Gadgets
$1 PinePhone pogo pin breakout board lets you connect add-ons without removing the back cover
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Saturday 23rd of January 2021 06:36:24 PM Filed under


There are a lot of things that make the PinePhone different than most smartphones. It’s designed to run GNU/Linux-based operating systems. It has physical switches that can disable the camera, mic, and wireless features. And it has a set of pogo pins that make it possible to connect add-ons like a keyboard, fingerprint reader, or thermal camera to extend the functionality of the phone
The only problem is that you have to pop off the back cover to access those pogo pins, so many of the official and unofficial PinePhone mods that take advantage of the pins are designed to either replace the cover with a new one or cut a hole in the existing cover.
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After OxygenOS 11, you could be able to install Linux on your OnePlus 6 & OnePlus 6T
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Saturday 23rd of January 2021 01:00:19 AM Filed under
OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T are the oldest devices that are currently supported by OnePlus following the end-of-life update sent out to the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T earlier this month.
This means that Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 is the last official Android version that the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T will be eligible for.
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Debian based PinePhone Mobian Edition Review. Spec, Price, and More.
Submitted by arindam1989 on Thursday 21st of January 2021 08:31:58 AM Filed under


We take a detailed look at the PinePhone Mobian Edition and give you a perspective on the features, prices and comparisions.
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Devices: Xtra-PC, Arduino and Inventor Coding Kit
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 18th of January 2021 09:10:06 PM Filed under
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Xtra-PC Reviews – Best Linux USB-Stick? - Product Review by Rick Finn
The Xtra-PC Linux USB-Stick might be your solution if you have problems with your old and slow PC. It's a small flash drive stick and it's using Linux OS to boost you PC's operations. Check out now.
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Arduino Blog » Old keyboard turned into a new children’s learning toy
Peter Turczak’s toddler son loves “technical stuff,” especially things like keyboards and computers that adults use. After discussing this with other likeminded technical parents, the idea of giving new life to an old (PS/2 or AT) keyboard as a teaching tool was hatched.
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SiFive Helping To Teach Kids Programming With RISC-V HiFive Inventor Coding Kit
SiFive in cooperation with Tynker and BBC Learning have launched a Doctor Who themed HiFive Inventor Coding Kit. This Initial HiFive Inventor Coding Kit is intended to help kids as young as seven years of age get involved with computer programming through a variety of fun exercises and challenges involving the RISC-V powered mini computer and related peripherals like LED lighting and speaker control.
[...]
So for those looking to get their kids involved with computer programming and looking for an IoT-type device with some fun sensors and various themed exercises to get them experimenting, the HiFive Inventor Coding Kit is worth looking into further. More details on the programming platform can be found via Tynker.com and on the hardware at HiFiveInventor.com. The HiFive Inventor Kit is available from Amazon.com and other Internet retailers for $75 USD.
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Rotary Un-Smartphone is a rotary dial phone based on Arduino, 4G LTE module
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Monday 18th of January 2021 05:58:37 AM Filed under
If you feel nostalgic and misses the days of the rotary dial phone, Sky’s Edge “Rotary Un-Smartphone” is an open-source hardware rotary dial phone controlled by an Arduino board and equipped with a multi-mode 4G/3G/2G module.
It’s a bit more advanced that you old rotary phone with recent cellular technology, ePaper & OLED displays, quick dialing buttons, and the rotary dial can both be used to dial full phone number or quickly access your contact list.
Also: 42Gears SureMDM Simplifies Setting up Kiosk Mode on Linux Devices
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Lenovo IdeaPad 3 - Windows and Linux experience a week later
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Friday 15th of January 2021 06:08:35 PM Filed under
Here we are. My initial satisfaction with the laptop's default offering has gone down some. I am quite disappointed with how Microsoft chooses to promote Windows 10. Yes, it rules the desktop market, so it can do pretty much what it pleases, but this is a long game. And in the long game, they are not winning themselves any loyalty. If Linux ever achieves functionality parity, off I go. The same goes for Lenovo. I don't mind a vendor offering its tools and solutions. That's fine. But if I choose to have those tools removed, then there are no two ways about it. I'm most likely not going to buy any Lenovo machine again, because I don't appreciate being treated like a potato.
In this regard, Linux does a much friendlier job - to be let down by random erraticism. I'm talking about the sound config I had to handle, plus the VLC quirk. And let's not forget Secure Boot - even though it does not affect my two installed distros at the moment. Hardware wise, the keyboard quirks are quite annoying, and the screen can do only so much. Other than that, the laptop is robust and neat, fast, and the CPU fans don't rev too much. The battery life is pretty good, but I need more data to verify if the original numbers hold true.
Well, there you go. This is my satisfaction report a week into the laptop's usage. I am certain there will be more lovely surprises, twists and turns along the way, but then, part of the experience is figuring out issues early. This way, if and when I deploy software in my production setup, I will have all the right workarounds in place, and my seven-digit IQ will not be affected. Stay tuned for more good stuff. See ya.
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Crowdfunding Astro Slide 5G smartphone ships in June, has a physical keyboard, and promises Linux support
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 14th of January 2021 07:57:16 PM Filed under
The Astro Slide is a 5G smartphone with a 6.5 inch display and a physical keyboard that slides out from behind the screen, allowing you to use the phone like a tiny laptop computer. It will ship with Android, but the plan is to also make GNU/Linux distributions including Debian and Ubuntu Touch available for download.
First announced by Planet Computers in March, 2020, the phone went up for pre-order through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $1.6 million in hopes of shipping the Astro Slide to customers by March, 2021.
Now the makers of the phone are providing an update – because of pandemic-related delays it will likely ship in June instead. And the specs have changed (the phone has more RAM than initially planned, but a less powerful processor and smaller battery).
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Open Hardware: Librem 5 Update and SQFMI
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 14th of January 2021 06:30:12 AM Filed under

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Librem 5 Update: Shipping Estimates and CPU Supply Chain
It’s been a busy holiday and New Year’s season at Purism as we continue to ship out Librem 5s to backers each week. We know for those who haven’t received their Librem 5 yet, what they most want to know is when their Librem 5 will arrive. In summary, we will be providing shipping estimates within the next week to the backers within the original crowdfunding campaign (orders through October 2017), but not all backers yet, based on our confidence in the estimates. The rest of this post will explain what is going into our shipping estimates, and why we can’t yet provide shipping estimates to every backer.
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Purism and Linux 5.9 and Linux 5.10
Following up on our report for Linux 5.8 this summarizes the progress on mainline support for the Librem 5 phone and its development kit during the 5.9 and 5.10 development cycles.
Librem 5 updates
One of the most notable additions is a first devicetree description for the phone. This is important to have upstream since it describes how the hardware is wired up. Without that, it’s impossible to boot a mainline kernel. We added descriptions for the various phone revisions themselves (up to the Dogwood board) and also for the MIPI DSI controller of the imx8mq SoC. From this point on, we’ll incrementally add the missing pieces, for example from the display stack, just like we’ve done for the devkit back in Linux 5.2.
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Hack together your own e-paper smartwatch with this $50 open-source kit
The battery life SQFMI estimates depends on your use case — it says if you’re just keeping time you should get five to seven days, but if you’re fetching data frequently you may only see two to three. Its open-source nature, however, means that you could always fit a larger battery into it, or try and make some software optimizations if there are features you’re willing to cut.
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The Pyra Handheld Linux PC is Shipping
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Tuesday 12th of January 2021 12:30:38 AM Filed under

The Dragonbox Pyra is finally shipping! This small handheld Linux PC (that can be used for just about anything, including gaming) has been in the works for 7 years or more. It was designed to be the successor of the Open Pandora (an excellent device that predates smartphones) which led to numerous innovations in the ARM space (the creator of Box86, for example, comes from the Open Pandora community).
The DragonBox Pyra has had a difficult development process, with numerous hardware (and mold) related issues during its design. It was kind of supposed to be ready to come out a few years ago, but every time you’d think “hey, it’s just 2 months away now!” it would be delayed again and again – for yet completely valid reasons. Why do I say valid reasons? Well, EvilDragon (Michael Mozrek) who leads the project, is a very transparent kind of guy and details every issue and every potential solution along the way with the community. It’s probably one of the most open projects in that sense – nothing was ever hidden from the public.
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Can a Linux phone replace my iPhone or Android device?
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Sunday 10th of January 2021 06:14:00 PM Filed under


At the same time, there a growing number of Linux distributions designed to run on smartphones. There are currently at least 17 different software releases available for the PinePhone, for example. Some of these operating systems are designed for a specific device (like the PinePhone), while others, like Ubuntu Touch or postmarketOS can also replace Android on many existing smartphones from Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, Xiaomi, FairPhone, and others.
But as of mid-January, 2021 most Linux distributions for smartphones are very much a work in progress. Some features may not work. You may not be able to run the apps you’re used to using with other operating systems. And some of the best phones designed to run Linux are very much aimed at open source enthusiasts rather than the general public.
The rapid progress of Linux smartphone software development has been fascinating to watch, and Linux phones can be a lot of fun to tinker with, which is why I started this website to focus on this new and exciting space in the smartphone market.
But should you buy a Linux phone to replace your iPhone or Android phone? Maybe. But for most people, the answer is probably not. Or at least not yet.
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