I don’t understand the ergonomics of this shape of thing. It doesn’t look comfortable to use hunched over it on a table or your knees, and it looks too bulky to hold like an iPad for a long session.
A thing that keeps me from being interested is that Every Single Review I have ever read has cited very poor build quality and a nearly unusable keyboard.
Love the idea, but the implementation needs work.
I have a serious soft spot for the Clockwork Pi folks, I just gave away my Clockwork Pi that I built from the kit and there’s a LOT of truly superlative engineering in there, but I just feel like there are other device makers that are doing better, faster, and in lots of cases cheaper :(
Can you provide an example of a better/faster/possibly cheaper device? It seems like you already have some ideas in mind about at least subjectively better devices.
I had a Clockwork Pi and it was very nice for playing emulated games on, but yes, the case and especially the buttons were a little chintzy and low quality. It was in a laptop bag that got stolen however, and I eventually replaced it with an Anbernic RG 351 which is rock solid and absolutely delightful, as semi-indie-supported hardware goes.
There is a delightful community at https://www.rghandhelds.com/ with lots and lots of info about and support for weird little gaming devices you’ve never heard of.
To be clear gaming handhelds are a bit far afield from the DevTerm, but I also really like Retro Game Corps.
My favorite ‘value’ handheld is the Anbernic line. I have the RG351M and while not perfect it’s a delightful little device, with controls orders of magnitude more usable than the Clockwork Pi IMO, better resolution, and a more vibrant community with several purpose fit Linux distros like 351elec and others. For a $200 device, the variety and compatibility of emulations is just stunning.
Plus - my guilty pleasure, it runs both PICO-8 and TIC-80 beautifully which is what I end up playing a LOT :)
The Nokia N900. I had one in the US for several years despite only having 2G speeds when everyone else had 3G. I have been looking for a replacement ever since…
I’d been thinking, just as ONE example, of the GPD line of ‘mini laptops’. They are, as it turns out, a little more money.
I was posting based on my impression and what I saiid shouldn’t be taken as anything like advice, but I’ve read a number of reviews, all of them sadly negative :(
I would be wary of ordering this if you plan on playing with it within the next few months. I mentioned under their ad on Twitter that I’ve been waiting for quite a while for my order to even ship, and several other people chimed in with similar experiences, with one person saying he’s been waiting since December.
I would love to get a DevTerm, but I can hardly justify another SBC-like device around the house.
Kudos for their dedication though, and the news of a full-blown Linux RISC-V computer is awesome.
I wonder who’s the CPU maker.
CPU is XuanTie C906. SoC is Allwinner D1.
Other boards using this D1 include the Lichee RV and the Nezha.
I don’t understand the ergonomics of this shape of thing. It doesn’t look comfortable to use hunched over it on a table or your knees, and it looks too bulky to hold like an iPad for a long session.
It looks cool, but it seems more like a movie prop than something you would actually want to hunch over and use.
Yeah, make it look more like the Atari Portfolio and I’m in! As the leader of the human resistance once said, they’d make “Easy money.”
All “cyberdecks” are modelled after the TRS-80 Model 100/Alphasmart Dana. Looks cool, will ruin your neck.
yeah if the keyboard+display were hinged then I might consider buying it but even as a toy it seems uncomfortable to use.
oh my gods, it’s adorable and I want one.
But there’s no way in the world my hands will fit on that keyboard.
A thing that keeps me from being interested is that Every Single Review I have ever read has cited very poor build quality and a nearly unusable keyboard.
Love the idea, but the implementation needs work.
I have a serious soft spot for the Clockwork Pi folks, I just gave away my Clockwork Pi that I built from the kit and there’s a LOT of truly superlative engineering in there, but I just feel like there are other device makers that are doing better, faster, and in lots of cases cheaper :(
Can you provide an example of a better/faster/possibly cheaper device? It seems like you already have some ideas in mind about at least subjectively better devices.
I had a Clockwork Pi and it was very nice for playing emulated games on, but yes, the case and especially the buttons were a little chintzy and low quality. It was in a laptop bag that got stolen however, and I eventually replaced it with an Anbernic RG 351 which is rock solid and absolutely delightful, as semi-indie-supported hardware goes.
There is a delightful community at https://www.rghandhelds.com/ with lots and lots of info about and support for weird little gaming devices you’ve never heard of.
To be clear gaming handhelds are a bit far afield from the DevTerm, but I also really like Retro Game Corps.
My favorite ‘value’ handheld is the Anbernic line. I have the RG351M and while not perfect it’s a delightful little device, with controls orders of magnitude more usable than the Clockwork Pi IMO, better resolution, and a more vibrant community with several purpose fit Linux distros like 351elec and others. For a $200 device, the variety and compatibility of emulations is just stunning.
Plus - my guilty pleasure, it runs both PICO-8 and TIC-80 beautifully which is what I end up playing a LOT :)
Whoops, I thought /u/penguincoder was asking about a better device than the Clockwork Pi, not than the DevTerm. Mea culpa.
I like to hear about both! I have a big interest in the portable emulators and also in little terminal slabs! Thanks for the suggestions
Out of curiosity, what is your favorite little terminal slab? I’ve considered building my own a time or two but never gotten around to it.
The Nokia N900. I had one in the US for several years despite only having 2G speeds when everyone else had 3G. I have been looking for a replacement ever since…
I’d been thinking, just as ONE example, of the GPD line of ‘mini laptops’. They are, as it turns out, a little more money.
I was posting based on my impression and what I saiid shouldn’t be taken as anything like advice, but I’ve read a number of reviews, all of them sadly negative :(
I would be wary of ordering this if you plan on playing with it within the next few months. I mentioned under their ad on Twitter that I’ve been waiting for quite a while for my order to even ship, and several other people chimed in with similar experiences, with one person saying he’s been waiting since December.
December is not long to wait for low volume devices in the current environment.
People who ordered an EOMA68 have been waiting since August 2016 – 5 1/2 years and counting.
https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop
The project owner abuses me every time I point this out somewhere, claiming that there is a good reason for every single delay. Summon: lkcl !!!