The HackberryPi CM5 handheld computer

For real. For the kind of sound I'd expect out of this, the pwm channels on the rpi work just fine. If you want better sound, the rpi supports i2s.

I'd say the opposite. There's one interface, BT; pair your headphones, pair the internal speakers, there can't be a conflict, nor two places to look at.

Be grateful the keyboard doesn’t require pairing hahaha

> I think RK3588 does, and it's a big win.

I'll put that down as a TIL :-)

I'm really wanting a clamshell-like device with console controls in addition to the qwerty keyboard, with a large 7" screen (even if resolution is lower than 1920x768) based on the RK3588.

I want what the Pandora/GP2X could have been: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(computer) but with a larger screen and a more easily acquired SoC. Using replaceable 18650s (and charging via USB-C) is on my requirements as well.

I want to play games, basically, but set up my own linux distro for it, complete with mame and some ROMs.

If it can do games other than mame, then so much the better!

Anyone have any ideas?

These projects are cool but there is no reason for them not to be using RK3588

Besides brand awareness what could justify foregoing mainline Linux kernel and superior performance

RK3688 looks incredible based on leaks and could make the CM5 form factor practical instead of the novelty it is now

The waiting time is horrendous though. Mine arrived 8 months after I purchased it but beyond that, those are absolutely great. I stopped carrying a laptop in my backpack, just one of those with an additional expansion board and an HDMI port. My work involves a ton of data which I can't fit into memory so in all cases, my computer is just a terminal to a large server somewhere. So Clockwork ticks all the boxes for me. The one thing I wish they had thought about is an easy access to the CM and be able to swap them for different use cases: when I want to preserve battery and speed is not a big deal - cm5. When I want some additional power - pull out the cm4 and toss in a 5 instead.

I have one of these. It's so pretty. But the keyboard is borderline unusuable. It's a lot smaller than it looks, the keys are tiny, and have no feedback whatsoever. They're just squashy rubber. Like the ZX Spectrum, but a quarter the size.

Awful.

This also supports Radxa CM5 which is twice as powerful/watt as the Raspberry CM5.

Though you'll need USB hub for internet (WiFi/Eth adapter) and audio.

Also shipping takes a few months, which is kinda scary when you don't know the tariffs that far in advance.

Yeah that's a problem, I "want" a lot of tech too but I also know I would never use it on the regular. Gadgets are cool, but it's more of a "I want to have it" than a "I really need to use it". Same with e.g. the Flipper Zero, it's a cool device but other than some fiddling I'd never use it.

I have a bunch of Raspberry Pi's in a drawer, lol. Although I did pull one out the other day to set up a PiHole.

Seems to be the case with most of the Pi projects left these days. It's turned into a bit of a "oh cool, thats neat" thing that nobody is practically using day to day as there's better alternatives that are cheaper and/or better.

I've been playing with the Beepy. So much potential, but the community around it never sprung up, and the developer has moved on.

For me it was a cool little terminal that mostly didn't work outside my usual hotspot. Managing WiFi on a Pi from the terminal is no fun.

That's adorable, but the censored/pixelated keyboard is a little offputting. Am I guessing right that they're using Blackberry overstock and censoring trademarks?

Isn't a phone more powerful these days?

Same. The zero has only 512MB RAM so I started projects to rebuild the original BB OS for this while also adding Xpra to stream a browser running on a remote server (they all require 1GB+). Then priorities hit and I have not been back on this project since.

Do recent SoC integrate necessary muxers? Last I checked few years ago, it needed a special multiplexer chip between display out and USB-C port to handle mode switching, and there were lots of engineering challenges and costs involved, almost like using one set of pipes for both coolant water and lubricant oil.

No picture of the finished toy?

I quite like the idea of a physical keyboard on the device but I agree it's not really the best for extended typing.

It does cover the use cases I wan't from a linux hand held up to a point. If I could dock it to have a real monitor when I'm not on the go it would be perfect. Maybe through a usb-c output ? Just so I don't have to fiddle with multiple usb/hdmi cables when I want to set up

Lilygo seems to have no BB keyboards anymore. If you check the product photos on the actual product pages, you’ll notice that they’ve developed their own keyboard and trackball solution.

Unfortunately an ESP32-based gadget is not really in the same class as a rpi-based device; it won't be able to send/receive email, browse internet, run applications like ping/traceroute/tcpdumpetc (useful as a mobile diagnostic tool), run MAME (seriously, a portable computer that doesn't have games is useless to me) and can't easily be programmed for.

At this point, and at these prices, there are very specific use-cases for esp32-based devices, and they are mostly all single-use devices (i.e. capture then process some video, caching it then transmitting it for remote storage is one use-case I have seen in the wild).

An rpi device is much more general.

Those devices use the older style BB keyboard, the one with the trackball. The Beepy from SQFMI is another Raspberry Pi platform with the trackpad keyboard.

I recently came across a WIP full-fledged smartphone based on the CM5, called SPIRIT <https://github.com/V3lectronics/SPIRIT>

They use the EG25 cellular modem <https://www.digikey.pl/en/products/detail/quectel/EG25GGB-25...>, the same one that is used in PinePhone devices

I suspect an awful lot of us have a mausoleum of abandoned projects where this would feel right at home and is probably downright budget friendly compared to some of the other residents interred there.