A similar build is arturo182's Handheld Feather Wing, which uses a Blackberry Q10 keyboard [2]
Though it doesn't have a processor of its own it can be plugged into Feather compatible boards that do (like @groguard's Giant Board, which runs Linux [3]). Makes quite a nice package!
I ended up going the other way and building a (split) 60% keyboard with a screen and a Pi in the middle [1]. It's long enough that you can sling it over your shoulder on a guitar strap, so it somewhat fails the pocketability test.
Another interesting build currently being polished up is SnapOnAir's Blaspberry v2. It's deemed a "communication tool". They've made a modern day pager as well, but the new one is like a linux blackberry that is entirely open source.
The developer has been in talks with arturo about working together on it (based on their tweets at least) using that q10 keyboard. It's pretty damn impressive and I've seen doom running on it (though that's not the highest benchmark).
I'm always a bit sad, that we don't see the compute module used in these kind of projects, especially when size does matter. But I understand it, they seem hard to source and expensive for hobbyists, which kind of defeats much of the open source spirit. Still, the form factor would work great for add-on boards.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberdeck - a reddit community for people who build similar things to your commute-deck, which I'm sure you're familiar with, but I thought I'd link for those who are not.
The author provided a list of _obscure_ handhelds that you could try and get your hands on.
On that list there is the Pyra[0] which is very near completion. It has some interesting features such as a replaceable CPU board (nonstandard) for future upgrades.
Pyra is near completion? I thought it was abandonned (I have been waiting for almost 10 years already). It looks like an almost-perfect handheld device, what it should actually be (according to my vision). The only thing missing is an RJ-45 NIC port (which would make it really useful for admins) but a USB-attached one will probably do just fine.
Depending on your sense of urgency, there's now the GPD Micro PC [1]. Quite the odd duckling, but it includes an RJ-45 and an honest-to-god DB9 for RS232!
Hmm I don't understand this. Why pay 600€ for a handheld with a 1.6ghz dual core if I can buy a netbook/13" with better specs for less? What is the use case for this device?
The handheld / pocket form factor is just a different device category, the kind you can have always on you.
It's more competition for your phone than your netbook.
Of course, it arguably suffers there: 600€ will buy you a lot of phone right now (def more processor). So there's there's a reasonable question regarding whether the keyboard + controls and more open nature add enough value. The answer is probably "no" unless handheld gaming and tinkering is your thing.
It's the same story with the predecessor, the Pandora. It took forever to come out, while the preorder price steadily increased. It turned out to be pretty great when it finally arrived, but the specs did not look good anymore at that point.
And it seems to be even worse for the Pyra, especially since gpd has finally understood the need and is now manufacturing similar devices.
I think the concept is good but maybe it would be better to design a solid handheld with a slot in option for a pi or some similar form factor sbc. That way, users could actually upgrade the device and keep it current. The hard part these days seems not be the actual computing, but the quality and usability of the screen, keyboard and game controls.
It is exciting to see cool handhelds like this! I really want to have a handheld / phone that can handle all of my on-the-go computing and connect to my servers if I need more compute power.
As a tangent, if you have an Android phone and need to do some Linux-style computing on the go, consider Termux (https://termux.com/).
Termux enables your Android phone to run command-line utilities, text editors (vim and emacs), several programming languages (C, C++, Perl, Python, Ruby, Rust, Scheme, and more), web servers, and lots of other tools.
What I'd really wanted to see, and not sure why it's still not a thing, is some standardized laptop that would allow upgrading it's core SoC. Latest Pis are quite capable for basic tasks and will only get more powerful.
It's a laptop shell (keyboard + screen + battery + i/o) that has a daughter board (connected to the computer via USB and HDMI) and enough space for any reasonable SBC. Comes with Raspberry Pi as standard.
I had a Series 5mx back in the day and it was glorious.
Android has all of the capabilities software-wise, but I have yet to find a device that matches the Psion Series 5mx form factor, specifically the folding clamshell and nicely-sized hardware keyboard.
Most external foldable Bluetooth keyboards are too big, rather finicky, and always running out of battery on me.
To go on a tangent, even though my personal search for the ultimate handheld computer shall never be concluded, I feel like I found a lot of the things I've been looking for (specifcally in Zaurus and the Psions) in my 7" GPD Pocket 2, which incidentally (paired with a keyboard and screen) is my main machine these days, yet I do carry it in my jacket's inner pocket to do some programming on the go.
It runs Linux, is run-of-the-mill Intel-based ultrabook somewhat on the lower end (Core i3, 8GB ram, 128GB disk), with indeed its only non-boring feature being its size. Build quality, battery life, etc. is all on par with big-brand ultrabooks.
I have a GPD Pocket 2 and I want to like it _so much_, but I just can't get used to the keyboard layout. Everything about it is perfect except for that, but since I just program directly from the framebuffer a keyboard that I can't get used to and use intuitively is pretty much a deal breaker :(
I'm less and less convinced that a handheld keyboard can really be justified if you want to do some linux or programming stuff on such a device.
Touch screens can be simple enough if you get used to them, they save a lot of space on the device and I think they are cheaper than a keyboard.
Touch-swipe features will also make things much, much easier on a touch keyboard, and I'm sure it's totally possible to add linux commands or programming keywords to a swipe dictionary.
Touch keyboards can also have their layouts changed.
Other thing to consider if you're typing code, it would be nice to introduce more autocomplete to make things easier.
In the end if you really want to type, just get a real keyboard and sit down at a table. I'd also rather buy a well-made handheld keyboard that you attach to a device, but sadly I can't find one that is worth it.
As someone who loved his Nokia N900 with Emacs running on it, a physical keyboard was vital to being able to have that efficient and powerful workflow. Emacs’ keybindings are already part of my muscle memory from my desktop computer, and it was nice to be able to draw on that on my phone, without having to learn a whole new touch-based workflow.
> Touch keyboards can also have their layouts changed.
So could the N900’s physical keyboard. I work in multiple languages and need ready access to a lot of diacritics, and I was able to create my own perfect keyboard layout since the N900 ran X and so could handle an ordinary Xmodmap file.
People often claim that touch keyboards are fine and just as efficient, if not more so. But the decline of longform text on the internet seems to coincide with the arrival of smartphones with touch keyboards as most people’s default computing device.
"Soft" keyboards on a touchscreen have a number of disadvantages, the biggest for me is that they take up a large part of the screen. I could use the terminal or edit source code just fine on my phone's screen, but only if at least 40% of it wasn't taken up by a keyboard. Secondly, I think you're underestimating the number of "weird" sequences of characters programmers and terminal users regularly type.
Sure, a proper keyboard and a table is always better, but there are often situations where such a comfort isn't available.
This doesn't apply to devices which have slide-out keyboards or a clamshell design. The linked design is more "Blackberry-style" as far as I can tell, but those are not the devices I primarily had in mind.
This is why I pre ordered the Fxtec Pro1, a landscape slider android phone with microsd card and FM radio. Oh, and yes it does have the increasingly mythical headphone jack.
IME, touch screens are simply way too error-prone for any sort of serious work. You can make them work, but only by adding a "swipe to confirm this input" step for any potentially-destructive activity. (AOSP "recovery" environments do have this, for a reason!) Current command-line environments are not well setup for this, but you could make this work in combination with a "web"-like interface (especially if designed around REST principles).
Nice project. The stumble block for these kinds of projects is often the keyboard. It seems tricky to get something nice to use without using keyboards from other products - and then being a slave to that mini keyboard's dimensions and availability.
This project made something that seemed like it could be nice (the page was missing a final photo of the project all put together), on a custom PCB with off-the-shelf switches.
The keyboard is working fine and since it's powered by a Teensy 3.2/LC it can be plugged into any USB host, I'm still waiting to get the keys printed in order to put the working build in the case. The CardKB project is also interesting if you want a keyboard with soldered keys, only "downside" is I2C bus.
Nice project. It's out of production and out of stock as so many of these projects almost always are.
Maybe I'll just make some clasps and instructions on how to tape it to a proper keyboard such as the king of all keyboards for all time: Keytronic KT-2001.
This is really inspiring I have been dreaming of building my own little portable notebook, powered by PI4 and a hefty USB-C battery. With the beautiful, small HDMI LCD panels available today and a 3D printer, its within reach!
Depending on your goals, there's the GPD Micro PC [1]. Quite the odd duckling, but it includes an RJ-45 and an honest-to-god DB9 for RS232! Not nearly as fun as building it yourself though!
A Raspberry Pi 4 based tablet/laptop may be interesting.
Though I don't know if the RPi4 is actually competitive, in terms of battery life, with intel-based netbooks and the like.
If I were to do that, I would probably arrive at a ridiculously thick tablet with a couple of 18650 cells for power and it would need a good fan to try and save the screen from the heat.
What is that thing called that shows the "distro"? design, I see it all the the time in /r/unixporn
Also I'm looking forward to when phones get cheaper that have more ram so can run dex or something similar, not quite "dual boot" but something where you have a full os working somehow(maybe virtualized though maybe poor performance)
I've been looking for a screen like the one shown in this article for years now. I've been trying to build something like the "Freewrite", a mechanical keyboard with barely a computer built into it, with long battery life. This gets me closer!
Definitely going to be following this, as it's something I've thought of doing for my "next" phone - for basically all the reasons you've stated.
I'm sick and tired of not being in total control of my current phone.
I've thought about rooting it, but even if I did (it's a Samsung S7 from T-Mobile - which has a different processor and other stuff than the S7 that is easily rootable - and there are other "games" Samsung and probably T-Mobile play cat-n-mouse with the guys figuring out ways to root - which means a new update, etc - ugh all around ultimately), there's still the whole Google Store thing, walled gardens, etc.
Then there's the crap that happens with apps you like; I had this great file manager app that I loved, that also had numerous other tools - had used it for years, paid for the "ad-free" version, etc. Then one day, via HN or something, I don't recall exactly, someone noted that the app (and the company behind it) had been sold, and that the new version was doing dirty things behind the scenes, introducing bloatware and who knows what else - and people were abandoning it left and right. I recoiled - did some more research - and that night took it off my phone; I paid something like $15.00 for it - not a huge amount of money, but still - money lost. I ended up getting a different file manager, which is ok, but nothing like what I had - paid for the ad-free version - but who knows if the same thing will happen down the line?
Then there's the whole "file management", copying, sharing, etc angle - the whole BS about how in Android, if an app didn't create a directory, you can't put files in it (this apparently is conditional in some fashion - but it isn't very clear). This makes moving and managing files very difficult at times. Or the whole "let's not let users treat the device as a USB block device to copy/move/delete files from - and instead put in place another crappy layer that prevents all that - for some hand-wavy reason that didn't seem to be a problem when I first got my G1"...
There are other things, too - but you get the picture. I'm tired of it. Totally. My next phone will (hopefully) be one that I build, will run Linux, and will be under my complete control. I'm kinda hoping that by the time I get around to it, that there'll be an equivalent to the RasPi 4 in the Zero W's footprint. Add on a few other modules (IMU+GPS and 4G mainly) - and you have everything for a full phone. I might even not implement voice call features, as virtually everything I do tends to be texting-based anyway.
Don't want a keyboard, either - if I can get a decent capacitive touchscreen that'll connect to the Pi, I'll be fine; if I need a keyboard, bluetooth will work. Which also means I could use it as a "portable desktop" - all the convenience of a handheld, with the ability to become something more like a laptop on the occasion I need it (plus, if I need a big monitor, plugging that in would be easy too).
It's nice to see someone else blazing this trail - one that other's have gone down too (I know of other projects like this - some Arduino based, which is another route I have considered - but using an ESP32 as the core). You've already made a ton of progress, but I look forward to your future efforts. Good luck with it!
Agree! One of the features I've always wanted is a whitelist - instead of blocking hundreds of numbers I don't want calling me and/or having to turn off all notices (Do Not Disturb Mode) to stop the phone from ringing. I had always wondered why nobody offers this and it turns out its because the phone producers aren't clear if whitelisting calls violates FCC regulations. I believe that the FCC has recently clarified that it does not, however I've not seen anyone adding the feature. I would also like to not have voicemail on my phone - I tried to turn it off ten years ago and found that it was reactivated each month by an automated process. Eventually I gave up and now people just get the "mailbox has not been set up" message which I'm pretty sure still lets them leave a message but I don't get any notice which is what I want.
I recently had a data-only sim card. It was meant to go in a router, but it worked in the phone too, except you couldn't get any calls. For me, this was a huge plus. It's not available in my current country though.
My current phone (cheap Samsung A3 from 2015) has Call Rejection in call settings, and can reject all or use a blacklist. No whitelist though.
I recently tried to disable my voicemail, too. But the only option available is to disable "forward to voicemail" so it just ends up ringing forever, and if my phone's in airplane mode, it just goes directly to voicemail. There is no escape!
Have you considered buying the coming Librem phone instead of trying to build something on the basis of a Raspberry Pi? The Librem will be capable of running ordinary Linux.
If you’re rooting your phone, you’re only further opening up yourself beyond the limited protects android already gives you.
I wouldn’t underestimate how hard it is to build a decent capacitive touch keyboard independent of the screens sensors (which is also a non-trivial matter), along with the rest of the software stack. Good luck to you... I wish there were good alternatives out there...
It'd be cool to have an integrated mobile version of Tinfoil Chat.[0] Basically, three computers routed via Tor, with one that's effectively isolated using optocouplers.
You'd probably want at least that one to be EMF shielded, as well. And you could generalize for web browsing etc. Maybe also use ideas from Qubes Air.
There are hundreds in all shapes, sizes, and levels of color support. Quick search of Adafruit, Amazon, Digikey, or similar will turn up a lot of them.
My first system was a ZX-Spectrum 128k; I would love to get one of those keyboards; change out the cassette by to stick in the raspberry pi and use that as a dedicated system hooked up to a monitor. That was a really nice keyboard from memory; granted 30+ years have made the mind fog up a bit.
Guess I am the only one but I heavily depend on my smartphone's ssh client and a fast and close VPS. I use it all the time and a phone's keyboard is actually the perfect interface for console apps like vim.
I wouldn't use the word "full" for the keyboard. It's 60 keys and looks the size of half a keyboard. I think they meant that it is going to have all the qwerty alphabet.
Great start. That low resolution is challenging for desktop UI, but maybe great if you're a devop hacker.
We need a real open source phone platform. I'm curious about IBMs new hardware ..
What would be cool is putting a RPI-like mainboard and modern screen in an old PSION 5 case. Those things were built like bricks and had a great keyboard.
I ended up going the other way and building a (split) 60% keyboard with a screen and a Pi in the middle [1]. It's long enough that you can sling it over your shoulder on a guitar strap, so it somewhat fails the pocketability test.
[1] https://github.com/borgel/commute-deck [2] https://hackaday.io/project/165450-keyboard-featherwing [3] https://www.crowdsupply.com/groboards/giant-board