firmware on the Quectel, and try to improve it, or add functions that would help your other projects, for example A-GPS to get a faster lock: https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/tree/kirkstone https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk/tree... Each one of this project should take at most one day, and may give you ideas to do more! If you need help, get in touch, my email is in my profile.

jbm 3y ago

-edit- As pointed out below, there is an early access program for developers a little further down on the order page that I missed. Original comment below ----v I love the product but I take issue with the term "Order now" on the website. > Below is the shipping timeline for Beepberry: > Beepberry without Raspberry Pi Zero W: ~ August 2023 > Beepberry with Raspberry Pi Zero W: ~ September 2023 I think it would be more helpful to call it a pre-order on the button. If I click "order now", I'd expect it in 6 weeks, max. Regardless, I like the concept and look forward to buying it after a few people try it out.

koinedad 3y ago
It says 50 are available in the site
- jbm 3y ago
  Ah, I see what you are talking about now. > Beepberry Early Access Program > We have 50 units available to ship immediately to developers and hackers. If you would like to be one of the first to receive a Beepberry, please fill out the form below after placing your order. I'm not sure how I missed that, thank you for pointing it out!

f1shy 3y ago

I like it! But I wouldn‘t buy it… What I would totally buy, is a HHKB keyboard with a Raspberry inside, as the ols home computers. Like the R Pi 400, but with a MX keyboard, and HHKB layout…

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Pawka 3y ago

This piece looks really nice and I almost want it! But have no idea what to do with it. What are your plans folks? How you are using similar hardware?

csdvrx 3y ago
I would use it to ssh and tmux to my servers, to display stats/logs and start simple scripts when needed, like a "wireless KVM". I understand many people use smartphones or tablets for that, but I don't like the idea of having a smartphone with me at all times: I have one, but in a drawer. I charge it and use it when I need to travel. It's too intrusive otherwise. I can use ssh from my laptop, but I like a distraction free environment: most of my apps run in full screen, to help me maintain my concentration. So a separate device I could turn quickly, check what's happening, and type commands, would be very valuable. I would certainly try to find a way to add sixel support to the terminal (BSD console terminals have that) then have gnuplot display some key measurements like latency scatters on top of the moving averages. Another role would be very natural thanks to being cheap: the USB port could help me check devices without having to fear hardware damage to my laptop USB ports (voltage issues etc) or software issues (virus/trojan etc)
- TheFreim 3y ago
  > I understand many people use smartphones or tablets for that, but I don't like the idea of having a smartphone with me at all times This is where I stand. Regrettably it becomes harder and harder now that everything uses 2FA, cannot leave home without the phone.
  - csdvrx 3y ago
    > cannot leave home without the phone. You most certainly can: I do that every day. > Regrettably it becomes harder and harder now that everything uses 2FA Which companies cause you problems? Maybe I can offer suggestions. I barely tolerate TOTP (thanks to oathtool), but any business that want to impose SMS 2FA on me will not have me as a client.

souwecera 3y ago

A PocketChip built by the same person that made the Pebble Time Steel 2 that's on my wrist right now. Take my money. Again.

ecliptik 3y ago
I loved my Pocket CHIP until it just stopped working a few days ago, and this Beepberry post today is a perfect coincidence. Since it's an RPI0w can use it as an ad-hoc serial terminal too.
souwecera 3y ago
'Doh, original Time Steel (my P2+HR died a couple months ago). If you have any Time Steel 2s laying around...

Animats 3y ago

At least it's only $99. Sadly, it's not a shipping product yet. It's a "preorder".

AlphaWeaver 3y ago

I recently switched to Beeper and as exciting as this looks, I wish that the team spent a little bit more time working on their primary app rather than working on what appears to be a toy hardware project. Beeper is supposed to be a "universal messenger" that acts as a central place for all your messaging apps. I originally signed up because I wanted to be able to iMessage on my Android device, which has worked relatively well. In order to use the app's SMS bridge though, you have to set the app as your default SMS app (an Android requirement, no getting around it.) Unfortunately, it's just really difficult to compete with the system-level messenger app. I've been chatting back and forth with them, and their support team has been pretty responsive, but I'll likely stop using it soon. Their app is just too buggy to be such an important part of my workflow as a default SMS app. No RCS support, notification issues, totally missing SMS messages entirely with no way to recover them? (Rare, but destructive.) Love the idea, but needs a good bit more work. (Sorry to the team, I know some of them are here on HN.)

erohead 3y ago
Tough to penalize us because Android does not expose RCS APIs. If the only part of Beeper that you don't like is the SMS part, I would recommend disabling that - go back to using Google Messages for SMS and use Beeper for the 14 other chat networks that we support.
- drabbiticus 3y ago
  Hey just found out about Beeper through this post and it looks like it could be a very nice fit for communicating with Apple friends/co-workers while on Android. It is very nice to find out about this app. > Tough to penalize us because Android does not expose RCS APIs As someone speaking from a genuine place of ignorance, the Google page relating to RCS https://jibe.google.com/ https://jibe.google.com/ seems to imply that RCS is just a universal specification and there are a number of documents that seem relevant after a search for "gsma rcs specification". Is this an Android permissions thing where the only practical way to implement RCS support would be through a Google-supplied API?
  - 3y ago

mustacheemperor 3y ago

I continue to await my beeper invite, but this looks great. I have been itching to tinker with e-ink for a while and this seems like a great entry point. Cheers, I'm in for $99!

corn13read2 3y ago
It's an LCD, poor titling.

bg0 3y ago

If we order it, can we get access to beeper lol

jeffbee 3y ago

Trying to determine if this is really more hackable than an actual BlackBerry 957. This appears to have the keyboard from the BlackBerry Classic, where the straight-across rows were not very desirable. The real BlackBerry 957 is a 386 with 512KB of RAM, a serial port, and a battery life measured in weeks. As a "for hackers" device it is hard to beat.

hammyhavoc 3y ago
What interesting things can you do with a 957 at present? Can it run a Matrix client at present?

anonzzzies 3y ago

Lovely little thing. When you start selling cases as well, please can you set up a mailing list or post again when you start sending including case? Without case I am sure I won’t use it (blew up far too much stuff with static electricity in my life).

sqfmi 3y ago
Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/sqfmi https://twitter.com/sqfmi and join our Discord https://discord.gg/QERrSferdF https://discord.gg/QERrSferdF ! We'll share the latest updates on Beepberry development there.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  I'm surprised you don't push people towards open standards like an email newsletter or a Matrix channel. Twitter? Discord?
  - sqfmi 3y ago
    Good idea! Maybe we should start a newsletter. There is a Matrix bridge to our Discord now.
    - hammyhavoc 3y ago
      An RSS feed would be great too. After Twitter's acquisition, I'm leaning more heavily than ever on RSS, despite being a former hardcore Twitter user. I could see the BeepBerry being very cool for RSS and email too.

vrglvrglvrgl 3y ago

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rchaud 3y ago

Very cool! I was just recently feeling that I have LCD fatigue, and wondered what it would be like to have a mobile computing device with a similar screen as a Nokia from 20 years ago. Can I ask why you copied the classic Blackberry keyboard almost entirely? Even the symbol on the "Menu" button is BB's. There are keyboard phone OEMs like Unihertz that specifically changed their keyboard design to not resemble BB so as to avoid patent disputes.

ryukafalz 3y ago
This is almost certainly an actual BlackBerry keyboard. There have been a number of recent hobbyist projects using them, I don't know if they're old parts lying around warehouses or gutted from unsold phones... but they're out there.
- opan 3y ago
  The screens from the BlackBerry Q5 are also being used in Game Boy Colors now for a nice upgrade. Not sure how they source those either.

StrangeATractor 3y ago

The only gripe I have about this is that it appears to be dependent on a microsd card for storage. Is there an alternative? I've been burned one too many times by corrupted storage on those to go there again. Other than that, I want five of these.

sqfmi 3y ago
Corrupted storage is a pain :( The Beepberry firmware can safely shutdown the Pi before disconnecting power, so hopefully that will help with SD issues. raspi-config also has a read-only overlay filesystem option now.
bityard 3y ago
I started buying high endurance SD cards years ago and have never had a problem with them.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  BTW are they more sensible to X rays? I've had one die early.
- kajecounterhack 3y ago
  +1 they're quite cheap now -- as of writing, $17 for a samsung 128gb, $15 for sandisk 128gb on Amazon. I have a fleet of Raspberry Pi that have been using these cards. The other thing you can do is to buy two and clone your SD card (or back your card up as a `.img`).

anoncow 3y ago

Looks very good. Can we have a more polished version? And please remove the blackberry logo from the keypad.

askvictor 3y ago
Looks like it might be an actual blackberry keyboard.

razerbeans 3y ago

I'm a huge fan of Squarofumi. I've bought two Watchy kits and have absolutely loved coding all kinds of interesting things for them. Given that it's powered by ESP32, it makes development super easy.

sqfmi 3y ago
Thanks!

user3939382 3y ago

To borrow from Jerry Maguire: you had me at physical qwerty.

conor_f 3y ago

I love the form factor here. A few questions: 1) Have you considered how this could be made more mobile friendly? Most places I could see myself using a device like this, I wouldn't have access to WiFi. Is there an equivalent of a USB SIM card adapter that would fit here? 2) What sort of battery life can be achieved with this? Looks great though! Am very likely to order an iteration of this :)

erohead 3y ago
1) maybe? this is just a hacker device for now. You can easily add a USB LTE modem if you'd like. 2) battery life will depend on which OS you use, peripherals, software duty cycle etc. It's a hacker device, don't expect it to work without putting in the effort to tune/tweak it.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > You can easily add a USB LTE modem if you'd like. Would you like some help with that? I was only planning to add sixel support, but I could prepare you a simple configuration to use a cheap 4G module like the Quectel EC25 () at least for sending/receiving SMS, and maybe acting as an access point. () Other options would also be possible, like Qualcomm SDX55 and SDX62/SDX65 for 5G, but the Quectel has more community support since it's also used on the linphone
  - jskulski 3y ago
    (Not OP) I’d find value in this if you were considering publishing a guide. Been working on a pi400 eink solar powered cyberdeck but haven’t done anything with cell connection yet. So could follow long for that and for the blackberry.
    - csdvrx 3y ago
      I'd certainly publish a guide and a set of files to flash. Using an internal Qualcomm SDX module, I've already got both 4G and 5G working great on my Thinkpad with just a few AT commands, so I don't foresee any practical difficulty except maybe getting MLC03 submmWave antennas (I can't find any, so I stick to B71 on 5G)

MrBruh 3y ago

Could someone tell me how many hours of battery life you could get out of it?

epiccoleman 3y ago

This is ridiculously cool!

digging 3y ago

FYI the FAQ page gets a 404: https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/FAQ https://beepberry.sqfmi.com/docs/FAQ

kragen 3y ago

i almost didn't open this because it said 'e-paper' and i've sort of dismissed e-paper for this kind of thing this is much more interesting than an e-paper device; it's a memory-in-pixel lcd device, which means 100 times better refresh rate and 1000 times better power consumption than e-paper. the lcd in question (ls027b7dh01, i assume, though that information is missing from the web pages) is supposed to run on 175μW at 20fps, so you can get a full usable computer system in submilliwatt territory, so the 2.2 kilojoules in a cr2032 can power it for weeks however, i think that, as a low-power device, this is probably fatally flawed. the rp2040 dooms it; the rp2040 lacks a reasonable deep-sleep mode; its lowest-power mode is nearly a milliwatt, so it will drain the battery flat when it's not being used also it's unclear, in this design, how much the rp2040 can do without powering up the pi zero, which is a humongous power hog, using over 1000 milliwatts. so instead of weeks of active use from a cr2032 (and months of standby if you use a low-power micro instead of an rp2040) you get hours what's the point of using a super expensive memory-in-pixel lcd to get the display power consumption down from e-paper's 10-100 milliwatts into submilliwatt territory if you're just going to burn a thousand milliwatts in a raspberry pi? just use a conventional lcd then, maybe one with nice 24-bit color. old nokia lcds will run on a milliwatt maybe an esp32 would be a better middle ground if you aren't willing to go all the way to an ambiq apollo3 or something, which can (hypothetically) give you submilliwatt power consumption with workstation-class performance, as long as you don't need virtual memory; you probably want an esp32 or equivalent in there anyway for wi-fi usb-c is a great way to be able to hook up a full-size external keyboard, but speaking usb-c to a keyboard is also probably beyond the capabilities of the rp2040, and so would also need to power up the giant power hog pi zero

knodi123 3y ago
> its lowest-power mode is nearly a milliwatt, so it will drain the battery flat when it's not being used Add a hardware power button?
dheera 3y ago
I'm not too sure of this trend of rebranding 1980's monochrome LCDs as the "new" e-paper. The refresh rates are nice but it's really not the same, and in direct sunlight on a hot California day you can see a world of difference between the contrast and glare of a high school graphing calculator and a Kindle.

vhodges 3y ago

A lot pricier of course but there's https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor too for the same kind of uses this is for.

bodge5000 3y ago

Have been wanting to get a device just like this for a long time to do live-coding (Glicol) on. So glad you had the foresight to expose the rpi pins so I can just stick an audio hat onto it to get audio in/out

hemmert 3y ago

How cool is that! Pebbltastic!

nmstoker 3y ago

Seems to only mention Zero W directly, but would a Zero 2 W also work? Kind of expecting it would but thought it better to check

sqfmi 3y ago
Yup! It should be a drop-in alternative. Other SBCs should also work but requires a bit more tinkering with the software.
Quillbert182 3y ago
I believe it would, as they said in another comment that anything that fits the Zero W form factor would work, and the Zero 2 W has the exact same layout.

mortenjorck 3y ago

So that appears to be an actual Blackberry keyboard – are they reclaimed? OEM surplus?

erohead 3y ago
Someone is still manufacturing replacement parts apparently!
matbatt38 3y ago
Is it even legal? (Serious question)
- girvo 3y ago
  Why would it not be? BlackBerry the company (as in the hardware one) doesn’t exist anymore, if parts exist why wouldn’t people be able to use them?
  - filmgirlcw 3y ago
    It does. They just don’t sell hardware. They sold most of the patents but still retain some and they’ve sued over the keyboard before (Google BlackBerry vs Typo keyboard) so it isn’t a dumb question. That said, if someone else is selling an OEM-like part, I doubt this is high volume enough for the people left at BlackBerry to care.
    - girvo 3y ago
      Okay, I didn’t know that, which was why I asked.
m0dest 3y ago
The trademark issues with the BlackBerry logo on the keyboard, combined with the "Beepberry" name, are going to be a problem.

atentaten 3y ago

With all the excited responses to this post a feel like a fool because I don't understand how one would go about using this. Admittedly I'm knew this type of product, but I want to be excited too or at least be able to come up with some use cases where I can make an informed choice on whether this product is useful or not. Is there a list or site with ideas on how to make use of products like this?

jack_riminton 3y ago
Me too, I can’t think of a situation where this would be useful although I’d like to hear how others would use it
- nirav72 3y ago
  So one possible use case. At least for me and other people that want quick access to a terminal without having to fire up a notebook or pc.
  - sr-latch 3y ago
    ssh into your home computer through your phone or use Termux if you're on android
    - EamonnMR 3y ago
      Termux used to be really nice but it's fairly broken now if you installed it from google play.
      - tjoff 3y ago
        ... don't install it from google play then. "Problem" solved.
allig256 3y ago
If you're trying to trim down on phone time, but still want to be somewhat contactable? I guess this would require a phone with a WiFi hotspot when you're out and about, but if you're at home and not wanting to reach for that phone this device could help.

opan 3y ago

Sad to see such a cool project using Discord.

nirav72 3y ago

The refresh rate for that epaper screen is better than I thought it would be. Might not be a bad device for quick admin work for the homelab. Will it work with a pi zero 2 and how is this type of screen under lowlight conditions?

megablast 3y ago
It’s not epapper
erohead 3y ago
works great with pi zero 2. Needs a front-light to see in low light.

amstan 3y ago

Nit about the website: Tiny little youtube videos with a condescending: "Full screen is unavailable. Find out more"

PointyFluff 3y ago

[dead]

beebeepka 3y ago

Love the form factor but Pi Zero W is a no go, tinkering or not. Stuff like this fuels my deep disappointment with the way smartphones are being treated. So powerful, yet locked down. Need legislation to fix incredible waste because clearly capitalism, by itself, won't.

EamonnMR 3y ago

Coincidentally, I finally got my Watchy set up today. Though the case is bulky enough that I might take it out and just use a NATO strap.

dotancohen 3y ago

Honestly, this form factor is exactly what I'm looking for in an Android keyboard. I'd love an external, tactile keyboard like this that lets me see the text before it is sent to the Android host as input. If you could enable bluetooth keyboard functionality as a feature, and support typing in multiple languages too (mine are English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Greek) then I'll be the first to order.

rtpg 3y ago

A fancy expensive version of this concept exists as the Precursor. All open, built off of some FPGAs, though with a much bigger security focus

zeckalpha 3y ago

A predecessor to this concept: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipit_wireless_messenger_(Z2) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipit_wireless_messenger_(Z2...

pkphilip 3y ago

What is the possibility of connecting a GSM module and using this for making and receiving calls and staying connected on the go?

girvo 3y ago
4G modules with calling are incredibly power hungry, and take ages to get a fix typically from a cold boot. Even just basic data NB-IoT ones use heaps of power.

derefr 3y ago

Makes me curious: is there an open firmware for old Blackberries? As I feel like it could be just as interesting to play around with that (at the bare metal level, I mean; just writing apps for the Blackberry OS isn’t too interesting.)

filmgirlcw 3y ago
Not that I’ve seen. The hacker/tinkerer community never adopted BlackBerry the way they did iOS or Android (or even Palm or Windows Mobile) and the BlackBerry focus on security (putting aside giving foreign governments BBM keys for a minute) meant that unlocking bootloaders on the BBOS and QNX BB10 devices would be more challenging than other phones of that vintage, since a huge selling point to IT admins was that it was safe to put these things on your network. Obviously someone could jailbreak the bootloaders with enough effort, but I very much doubt many of the components would have drivers in the Linux kernel (the Bold 9900 which was the most powerful BBOS device ever released I think had a Snapdragon SoC and Qualcomm really doesn’t like to open up its drivers) and the effort involved in even trying would almost certainly be more trouble than it was worth.

BiteCode_dev 3y ago

With lora support, it would make for a nice off the grid communication device.

rkwasny 3y ago
can lora work p2p? or needs a powered router somewhere
- BiteCode_dev 3y ago
  https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction
  - rkwasny 3y ago
    Awesome, just bought two :-)

prmoustache 3y ago

This sound like one of the millions of gadgets that are just made for the heck of it and ends up in a drawer after being used for a week. This is just e-waste in the making. I don't see it as a positive thing. Unless you are one of the very few who still don't own a mobile phone or use a very limited one, you already own a portable networked terminal.

rollcat 3y ago
On the other hand, if you do actually want a small screen and a tactile keyboard for an RPi Zero, this looks like a nice package.
tartuffe78 3y ago
Do you know how many people are buying smart tooth brushes for their kids to ignore, digital picture frames that there parents don't use, and smart appliances they use once a year? This is a drop in the ocean.
- prmoustache 3y ago
  So if people are doing shitty thing it makes it ok to do it yourself as well?

lucasfcosta 3y ago

It looks absolutely awesome. Congratulations on the launch. This is exactly the kind of thing I'd like to play with. Also, I find the actual BB keyboard better to type code in as I can get some tactile feedback (swipe is too imprecise for my fingers).

sandbx 3y ago

Looks like teenage engineering pocket operators :)

notorandit 3y ago

When will we get a tiny Linux handheld with 1 or 2 GB RAM and a couple of cores? Any core, I mean. RISC-V my favorite, but anything else in the 32-bit range would be ok too. I mean a real battery-operated product I can slip in my pocket. NOT a smartphone, though.

aftergibson 3y ago

Ordered, should be a fun device to hack on. There's already some hacky e-ink projects I've go I'd like to port to this form factor.

arminsergiony 3y ago

I think it would be more helpful to call it a pre-order on the button. If I click "order now", I'd expect it in 6 weeks, max.

eggy 3y ago

Looks like my Blackberry and my KeyOne with that keyboard. I like small dedicated things like this. I have a BT keyboard the size of a credit card I bought in Shenzen in 2012 that still works great with tiny joystick with a small thumb rubber pad on it. I am currently using a Numworks calculator with color screen for fun small projects with the latest Omega OS for it. Python scripts, GB stuff, etc. I also do engineering/technical work, so the Numworks is used for both business and pleasure!

ENadyr 3y ago

Great to see that you're still exploring hardware, Eric! I'm definitely planning to get one of these, but as some others have mentioned, I might attempt to convert it into a LoRa peer-to-peer communicator. Currently, I rely on MestTastic relays, which can be quite cumbersome due to the need for an iPhone or Android device.