An open source portable terminal for every dev | Hacker News Reader

An open source portable terminal for every dev

clockworkpi.com

98 pointsjerodsanto28 comments

Because this started on a different page, I didn't realize this was a repeat until I saw the whole thing together.

Same issues as before. It's a hobby-toy. For people who don't mind that it's impractical and just want the retro look and fun of assembling it.

Previous discussion (last week): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25185842

For a minute I'd wondered if I'd gone back to a stale tab seeing this again so soon.

It seems there's a group of hard-core ergonomics people who think that just because a device doesn't work for them it shouldn't work for anybody. Can they just lay off please?

[Update: I guess I'm really reacting to all the negative commentary when this was posted last week https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25185842]

Personally, I think this would be a great device for my kid to learn programming on. When I was a kid I would love to have had a Sinclair ZX81 with a built-in screen!

I like that it's a different form-factor from everything else. The more form-factors the better! This would be great for a kid because it doesn't have a bendy/fragile screen and you could throw it in a backpack and not worry.

I wish it was more powerful but my main criticism is that I can't get one for Christmas.

They claim it is for "every dev" which is probably what people were reacting to. If it was sold as a hobby project for aspirational dads, then I don't think anyone would be calling them out about the ergonomics.

Does this seller have any reputation (i.e. has anyone bought a game shell)? Reminds me of the popcorn pocket [1], which seems to be stuck in manufacturing limbo ...

https://pocket.popcorncomputer.com/

I bought a red Gameshell to playtest my Pico8 games on. I love it. High quality kit with solid directions and an active community. At some point I discovered that I could reskin the UI to look like a Teenage Engineering OP-1 and also play Sega Genesis games and now it lives permanently on my coffee table (proof: https://lewsid.com/gameshell.jpg). My only complaint would be the limited battery life.

The GameShell is obviously a polished premium product, much like the Teenage Engineering range. But when you compare what Odroid are offering with the Advanced Go for half the price it does seem excessive.

I think those mini pc’s are cool. But for a practical work machine, I rather buy a ITX motherboard with a powerful processor to build into a as tiny as possible case. This gives you the opportunity to go for commodity hardware which has an excellent price/performance range and still allows you to carry your pc in a backpack.

This slow fade-in at every scroll makes it very difficult to skim through

Price seems to be $250+.

I'm assuming "every dev" here means professional developers because that's probably unaffordable for many.

It's an expensive toy. Professional developers might buy it as a project, but this gadget is completely impractical for doing paid professional work. If you are broke and want to learn programming, you'd be much better off with that Raspberry Pi keyboard and an external display. If you are a professional developer, you are better off with a proper laptop or desktop.

> this gadget is completely impractical for doing paid

> professional work

I think I proposed previously that this would be an awesome piece of kit for a mobile business wanting to give receipts for cash purchases. It needs a friendly UI, etc, but it has potential for sure.

Generally, any situation where you're away from the office and need to be able to print tiny bits of paper regularly, it could be quite useful.

Other than that it's a little gimmicky, maybe you could print off nice little TODO lists or something, but nothing a normal printer wouldn't do much better.

> If you are broke and want to learn programming, you'd be

> much better off with that Raspberry Pi keyboard and an

> external display.

Once you've got an SD card, support cables, etc, you're looking at quite a reasonable second-hand laptop. If you're able to go desktop, sometimes you can even pick up something for free.

> I think I proposed previously that this would be an awesome piece of kit for a mobile business wanting to give receipts for cash purchases.

The printer makes sense for that, but nothing else about the rest of the machine suggests "Mobile sales machine".

> Once you've got an SD card, support cables, etc, you're looking at quite a reasonable second-hand laptop. If you're able to go desktop, sometimes you can even pick up something for free.

Yeah. Much better suggestions.

> The printer makes sense for that, but nothing else about

> the rest of the machine suggests "Mobile sales machine".

Sure, but I bet a mobile sales machine could be a killer target audience for it.

I remember being in quite a few scenarios where we were writing out receipts by hand, and the customer saying "hmm, I'm not sure my work will accept this". Being able to print off something more legitimate looking (even with serial numbers, etc) could be really quite good.

I think it should also have:

* Some method to process card payments (if possible)

* A version that comes loaded with store-software ready to rock and role (even possibly connected to some cloud service they run)

nice thumb keyboard

edit: woah, are those wheels on the sides for scrolling the screen?

Nope, the wheel are for unlocking the case and opening it. At least that what they are on the GameShell.

That's a missed opportunity. I loved the jog dial input on my old Sony Clie SJ33, for example.

its an inherently hackable platform

Too bad, was thinking about this:

https://teenage.engineering/designs/playdate

Looks like a lot of fun to build. Very pretty unit. Love the thermal printer addon. Pre-ordered.

Off topic but this is the first time I've seen a website tilt their tables 90 degrees on the edge for the mobile version. Lovely attention to detail and not something I would have thought of!

Cool, an updated Tandy 100. Journalists used to swear by those things.

Landing page and text should be modified so one can tell what this is without scrolling down. Had to scroll down a few pages and was still confused. You plug your RPi into it and get what?

It's just a dock for a Pi compute module that has a built-in screen, keyboard, thermal printer, wifi nic, and some other interfaces for additional peripherals. You end up with a modern version of something like an Epson HX-20 or a Tandy TRS-80 Model 100. It's a toy and I don't think I could ever see myself needing one for anything important.

They should have lead with the picture of it all put together rather than that internal picture first.

Did they change the picture because people complained it was not ergonomic?

Now they only show the internals.

No, it's just that the HN link is going to the 2nd page in the nav this time

This is the device I've been dreaming of building for forever.

I'm so in love.

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