Comment by ytjohn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ytjohn | Hacker News Reader

I like the look of this, and it seems we're seeing more of these type devices. But after looking at their twitter and such, I don't believe this is a real product, no matter how "nice" the VT-69 is.

For real products, there is also the clockworkpi devterm. But the one I'm really interested in is the ready! 100. I think both have been on HN recently. The Ready is really just a case that you can put most any SBC into: from a raspberry pi to an Intel NUC. The screen hooks up via hdmi and the (mechanical) keyboard via usb. I'm planning to put a ryzen board (or maybe a nuc) into mine, along with an SDR. I also do some programming of '80s era commercial radios, which require an RS-232 and software running in DOS (known issues running under dosbox/vm, though freedos is fine). So I'd be making a triple-boot machine. I know one person mentioned planning to put two different SBCs inside the case, a low-power RPi4 and a higher powered ryzen board. Then they can switch between depending on their need.

DISCLAIMER: I am a backer of the ready100 (neo pledge) and I do hope it meets its funding goal. But I have no financial interest. In fact, if it doesn't reach its funding goal, I get my money back.

ready100: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jlafleur/ready-model-10...

The Ready100 looks enormous, and like it was designed by Mattel during the early 1980's when toy companies were dabbling in computers.

I'm not so sure about this VT-69, either. You could just get a TRS-80 Model 100 off of eBay for $80 and be done with it. The only downside of the 100 is the small screen, but if you're only using it as a dumb terminal anyway, that's not horrible. There's even abandonware to make the TRS-80 display 60 or 70 columns.

I'd agree that if all you want is a portable dumb terminal, then go get a dumb terminal. Nothing more retro than an actual piece of gear from the 80s.

In my case, I'm looking to dual-boot and run programs in the field. Most of those can run in Linux, but some will only work in Windows. This isn't to be like my primary laptop where I'm mostly concerned about battery life and writing code. It's a secondary device, dedicated to specific tasks. I almost purchased the GDP Micro PC for this, and may still depending on the kickstarter. What I liked about the Ready is that I can swap out the motherboard and pretty much every other component over time as needs change. The 3.5" - 4" single board computers keep advancing, getting more power and in some cases, getting cheaper. An Intel NUC with 4-8GB of ram today could be swapped out with a 32GB Ryzen w/GPU board in a few years.

It's a niche inside of a niche, so not everyone will see a need. But a stack of antiquated, mostly dead laptops and tablets motivates me to seek out something like this.

I look at these things and the Model 100 is just about the minimum size I would use.

First, it has to be designed around a real (non-tenkey) keyboard, with a 25- 40- whatever-line screen chosen for size. That is the minimum footprint. Then stuff everything else underneath this top in as thin a manner as possible, of which the CPU and its cooling would probably be the thickest component.

I'm skeptical that anybody needs these tools to fit in pockets.

I admit, In my younger days I fell for the "fits in my pocket" fallacy. No, I don't need that. I almost always need some kind of cable, and a keyboard you can type on is... key.

I do like my laptop to be lightweight, thin, with some semblance of battery life. But for what I'm considering a portable utility computer, I now think in terms of a textbook. Self contained, usable, but also expandable.

> The Ready100 looks enormous, and like it was designed by Mattel during the early 1980's when toy companies were dabbling in computers.

It looks enormous, like it was designed by Commodore in the early 1980's when they made the Commodore 64!

It looks like a C64 with a screen and WiFi! And it's not even much bigger than a C64 for the screen, the C64 already had a hefty "forehead".

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