
How to create a handheld Linux terminal - bootload
http://n-o-d-e.net/post/107977286006/how-to-create-a-handheld-linux-terminal
======
erikb
I think the key point to efficient mobile linuxing is neither the hardware nor
the basic software but the language input. I feel touchpads and mobile
keyboards are both not handy to communicate with bash/vim in the subway. We
need a better mobile keyboard for that. Does anybody know who's working on
something in that direction?

~~~
freehunter
I was trying to find a small Blackberry-like keyboard for a side project I was
working on about a year ago. Doesn't exist, at least not in a form-factor that
is easy to integrate (USB, Bluetooth, etc). The best I could find is a USB
wireless keyboard that they sell on Adafruit that really, really, really
sucked and was still way too big.

~~~
walterbell
Too bad a Blackberry can't function as a BT keyboard.

Nokia N900 and E7 had good keyboards.

~~~
mdm_
I think this app:
[http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/38050888/?la...](http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/38050888/?lang=en&countrycode=CA)
allows you to do just that.

~~~
walterbell
This looks excellent, thanks much for the pointer.

~~~
tacoman
Yup, it is. I use this to control my HTPC. It works very well.

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deaconblues
This is truly one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. I can't help but
think of the little Atari Portfolio John Connor has in Terminator 2.

~~~
zokier
> I can't help but think of the little Atari Portfolio John Connor has in
> Terminator 2.

Late eighties/early nineties seemed like an interesting period for these sort
of handheld computers. Another great example is the HP LX series, eg 95LX or
200LX [http://i.imgur.com/pHa8YWD.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/pHa8YWD.jpg)

~~~
rsync
Also this little sony thing from late 90s:

[http://www.apj.co.uk/technology/apple_sony_clie.htm](http://www.apj.co.uk/technology/apple_sony_clie.htm)

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jsherer
Very cool and inspiring. I'm doing something similar [1] by replacing the guts
of a Toshiba Libretto 50C (a _tiny_ laptop from 1996) with a Raspberry Pi and
upgrading its screen to a 7" widescreen. It's slightly larger than your
terminal, but in my opinion, will be much more usable as a PC with the larger
keyboard. But, to each his own :)

What kind of battery life do you get with your machine?

[1]:
[http://restoringmylibretto.tumblr.com/](http://restoringmylibretto.tumblr.com/)

~~~
TimGremalm
Estimated 8.6h with idle CPU, based on my calculations. Raspberry Pi A+ 0.52W
usage at 100ma 5.2V on CPU idle ([http://raspi.tv/2014/raspberry-pi-a-how-
much-power-does-it-n...](http://raspi.tv/2014/raspberry-pi-a-how-much-power-
does-it-need))

Adafruit PiTFT - 2.8" Raspberry Pi Touchscreen with full-on backlight the
current draw is ~100mA.
([http://www.adafruit.com/product/1601](http://www.adafruit.com/product/1601))
0.1 _5=0.5W

Powerconsumption of Rpi and TFT should be 1.02W at idle.

PowerBoost 500 Charger - Rechargeable 5V Lipo USB Boost @ 500mA+
([http://www.adafruit.com/product/1944](http://www.adafruit.com/product/1944))
2.500Ah 3.7V LiPo 3.7V_2.5Ah=9.25Wh Boosted to 5V at 95% efficiency 8.79Wh

8.79Wh/1.02W = 8.6h

*Edit: I did a mistake when I calculated the Watt-hour. The Watt-hours of the battery can't increase just because the voltage increases, changed it.

~~~
jsherer
You should let it run idle and see how long until the battery is depleted. I
underestimated the losses due to efficiency with my Libretto project (boost
converters run at different efficiencies depending on the power draw).

I was able to get about 4 hours on a 6600mAh battery pack powering a Pi and a
7" touchscreen with wifi and bluetooth enabled (the project draws about 8W
when the screen is turned on, about 5W with it turned off).

------
blueintegral
Reminds me of the Zipit Z2, which was a handheld messenger toy that could be
hacked to run linux:
[https://mozzwald.com/zipitz2](https://mozzwald.com/zipitz2)

Not as much power as an RPi though.

~~~
networked
>Reminds me of the Zipit Z2

Yep. That, and Ben NanoNote ([http://en.qi-
hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote](http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote)),
which is another Linux device in the same size category as the Z2 and with
similar specs. The notable differences between the NanoNote and the Z2 is that
the NanoNote has a USB 2 host port and no Wi-Fi.

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marktangotango
Hey author, link to the parts, with a referrer id and monetize this stuff!

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mkesper
Powering this with something slightly more powerful than a Raspberry and it
should completely be usable. [http://socialcompare.com/fr/comparison/low-cost-
arm-boards](http://socialcompare.com/fr/comparison/low-cost-arm-boards) (from
2013, does anyone have an up to date comparison list?)

~~~
zokier
[http://linuxgizmos.com/ringing-in-2015-with-40-linux-
friendl...](http://linuxgizmos.com/ringing-in-2015-with-40-linux-friendly-
hacker-sbcs/) is one list, but frankly there are ridiculous number of these
boards/modules available.

~~~
gcb0
and the guy from novena laptop just posted recently that in china, you can get
much more models with much more interesting hardware.

------
reidrac
I love how the author found consumer components and put them together to build
the handheld. Looks really good!

There are a lot of inspiring projects over the web, but very often they
require tools that aren't available to everybody or they're not cheap for one-
off projects (laser cutter, 3D printers, etc).

~~~
zokier
> There are a lot of inspiring projects over the web, but very often they
> require tools that aren't available to everybody or they're not cheap for
> one-off projects (laser cutter, 3D printers, etc).

This is why hackerspaces are a rising phenomenon.

------
tlrobinson
A Raspberry Pi accessory similar to this would probably sell pretty well. It
might make sense to use the Raspberry Pi "Compute Module":
[http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-compute-module-
new-p...](http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-compute-module-new-product/)
It would be cool if Adafruit made a PiTFT that just accepted a Compute Module
directly.

I put together a Motorola Atrix Lapdock Raspberry Pi, like this, but it's
pretty bulky: [http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Raspberry-Pi-Lapdock-
Con...](http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Raspberry-Pi-Lapdock-Connection/)

------
zokier
The end result looks nice, I'd say even surprisingly so all things considered.
This sort of thing is something I have wanted to do for some time, but have
been pushing back due lack of money/time/tools/skills. Albeit in my grandiose
plans I was thinking of more "engineered" approach, using some nice ARM
module[1] instead of stripped RPi, bare LCD[2], custom keyboard[3] etc.

[1] e.g. [https://www.toradex.com/computer-on-modules/colibri-arm-
fami...](https://www.toradex.com/computer-on-modules/colibri-arm-
family/freescale-imx6) looks quite nice and so-dimm form factor is inherently
relatively thin.

[2] e.g. [http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-6-1280-800-TFT-LCD-
HV056WX1-100-Lc...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-6-1280-800-TFT-LCD-
HV056WX1-100-Lcd-Screen-Panel-
Display-/221287754996?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3385c72cf4) bit bigger
than what OP has, but still should be very portable

[3] This is surprisingly something that seems quite difficult to do. Maybe
I'll need to 3d-print some keycaps. Or use mechanical switches, like these
ones [https://www.e-switch.com/product-catalog/tact/product-
lines/...](https://www.e-switch.com/product-catalog/tact/product-
lines/tl1240-series-illuminated-tact-switches)

------
fit2rule
If you don't want to build your own, you can buy one:

[http://openpandora.org/](http://openpandora.org/)

Its not just a terminal, though .. ;)

~~~
Karunamon
Everything related to Pandora has seemed sketchy as hell from day one. For
instance, right now, both of the resellers on that site that service the USA
don't appear to actually sell the damned thing. I also recall stores of pre-
orders not being served for upwards of a year with little to no contact by the
seller.

~~~
fit2rule
Yeah those days are over .. the survivor of the OpenPandora project -
EvilDragon/Michale Mrozek - is the owner of the DragonBox Shop, and he has
been the only trustworthy guy in the project so far, which was severely
hamstrung by the financial mis-management of the originator of the project,
Craig Rothwell. That is all water under the bridge now - EvilDragon has been
selling the OpenPandora through his shop, and he is the principle organizer of
the sequel to the Pandora, called the Pyra.

(You can follow EvilDragon and see his involvement in the community here:
[http://boards.openpandora.org/user/1-evildragon/](http://boards.openpandora.org/user/1-evildragon/))

I'm the happy owner of two of the original first batch Open Pandora machines,
and was lucky to get them (F5 for the win) .. I've signed up for the Pyra too,
as I really believe that EvilDragon, and his minions, are a fantastic group of
like-minded adventurers, and I have absolutely _zero_ hesitancy in
recommending him to anyone interested in this project. He has been a stable
part of this whole party ..

~~~
Karunamon
This is great to hear - the Pandora is a cool enough device and really needs
some more love, but the experience for a random person wanting to buy one is
still _fantastically_ bad. Opaque storefronts which lead to opaque
"unavailable" messages (despite the previous page declaring "in stock now!"),
a news page that looks like the default from some ecommerce package.

Let me give you my money! Please! :(

~~~
fit2rule
Yeah, the Pandora is a sweet little device. I love mine! I hope you tune in
and get a chance to find yourself one - they do come up on the forums at
board.openpandora.org fairly frequently. Or, just wait for the Pyra .. ;)

------
scoopr
Hm, the 'fi' & 'fl' ligatures seems to be replaced as a middle dot in the
text, making it a bit funny to read at places.

------
apricot
Nice. I've been using a Ben Nanonote ( _) for the past few years. It 's a nice
open hacking platform, not very powerful but very open and tweakable.

(_) [http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote](http://en.qi-
hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote)

~~~
RBerenguel
Mine is lying around, not much used for the past years (somehow I can't get it
to run a debian image from SD, so I'm stuck with openwrt... Missing some
interesting packages then). What do you use it for?

~~~
apricot
I managed to install Debian on mine without trouble. I've written a mostly-
functional Apple II emulator (minus the graphics modes) and enjoy having an
Apple II in my pocket. I also use it to learn Chinese by listening to
audiobooks.

What I regret most about the Nanonote is the lack of wifi support (unless one
buys an expensive and hard-to-find gizmo). With wifi, it would make a very
useful ultraportable computing platform.

------
fit2rule
Would be great to see someone make a small keyboard/screen accessory that can
have one of these plugged into it:

[http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/01/12/intel-compute-
stick-t...](http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/01/12/intel-compute-stick-turns-
hdmi-display-computer/)

Maybe we'll see it this year, I predict ..

------
moe
Ah, the good old Libretto[1] form factor.

It actually used to be moderately popular back before smartphones became
ubiquitous. It's just amazing what you can build nowadays on a shoe-string
budget with off-the-shelf parts...

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_Libretto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_Libretto)

------
npsimons
Step 1: Get an N900

Joking aside, this is really cool, and I'm glad there are still people out
there who recognize the value (and want it this badly) of a handheld Linux
terminal. Meanwhile, the batteries on my N900 keep getting shorter and shorter
charge cycles . . .

~~~
holri
the battery is cheap to replace. I stay with my N900. I did not see anything
better.

~~~
npsimons
It's getting harder and harder to find actual BL-5Js, not just cheap knockoffs
that won't hold a charge. I've been through at least three already, still have
about 4 left. But I'm with you on the "nothing better" front. The org-mode app
on Android is a joke compared to having an actual full-blown emacs with org-
mode on N900, not to mention how straightforward the FS layout is and the fact
that git works nicely.

------
asd
Bandwidth limit exceeded on the images.:(

Edit: He switched over to imgur and the images are now loading fine.

------
tmikaeld
Very cool project! Would it be possible to upgrade the screen to a little
larger?

~~~
riquito
From the conclusion:

> If I was to make this again, I would do a few things differently. First I’d
> probably add a slightly larger screen like this one from Tindie
> [[https://www.tindie.com/products/hwlevel/40-ips-screen-for-
> ra...](https://www.tindie.com/products/hwlevel/40-ips-screen-for-raspberry-
> pi/)]

~~~
tmikaeld
Yes, i saw that one as well - but the 17FPS update-rate was very small. I'm
looking for more like 5-6" panel with faster updates.

------
9999
Pretty neat. I still like the concept of the kindleberry a bit better though:
[http://maxogden.com/kindleberry-
wireless.html](http://maxogden.com/kindleberry-wireless.html)

~~~
maghis
I love that this is totally self contained. Best of the best would be an e-ink
version of this (using something like this:
[http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/products/74](http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/products/74)
)

------
foodstances
OpenBSD (and Linux) runs on the Sharp Zaurus, they are neat little devices for
carrying around an SSH terminal.

[http://www.openbsd.org/zaurus.html](http://www.openbsd.org/zaurus.html)

------
protomyth
Despite the whole AlphaSmart thing, I still think there is a small market for
the TRS-80 Model 100 or 200 style computers. I would love to have an OpenBSD
machine in that form factor.

------
LeonM
I think this is pretty neat, and I would have loved this 10 years ago. I now
already have a handheld Linux terminal, it's called an Android smartphone.

~~~
hyp0
Yes; and "terminalIDE" includes busybox to fill in the missing commands, vim,
tmux, git, javac and gcc. It's fun, usable, but limited: you have to work
around a few things.

Wintel is making a push, with extra cheap quad-core Atoms and Windows 8. I
wonder if this might be easier to get full linux on?

BTW: The big problem with proper linux distributions on ARM/Atom is not not
getting them to run, but power management.

~~~
ilaksh
There is also GNU Root and Linux Deploy/a few other ways to get full linux on
Android devices after they are rooted.

------
gbrindisi
Very cool! Also I love the design of your blog

~~~
Splendor
I would prefer if I knew which sections were links without having to hover
over everything.

------
memracom
I had one of these in 2001. It was called the Sharp Zaurus.

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fiatjaf
Please sell this.

------
ekianjo
Or you can get an Open Pandora :)

------
NeoProgramming
delightful font!

