I’ve been looking for a ARM-based laptop that’s actually an open platform and designed for real use, with a real keyboard (and not a converted Chromebook or similar) for awhile, and I like the idea of a trackball. I’ll be keeping an eye on this project.
The Pinebook Pro (coming very soon, already exists physically) is very much designed for real use too :) The RK3399 is usable with zero loadable blobs, at least with DDR3 memory (used in some Chromebooks) but I think I’ve seen DDR4 code in Coreboot too. Sadly no one bothered to build Coreboot for the Pine boards it seems, they use U-Boot, which I’m not sure if it uses any blobs.
Xtensa’s are CPU’s that are custom made for specific applications with toolchain and such generated from what I read. It appears easy to incorporate them into SoC designs, too. Might be why ESP8266 uses something like that. Tensilica’s is very interesting tech that you might find anywhere with a custom need. :)
That keyboard is a dream come true. That useless, huge spacebar, finally replaced with a bunch of thumb-accessible keys (an echo of the Canon Cat layout?).
I’ve been looking for a ARM-based laptop that’s actually an open platform and designed for real use, with a real keyboard (and not a converted Chromebook or similar) for awhile, and I like the idea of a trackball. I’ll be keeping an eye on this project.
The Pinebook Pro (coming very soon, already exists physically) is very much designed for real use too :) The RK3399 is usable with zero loadable blobs, at least with DDR3 memory (used in some Chromebooks) but I think I’ve seen DDR4 code in Coreboot too. Sadly no one bothered to build Coreboot for the Pine boards it seems, they use U-Boot, which I’m not sure if it uses any blobs.
Looks fine, but the Reform keyboard is leaps and bounds better, and the trackball looks a lot nicer too.
Dang, and I thought Rockchip’s manuals were awesome.
LOL. That’s a very interesting place to find a CPU with the same architecture as the famous ESP8266 :D
Xtensa’s are CPU’s that are custom made for specific applications with toolchain and such generated from what I read. It appears easy to incorporate them into SoC designs, too. Might be why ESP8266 uses something like that. Tensilica’s is very interesting tech that you might find anywhere with a custom need. :)
That keyboard is a dream come true. That useless, huge spacebar, finally replaced with a bunch of thumb-accessible keys (an echo of the Canon Cat layout?).
Oh I was already excited by this and hadn’t even noticed the space bar, great to see.