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Comment by kiawe_fire | Hacker News Reader

The Pocket CHIP created this itch for me, but the keyboard on that thing made me realize how everything can be so good and just completely fall apart around one detail.

So, I'm leery about this and other things like it. I want a portable, pocketable computer on which I can hack and code away at fun things like graphics and games when I'm bored or waiting in line or whatever, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced that "small size" and "usable keyboard/UI" are mutually exclusive.

Might just give this a try, though!

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It's not quite pocketable, and it doesn't have a keyboard at all, but the Steam Deck has totally been that device for me. I've been really impressed with how good the controller mapping can be; set your joysticks to be Rotary macros, and combined with the huge number of buttons you have yourself a fantastic little chording keyboard. The built-in controller mapper supports keyboard layers and conditional output (eg, when in this section of GUI, output from button chord L3-R3 should be XYZ). Anybody using vim or tmux familiar with this modality should be comfortable. Also, the Rotary menu, should you choose to use it, can be labeled (including with emoji, if that's your jam), making the whole thing incredibly flexible.

Interesting - I just received my Steam Deck, it’s rekindled a love of gaming, but I haven’t even started exploring things like that on it.

GDP makes some good fits for this. I'm partial to the MicroPC, but I mainly use that when troubleshooting network issues. They have a whole lineup, each geared towards a different market segment.

https://gpd.hk/gpdmicropc

Wow, I’ve seen their gaming handheld before but didn’t realize they had such a range of other devices.

I used to write a lot of code on my beloved HP48 while I was a student.

The keyboard was good enough, nice tactile feedback and relatively good software handling of multiple and rapid key presses, contrary to the TI calcs that had horrible keyboard handler (only one key press at a time)

I miss the way I was able to simply relax and write code without having to sit in a chair.

I believe that thumb typing keyboards can be good and high quality.

I wish that a company like Teenage Engineering would follow the exact same recipe as Clockwork Pi with with a higher quality finish and keyboard.

Have a look at the upcoming MNT Pocket Reform: https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/pocket-reform

Thanks for the recommendation, I signed up to see where this goes.

This company also offers a more conventional keyboard: https://www.clockworkpi.com/home-devterm

Have you used it ?

No. Someone else in this thread who has opined that the build quality was mediocre, but I forget who. i personally don't mind rubber keys for operational use though I would not want to write anything longer than an email or a HN comment with one.

""small size" and "usable keyboard/UI" are mutually exclusive"

Not at all, before the smartphone there were several phones with very usable keyboards, I think it's just that a quality keyboard can't be made for cheap and/or in a small production run.

I really wish there was something like one of those old phones with either arm or risc v and 4G. I don't need it to be capable of doing phone calls, I just want a small cellular connected pocket computer with a great keyboard.

can tell everyone on the dev team just plugged in a keyboard therefore the problem never got solved

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