There seems to be a bunch of these pocket Linux systems lately. I bought the Gemini PDA a couple of years ago (https://store.planetcom.co.uk/collections/gemini-pda/product...). If you remember the Psion 5mx, (a contemporary of the later Palms), it had an absolutely amazing keyboard. The designer of that machine was involved, and the Gemini looks like an updated 5mx. The display is touch-sensitive.
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.
I have a Gemini also, and have backed the Astro Slide. However, I think the Gemini fits in that very awkward space where the keyboard is too small to touch type on, yet too big to use in handheld mode. I much prefer the slide out keyboard on the Nokia N810 (but still wouldn't be able to "code" on it).
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.
Just as a counterpoint, I do use mine. Not as much as I thought I would, but quite a bit. Sure, a laptop keyboard is a lot more comfortable, but a laptop is also so much bulkier and heavier to lug around. And no laptop of mine has mobile data built right into it.
I use my Gemini, but not heavily. It's a great PDA but not an acceptable phone. Mobile data is useful though - and it's great for on-the-go programming.
Thanks for taking the time to write that. I never used the Psion PDAs, but the Gemini (and its successor the Cosmo Communicator) looked really exciting to me. I was unwilling to spend the money because I wasn't really sure I'd use the thing. The number of situations where I want a computer with a dedicated keyboard with me but only have my phone are probably a lot fewer than I think.
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).
Man, I remember stumbling on this project every few years. 5 or so years ago I remember being tempted to preorder one, but decided I'd just wait until it was ready.
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...
A recent convert to GPD Pocket 2. Decades of programming experience from kernel hacking to 3d engines and distributed systems.
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...
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).
Since this thread has a lot of people interested in obscure/niche tech, would anyone comment on this idea:
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)
I think it's a cool idea, but "see-through functionality" isn't possible with today's hardware.
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.
It's not at all see-through, but the Vufine+ exists -- it's a single-eye HMD.
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.
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
For the price point and chunky design I was really expecting an RJ45 port. Sure you can put a USB dongle on there, but for something this geeky I was expecting it to be built-in.
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.
On schedule, it would have been a coin toss: no RJ45, no serial, so little use to techs who don't want to carry a USB adapter.
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.
>> It was designed to be the successor of the Open Pandora (an excellent device that predates smartphones) which led to numerous innovations in the ARM space (the creator of Box86, for example, comes from the Open Pandora community).
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]
... 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 pre-ordered a Pandora, and waited years (4?) for it.
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!
Cyberdecks are super cool and this reminds me of them... at least as far as form factor is concerned. I agree with some posters here that this thing is DOA. One can build a really cool cyberdeck with a ton more functionality for a fraction of the price. There are hundreds of examples on /r/cyberDeck
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
Reminds me of the old HP Jornada 680 I had. I really wanted it to be able to do rudimentary support when I was on the go, but ultimately went back to a laptop because it was just too tedious without a real keyboard. Perhaps, though, things have changed enough that these tiny devices are more practical now.
Years ago I learned my lesson about preordering technology products. It's a lot easier to create a nifty demo of something than it is to build something at scale. I got suckered by the Lilly drone and managed to get a refund before things started to go south and that was my last "Ooops".
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.
Oh man, the Lilly! Waaaay back, I preordered a UAV around the same time, the "Sprite" drone [0]. I was still in my mid teens at the time, and very ... well, stupid. I wanted something to help take ortho images to stitch together for maps and use machine learning to identify objects from aerial imagery and other ambitious crap.
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.
I use an iPad Mini 5 with the Zagg Rugged Keyboard case, which essentially turns it into a small, iOS-based ToughBook-alike.
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 am curious what is the use-case for such computers. I was a heavy PDA user in older days, but now between very powerful smartphones and very slim laptops I could not come up with any scenarios where I would use a PDA like that.
When the Pandora was made, it was mostly a group of enthusiasts who wanted an open device to play retro games on that wasn't quite satisfied with the offerings back then. (I think it was also GPD who offered some retro consoles?)
So this was the main reason for that, but it took really long to come out, and while it was great, not least to the great community and their support, it was very niche, already a bit long in the tooth technically and maybe not as open as some had hoped.
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.
[+] [-] geophile|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] derekp7|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] vdqtp3|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wastholm|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Wildgoose|5 years ago|reply
I have backed the AstroSlide though which should cover all the bases: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transforme...
[+] [-] EvanAnderson|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fy20|5 years ago|reply
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).
[+] [-] spijdar|5 years ago|reply
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...
[+] [-] guru_meditation|5 years ago|reply
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...
[+] [-] ekianjo|5 years ago|reply
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).
[+] [-] bserge|5 years ago|reply
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)
[+] [-] samatman|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] hug|5 years ago|reply
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.
https://store.vufine.com/
[+] [-] vnxli|5 years ago|reply
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
[+] [-] barrenko|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dang|5 years ago|reply
3 months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25015999
2016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11606007
2016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11277408
2015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9463032
[+] [-] jandrese|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] windexh8er|5 years ago|reply
[0] https://www.gpd.hk/gpdmicropc
[+] [-] anfractuosity|5 years ago|reply
Around $200-300, but will wait to see some reviews I think.
[+] [-] floren|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxbaines|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1996|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] YeGoblynQueenne|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] ekianjo|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] djaychela|5 years ago|reply
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!
[+] [-] monkmartinez|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Palomides|5 years ago|reply
if you don't care about size, use a laptop, if you don't care about keyboard and controls, use a phone
[+] [-] mindcrime|5 years ago|reply
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
[+] [-] tyingq|5 years ago|reply
They looked like this: https://preview.redd.it/nnf9bvpmgpk51.jpg?width=640&crop=sma...
[+] [-] ekianjo|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Brian_K_White|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ogre_codes|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] spijdar|5 years ago|reply
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...
[+] [-] amelius|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] mordant|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ubermonkey|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vzaliva|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Grumbledour|5 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] tubularhells|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonahbenton|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickdothutton|5 years ago|reply