Funded in 5 minutes - the open source modular mini computer 'Pilet' is on Kickstarter
Funded in 5 minutes - the open source modular mini computer 'Pilet' is on Kickstarter
Funded within 5 minutes, soulscircuit are clearly onto a winner here with their upcoming Pilet open source modular mini computers powered by the Raspberry Pi 5.
That's a terrible name.
funded quick because of an absurdly low funding goal coupled with a high entry price point, and somewhat deceptive marketing.
Goal: 20k CAD
Lowest reward thingy: 289 CAD
They only needed 70 people interested. Still surpassed over 1k supporters, so not too shabby.
The emotional part of me yells “shut up and take my money”, but the rational part of me tells me that it will be another useless piece of junk on my shelf
Anyone that thinks they're "coding on the go" with something of this form factor is kidding themselves.
Yeah I've seen this thing before and think it's a neat design but not really worth funding tbh. In the end it's just a Pi with a screen too small to be useful and a keyboard that would be terrible to use. Do we really need to fund more plastic crap? They could just put the designs online so people can 3D print them themselves, and put it on a service like pcbway for people that want a high quality version. People already do that all the time.
If they would design an interface for it as well, that would be really cool. Then it could be a useful thing definitely worth funding. But with a vanilla Pi Linux the user experience would be terrible.
Do we really need to fund more plastic crap?
I feel this way every time something is made like this. Like, you're not reinventing the wheel in any meaningful way. Is it cool? Of course! Is is something that makes the task easier and/or better? No, not really.
This looks like a copy paste from clockwork with their DevTerm and uConsole. I have a uConsole and really like it. Despite that it had a small year needed to ship it. It is now running stock Debian Bookworm and the community is growing. Its running on a CM4 and CM5 is almost done as well thanks to a very active community user. Software support is shit, but the hardware and software are open source so there are already a couple. Of expansion boards (4G, GPIO, USB hub, Pico2040, and GPS/LoRa in the making)
Powered by Raspberry Pi 5
Also...
The Raspberry Pi 5 board is not included in this kit.
It's powered by someone's Raspberry Pi 5.
Great, another cloud computing scam...
Yeah, wish they were a bit more upfront about that. In their defense it is in the FAQ and somewhere at the bottom of the "about this project" page. Battery is also an add on unless you want to source your own.
This is cool but it tries to be two things and doesn't look great at either.
There are Pi Laptop cases that are more practical and aren't as risky as a Kickstarter.
And there's plenty of (dramatically cheaper) Linux retro styled pocket games out there.
Linux retro style handhelds? Could you tell me where to find them?
Was really interested in the Pilet until I figured out the Pi doesn't come with it at that price...
The R36S is a "dirt cheap" Linux retrohandheld you can get pretty much everywhere. No built-in WiFi though, which limits usability quite a lot.
Linux retro style handhelds? Could you tell me where to find them?
Sure!
- PowKiddy - probably the best value.
- Miyo Mini Sometimes goes on sale for less than PowKiddy.
- RetroFlag Pi 0 Case - Cool looking option for building from own Raspberry Pi.
- Abernic
Edit: Ooh, good recommendations by others. Abernic competes pretty well with PowKiddy in price for features, as well.
Anbernic has some. Not all of their devices run linux though, make sure to check the details.
There's loads. Several Anbernic devices, Miyoo Mini (I have a couple and they're great), etc.
Most of them support custom firmwares, themes, etc.
OP is fighting for their lives in that video with people saying it isn't open source.
We need more products to have interesting aesthetics again
Touchscreens have their place (and are overused in places like cars, to be sure) but their emergence combined with a minimalist trend sure has made things boring.
Cassette Future, indeed.
looks very cool but wonder about build quality
Poor souls ...