The Pyra Handheld Linux PC is Shipping
boilingsteam.com
boilingsteam.com
You can configure the Gemini to run Linux, which I have done. It took a bit of doing, but it works. Once you do that, you have a pocket Linux, with a surprisingly capable keyboard, considering the size. This appears to be far more attractive than these other pocket Linux systems, with their inferior-looking keyboards. So I wouldn't trade the Gemini for these alternatives.
And I never use it. I bring it with me, but I never use it. It is still far less comfortable than using a laptop. Even on an airplane (economy seat), I prefer the awkwardness of using a laptop, to the compromises required by the Gemini.
But neither of them worked quite right, so Planet Computers are now prototyping the Astro Slide, for shipping this summer (but: expect delays -- they're usually a bit optimistic on their forecasts, and that's without COVID19 on top). The Astro Slide is basically a fat phablet phone with a slide-out Psion-style keyboard (the Psion 5's designer, Martin Riddiford, is responsible for the keyboard design on all three Planet Computing machines):
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transforme...
The best micro keyboard I've ever typed on is an Apple Newton keyboard that I interfaced with a Palm Pilot. The key spacing is 90% of a regular keyboard, which is about the smallest I can go and still touch type. I really wish I had a modern day portable device with this keyboard form factor.
Does anyone have experience with Bluetooth fold-up-keyboards? I'd imagine those with a tablet would be much more useable (I just carry a laptop, and tether with my phone, but wouldn't mind something smaller).
I have backed the AstroSlide though which should cover all the bases: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transforme...
Now it just kind of makes me sad. Sure, some people will be really happy with this, and I hope they enjoy them, but for most use cases there's just so many better products out nowadays IMO.
Because of the GPU it's not really suited to be positioned as an "open source friendly" design, and if that's not important, GPD has a lot of really good products now. Most aren't quite as small, granted, but I imagine a pinephone with a keyboard case would be a close match. The physical controls (especially for gaming) probably wouldn't be as good, though...
GPD's keyboards are notoriously bad so far for their handhelds. The Pyra's keyboard is small but has been crafted to be quite usable for thumb typing. (Even the Pandora was quite OK in that regard).
I should have said that I've heard lots of good things about. Still, given the price and performance deltas, I'm not sure the keyboard would be enough to persuade me, personally. The exact form factor is still definitely unique, as the article mentions, at least.
That being said, if there's a USB keyboard within 50 feet of me, I'll grab it instead of using the built-in.
The key size is very similar to a standard laptop for most keys. The key travel is longer than that of a 13" MacBook Pro, and I guarantee it because I use both daily.
60+ WPM after a few days of use. Have 80-100WPM on my MacBook Pro.
The adjustment comes from having a QWERTY keyboard layout where some of the keys have been reduced in size to fit. Space bar is half the size, Return is the size of a standard key and you only get the left modifier keys (ctrl, fn, win, alt) and the keys past the letter P to the right are scattered elsewhere. IMHO very good trade offs as the arrow keys are full size. The coding keys (curly braces, brackets, pipe, etc.) are in a non standard location, so take longer to adjust to.
I use both a Pocket 2 and a Win2. They are very similar weight and while the Pocket has a larger footprint, it's not a big difference. If you can throw a Win 2 into your bag, chances are a Pocket 2 will fit too and not make the bag feel any heavier.
The Win 2 may be slightly more pocketable, but except for short periods I wouldn't pocket either of them except in cargo pants or jackets, and in those, either will fit.
The real difference between them is whether or not they are made to be used primarily on a tabletop (Pocket) or handheld (Win/Pyra), and arguably the Win line is not primarily made for productivity, so the keyboard is quite secondary.
Finally, I can't comment on the quality of the Pyra's keyboard since I have never handled one, but I haven't had any issue with Win 2's considering it's use case for me is mostly limited to the kind of things you'd use a on-screen keyboard for in a gaming console.
The Pyra and the GPD Win series can however be used, and are made to be used in your hands. That's what I meant, it's not just about the footprint.
After a few days reached 60-80 wpm (depending on the typing test). A drop of ca. 20 wpm from my 13" MacBook Pro.
Installed a dual booting Ubuntu 20.04 Mate LTS. Comes with all the necessary open source drivers. Make sure to get the pre-baked distro for GPD Pocket 2 from Canonical's website. Intel Graphics acceleration works flawlessly as do all the GPU acceleration options in Firefox. Installing Compiz as a compositing manager really speeds everything up.
Now use this more often than my Macbook Pro. In fact, the GPD Pocket's touchscreen spoiled me and now I keep pressing on normal laptop's screens expecting for things to happen :D. GPD's substitute for a mouse is incredibly precise, a huge surprise as my expectations were super low for such an unproven solution. Think of it as some sort of capacitive/optoelectric Lenovo nub in the corner of the keyboard.
Ultimate hackery: The keyboard has a fan on/off switch as the Celeron provided has an operating range of up to 100C. So if you don't need the highest clock rate, turn off the fan with one key press :D
Hoping fellow hackers appreciate this review. Of course, this post is written from my GPD Pocket 2.
P.S. Also running Wine, PlayOnLinux, WinUAE and AROS. 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD make it easy to be cavalier about resource use. Performance wise you'll be fines as long as you're not compiling large codebases, editing large videos or expecting to raytrace animations in Blender...
I have both the original Pocket and a Pocket 2 (both Linux), as well as a Win 2 (windows, gaming-only), and I love them.
Before the pandemic I used to use them very frequently to study (or game, with then Win 2) at coffeeshops because they use so little bag space and table space. Right now they're collecting a bit of dust mostly, but I hope that will change again once this whole situation is over.
I would have been interested in the Pyra when it was first announced (in fact, I did follow the project for a year or so when I first heard about it in 2016 or so), but at this point there are so many better (and similarly priced) alternatives out there that I have a hard time seeing who would be the target demographic. Still, I hope they will find some success with it since they seem to have their heart in the right place.
A single eye VR/AR headset, think a Borg ocular implant, but smaller and nicer looking. With a high quality camera for see-through functionality. Used as a HUD for, well, anything. Reading web pages, Google Maps, Google Search and Assistant, notes, schedule, how to instructions, etc.
Definitely a very niche product (then again, so was Google Glass), but I would love to make one haha. Best thing is, anyone could build it using easily available components and software. https://github.com/relativty/Relativty was my inspiration, I see no reason why that wouldn't work in non-3D on a single display.
Anyone have any thoughts?
(Also, if you want to build it, hire me, I would work on this 12hrs/day for ramen money heh)
Eyes work in tandem, including focus. If you have a screen over one eye, there's no good way to have what's displaying on the screen cooperate with what the other eye is doing.
Similarly, I think VR is out: sending disparate signals to each eye would be murder on the inner ear. So that leaves a Google Glass-style AR overlay, which remains an ok idea, but is apparently pretty hard to get right.
Always wanted one. So bad. I don't think our tech is there, we still can't accurately measure someone's power levels. But one day, our grandchildren will and it will be beautiful
I've been vaguely interested in buying one for quite a while, although it's one of those purchases I haven't made (and probably won't) because I can't actually see any real use for it.
3 months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25015999
2016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11606007
A serial port wouldn't have been out of place either. This is small enough you could have it on your belt and use it to console into ailing servers or esoteric pieces of hardware.
As it is, it feels like a toy. A very expensive toy.
I hope they support more recent distros...
- Walking around a building, working on the network.
- Those occasions where I "might need a computer" but don't want to lug around a bag. Traveling for pleasure, while on-call at work, etc. Thing fits in my jacket pocket.
- Working on my car (plugging into the OBD port, tuning, etc).
- Gaming/video while traveling. Its single-channel memory severely limits what you can play (unlike GPD's gaming line), but I'm into oldschool and indie games so it's fine. I could use my phone but I like PC games and software better.
Also it's weird and I like weird things :)
I wouldn't recommend it as a primary workstation unless your situation really calls for it. I've used it with a USB-C docking station as a primary machine while I was between homes. It worked fine, bit slow. Went back to my Zen2 beast as soon as possible.
It charges and runs off of a normal USB-C power bank, which gives me ridiculous runtime for cheap. My "minimal" travel kit has the GPD, my phone, and one charger between the two. Crazy capability in a jacket pocket.
Things I don't like about it:
- Whiny fan. Not sure what could be done, it's so tiny... you can turn it off with a handy switch above the keyboard, but I don't really like doing that.
- Single channel memory. Severely cripples the GPU. GPD's gaming machines don't have this issue.
- No video output over USB-C, you have to use the full-size HDMI.
- Display is wired sideways. Linux/GRUB doesn't auto detect this; Windows does.
- Wish it had a nub mouse. Would free up space for a more normal KB layout.
Edit: formatting
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="video=efifb fbcon=rotate_all:1 quiet" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="video=efifb fbcon=rotate_all:1 quiet splash noautomount" GRUB_GFXMODE=1200x1920x32
( see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GPDPocket/comments/9sl9sp/grub_land... )
More super-handy GPD patches https://github.com/stockmind/gpd-pocket-ubuntu-respin
(Note: a lot of this is not needed anymore and mainlined into Ubuntu 20, Linux Mint 20, etc.)
Built in ethernet and serial port have proven useful as I'm running around debugging networks.
What I really have been searching for, however, is a clone of the Toshiba Libretto 50CT with a modern CPU and ports. To me that represented the peak of micro computers. The keyboard is small but usable, the mouse is fantastic (you grip the screen, the buttons are on the back of the screen - don't knock it till you try it). I'm lowkey considering making a replacement PCB for it.
What drove me to GPD Pocket 2 was the key size, massive RAM and SSD and that it is extensively supported in the new Linux kernel and several mainstream distros (Ubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Linux Mint, Arch). Delighted to report that I type faster on this than a lot of fellow engineers on a standard PC.
Around $200-300, but will wait to see some reviews I think.
It's DOA in 2021: no USBC, outdated CPU, thicker than a brick.
The replaceable CPU board might have been a good idea IF it had been in say the NVidia jetson format. As it is, it just add bulks without any replacement currently available.
Hopefully, raspberry or odroid or someone else will popularize a board format, a bit like how MXM became standard for PCIe GPUs.
Having M2 for the SSD, Wifi and WWAN is something else I'd want in such a small device - so if it's late to the market, just replace the boards, and you're good to go.
I remember the Pandora. I had pre-ordered one from the UK company. Its announcement coincided with a thing I had for small-form clamshells. I had a Saurus, a Viliv and a Nanonote. The Nanonote was open, both hardware and software, and I was expecting the same high quality development process from the Pandora as I had seen in the Nanonote team. I was so excited about Pandora!
Then of course...
In March 2013, the pre-order queue of the German OpenPandora GmbH company (owned by Michael Mrozek aka EvilDragon) was finally cleared.[18] The remaining pre-order queue of the UK OpenPandora Ltd. company (owned by Craig Rothwell) turned out to be significantly larger than originally reported, and the UK company has requested to be struck off.[19] This means that the original pre-orderers at the UK company are unlikely to ever get their unit from the UK company. Also because of this, buyers have lost their money. Although there is no legal connection between the two companies, the German OpenPandora GmbH company is trying to help those UK customers by offering them significant discounts (if they decide to buy a unit from the German company instead of waiting for the UK company) and by organizing community donations to get them peer-funded units.[20]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(console)#History
... it got stuck in development hell. I bailed early and managed to get my pre-order money back, but I was probably one of the few. I guess, if we had all held on to our faith, we'd have gotten our devices right about now. Only ten years later!
Unfortunately, the same thing seems to be happening with the Pyra.
>> The DragonBox Pyra has had a difficult development process, with numerous hardware (and mold) related issues during its design. It was kind of supposed to be ready to come out a few years ago, but every time you’d think “hey, it’s just 2 months away now!” it would be delayed again and again – for yet completely valid reasons.
I have been following the Pandora situation with the UK at the time, it the mess was directly linked to the second guy who supported the project and bailed out with the pre-order money (allegedly). EvilDragon, who is now leading the Pyra development efforts, has always been very transparent about what's happening since day 1 on the development of the Pyra: explaining in details all technical issues found, and how long their suppliers would take to react with a new version of the board, the mold, or other parts.
Hardware development takes time and they have very few people working on that project, and most of that work is part time. So any issue resolution takes 10x longer than what you would expect in a typical project as well.
I remember EvilDragon - you say he was "transparent". He was. He was also fundamentally incapable of finishing the project he took on in any reasonable amount of time, despite repeated assurances that everything was going to go swimmingly from now on. In the end of the day, you take up a project, you take forever to realise it, it's just a bad result and there's nobody else to blame.
"The second guy" (Craig Rothwel, according to wikipedia) fucked up in a different way. Clearly, his company took too many preorders without having any hope to ever fulfill them. But that's just another nail in the coffin- not an excuse for EvilDragon to fuck up his own part of the project.
Sorry, I'm speaking harsher words than I want to speak. These guys really came across as visionnairies - at least they did to me back then. I was very disappointed by their failures.
I think this is a valid point to make. I am also disappointed, to be honest, that the Pyra took so long to complete.
By the time it arrived, I'd moved on and wasn't really interested in it, so I put it on eBay the very same day. Due to the scarcity of them at that time (I was a reasonably early pre-order, but certainly not first in the queue), I managed to sell it for more than double my cost, which was at least nice for me. It was only about 18 months later when I read something about it and realised there were still people waiting that I understood how lucky I'd been!
Oh man, how did I not know that sub existed?? I don't know whether to thank you profusely for pointing that out, or curse at you for contributing One More Thing to the massive list of things I want to sink time into! :p
if you don't care about size, use a laptop, if you don't care about keyboard and controls, use a phone
They looked like this: https://preview.redd.it/nnf9bvpmgpk51.jpg?width=640&crop=sma...
The biggest problem with this (and many tech preorders/ Kickstarters) is that by the time they iron out all the production bugs and software issues, the product is obsolete. Even if the product ships in a timely fashion and isn't obsolete at launch, often you can just order it or a competing product for the same as the pre-order cost or often less.
For board games and some other non-tech products, pre-ordering makes sense because the product is often unique and not available outside pre-order. For tech stuff, stay well clear.
Of course, it took years and years for the project to deliver. The guys behind it kept laboring though, and sent monthly updates, which I'd usually glance over at least. Years and years of those (detailed!) monthly updates.
I remember they had joked early on they'd "beat" the Lilly to production. Well, they did ;)
Many years later, I'd all but forgotten about it, and was about to graduate college when it finally arrived.
I got it set up, took it out for a test flight. Then a second flight -- and on the second flight, it ignored RC input and flew away, (thankfully!!) crashing into a tree trunk at probably between 30-40 MPH. Despite being "ruggedized", there was a single large plastic gear somewhere between the main motor and the rotor assembly which would essentially take the blunt of any lateral impact, and shattered to bits. Was a custom part, so no trivial repair job.
The cost to ship + repair it would have been significantly more than a brand new DJI something or another. I can't remember. Much better quadrocopter, better camera, better control system.
I learned then that even if an idea makes it to market, not only will it probably be obsolete, but even if the creators got the idea to market, not all ideas are great ideas in the first place. In this case, despite being "ruggedized", no amount of polymer shielding will really prevent a high drop or impact from destroying the drive train and sensitive electronics.
Most of the public accounts I can find about it mention something breaking on impact or it flying away. There was a google plus group (hah!) of "fans" that withered out a month or two after release. A year or so afterwards, the company silently erased the product from their homepage, and shifted gears to selling to military/government contracts.
[0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ascentaerosystems/sprit...
The friend who recommended the Lilly wound up getting screwed along with thousands of other people. I still haven't bought a drone, haven't found one which does the things I care about well enough at a reasonable price.
This was the drone I remember finding (well, the older version back then): https://www.dji.com/mavic-air-2
I'm absolutely not endorsing it especially since I never actually bought it (or anything else), but on paper it looks so, soooo much better than the various kickstarter drones, both failed and delivered. It's also a very real product and very quick searching showed people actually using the thing, and it appears to hold up to its marketing claims.
If I was still as interested in getting that aerial photography, this seems like an obvious choice. Ah well.
It runs all my iOS apps locally, & I use the WiFi or LTE to ssh or vnc into remote VMs or a local Raspberry Pi to run *NIXy things. The keyboard is great; I can manage ~60wpm or so on it, down from ~90wpm on a MacBook Pro.
I think they started plan for the pyra pretty soon after that, if memory serves, to improve on the pandoras shortcomings.
These days, I really don't know why anyone would still want this. The form factor is great (Though the pandora did have production issues surrounding the case, not sure if they are ironed out), but retro games consoles are everywhere and you can buy SBCs for pocket change. And as others have pointed out, at the price this thing costs there are pretty good subnotebooks available again at the moment.
So while I really don't know who wants this in 2021, If the could get you say a shell for a raspberry pi or similar in this form factor for a much more reasonable price, I would absolutely be on board myself.
Cool lies there. Linux Mint exists and runs on GPD products.
Near the bottom of the page they say:
> Furthermore, under the strategic cooperation with Ubuntu MATE, MicroPC will support Ubuntu MATE 18.10. At that time, you may download the Ubuntu MATE 18.10 firmware on the GPD official website and crowdfunding update area. The shipped machine defaults to Windows 10 Pro.
If you go to their site they have the Linux distro available for download under the "Linux Firmware and Hackintosh" tab:
I was using a Pocket when Mate first published the images (for the Pocket at the time), and there was no talk about this being in any way official.
That said, in my experience they don't refuse you warranty or anything if your device has a different OS on it, so on that side there is no issue putting an "unofficial" OS on your hardware.