Beepy, a palm-sized Linux hacking playground
Beepy, a palm-sized Linux hacking playground
In the long ago times, when phones still flipped and modems sang proudly the songs of their people, I sent away for a set of Slackware CDs and embarked on a most remarkable journey. Back then, runn…
I saw this complaint in another post online (paraphrased):
The screen and use of a Pi seem at odds with each other. The screen is ultra-low power, but there are of course huge drawbacks for usability. Meanwhile the CPU is very powerful, but chews through, comparatively, a lot of power quickly.
They argued that it would be better to either pair the Pi with a better screen for a more powerful/usable handheld, or go all in on longevity and use some kind of low-power chip to pair with the screen for a terminal that could last for days.
... I've got to say, it's a fair point. A low power hand-held that could run Linux and run for days would be pretty cool, even if it was underpowered compared to a Pi. No idea what you could use for such a thing though.
Total newb question -- don't these CPUs support multiple clock speeds? You could set it high on install in preparation for compiling a bunch of software, then once you're done, knock it down to 50% or less of the maximum to add longevity?
Not an expert myself, but I think chips that truly sip power not only have a much lower floor but take even more aggressive actions to reduce power when idle.
Certainly with the right software tuning you could aggressively throttle the CPU to save power - I'm just not sure how much power it would actually save.
I did find this really good article on reducing the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W power consumption: https://www.cnx-software.com/2021/12/09/raspberry-pi-zero-2-w-power-consumption/
These old Blackberry keyboards are amazing for stuff like that. They are cheap, avaliable and super well documented.
Here's what I made with them: https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry
It's like a very early version of those "cyber decks" used in cyberpunk media. How long before we are using things like this to cut through Black ICE, trying not to fry our brains? 🤔
I really love the idea of carrying around something that's more of a hard terminal like that and running basic communication services off a portable AP that I also carry around. I would love to separate out texting from internet device so that I'm not constantly looking at my phone.
I’m toying with the idea of pairing this through the gpio pins on the pi to an A9G 4G/GPS module and a battery. With voice, text, data and location, you could do anything. Bulky as heck by the time you encase it but it could be cool.
I don't need a fucking playground Steven I'm not a little kid and you're not my dad stop coming to my house
Can we even get zeros?
Adafruit was rolling through runs of ~70 per day for a while. First come first served. Dunno if they still are. I'd suggest setting up a stock alert with them.
I snagged one for my Beepy. They were so strict about scalpers they made me set up 2fa so they could verify my account.
Glad they’re doing something to verify you’re not a scalper.
That’s what I was thinking. I don’t think I’ve seen them available in the last 3 months.
I’m heading to England in September. I’ll pick up a few for you guys
If you're near a microcenter they usually keep them hidden and you have to ask for them. But even when they're hidden they sell out the day the shipment gets there.
Online will probably be a shit show forever thanks to scalpers.
Kind of surprised it doesn't have better battery life...
Incidentally, you’ll want to avoid draining the Beepy’s battery too deeply if you can help it — according to the schematics (and confirmed on my actual hardware) SQFMI have used a 10K resistor on the “programming” pin of the TP4054 charging IC. That sets the chip’s charge rate to a measly 100 mA, which means a full recharge of the battery would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 hours. It’s hard to believe this was intentional, and may be addressed on a later hardware revision.
Yeah, this is a really cool idea, but they need to flush it out a little more. analogue audio and faster charging would make it a lot more appealing
20 hours
What the fuck. Yes it is a cool product, THAT however needs to be fixed before they launch this thing. 20 hours? Imagine trying to implement this for some kind of project and having to wait basically a whole goddamn day for it to charge lmao
In order to keep costs down the Pi is based on some pretty ancient hardware. DDR2 uses so much power no matter what, it's not like modern stuff that uses nothing idle.
Yeah, could put a beefier battery in this thing though.
Summary:
The Beepy is a handheld device designed for Linux enthusiasts. It consists of a board with a BlackBerry keyboard, a Sharp Memory LCD display, and a rechargeable battery. The device requires a Raspberry Pi Zero to function, which connects to the Beepy via flexible pins. The keyboard provides a tactile typing experience, and the display offers high contrast and daylight readability. The device is intended for hardware hackers and Linux experts who enjoy customizing and experimenting with Linux applications. While the hardware is affordable and promising, the software and documentation are currently lacking, with much information scattered across Discord and Matrix servers. Overall, the Beepy offers a unique and customizable Linux hacking playground experience for those willing to dive into its potential.