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> There are dual speakers on board, it is needed to pair with the bluetooth audio module to make sound

This is cursed

It looks nice and makes me missing the Blackberry keyboard now

This is the future i wanted in the 90s.

I like it.

Oh, not that CM5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connection_Machine

If you don't specifically want the Blackberry keyboard, there's also https://www.clockworkpi.com/home-uconsole

I got the Hackberry Pi Zero from Elecrow recently and it has been excellent for playing around. I really miss real keyboards on mobile devices and it has been fulfilling to use it.

Is someone still making these blackberry keyboards, or is there just that much old new stock around?

The Raspberry Pi is in dire need of a DP Alt mode USB C port. Those small portable devices would pair nicely with the current wave of Display/XR glasses but they all need Displayport via USB.

And while you can work around that with an adapter it takes away from the simplicity of just plugging in the glasses ( and most of them get quite hot too).

Iirc, CM5 cannot really deep sleep like phones or tablets do (at milli watts). Meaning you can't really use it for anything really portable - and that's a huge problem. I think RK3588 does, and it's a big win.

Edit: Sorry I meant deep sleep, not idle. Corrected.

Fwiw, for other projects you can look at other SoC brands than Raspberry, such as OrangePi, BananaPi, ClockworkPi, KickPi, Pine64, Rock64, Odroid, Libre Computer, Radxa, ArmSom, Onion, Udoo, NVIDIA Jetson, ASUS Tinker, Khadas. I was kinda blown away by how many there are. Ask ChatGPT for specific models and feature comparison.

Something to hack, but I don't see how to easily type braces and parentheses. Looks like a non-starter to me because for me, I hack by writing in languages that require parentheses.

An interesting alternative to the SQFMI Beepy / Beepberry [0][1] which is just a rpi zero but has a Sharp Memory Pixel display that I love. Both could use some work on adapting the UI to the little blackberry touchpad. Neither using a mouse cursor nor meta/ctrl modifier combos are very ergonomic on these little handhelds.

[0] https://beepy.sqfmi.com/

[1] https://blog.beeper.com/2023/05/16/beeper-x-sqmfi-beepberry/

Is it possible to buy a standalone Blackberry USB keyboard? zitaotech store has been out of stock for months.

In the HackberryPi CM5, does that pointing device (which IIUC is repurposed from Blackberry hardware) work like a joystick/TrackPoint?

Can you move smoothly at all angles with it, well enough to use the desktop GUI?

I recently sourced two Q20 keyboards (which wasn't easy) but you need quite tiny connectors to use it. There's a breakout you can build, if anyone is interested: https://oshwlab.com/amarullz/bbq20breakout

This sounds like another device that will end up in a drawer, as an experiment it looks good but not sure what you are going to do on a 4" inch display that cannot idle at low milliwatts

Lilygo has a number of devices based on the same keyboard but esp32 MCU.

Some with Lora.

https://lilygo.cc/collections/lora-or-gps

Might be tge pathway to cheap open source cellular service.

I want something the size of a TRS-80 Model 100 - something I can type on.

I'd rather have it in tablet format with more screen instead of the blackberry keyboard, now that there are very light cheap bluetooth keyboards that are comfortable to type on. I'm using one right now with my phone, and it weighs about the same as the phone. There are smaller and lighter ones around too.

It's much better for extended typing than a screen keyboard or blackberry keyboard. For non-extended typing, the blackberry keyboard is a small enough improvement on the screen keyboard to not be worth permanently dedicating space to it.

Just make the tablet battery swappable and sign me up :).

ugly keyboard, and FAT ! very FAT

I need AltGR (similar, chech, french, spanish and many other language!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltGr_key

I love custom handheld computer projects like this.

Few years ago I wanted to build one as a hobby/toy project with parts that are more or less easily available. So I did [0]. Instead of using a pre-made keyboard I used simple push buttons and instead of specialized keyboard controller I used an Atmega328P. Most of the components are through-hole and easy to solder. Anyway, the couple of the handhelds I built are sitting in a drawer at home, but it was fun building it nevertheless.

[0] https://github.com/jovan3/rpi-ibex-hyperpixel

Can I add a 4G/5G modem to this? If so, that would be perfect!

It’s $168 plus the cost of a CM5; while it is cool, I would worry that the $200+ device would end up in a drawer…

I have both the ble keyboard and the hackberry; they are very nice devices. I use the keyboard for working with xreal glasses on. I type fairly fast now on it. The hackberry is good for tinkering in silence without internet connection; I go sit in the forest and read or, with the hackberry, write small games for fun.

Would ge possible to install a small Clipper LTE 4G Breakout (SP/CE) into this design? For instance, there is this one which seem small enough to fit in the case (if adaptions): https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/clipper-breakout?variant=...

I always wanted to buy this. Now sold out: https://lilygo.cc/products/t-keyboard