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Planet Computers : Gemini - Psion Returns
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Swordfish II
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If these end up coming out I may get one
CommanderB
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I hope that the pyra will be produced faster than the Gemini even if they are not direct competitors!
Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk
Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk
ZXDunny
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Pyra has at least another 6 months, probably more than a year before it's going to be on general sale, so that's not gonna happen.
Grench
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Not so sure about that. They have a lot more people involved than we're used to from the Pyra. At least they appear to - they went from concept to Android & Debian working on a prototype far faster than I had expected.
levi
Still fresh, damnit!
True, but I'd like to see this magnetic lowering and raising keys thing working before I'd be too confident they're not going to hit trouble.
Grench
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Latest development on this one is a bit of, "wow that's neat," and, "wow that's dumb."
Planet Computers has messaged their backers to pick their preferred keyboard layout and charger type from a drop down list of 34 different variations.
There are no pictures of the 34 variations.
Planet Computers has messaged their backers to pick their preferred keyboard layout and charger type from a drop down list of 34 different variations.
There are no pictures of the 34 variations.
vcoleiro1
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Bit of a write up on the status etc of the Gemini PDA, supposedly production starts in Jan
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/12/22/gemini_special/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/12/22/gemini_special/
rygD
Nihilistic Mystic
I would love to try one of these. I think the Pyra would still win my coins since thumbing the keyboard looks easier when holding it, plus gaming controls. When can we get a keyboard that switches to larger keys like that when on a table, but gives us a thumb keyboard and gaming controls when it is in your hand?
Swordfish II
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The problems i see with this:
1. You are walking and get a text. You have to open the clam shell to see it and respond.
People will probably say "but it's not a phone"
2. How areyou going to navigate linux without a mouse and only your finger on a small clamshell?
All around this seems a bit flawed, otherwise i would be all over it.
1. You are walking and get a text. You have to open the clam shell to see it and respond.
People will probably say "but it's not a phone"
2. How areyou going to navigate linux without a mouse and only your finger on a small clamshell?
All around this seems a bit flawed, otherwise i would be all over it.
levi
Still fresh, damnit!
Linux without a mouse? Easy, use the keyboard!
pmprog
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Sounds very positive. Shame it seems they're concentrating on Android and Linux-On-Android. I guess it makes the most sense, but as most other phones are Android, it'd really push a USP.
Wondering if I should drop in on the IndieGoGo whilst it's still In Demand
Grench
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I have an idea for the using the touchscreen as a mouse - but not in the way you're probably used to.
Most touch screens are used as literal coordinate selection. I.e. you touch a point and the pointer moves there - double tap pretty close together and it selects.
What I would like to see is a relativistic mouse control. There is a mouse pointer. If you touch the screen -anywhere- and slide your finger in a direction, it moves the mouse in that direction. Move fast - it moves fast. Move slow, it moves slow. Tap and it left clicks. Long tap/press and it right clicks. Tap & slide and it selects & moves. Double tap (anywhere) and it double clicks wherever the pointer is.
Doing something like that would make a touchscreen into a viable OS mouse controller for any OS.
[doublepost=1514320460,1514320393][/doublepost]
In another video they showed it dual booting Debian. It requires a funky key combination be held during reset - but it did it.
Most touch screens are used as literal coordinate selection. I.e. you touch a point and the pointer moves there - double tap pretty close together and it selects.
What I would like to see is a relativistic mouse control. There is a mouse pointer. If you touch the screen -anywhere- and slide your finger in a direction, it moves the mouse in that direction. Move fast - it moves fast. Move slow, it moves slow. Tap and it left clicks. Long tap/press and it right clicks. Tap & slide and it selects & moves. Double tap (anywhere) and it double clicks wherever the pointer is.
Doing something like that would make a touchscreen into a viable OS mouse controller for any OS.
[doublepost=1514320460,1514320393][/doublepost]
In another video they showed it dual booting Debian. It requires a funky key combination be held during reset - but it did it.
Caine
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That is not much different with the Pyra.
Swordfish II
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Yep! But i will be using the pyra as a computer (nubs as mouse). I will only rarely if ever use it as a phone, i got the LTE model for the gps and for just in case.
Since I only found out about this today I'll give my 2 cents. It's very similar to the pyra in the fact it runs Linux, but the pyra has a major advantage of gaming controls built in and more ports, however this having Linux and Android out of the box is a lot more user friendly and allows for more software.
They say it will be $500 after the indiegogo campaign and compared to more expensive phones I think it's more worth it. I've been saying for a long time that flagship should be able to double as a PC with how much they cost.
They say it will be $500 after the indiegogo campaign and compared to more expensive phones I think it's more worth it. I've been saying for a long time that flagship should be able to double as a PC with how much they cost.
NetBLOKS
Finally on-board
These two are very different, if you look at some details.
As a small disclaimer: I'm eagerly waiting for both to ship, as the Gemini will be my phone and the pyra will be my laptop replacement and then, later in it's lifetime, replacement for both.
The most important diffence between the two is something very important for day to day use:
The Gemini has no real mouse!
The Pyra has the nubs to control the cursor and a stylus, the Gemini has just the TOUCHscreen.
That's ok for android, but not for Linux.
Other differences include the non-standard HDMI output. It's a special adapter, manufactured for the mediatek processor because it doesn't support native HDMI.
You can't just go and take any USB-C adapter.
For me, the most annoying thing is the missing backlight for the keyboard.
It's one of pyras killer-features for me.
As a small disclaimer: I'm eagerly waiting for both to ship, as the Gemini will be my phone and the pyra will be my laptop replacement and then, later in it's lifetime, replacement for both.
The most important diffence between the two is something very important for day to day use:
The Gemini has no real mouse!
The Pyra has the nubs to control the cursor and a stylus, the Gemini has just the TOUCHscreen.
That's ok for android, but not for Linux.
Other differences include the non-standard HDMI output. It's a special adapter, manufactured for the mediatek processor because it doesn't support native HDMI.
You can't just go and take any USB-C adapter.
For me, the most annoying thing is the missing backlight for the keyboard.
It's one of pyras killer-features for me.
Grench
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I'm in pretty much the same boat. I have an order in for both. I need an Android phone for a work email app and the Pyra is still going to be a long ways from being able to run it (requires a non-rooted signed Android -blah blah- messy).
This all depends on how the touchscreen gets implemented within Linux.
If it is used as an absolute positioning - like on your phone - then it is a fail.
However, if it is used as a relative positioning touchpad - i.e. like a notebook's touchpad - that just happens to overlay a screen, that could work VERY well. Drag your finger on the screen (anywhere) and the mouse moves from it's position to track your motion and not simply jump to where you touched. That could work under a desktop OS (Debian).
True. However, I am impressed that Planet Computers was able to make this special USB-C to HDMI adapter as a simple passive cable. I might buy a couple extra of these just to keep one at work, one at home and one in my carry on. It's basically what I do with phone chargers too.
Pyra is built as a gaming device. Gamers like darkness.
Gemeni is built as a productivity/connectivity device. Office workers get bright light whether they want it or not.
But - yeah, they should have backlit the keyboard. That said, it should be an awesome physical keyboard - which will hopefully make up for the lack of backlighting.
Things I would like to see for the Gemeni...
Touchpad type mouse controls for the touchscreen while under Linux. Detailed above.
Sleep-switch-wake capabilities for the Android and Linux OSs. The idea here is:
Have an icon on the Android desktop to hibernate to disk (eMMC) and launch/dehibernate Debian.
Have an icon on the Debian desktop to hibernate to disk (eMMC) and launch/dehibernate Android.
Each OS gets paused/savedstate during the switch. Any applications that were open are still open on wake - in their current state as of the hibernation snapshot.
Ideally from icon click to other OS should be sub 10 seconds. Easily toggle between environments.
Both OSs need to be able to see the microSDXC card contents. This gets into how the microSDXC card gets formatted and read.
Android support for common Linux formats is very poor (EXT2, EXT3, EXT4).
Debian support for common large mciroSDXC card formats is very poor (Exfat).
Somewhere in there something has to push a bit one way or the other so that both of the OSs can see a common partition on the microSDXC card. I don't want to have to store my music collection twice on the same device just so both operating systems can be used for playback.
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