Ask HN: A Single Board Computer for a phone alternative
1 comments
I liked Orange Pi (china) and the makers of the Odroid family (s.korea)
Both companies have a variety of options, some with even better specs, not accounting for your size constraints and my human memory
Both companies have a variety of options, some with even better specs, not accounting for your size constraints and my human memory
Now I am building a screen-less alternative for myself to take the place of my phone and my laptop (I use my laptop only when I am on the train/airplane or in the passenger seat of a car, otherwise I use desktops).
What I am building is an SBC attached to my belt, a bit bigger than an N900 with:
- no screen - usb cell modem (internet only, no phone) - a Pebble watch for most phone-like IO - earbuds for phone/signal calls - optionally Xreal glasses and a foldable keyboard when I need laptop functionality - VNC to an android phone at home for all the privacy intrusive bank apps / SMS / phone calls / insecure 2FA / etc - SSH to a desktop for the occasional dev work on the train/airplane - A local browser for "office work" on the goal
I have a lot of trouble finding an SBC that I can buy.
I need >=8GB ram, USB C with Display capabilities, and mainline(ish) kernel support. I want to run a linux distro on it, android is a no-go on ideological grounds. Slight preference for the AMD64 architecture.
Does such a thing exist?
I have found a few Ryzen SBC but none of them are sold to individuals. There are the Raspberry Pi clones, but they are <1GB of RAM or do not have USB C Display port. And there are all the android devices that do not run normal linux distros.
Maybe Valve will sell replacement parts for the Steam Frame -- that would be perfect. The Steam Deck mainboard is a bit too big.