Banana Pi UMPC, anyone?

[ArchiMark]

Yeah, he got a little confused in thinking that the Raspberry Pi wasn't ARM powered (probably due to that unit using raspian but his new one using armbian for their debian flavours), which made the video a little confusing to watch, but yeah the new unit is BananaPi W based.

FWIW, the link you put in post #11 is borked for me at present.

Yeah, I know.....but thanks for your post....

Don't know what happened, but strange things have been happening in that post today.

I noticed earlier today, that the link and image were gone. Tried to edit post to put back the link. Every time I tried, it converted the URL link to one that had 'MEDIA' inside brackets.

A little while ago, I changed the word 'MEDIA' to 'URL' and at first it looked like it worked. But now it has changed again. Very odd!!!

Do you or anyone else know the correct way to post a link to another webpage that will stick?

Also, realized that I have not been getting any email notifications anymore for threads I'm subscribed to, even though my settings show that I should be getting them....Again, very odd!!!

 

[levi]

As far as I know you just have to stick everything in code quotes

like this

That stops the media engine translating everything and breaking it, and means us mere mortals can still copy and paste the original.

 

[ArchiMark]

As far as I know you just have to stick everything in code quotes

like this

That stops the media engine translating everything and breaking it, and means us mere mortals can still copy and paste the original.

Thanks!

Edited post and now you can see the URL....

 

[levi]

Ah, it was an amazon product number after all. I probably should have guessed.

The +V and GND pins as well as SCL and SCA sounds like an I2C interface to me, but I can't fathom what NRST stands for (the best I can find is Non-Resident Shareholders Tax, and I doubt it's that ) and I can't see what the other pin says (possibly 'INT'). Either way, doesn't sound like Bluetooth to me, so presumably you can pull the BT bits out of that case and by left with a slightly fancy I2C interface.

 

[AVahne]

Whatever could be emulated on that, I could probably just emulate on my Pandora Classic (unless the Banana Pi Zero is more powerful?), so I would probably just save my money for the Pyra if I wanted another ARM UMPC/MID.
Still, I love seeing the time and effort that this guy put into designing the case and layout for the parts so that everything fits into a relatively thin package. Maybe if he's still making them in the second half of this year I'll buy one to play around with. Probably won't be playing any games on it, though, seeing how the "game" controls on that wireless keyboard are rather terrible.
.

 

[levi]

It's apparently got a four core A7 rated at up to 1GHz per core. Given the thermal envelope this unit has, I guess that can probably go a little faster than the Pandora before it has to drop core frequency, provided you're running parallelisable software. If you're running single core, I think it'll be slightly slower, especially compared to an overclocked Pandora 1GHz.

 

[ArchiMark]

Got email now that my Banana Pi is fully baked and tested...

Chris is just waiting for package to arrive tomorrow with my AC charger. Will ship to me on Tuesday....So, I should have it by Friday...

In meantime, here's photo of it on....

 

[ArchiMark]

OK, kids, I received the BP UMPC a few days ago....

Been having fun with it!

Greatly lil' pocket puter....

First I ran it with the Ubuntu MATE image.....worked well, but didn't have ethernet support in the image, just WiFi.

So, decided to try another image, one with armbian/Ubuntu/XFCE. Has WiFi and ethernet support.

Performance and keyboard is good and backlight is nice (can change color too...) !

Again, Chris has been great to deal with. Very responsive if I have any questions. It was only about 2 weeks from time I ordered to getting this custom made lil' bad boy....

Here's some photos for your viewing pleasure. In group photos, I've put it alongside my GPD Pocket and MacBook Pro for size comparison.

Photos include some with the different OS images.

Enjoy!

Mark

 

[AVahne]

Have you attempted to play any games on this yet? I would assume those Chinese overly clicky navigation buttons would be difficult and painful to use for most games, but I would assume JRPGs would be somewhat decent to play on them?

EDIT: I think the handheld obsessed part of my brain is starting to take over; making me want to order one as well. Would also be another member of the GPD Win 2 group picture/size comparison I'll be wanting to do.....

 

[Caine]

Dare I say it... yes I do. I don't like it when pocket computers place the 1 key between the Q and the W instead of between the Tab and the Q thereby offsetting the whole row.

First law of the Pyra community: 2 more months.
Second law of the Pyra community: everything is a keyboard thread

Keyboard jokes aside, it looks great. I cannot really justify another handheld right now. At some points you are carrying so many gadgets that you might as well put a desktop pc in your backpack. It is fantastic to actually have the problem of which pocket pc to choose.

 

[pmprog]

Looks pretty neat. Would be interested to see if the 3D printed parts couldn't be CNC milled out of aluminium or something though

 

[Xcl4m4t10n]

So the pyra is real...

@ArchiMark cut your nails

 

[PowerGod]

Thanks for the footos photos !

 

[ArchiMark]

Have you attempted to play any games on this yet? I would assume those Chinese overly clicky navigation buttons would be difficult and painful to use for most games, but I would assume JRPGs would be somewhat decent to play on them?

EDIT: I think the handheld obsessed part of my brain is starting to take over; making me want to order one as well. Would also be another member of the GPD Win 2 group picture/size comparison I'll be wanting to do.....

Haven't tried playing any games on it yet...been taking care of basics so far....if I try some, I'll report back on it....

I mainly bought it for purpose of having a pocket linux handheld computer. Had a GPD WIN briefly. Like this keyboard better. But if you're a gamer, then WIN is probably better.
[doublepost=1522936966,1522936778][/doublepost]

Looks pretty neat. Would be interested to see if the 3D printed parts couldn't be CNC milled out of aluminium or something though

Thanks....who knows about metal case....Chris, guy who makes this UMPC, also does CNC work. Has a couple videos posted about it....here's link to one:

 

[AVahne]

Yeah I already have a Win and classic Pandora and I'm waiting for my Win 2. I just like having a bunch of these pocket PCs/palmtops/UMPCs/MIDs/etc., especially if there's any indication that they can used as handhelds consoles as well. Will likely get a Pyra someday, too, once I can justify the high price.

 

[ArchiMark]

Yeah I already have a Win and classic Pandora and I'm waiting for my Win 2. I just like having a bunch of these pocket PCs/palmtops/UMPCs/MIDs/etc., especially if there's any indication that they can used as handhelds consoles as well. Will likely get a Pyra someday, too, once I can justify the high price.

Know what you mean....I've had 'em all....from Palms, Newtons, Pocket PC, HandheldPC, UMPC, etc....I've got one more device coming in the next few days even smaller than this lil' bad boy....but that's a story for another thread....

 

[AVahne]

Know what you mean....I've had 'em all....from Palms, Newtons, Pocket PC, HandheldPC, UMPC, etc....I've got one more device coming in the next few days even smaller than this lil' bad boy....but that's a story for another thread....

Gah, you're adding more potential buys to my already long list lol

 

[ArchiMark]

Gah, you're adding more potential buys to my already long list lol

Sorry about that....

Just don't read the new thread I start.....with photos....

 

[rygD]

Tell me more about the keyboard. Specifically, how is it for typing? Could you comfortably type with it on a desk, or is it thumb typing only? Will the markings get rubbed off? Do you think the keyboard could last years of heavy typing?

 

[AVahne]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I just wanna say that I'll be ordering one of these. Only problem is that Chris will only make it if he can work on 3 or 4 of them at the same time (probably for best efficiency or something), so if there's anyone else thinking about getting one, too, that'll help me out as well.

EDIT: He's just ordered 4 Banana Pi Zeros and I think he already has a few people who might order, but still, could always ask.