7 ms·

The Comet is a handheld Linux computer that brings extensibility

156 points by marcodiego 2y ago

lukan 2y ago
I want it! But the question to me is, how reliable is it? If I turn it on, can I resume working on my script or taking notes, or do I have to sometimes start with debugging the keyboard driver with a touch screen? (I am burned a bit by pinephone and co. who never evolved beyond tinker toy)
aa-jv 2y ago
I would love to have a docking plate which allows for Playdate integration ..
follower 2y ago
The Allen Key (a.k.a Hex Key) stored within the device itself is (marketing) genius--that to my surprise doesn't seem to feature very prominently in their marketing... :D (Perhaps because the audience to which such a thing seems to be marketing genius isn't their current desired target? :) ) From my perspective the interior Allen Key: immediately acts as a point of uniqueness; communicates something very specific about the product; and, potentially, serves to calibrate potential customer expectations. (Exactly what the "very specific" thing communicated is, is obviously open to interpretation: it could be "the enclosed Allen Key means this device requires tinkering"; or, alternatively, "the enclosed Allen Key means I don't have to tinker with this device but that is an option available to me".) The Comet is the most interesting thing I've seen come out of CES this week. I'd heard of neither the product nor the company before I watched these videos (in this order): * "Mecha Comet Linux Handheld (CES 2025)" (~5 min): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/89pAwl55HJw https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/89pAwl55HJw * "Mecha Comet Modular Linux Handheld at #ces2025, NXP i.MX8, NVMe, Debian, Open Source Extensions, GPU" (~12 min): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DB-0H8Q4d1U https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DB-0H8Q4d1U * "Mecha Comet Teaser" (~1 min): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AGHmvOFkUKw https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AGHmvOFkUKw In the first two videos the company founder does a really good job of demonstrating/explaining device features, describing some of the context for the product; and, the motivation behind particular implementation details (e.g. using an NXP processor due to an absence of NDA requirements & their reputation for upstreaming Linux kernel patches). On the software side, they are using Rust for development of various elements of the device OS/GUI (a detail that might be of interest to some people) including a toolkit for Wayland clients (a detail that might be of interest to some other people :) ). (And they appear to be doing a significant amount of software development "in the open", based on a brief look at the level of activity in various repos/branches.) However, particularly while watching the first video there was a nagging feeling of "Hmmm, does this all sound a bit too good to be true?" (partly for specific reasons e.g. an impending Kickstarter campaign launch; and, partly just from a general sense of "there's always some reason why we can't have nice things" :) ). The founder did specify that (as I understand it) they aren't dependent on the Kickstarter for funding of manufacturing; and, that part of the reason the KS campaign wouldn't launch for couple of months was that they wanted to minimise the time between people's support & receipt of their campaign "reward" device. (Obviously have to take the founder's word on that; and, also, plans don't always go according to... plan.) Perhaps, amusingly, after spending some time exploring the Mecha web site & source repos, discovering development had been underway for around three years, and, getting a bit more insight into what the company's overall plan seemed to be, I started to wonder "Is this starting to seem too slick? How has this been funded so far & what is the monetization plan going forward?". :D On the positive side--from a company financial sustainability point of view--it seems The Comet isn't a one-off "pie in the sky tinkering toy for Linux nerds" (nonpejorative :) ) but more of a combination proving-ground/audience-attractor/development-kit for a series of more industrial/enterprise-focused boards & services that serve as a platform for people/companies building custom sensor-orientated device solutions. On the potentially negative side--from a "is some big company going to acquire Mecha and take away our toy" point of view--well, the same information is also true. :) However, assuming that Mecha delivers on its stated intent around Open Source (which seems like it might be off to a reasonable start based on a brief look at its current repos), before any such acquisition might happen then such an eventuality would be "unfortunate" but not an immediate death knell for existing units in people's hands. Having said all that: The Comet definitely seems like an intriguing device with interesting potential but--given the many sagas of the many devices from the many companies that have come before it--I think it would be beneficial for the company to share more about the business context and overall roadmap to help potential supporters be more informed. And, of course, it would be wise for potential supporters to exercise a degree of caution consummate to their ability to absorb the impact of their cash or device being "flushed down the toilet", as it were. :) (Disclosure: While I am very much interested in embedded Linux devices like this I am not likely to purchase The Comet any time soon due to a lack of disposable income.)
rickcarlino 2y ago
Be sure to put those connectors through adequate stress testing. I’ve had several products that use a similar design (Garmin watch, Bluetooth headset) and I’ve been disappointed to find that the connector wears out with time.
- actionfromafar 2y ago
  Hear me out but... this could have been a high-speed serial interface instead, much less stressing. And a breakout board for when you want GPIO.
- user_7832 2y ago
  Are pogo pins the gold standard for data across the most (dis)connect cycles? Could any hardware engineer chime in?
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Pogo pins should handle tons of connections yes. At work we used these for board testing through test points ("bed of nails") and i never heard of the pogo pins wearing out. These were pretty long pogo pins though. They wouldn't fit in this thing.
- globular-toast 2y ago
  On Garmin watches the springy mechanical part is on the cable, not the watch. Have you observed the watch itself wearing out? I would hope it's designed such that the cable is sacrificial and the watch lasts. In the product here the springs appear to be on the device side, which seems to me like the bit that would be more likely to wear out. That's concerning, but there's more chance of being to able to replace it than in something tiny like a watch.
  - afandian 2y ago
    The Magsafe connector on Apple laptops has pogo pins on the cable, plus a magnet to hold them on. I've had machines of all 3 generations. They have mostly been reliable, controlled for the number of cycles. But I have seen the laptop get worn down, and the pins eventually became unreliable on old laptops. I don't know how that holds up against USB or the previous weird barrel jack thing they used. Magsafe is far more visible than the others.
cupofjoakim 2y ago
Looks really cool, but I'll remain sceptic until it's launched and I see reviews. It stands and falls with the reliability and endurance of those connections, and that's not something we can see on a kickstarter.
tsm 2y ago
Tangential: I'm looking for a handheld Linux computer that's the approximate size and shape of a GameBoy Advance SP, but with a QWERTY keyboard and wifi. The old Zipit Z-2 would've been perfect. All it needs to run is git and Emacs/org-mode. It's a surprisingly hard form factor to shop for—anyone have any recommendations?
- 5- 2y ago
  why not zipit z2 (if you can find it)? i remember the keyboard not being great but it was completely usable. around the same time there was also ben nanonote, but the z2 is probably preferable to it. not a lot of clamshells since then (and generally not enough pocket qwerty computers). for something slightly larger, consider gemini pda or one of its succcessors, or a keyboard case for a phone, e.g. pinephone. or a bit larger still (but the same 6" screen diagonal), you get an actual pc with gpd micropc.
- WaxProlix 2y ago
  If you're willing to cave on the clamshell form factor, there's a bunch of neat stuff in the HackberryPi / Lilygo T-Deck space.
- fmajid 2y ago
  I have a Planet Computers Gemini, which is a reinterpretation of the Psion Series 5, running Android but you can also install Linux. They have new models since, but I've heard reports the company is not honoring orders, so caveat emptor. Another option would be one of the GPD Pocket mini-laptops, they actually ship with Ubuntu. I'd gotten one of the older models, but the screen was just too small for my tired eyes: https://www.gpd.hk/gpdpocket/ https://www.gpd.hk/gpdpocket/
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    The Gemini build quality also left a lot to be desired. As well as the software. I liked the idea but I sold it in the end.
    - 2y ago
usr1106 2y ago
Not sure why I would want a handheld computer. But I still need a phone (calling, SMS) occasionally. So I use that also for browsing and messaging, too. GNU/Linux would be a great plus. What are my realistic alternatives? Realistic meaning not a huge amount of work and/or unreliable/buggy system.
- saidinesh5 2y ago
  If you just want calling, sms, browsing and messaging, and some amount of GNU/Linux, your main options are: 1) Any officially supported sailfish OS device ( https://shop.jolla.com/ https://shop.jolla.com/ - which includes their licensed and officially blessed version for older sony xperia services) 2) Any ubuntu touch supported devices: https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/promoted/ https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/promoted/ Would be very stable... And good enough for daily use.. But honestly even degoogled Android on a well supported phone like Pixel + Termux is fairly good enough to use these days. I don't see the value of running desktop Linux software on these devices anymore...
  - usr1106 2y ago
    1) Yes, I am a Sailfish user. I have been quite happy with the older generation hardware up to Xperia X. From what I read the newer generations have been more problematic. Yeah, after having skipped some I ordered the bleeding edge Reeder and was bitten by the disk encryption bug. Have been busy recently, should finally check what is the repair situation for that... Android: After my Xpdria X HW got unusable as a daily phone I have used Android (mostly without Google). But general administration seems to be a lot of work a lot to learn. In GNU/Linux I know what to do without any extra effort. Time is limited...
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    A phone with Termux recently had the USB port go bust. I could neither charge it nor use ADB to back it up. But I was able to SSH into my desktop and back up the important files (voice notes, photos) via scp with the clock ticking at 3% charge and dropping. Very impressive and honestly being able to install ncdu on the phone to quickly find large, important files was a revelation in the usability of both bash and Android.
dmd 2y ago
If you want something similar to this RIGHT NOW that has thousands of available parts and millions of users, see https://m5stack.com/ https://m5stack.com/
- Etheryte 2y ago
  That looks pretty interesting, do you happen to have any first hand experience with this? In my experience, platforms like this live and die by the pain of unhandled edge cases, so even if the happy path works fine, it can still be something to avoid.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
    I've released projects based on M5Stack. Not much to say: it does what it claims. Getting the right software libraries in place is a minor pain, but all in all it's pretty straightforward as far as embedded development goes. GP points to the home page, so I don't know which of the very many devices was being referred to. My experience is with M5Stack Tough and I recommend it.
    - aa-jv 2y ago
      >Getting the right software libraries in place is a minor pain The developer experience is pretty good though, if you use platformio in the same way you might use Linux package management.
      - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
        Oh, yeah. By "minor pain" I meant it took a couple of hours as opposed to a few minutes.
  - M95D 2y ago
    I'm using 2 M5StickC with ESPHome to automate stuff. ESPHome is very easy to configure. Just check if the add-ons you want are supported or not.
  - 2y ago
h73 2y ago
Zero Terminal by N-O-D-E, anyone? https://n-o-d-e.net/zeroterminal3.html https://n-o-d-e.net/zeroterminal3.html https://youtu.be/wiJqUWfR90I https://youtu.be/wiJqUWfR90I
- stonogo 2y ago
  The Zero Terminal has a pretty difficult disadvantage in that it does not exist.
debo_ 2y ago
Slightly unrelated, but whoever chose Skyroads as their videogame demo example has made my heart sing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyRoads_%28video_game%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyRoads_%28video_game%29
- shoaibmerchant 2y ago
  Founder here, that would be me. I have spent countless hours on this :D
  - debo_ 2y ago
    <3 I loved this game so much as a kid!
skerit 2y ago
It looks very cool! I almost wish I needed it.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
robertlagrant 2y ago
First Tricorder wins.
magic_smoke_ee 2y ago
At the expense of more software dev and a bluetooth module, It would've been more extensible and versatile if it had just used BT for input (HID) and GPIO rather than creating yet another proprietary connector and forbidding the use of GPIO and a keyboard simultaneously. Why not integrate the most popular one and use BT for the rest? Great, we've re-invented what already exists. Sigh.
- eternityforest 2y ago
  Having a micro sized detachable BT keyboard would be amazing, but it would still need to charge somehow. It seems like the whole point is that it's one integrated piece you can slip in a pocket, not a collection of hacker gadgets with separate chargers and USB cables you have to be careful about.
  - magic_smoke_ee 2y ago
    Build-in either a keyboard or the gamepad. I have BT mice, keyboards, gamepads, and other things that already handle how they charge (USB-C). But it's not a single thing if you're carrying around other parts anyhow, and those appear kind of flimsy. And I already have a general purpose computing device with networking capability that goes in my pocket, a smartphone... so why would I want to put it my pocket if it does less?
    - eternityforest 2y ago
      You might want a dedicated device to control some lights or scan some barcodes that you can hand off without handing off the most expensive thing you own, that unlocks almost every piece of personal data you have. A built in keyboard could be a failure point, and gamepads are well known to fail. I'd trust five layers of frameworks and thousands of lines of code more than a cheap switch. If they really wanted maximum reliability, I would prefer they charge the keypad with NFC and talk to it over either BLE or just the NFC itself.
- saidinesh5 2y ago
  From the looks of it you can still use your Bluetooth keyboard as it is with the Linux bluetooth stack, except you have to figure out a way to power it .. yet another battery? I think you can just create another module that'll split the gpio to keypad and other purposes as it is just a USB keypad..
dmitrygr 2y ago
> 1.8 GHz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 A53 is an antique in-order core whose pipeline cannot even handle two multiplies in a row. 1.8GHz is also rather slow. I caution anyone from expecting this thing to perform in any sane fashion if running modern bloated code. It would probably collapse under the pile of JavaScript that is the modern web, if you attempted to run chromium.
- stonogo 2y ago
  Is it irony, or merely a counterpoint, that I read this comment on a laptop powered by this exact SoC, running Firefox on Debian?
  - dmitrygr 2y ago
    How well does said laptop handle google maps or a youtube live stream with chat? 1080p60fps video?
    - stonogo 2y ago
      Video is accelerated and works fine. Google maps is useable (I just tested it) but not great. It's not too much worse than it is on my MUCH faster M3 Macbook, though. I think I just don't like Google maps. Apple maps works better on both devices. I'm not going to pretend it's not a comparatively slow computer, but the most it really affects is application launch. Starting Firefox or Chrome is pretty bad: five to ten seconds. Once it's launched, however, it's mostly fine.
      - lukan 2y ago
        Thank you, that gives a good performance estimation of what to expect and I still like it.
      - dmitrygr 2y ago
        > Starting Firefox or Chrome is pretty bad: five to ten seconds Thank you for this, It'll help people make up their mind.
ChocolateGod 2y ago
This thing just reminds me how much I miss Android phones with physical keyboards.

156 points by marcodiego 2y ago

I want it! But the question to me is, how reliable is it? If I turn it on, can I resume working on my script or taking notes, or do I have to sometimes start with debugging the keyboard driver with a touch screen? (I am burned a bit by pinephone and co. who never evolved beyond tinker toy)

aa-jv 2y ago

I would love to have a docking plate which allows for Playdate integration ..

follower 2y ago

The Allen Key (a.k.a Hex Key) stored within the device itself is (marketing) genius--that to my surprise doesn't seem to feature very prominently in their marketing... :D (Perhaps because the audience to which such a thing seems to be marketing genius isn't their current desired target? :) ) From my perspective the interior Allen Key: immediately acts as a point of uniqueness; communicates something very specific about the product; and, potentially, serves to calibrate potential customer expectations. (Exactly what the "very specific" thing communicated is, is obviously open to interpretation: it could be "the enclosed Allen Key means this device requires tinkering"; or, alternatively, "the enclosed Allen Key means I don't have to tinker with this device but that is an option available to me".) The Comet is the most interesting thing I've seen come out of CES this week. I'd heard of neither the product nor the company before I watched these videos (in this order): * "Mecha Comet Linux Handheld (CES 2025)" (~5 min): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/89pAwl55HJw https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/89pAwl55HJw * "Mecha Comet Modular Linux Handheld at #ces2025, NXP i.MX8, NVMe, Debian, Open Source Extensions, GPU" (~12 min): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DB-0H8Q4d1U https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DB-0H8Q4d1U * "Mecha Comet Teaser" (~1 min): https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AGHmvOFkUKw https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AGHmvOFkUKw In the first two videos the company founder does a really good job of demonstrating/explaining device features, describing some of the context for the product; and, the motivation behind particular implementation details (e.g. using an NXP processor due to an absence of NDA requirements & their reputation for upstreaming Linux kernel patches). On the software side, they are using Rust for development of various elements of the device OS/GUI (a detail that might be of interest to some people) including a toolkit for Wayland clients (a detail that might be of interest to some other people :) ). (And they appear to be doing a significant amount of software development "in the open", based on a brief look at the level of activity in various repos/branches.) However, particularly while watching the first video there was a nagging feeling of "Hmmm, does this all sound a bit too good to be true?" (partly for specific reasons e.g. an impending Kickstarter campaign launch; and, partly just from a general sense of "there's always some reason why we can't have nice things" :) ). The founder did specify that (as I understand it) they aren't dependent on the Kickstarter for funding of manufacturing; and, that part of the reason the KS campaign wouldn't launch for couple of months was that they wanted to minimise the time between people's support & receipt of their campaign "reward" device. (Obviously have to take the founder's word on that; and, also, plans don't always go according to... plan.) Perhaps, amusingly, after spending some time exploring the Mecha web site & source repos, discovering development had been underway for around three years, and, getting a bit more insight into what the company's overall plan seemed to be, I started to wonder "Is this starting to seem too slick? How has this been funded so far & what is the monetization plan going forward?". :D On the positive side--from a company financial sustainability point of view--it seems The Comet isn't a one-off "pie in the sky tinkering toy for Linux nerds" (nonpejorative :) ) but more of a combination proving-ground/audience-attractor/development-kit for a series of more industrial/enterprise-focused boards & services that serve as a platform for people/companies building custom sensor-orientated device solutions. On the potentially negative side--from a "is some big company going to acquire Mecha and take away our toy" point of view--well, the same information is also true. :) However, assuming that Mecha delivers on its stated intent around Open Source (which seems like it might be off to a reasonable start based on a brief look at its current repos), before any such acquisition might happen then such an eventuality would be "unfortunate" but not an immediate death knell for existing units in people's hands. Having said all that: The Comet definitely seems like an intriguing device with interesting potential but--given the many sagas of the many devices from the many companies that have come before it--I think it would be beneficial for the company to share more about the business context and overall roadmap to help potential supporters be more informed. And, of course, it would be wise for potential supporters to exercise a degree of caution consummate to their ability to absorb the impact of their cash or device being "flushed down the toilet", as it were. :) (Disclosure: While I am very much interested in embedded Linux devices like this I am not likely to purchase The Comet any time soon due to a lack of disposable income.)

rickcarlino 2y ago

Be sure to put those connectors through adequate stress testing. I’ve had several products that use a similar design (Garmin watch, Bluetooth headset) and I’ve been disappointed to find that the connector wears out with time.

actionfromafar 2y ago
Hear me out but... this could have been a high-speed serial interface instead, much less stressing. And a breakout board for when you want GPIO.
user_7832 2y ago
Are pogo pins the gold standard for data across the most (dis)connect cycles? Could any hardware engineer chime in?
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Pogo pins should handle tons of connections yes. At work we used these for board testing through test points ("bed of nails") and i never heard of the pogo pins wearing out. These were pretty long pogo pins though. They wouldn't fit in this thing.
globular-toast 2y ago
On Garmin watches the springy mechanical part is on the cable, not the watch. Have you observed the watch itself wearing out? I would hope it's designed such that the cable is sacrificial and the watch lasts. In the product here the springs appear to be on the device side, which seems to me like the bit that would be more likely to wear out. That's concerning, but there's more chance of being to able to replace it than in something tiny like a watch.
- afandian 2y ago
  The Magsafe connector on Apple laptops has pogo pins on the cable, plus a magnet to hold them on. I've had machines of all 3 generations. They have mostly been reliable, controlled for the number of cycles. But I have seen the laptop get worn down, and the pins eventually became unreliable on old laptops. I don't know how that holds up against USB or the previous weird barrel jack thing they used. Magsafe is far more visible than the others.

cupofjoakim 2y ago

Looks really cool, but I'll remain sceptic until it's launched and I see reviews. It stands and falls with the reliability and endurance of those connections, and that's not something we can see on a kickstarter.

tsm 2y ago

Tangential: I'm looking for a handheld Linux computer that's the approximate size and shape of a GameBoy Advance SP, but with a QWERTY keyboard and wifi. The old Zipit Z-2 would've been perfect. All it needs to run is git and Emacs/org-mode. It's a surprisingly hard form factor to shop for—anyone have any recommendations?

5- 2y ago
why not zipit z2 (if you can find it)? i remember the keyboard not being great but it was completely usable. around the same time there was also ben nanonote, but the z2 is probably preferable to it. not a lot of clamshells since then (and generally not enough pocket qwerty computers). for something slightly larger, consider gemini pda or one of its succcessors, or a keyboard case for a phone, e.g. pinephone. or a bit larger still (but the same 6" screen diagonal), you get an actual pc with gpd micropc.
WaxProlix 2y ago
If you're willing to cave on the clamshell form factor, there's a bunch of neat stuff in the HackberryPi / Lilygo T-Deck space.
fmajid 2y ago
I have a Planet Computers Gemini, which is a reinterpretation of the Psion Series 5, running Android but you can also install Linux. They have new models since, but I've heard reports the company is not honoring orders, so caveat emptor. Another option would be one of the GPD Pocket mini-laptops, they actually ship with Ubuntu. I'd gotten one of the older models, but the screen was just too small for my tired eyes: https://www.gpd.hk/gpdpocket/ https://www.gpd.hk/gpdpocket/
- wkat4242 2y ago
  The Gemini build quality also left a lot to be desired. As well as the software. I liked the idea but I sold it in the end.
  - 2y ago

usr1106 2y ago

Not sure why I would want a handheld computer. But I still need a phone (calling, SMS) occasionally. So I use that also for browsing and messaging, too. GNU/Linux would be a great plus. What are my realistic alternatives? Realistic meaning not a huge amount of work and/or unreliable/buggy system.

saidinesh5 2y ago
If you just want calling, sms, browsing and messaging, and some amount of GNU/Linux, your main options are: 1) Any officially supported sailfish OS device ( https://shop.jolla.com/ https://shop.jolla.com/ - which includes their licensed and officially blessed version for older sony xperia services) 2) Any ubuntu touch supported devices: https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/promoted/ https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/promoted/ Would be very stable... And good enough for daily use.. But honestly even degoogled Android on a well supported phone like Pixel + Termux is fairly good enough to use these days. I don't see the value of running desktop Linux software on these devices anymore...
- usr1106 2y ago
  1) Yes, I am a Sailfish user. I have been quite happy with the older generation hardware up to Xperia X. From what I read the newer generations have been more problematic. Yeah, after having skipped some I ordered the bleeding edge Reeder and was bitten by the disk encryption bug. Have been busy recently, should finally check what is the repair situation for that... Android: After my Xpdria X HW got unusable as a daily phone I have used Android (mostly without Google). But general administration seems to be a lot of work a lot to learn. In GNU/Linux I know what to do without any extra effort. Time is limited...
- dotancohen 2y ago
  A phone with Termux recently had the USB port go bust. I could neither charge it nor use ADB to back it up. But I was able to SSH into my desktop and back up the important files (voice notes, photos) via scp with the clock ticking at 3% charge and dropping. Very impressive and honestly being able to install ncdu on the phone to quickly find large, important files was a revelation in the usability of both bash and Android.

dmd 2y ago

If you want something similar to this RIGHT NOW that has thousands of available parts and millions of users, see https://m5stack.com/ https://m5stack.com/

Etheryte 2y ago
That looks pretty interesting, do you happen to have any first hand experience with this? In my experience, platforms like this live and die by the pain of unhandled edge cases, so even if the happy path works fine, it can still be something to avoid.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
  I've released projects based on M5Stack. Not much to say: it does what it claims. Getting the right software libraries in place is a minor pain, but all in all it's pretty straightforward as far as embedded development goes. GP points to the home page, so I don't know which of the very many devices was being referred to. My experience is with M5Stack Tough and I recommend it.
  - aa-jv 2y ago
    >Getting the right software libraries in place is a minor pain The developer experience is pretty good though, if you use platformio in the same way you might use Linux package management.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
      Oh, yeah. By "minor pain" I meant it took a couple of hours as opposed to a few minutes.
- M95D 2y ago
  I'm using 2 M5StickC with ESPHome to automate stuff. ESPHome is very easy to configure. Just check if the add-ons you want are supported or not.
- 2y ago

h73 2y ago

Zero Terminal by N-O-D-E, anyone? https://n-o-d-e.net/zeroterminal3.html https://n-o-d-e.net/zeroterminal3.html https://youtu.be/wiJqUWfR90I https://youtu.be/wiJqUWfR90I

stonogo 2y ago
The Zero Terminal has a pretty difficult disadvantage in that it does not exist.

debo_ 2y ago

Slightly unrelated, but whoever chose Skyroads as their videogame demo example has made my heart sing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyRoads_%28video_game%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyRoads_%28video_game%29

shoaibmerchant 2y ago
Founder here, that would be me. I have spent countless hours on this :D
- debo_ 2y ago
  <3 I loved this game so much as a kid!

skerit 2y ago

It looks very cool! I almost wish I needed it.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

robertlagrant 2y ago

First Tricorder wins.

magic_smoke_ee 2y ago

At the expense of more software dev and a bluetooth module, It would've been more extensible and versatile if it had just used BT for input (HID) and GPIO rather than creating yet another proprietary connector and forbidding the use of GPIO and a keyboard simultaneously. Why not integrate the most popular one and use BT for the rest? Great, we've re-invented what already exists. Sigh.

eternityforest 2y ago
Having a micro sized detachable BT keyboard would be amazing, but it would still need to charge somehow. It seems like the whole point is that it's one integrated piece you can slip in a pocket, not a collection of hacker gadgets with separate chargers and USB cables you have to be careful about.
- magic_smoke_ee 2y ago
  Build-in either a keyboard or the gamepad. I have BT mice, keyboards, gamepads, and other things that already handle how they charge (USB-C). But it's not a single thing if you're carrying around other parts anyhow, and those appear kind of flimsy. And I already have a general purpose computing device with networking capability that goes in my pocket, a smartphone... so why would I want to put it my pocket if it does less?
  - eternityforest 2y ago
    You might want a dedicated device to control some lights or scan some barcodes that you can hand off without handing off the most expensive thing you own, that unlocks almost every piece of personal data you have. A built in keyboard could be a failure point, and gamepads are well known to fail. I'd trust five layers of frameworks and thousands of lines of code more than a cheap switch. If they really wanted maximum reliability, I would prefer they charge the keypad with NFC and talk to it over either BLE or just the NFC itself.
saidinesh5 2y ago
From the looks of it you can still use your Bluetooth keyboard as it is with the Linux bluetooth stack, except you have to figure out a way to power it .. yet another battery? I think you can just create another module that'll split the gpio to keypad and other purposes as it is just a USB keypad..

dmitrygr 2y ago

> 1.8 GHz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 A53 is an antique in-order core whose pipeline cannot even handle two multiplies in a row. 1.8GHz is also rather slow. I caution anyone from expecting this thing to perform in any sane fashion if running modern bloated code. It would probably collapse under the pile of JavaScript that is the modern web, if you attempted to run chromium.

stonogo 2y ago
Is it irony, or merely a counterpoint, that I read this comment on a laptop powered by this exact SoC, running Firefox on Debian?
- dmitrygr 2y ago
  How well does said laptop handle google maps or a youtube live stream with chat? 1080p60fps video?
  - stonogo 2y ago
    Video is accelerated and works fine. Google maps is useable (I just tested it) but not great. It's not too much worse than it is on my MUCH faster M3 Macbook, though. I think I just don't like Google maps. Apple maps works better on both devices. I'm not going to pretend it's not a comparatively slow computer, but the most it really affects is application launch. Starting Firefox or Chrome is pretty bad: five to ten seconds. Once it's launched, however, it's mostly fine.
    - lukan 2y ago
      Thank you, that gives a good performance estimation of what to expect and I still like it.
    - dmitrygr 2y ago
      > Starting Firefox or Chrome is pretty bad: five to ten seconds Thank you for this, It'll help people make up their mind.

ChocolateGod 2y ago

This thing just reminds me how much I miss Android phones with physical keyboards.