
CutiePi – All-in-one Raspberry Pi tablet - ducaale
https://cutiepi.io/index.html
======
beatgammit
In case anyone is looking for a similar project with a bit more definition,
check out the PineTab[1]. It'll probably be pretty cheap (PineBook Pro will go
for $200, PinePhone will go for $150), and I'm guessing it'll be available
before this project is.

I really like all of these independent tablet/laptop/phone projects! I'm just
a little worried that people will pick them up thinking they'll be just like
an Android/iOS tablet and end up blaming the company making it.

[1] [https://www.pine64.org/pinetab/](https://www.pine64.org/pinetab/)

~~~
bufferoverflow
"This item is not yet available for purchase from the PINE64 store."

~~~
mbreese
Neither is the CutiePi, but it does seem significantly farther along the
process of becoming a purchasable product [1]. But I do like the idea of using
a Pi compute module for the basis of a tablet.

[1] [https://www.pine64.org/2019/08/05/august-update-london-
meetu...](https://www.pine64.org/2019/08/05/august-update-london-meetup-
pinetab-news-soedge-and-more/)

------
jasoneckert
I like this project. However, I wish that under the FAQ for "What's the target
price?" they had a better answer than "We'll know better in DVT stage,
meanwhile please find the bill of materials in design files for detail." Who
is going to Google each of the 89 components listed in the bill of materials
to get a rough guess (since it doesn't list price info)?

~~~
penkia
hi, project creator penk here, thanks for the comment, "we don't know" is the
honest answer we can give at this moment, since we hadn't ordered any parts.

For your reference the first batch (10pcs) EVT boards is about ~90USD a piece:
[https://i.imgur.com/anUASlT.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/anUASlT.jpg)

~~~
TheRealPomax
"we don't know" is not as good as "we don't know, but it won't be less than
the material cost, which is currently X" would go a long way towards taking
the people you want to get excited about this product seriously. We understand
how "things cost money" works, but going "we don't know, figure it out
yourself" is not a nice thing to tell people who are actually interested in
what you're making =)

Even updating it to say "it will likely be in the $100-$200 range due to
material cost and production fees" is fine: that's a _huge_ range, and still
better than "we don't know, figure it out yourself".

~~~
penkia
Fair point, will update accordingly. I hesitate to say anything because we are
getting mixed signals from Chinese manufacturers....

~~~
loganekz
Would you be willing to work with US based companies for hardware?

~~~
krapht
It is impossible to find cheap US-based PCB manufacturing, the ones who
compete on price all left for China years ago. What's left services the high-
end/custom/defense/1-day-turnaround market.

------
zelon88
Man this has come a long way. I remember my first Pi I wanted to do this SOO
badly. I wound up doing it with a 48w/hr battery and a 7" non-touch automotive
backup camera screen. [1]

This was just after the launch of RPi1 and well before Adafruit had all the
cool parts that just work out of the box.

[1] [https://www.honestrepair.net/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/Micr...](https://www.honestrepair.net/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/Micro_1-1.jpg)

~~~
penkia
fellow veteran, what happened to this cool device? :-)

~~~
zelon88
I've still got it and I believe it's still got Wheezy on it. Last time I tried
she fired up. I've gone through abut 7 Pi's since, but this one will never be
re-purposed. This is it's destiny.

The coolest part about it was that the screen, computer, and battery were all
modular with velcro and electrical plugs. So the metal case had the regulators
and Pi, the black case held the batteries. In under a minute I could remove
the screen and Pi from the battery pack and velcro it into all into my car.

------
goda90
Reminds me of this project someone was working on:
[https://hackaday.io/project/164845-dlt-one-a-damn-linux-
tabl...](https://hackaday.io/project/164845-dlt-one-a-damn-linux-tablet)

They started off using the compute module, but ended up switching to the
Nvidia Jetson Nano. Both of these projects make me wish for a world where a
standard pin-out in this SODIMM format arises and we could see some inter-
operable competition like we have with PC desktop parts.

~~~
sitkack
I think you are looking for "eoma68"

[https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-
desktop](https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop)

[http://rhombus-tech.net/](http://rhombus-tech.net/)

------
martin_a
All the best for your project!

Just these days I was wondering which tablet would be able to run Ubuntu Touch
or something alike and while support for "real" tablets seems to be quite
rare, there are quite a few tablet projects based on the Raspberry Pi. I hope
this will continue.

~~~
penkia
As a former Canonical (Ubuntu Phone team) engineer I do like the ideas of
indie OS, be it Ubuntu Touch, Open webOS, or even LineageOS Android for Pi.
We'll definitely work with communities closely to bring more options to
CutiePi.

After all, free software is all about choices.

~~~
squeezingswirls
Btw maybe it might be of your interest to know that some people are porting
Ubuntu Touch by UBports to Pinephone and Librem 5 phones, and some others are
trying to port it to Raspberry Pi 3 /4.

[https://ubports.com/](https://ubports.com/)

~~~
penkia
thanks, it's definitely on our radar. :-)

~~~
ajot
Maybe it's on your radar too, but what about an official port of postmarketOS?

------
opless
I'm quite interested in how you integrate power management into the PI.

There's very little in the way of 'real' power management solutions for the PI
and a myriad of 'power down when the battery is low' solutions ... is a
decent, cheap, reliable fuel gauge hat just too much to ask for? :D

~~~
penkia
We're using the MCU to swtich power source between USB charging or battery,
using it's ADC to serve as a voltage divider to get actual AD value from the
battery, and a MP2636GR chip for charging and voltage step-up.

So yay battery percentage! ;-)

~~~
opless
How do you do the switching? Using a MOSFET or something else?

------
lifeisstillgood
I am getting a bit overwhelmed - I would like to get a basic level of "maker"
capabilities at home for my kids but ... it's not the kit, not the hardware,
it's the projects

I think I am looking for easy to follow instructions for dads

~~~
penkia
I see you man, we created this project for the exact same reason. Instructions
will be posted, with pretty pictures! :-)

------
aasasd
Barging in with a vaguely related question here. Could anyone please
illuminate a noob, briefly, as to what's the situation with open-source
drivers for displays? Because, judging by the practical unportability of
Android on phones, it looks like a ‘piss off’ from big boys of the market. (Or
is the Android's problem more with radio chips?)

~~~
penkia
Libhybris would still be your best bet on re-using Android drivers..

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybris_(software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybris_\(software\))

------
elagost
A tablet, built on open technologies, with a wide variety of ports, and
replaceable parts?

Count me in. I would replace my laptop with this.

------
crimsonalucard
What I really want is to use the Rasperry Pi as both a computer system and a
throw away embedded module.

So I would want something like this when I program the Rasperry Pi to say
control a robotic arm somewhere. Then I want to be able to pull the rasperry
pi out of this tablet and actually place it in the robotic arm module.

So if I have several projects going on like auto fish feeder and / or auto
plant waterer.... I want to be able to bring the tablet around attach the
rasperry pi to it too make changes.

While the demo looks like this is what is happening I'm assuming that the
final product is basically like a phone, the pi is eternally stuck inside the
tablet?

$200 is too much for something like a auto plant waterer but $30 for the pi is
perfect for this. Therefore make the tablet interface a module to the pi.
That's the whole point right? Otherwise why use the pi over my phone? there's
no point.

~~~
aeorgnoieang
Wouldn't you be able to use this to develop whatever and then deploy your code
to separate Pi module later?

~~~
crimsonalucard
That would require all my modules to be connected to wifi at all times.

~~~
fragmede
Pi Zero W is $10 including wifi. Even if you don't want to hook it up to house
wifi, the zero can run its own hotspot so there's no need to
connect/disconnect cables/sd cards to update programming. (Personally, I hate
having to deal w/ microsd cards while I'm also repotting plants.)

------
mark_l_watson
I really like the idea of an open hackable tablet but the screen resolution of
1280x800 might be limiting. My digital life revolves around my 11" iPad Pro
(except for my GPU rig for ML and coding, and a MacBook for light weight dev
and also writing) and the hires display is important.

~~~
penkia
Will see if we can source any higher resolution MIPI DSI display parts, the
current one's cheaper though ;-)

~~~
rchaud
Is it possible to buy higher-resolution display parts individually, or is
there a minimum order size?

Also, most Android/Windows OEMs low-end tablets are 1280 x 800, so I'm
guessing higher-res screens strain their batteries and GPU too much for them
to be viable?

~~~
rjsw
The 11" Pinebook ships with a HD display so they are available, don't know how
big the production run of them is though.

------
jokoon
I guess I could be able to write some python code with this, using a small 60%
keyboard...

It's really a cool device. I mean if I can do whatever I want on a handheld
device, I'd be ready to pay 150 euros for it. Android phones are useless if
the OS is a walled garden.

~~~
penkia
You're in for a treat, we are making a "coding" layout for the virtual
keybaord (with an ESC and a Tab key! ;-)

------
Wheaties466
This is exactly what I wanted for remote techs troubleshooting. It has a
battery and can run more than standard windows utilities. I'll be picking up
one of these to play around with when it comes out.

------
StyloW
Not sure if I'm being silly here, but with the article about Talon
([https://talonvoice.com/](https://talonvoice.com/)) and coding by voice from
earlier this week, I think this could potentially provide an interesting setup
for a portable development setup? (I quite dislike typing on touchscreens and
being able to develop by voice also seems like a portable skill)

~~~
penkia
Looks cool, maybe you can start building a PoC with parts like this 2-mics Pi
HAT?
[http://wiki.seeedstudio.com/ReSpeaker_2_Mics_Pi_HAT/](http://wiki.seeedstudio.com/ReSpeaker_2_Mics_Pi_HAT/)

~~~
StyloW
If I can find some spare time in between pet projects, maybe I will!

------
mlevental
I would literally kill for a tablet that did nothing but very very very very
good active pen stuff. I bought a Dell latitude tablet and while it's good
enough (one note is also just good enough) that I don't regret it I've been
wondering whether I could put together something that just focused on
digitization using something a pi. are there any plans to support an active
pen?

~~~
MarcScott
I've heard good things about [https://remarkable.com](https://remarkable.com)

~~~
mlevental
yes me too but that is basically as expensive as my dell tablet for just
writing? it seems like to high a premium (yes i know i said i would kill).

~~~
abawany
'Literally kill' you said :) . I got the HP Chromebook X2 with stylus and
while some chrome os rough edges persist(crostini apps don't work with on
screen keyboard, for eg), it is fast and responsive with great battery life so
far.

~~~
logfromblammo
Didn't mention humans, though. Maybe they were going to kill a housefly, or a
roach, or mosquito, or something that typically gets killed anyway, without
even getting good stylus input for it?

------
l1k
The screen on the frontpage photo says "armv7l". I think that's only printed
on the Raspberry Pi 4. The specs say it's a Compute Module 3+, which I'd
expect to print "armv7".

So either the photo is not genuine or the pictured device is using a Raspberry
Pi 4 (possibly a pre-release Compute Module thereof).

~~~
penkia
hi, on Pi4 it would be something like "Linux raspberrypi 4.19.46-v7l+", it's
totally confusing.

More info regarding Pi3 arch
[https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=140572](https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=140572)

------
owenversteeg
Looks very cool, for sure.

But am I the only one who is confused why they created a main board instead of
just using a Pi model B? Most of the things on their board (usb, hdmi, wifi,
Bluetooth, card slot, etc) are already there in a Pi. Especially since the
boards are about $90 each...

~~~
elcomet
I'd say the form factor. The raspberry pi is too thick for a tablet.

~~~
kingosticks
If you ripped off the ethernet and usb ports would it still be too thick?
Maybe the hdmi also.

~~~
elcomet
Well they used the compute module so that's exactly what they did. And then
they added back the ports where they needed.

~~~
kingosticks
I appreciate what they did and why. But no, that's not the exact same thing as
the raspberry pi with it's ports de-populated. You need to provide power and
ethernet (if required) yourself, I think.

The compute model is the right choice for an actual product (i.e. making more
than one), but for someone trying to jam a pi into a thin space, removing the
ports is almost as thin. Plus you don't also need a motherboard.

The compute module is also still waiting for it's BCM2711 refresh, another
reason it's not the same thing. But when that does arrive, if it's just a case
of swapping the modules that'll be a brilliant upgrade for this project.

------
abrowne
> _OS: Raspbian + UX built with Qt_

I'm curious about this part. Their Github only has their website, hardware
design, firmware and drivers: [https://github.com/cutiepi-
io/](https://github.com/cutiepi-io/)

~~~
penkia
Sorry the UX is still under development, will be release when it's ready.

As a long-term Qt user, you can find my other tablet-related projects on
Github, for example the browser
[https://github.com/penk/SlateKit/tree/master/Shell](https://github.com/penk/SlateKit/tree/master/Shell)

------
perlpimp
neat-o project. i love my ipad, but this indie piece if screen and tracking is
excellent would be a total bomb. all the best!

------
B801SUX
I thought that case design reminded me of something, then I remembered the one
laptop per child (OLPC) project from years ago. Apparently it is still going
and their latest offering is based around a celeron processor, not sure they
would even consider selling them to the general public though.
[http://dev.laptop.org/~quozl/catalog-2019.pdf](http://dev.laptop.org/~quozl/catalog-2019.pdf)

~~~
mycall
I just looked at their email distribution lists and they are pretty much dead.
Last dev email from May was about XO-1.75 when XO-4 Touch is available.

------
nojvek
I've been really meaning to see more devices taking advantage of raspberry pi
compute module and selling it as ready to ship packages. I wonder how much
this is being sold for.

What I'd really love to see / make is a pre-packaged raspberry pi robot with
wheels, cameras, microphones, simple LIDAR, IR lights for night vision and a
simple grabber arm. Cheap, nicely built, durable robot.

I'm not a hardware guy but if someone wants to partner, I wanna do a
kickstarter someday.

------
skymer
This uses the CM3 Lite. According to a blog post in January, 2019 on the
release of the CM3+, the “legacy” CM1, CM3 and CM3 Lite products are
considered “not recommended for new designs”. [1] [https://www.raspberrypi-
spy.co.uk/2019/01/introducing-the-ra...](https://www.raspberrypi-
spy.co.uk/2019/01/introducing-the-raspberry-pi-compute-module-3/)

~~~
penkia
hey, thanks for the comment, we know that CM3 and CM3+ are pin-to-pin
compatible, so will switch to it when launch! :-)

(finger crossed for CM4?)

~~~
petecox
Great feature! End-user upgradeable simply by swapping a device's compute
module with a newer iteration from RPi.

c.f. EOMA68

------
equalunique
Looks promising. The one thing I wish this had was some design files or
something for the case, so that I could screw it in to a VESA mount.

~~~
onemoresoop
Use a vaccum/suction cup mount. It should hold well enough.

------
miohtama
If one wants to create a wall mounted, always display on, system are there any
of like CutiePi with an e-Ink display?

~~~
penkia
I do find SPI e-ink displays on taobao, not sure about touch:
[https://world.taobao.com/item/558792955821.htm](https://world.taobao.com/item/558792955821.htm)

------
groundlogic
After working with people in Taiwan for the past two years: I love the
creativity coming out of there.

Compared to mainland China, people in Taiwan seem more eager to integrate with
the world. Open source is popular in mainland China too, but English is not.

This thing they're building seems awesome.

~~~
jdkdk
Learn Chinese?

~~~
groundlogic
That's like a 2-4 year task, it seems.

~~~
mycall
Faster if you answer your robocalls.

------
kdmoyers
Pardon if this is a dumb question, but does this thing look like it could
decode and play MP3 files? With a little power left over for a simple user
interface? I'm interesting in making a specialized MP3 player of sorts.

~~~
bradfitz
I think your toaster can probably decode & play MP3 files these days.

------
alkonaut
What's the biggest difference between this and a regular tablet running linux
(I'm not sure they exist but I'm assuming most android tablets can run any
Linux?). Is it the addition of GPIO, or somethinbg else?

~~~
penkia
Value proposition time haha :-)

1) you have access to the Raspbian and Pi ecosystem 2) it has actual usable
UI, commercial-grade I would say

The whole idea of this project is to help makers to be portable with their
projects. The display is optional.

~~~
alkonaut
So the point of the device is to be able to develop pi stuff which is then
most likely used on a regular pi when deployed? Am I interpreting that right?

~~~
penkia
yes, and when you're done, it's portable.

------
buttcheese
That's a clever use of the compute module. I'll buy one

------
benj111
I like the handle cum stand, that in itself seems enough of an innovation to
base a tablet on. I wonder if a keyboard could be slotted through to make a
laptop???

------
sagarm
Will the GPIO pins include the hardware SPI, I2C, or UART pins?

I'm excited about the extra compute available from the RPi4, but obviously the
CM4 isn't out yet.

~~~
penkia
I believe it's GPIO7-10, please find J20 from the schematic, hope we can free
up more in the future: [https://github.com/cutiepi-io/cutiepi-
board/blob/master/SCH_...](https://github.com/cutiepi-io/cutiepi-
board/blob/master/SCH_20190325.pdf)

I'm also excited about Pi4, but on the other hand worried about thermal
issue...

------
charlesdaniels
I always wondered why nobody had release a tablet / laptop type system that
accepts the compute module... I guess it's finally happening!

------
elihu
Will there be GPIO pins exposed somewhere?

~~~
penkia
Please find J20 from the schematic [https://github.com/cutiepi-io/cutiepi-
board/blob/master/SCH_...](https://github.com/cutiepi-io/cutiepi-
board/blob/master/SCH_20190325.pdf)

------
ElijahLynn
"Everything you see here is open source -- schematics, PCB, drivers, firmware,
UI, everything."

------
aphextim
The name of this reminded me of an 8th grade math poem.

>Roses are red.

>Math is pretty fly.

>I like your smarts.

>So why not be my cutie 3.14159

~~~
penkia
That must be an American thing, in Asia it's at least 12 decimal places (jk).

~~~
mycall
Americans are lazy.. 22/7

~~~
fragmede
sure, but what do they do with the other 2 hours of the day, 7 days a week?

------
hybrids
Handle and design loosely reminds me of the OLPC. It's cute (and aptly-named)

~~~
penkia
The original xo tablet rendering is super cool, very hard to compete :-)

[https://thetechjournal.com/wp-
content/uploads/images/1201/13...](https://thetechjournal.com/wp-
content/uploads/images/1201/1325937642-marvell-and-olpc-brings-new-
xo-30-tablet-and-xo-175-laptop-for-ces-3.jpg)

------
macawfish
This would be be awesome with a low latency e-ink display!

~~~
penkia
I do find SPI e-ink displays, but not sure about touch panels..

[https://world.taobao.com/item/558792955821.htm](https://world.taobao.com/item/558792955821.htm)

------
arbitrage
Looks like vaporware. Doesn't announce a price. I won't hold my breath.

Also, double-opt-in for e-mail should be the default now. This screams 'scam'
to me.

~~~
ekc
If you had read the thread before commenting, you'd find that the developer of
this used to work at Canonical, which lends them at least some credit.

------
2sk21
Looks promising

------
hclalpha
<3 !

------
AmericanPi
Now we're just waiting for American Pi, in other words.

------
charlesju
Call me dull, but why don't you just build an android app and buy a Fire
Tablet to power your project.

A Fire Tablet is probably on par for power and is fully integrated with a
touch screen and battery, and with discounts it costs almost or cheaper than a
bare Pi.

I feel like we bend over backwards to try to use the Raspberry Pi to do cool
things, but a lot of these projects can be developed more easily and powered
by a more consistent framework using a Fire Tablet.

~~~
penkia
Because the boot loader is locked, so does its launcher, unless LauncherHijack
installed and abuses Accessibility feature to draw Overlays on top of your
screen....

Speaking of modifying existing hardwares, Nexus 7 is my personal favorite:
[http://i.imgur.com/8H9LH9U.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/8H9LH9U.jpg)

~~~
charlesju
What projects do you need a tablet and you need it unlocked?

~~~
penkia
Anything related to flashing eMMC, anything kernel related, especially
KMS/DRM, bionic libc... etc.

If you don't find it limited with locked device, you're simply not playing
hard enough. :-))

