cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1140535/flipper-one-we-need-your-help
With Flipper One, we’re reimagining what a Linux cyberdeck can be — it’s a huge project. We’re opening up the development process and asking the community for help.
I love this, read the whole article, but I still feel underwhelmed.
I have a ton of older hardware lying around, all running Linux and perfectly capable to perform the tasks outlined. Incl. a Nokia N900 that can be ssh’d into etc. It’s of similar size AND has a keyboard. Granted, that one does not have an ethernet port but the others do.
And we all know how easy it is to buy an ARM board, install Linux and add all the ethernet ports one desires.
So, apart from the really nice form factor, why this one above all these options?
It’s not a form factor, it’s an entire package. Modular hardware, expansion, OS, software ecosystem…etc.
What you’re saying is akin to “I have old laptops, so why would I buy a Framework?”
For it’s functionality.
An RPi doesn’t have any of this by default as an SoC, especially the updated wireless modules. This also allows expansion as needed for cheap modules to be connected, so the benefit of upgrades is possible. Sounds like a big win.
We do?
I reckon it’s via an USB-Ethernet adapter.
If you use USB Hubs you could theoretically add as many as you want on a single USB port if you daisy chain the Hubs (if it’s a really large number some of the Hubs must have external power).
Granted, performance is limited.
Never tried it, though, so maybe there are further limitations.
It was a bit like that with the Zero as well. All those tools existed as separate packages, and some were bundled, but the complete feature set and the form factor made it the best wireless signal analysis tool on the market.