This makes it easy to add your own hardware, and prevents you from having to touch the header on the Pi itself. SQFMI have broken out the Pi’s GPIO pins to standard headers on either side of the display. It took several attempts before all of the pins clicked into place, and once it finally got lined up, I didn’t dare move it. In practice though, I found the interface to be a bit finicky. This means you don’t need to solder anything, and in theory, makes it easy to swap the Pi in and out. The Raspberry Pi connects to the Beepy via a clever arrangement of flexible pins, which are held into place by the act of screwing it down into the metal standoffs. Its design is covered by the CERN Open Hardware Licence v1.2, with the schematics and KiCad files already released by SQFMI. You’ll still need to bring your own Raspberry Pi Zero to complete the device, although SQFMI does plan on offering the Beepy with a Pi Zero 2 pre-installed as an option. It’s simply a board that combines a BlackBerry keyboard, a 400 x 200 Sharp Memory LCD, and a rechargeable battery. To be clear, the Beepy itself is not a computer. There’s a good chance that you already know if the Beepy is for you or not, but if you’re still on the fence, hopefully this in-depth look at the hardware and current state of the overall project can help you decide before SQFMI officially starts taking new orders for the $79 gadget. If you’re into hacking around on Linux, it’s an absolute blast. Over the last couple of weeks playing with this first-run hardware, I’ve been compiling kernel drivers, writing custom scripts, and trying (though not always successfully) to get new software installed on it. The handheld device, which was formerly known as the Beepberry before its creators received an all-too-predicable formal complaint, is unabashedly designed for Linux nerds. Which is precisely how it feels using using the Beepy from SQFMI. These days, the only way to experience that sense of adventure and wonderment that once came pre-loaded with a Linux box is to go out and seek it. In fact, if you add Android and Chrome OS into the mix, there are millions and millions of people who are using Linux on daily basis and don’t even realize it. I still remember deciding if I wanted to play it safe and stick with my current kernel, or take a chance on compiling the latest version to check out this new “USB Mass Storage” thing everyone on the forums was talking about…īut modern desktop Linux has reached an incredible level of majority, and is now a viable choice for a great number of computer users. The kernel itself was still in considerable flux - instead of changing some obscure subsystem or adding support for a niche gadget you don’t even own, new releases were unlocking critical capabilities and whole categories of peripherals. Back then, running Linux (especially on the desktop) was not a task to be taken lightly. In the long ago times, when phones still flipped and modems sang proudly the songs of their people, I sent away for a set of Slackware CDs and embarked on a most remarkable journey.
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