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/
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? 🤔
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
deleted by creator
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 get out of my house
Can we even get zeros?
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
deleted by creator
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
Bigger battery might not be a bad idea either, but I say that about everything.
Has me wondering if ever we’ll reach a state where we just have battery packs like backpacks that we just wear as a daily habit, like putting a shirt on. It’ll charge up overnight, then go in a sleeve that’s machine washable (otherwise ew), and have a half dozen or so PD USB-C ports that we just tap into for phones, smart watches, laptops, etc
People definitely care battery chargers around and I’ve seen some that are integrated into backpacks already so it’s kind of already started. I heard the chargeable backpacks are kinda meh though and you’re pretty much better off just sticking some batteries in your pack.
I’ve had a backpack for years that has usb plugs for a battery pack sewn into it. It’s been a thing for like a decade.
Longer I think
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
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.
