Kindleberry Wireless: A Portable Outdoor Hackstation

http://maxogden.com/kindleberry-wireless.html

by rvagg • 13 years ago

50 23 13 years ago

I loved the screen of the OLPC XO laptop. I know we're really pushing for high resolution/Retina displays, but when it comes to laptop and mobile screens, usability in portable/mobile situations is desirable.

sliverstorm• 13 years ago

There was a nifty combo LCD/eInk screen on the market for a while that I was really hoping would take off, for just this reason.

benjohnson• 13 years ago

The same people that designed the OLPC screen started up a company called Pixel Qi. I bought one of their screens and stuck in a Samsung netbook - it's pure heaven in sunlight.

You can buy the screens from Makershed:

http://www.makershed.com/Pixel_Qi_display_p/mkpq01.htm

riobard• 13 years ago

Someone should definitely do a Kickstarter project just to make such a screen.

Kerrick• 13 years ago

Such a screen exists [0], but it's only available in raw form [1] or in overpriced, underspecced, undersized laptops [2].

[0] http://pixelqi.com/ [1]: http://www.makershed.com/Pixel_Qi_display_p/mkpq01.htm [2]: http://www.cloversystems.com/SunBook.htm

awongh• 13 years ago

I found this: http://www.solcomputer.com/pixel-qi-display-2.html but the price is apparently $800. I agree- I would fund a kickstarter for this.

jaryd• 13 years ago

So funny that you mention this as I just today busted out my OLPC (first gen from the original G1G1) to do some hacking by the pool. It's still such a solid lil laptop, and the tiny keyboard is a small price to pay for such a beautiful screen in direct sunlight.

I'd take an underpowered laptop with a screen like that over a MBP retina any day.

DanBC2• 13 years ago

I loved the display on the EEE pc 401 - matte; 800x480; it should be terrible but it was surprisingly nice.

fiatpandas• 13 years ago

Such a fun idea. And I had no idea miniature USB-powered routers existed... definitely added to my wish list. I'm saddened to say that I haven't put my Pi to creative use since receiving it a few months ago.

joelhaasnoot• 13 years ago

Recently bought an older Asus model for just $40, and it also happens to have a 3G mode, allowing you to plugin a 3G USB dongle.

noonespecial• 13 years ago

If you buy this one(1) and load OpenWRT(2) on it, you can probably pretty much skip the RasPi, plus you can stick a 3G stick in the side and be online anywhere.

(1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=33-704-127&#...

(2) http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-mr3020

geon• 13 years ago

He says the setup means terminal only. I'm not familiar with the Kindle, but there is a browser "built in". Perhaps it is very awkward to switch between the terminal and other apps, but it should be possible to do webdev with a server on the Raspberry and test in the Kindle browser.

replax• 13 years ago

i am not sure if that is possible actually, since the kindle's browser's connection is routed through amazon's servers to optimise the webpage for the kindle and to compress it. therefore it might not be possible to access local pages on it. although there could certainly be a hack allowing this.

kayoone• 13 years ago

Its an awesome hack but i dont really see the benfit vs some ultrabook with a matte screen. Batterylife is worse sure, but most probably you wont be sitting somewhere without power for more than 4-5 hours anyway.

ch2• 13 years ago

Perhaps you need to think of this hack as something that is useful not in the case of when you are stuck in a place for only 4-5 hours, but instead something for when you deliberately plan to be off the grid for more than 4-5 hours.

_b8r02• 13 years ago

It's an interesting hack. I do wonder whether or not it's a little over-engineered. When you look at the costs of all the kit versus maybe an older OLPC type computer off ebay I'm not sure how well it stacks up.

Then again, it's probably pretty good in sunlight and despite the refresh rate issues considering idle time in an editor it might be a very good use of the e-ink screen. And as I said, it is a nice hack. Certainly better than most raspberry pi posts I've seen.

bergie2• 13 years ago

The issue with an OLPC is that the keyboard is terrible. And battery life at least didn't use to be much better than with netbooks.

_b8r02• 13 years ago

Sorry I had a brain fart, I meant UMPC and bluetooth keyboard. No idea where OLPC came from.

bergie2• 13 years ago

This is taking concepts like my current 'Android workstation' to the extreme: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/working-on-android/

That said, I can certainly see the appeal of a device with a week-long battery life and a sunlight-readable screen for some sort of 'hacking retreats'. I could imagine writing something big on the Trans-Siberian Express with a similar rig.

ch2• 13 years ago

Nice hack. I would have liked to see some power draw measurements on this. The LiPo battery is a good source of power, however if the draw is low enough, a portable solar power source would allow for indefinite usage (perhaps even charging the LiPo, which would be used as a night time power source only).

DanBC2• 13 years ago

The refresh rate problem possibly has a neat solution from computing history. Surely those people using punched card and paper tape have some ideas that could be useful?

Maybe instead of updating the screen every keypress it could update every time Enter is pressed?

hmottestad• 13 years ago

E-ink screens can do incremental refresh. http://youtu.be/OKCDXwCmPUA?t=15s

Though not with proper grey-scale rendering.

pierrebouchet• 13 years ago

I'm convinced that e-ink displays will become ubiquitous in a not-so-far future.

A e-ink screen is a great idea for a workstation aimed at text editing, be it writing emails or programs or even using spreadsheet software.

I spend most of the day in front of a screen blasting light into my face and I find it very aggressive. I'd be ready to pay a good price for a 20"-ish e-ink display that i could plug into my PC.

Kindleberry Wireless: A Portable Outdoor Hackstation

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