Yes, you read that right, someone has done it!
With a 36-key touch keyboard, a 4.3-inch touch display, and a Linux system, it has all the functionalities and can be held in one hand:
With a battery life of up to 4 hours, it can connect to external displays and input devices:
Currently, the project has received over 300 stars on GitHub.
DIY Portable Computer, Just to Code Anytime, Anywhere
When asked why he wanted to make a portable computer, the creator revealed —
Initially, he just wanted to replace his homemade computer based on Orange Pi, and coincidentally, during the outbreak of the pandemic, he had a batch of Raspberry Pi RPI4 on hand, so making a PICOmputer terminal seemed like a natural choice, which could be connected to a screen and keyboard on a daily basis.
But he was still not satisfied, wanting to redesign the keyboard layout and screen size to enhance convenience —
As for the purpose of doing this, he said he hopes to be able to pick up the computer anytime, anywhere to code and get things done at his friends’ homes or studios.
And so, he got started~
Starting from Scratch
Since he wanted to solve the issue of “coding anytime, anywhere”, he had to design the keyboard well.
However, the creator had previously tinkered with keyboards multiple times and even designed several himself. This time, he chose a keyboard he was familiar with, called Plaid.
This keyboard has 4 rows and a maximum of 12 columns, with a layer of perforated shell covering the keys, and the layout is consistent with a regular computer keyboard.
Interestingly, the entire keyboard is divided by an AtMega328, allowing each hand to manage a portion.
(AtMega328 is an 8-bit microcontroller with a reduced instruction set, capable of simultaneous read and write operations.)
Since the creator had previously released outstanding projects, a Chinese company PCBWay even sponsored him a keyboard shell for free, and he gave a “good review” in his documentation (manual dog head).
You might be curious about what “outstanding projects”? Don’t worry, there will be an introduction at the end of the article.
Next is the OS part.
This portable computer uses the Raspberry Pi OS, a derivative of the Debian general operating system.
The window manager selected is i3, which is lighter for terminals with limited resources and friendly to various keyboards.
However, the i3 window manager often requires multiple key combinations for operation, which becomes cumbersome on a handheld device.
The creator added arrow keys in the lower-middle position of the keyboard, allowing adjustments to the windows and switching back to the desktop using the up, down, left, right keys and pressing them. To change the default window, he uses the h, j, k, l keys for directional operations.
As for peripheral connections, this portable computer provides HDMI, USB, audio output, and charging ports for the PiSugar battery —
To make the device thinner, the Ethernet port and a bunch of USB external ports were removed.
Finally, the creator provided a part of the parts list:
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Raspberry Pi 3/4
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Waveshare 4.3” DSI display
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PiSugar 2 Plus battery
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SD card
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Keyboard circuit PCB 1.6mm
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Keyboard shell PCB 1mm
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Five-way switch and rubber cap
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6 x 6mm x 7mm PCB momentary switch
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……
△ There is also a supervising cat
More DIY Works by the Author
It is worth mentioning that the creator of this portable computer is a DIY enthusiast who has more works on GitHub, and it is precisely these gadgets that have helped him gain a lot of attention and sponsorship.
For example, a small computer the size of a GBA, which has received over 700 stars:
There is also one that replaces a regular mouse with a billiard ball to control the computer cursor by “rolling in place”.
If you want to learn more about the author and his projects, you can click on “Read the original text” at the end of the article.
Finally, let me ask everyone: Would you look forward to a computer that you can grab and code anytime, anywhere?
END