From 27680372d809786e3429b2a96f6bd061a47348ce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kayce Basques Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2024 20:06:12 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] update pcrowdoodle post --- blog/pcrowdoodle.rst | 72 +++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------- 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-) diff --git a/blog/pcrowdoodle.rst b/blog/pcrowdoodle.rst index 9650b3b..95e83e2 100644 --- a/blog/pcrowdoodle.rst +++ b/blog/pcrowdoodle.rst @@ -1,10 +1,10 @@ .. _pcrowdoodle: -=========================================================== -Not the laptop I need but the one I deserve (and also need) -=========================================================== +============================================= +pCrowDoodle, my "desirable difficulty" laptop +============================================= -*2024 Apr 26* +*2024 Apr 27* .. _god of electronics: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dendengu @@ -14,36 +14,34 @@ during my flights. I'm in a bit of a pickle, though... what laptop should I bring? * I don't want to bring my work laptop. It's too big and I want to practice - some "healthy detachment" from work. And by "healthy detachment" I mean - "I need to put this computer into a barrel of sand because I somehow - programmed "Hello, world!" in Haskell so incorrectly that the battery - is about to explode." + some "healthy detachment" from work. * I don't have a lightweight personal laptop that's enjoyable to goof around on. -The solution for me, naturally, was to spend too much money on a highly -questionable Raspberry Pi "laptop". +The solution for me, an irrational simpleton, was to spend too much money +on a highly questionable Raspberry Pi "laptop". .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi4.jpg --------- -"laptop" --------- .. _CrowPi-L: https://web.archive.org/web/20240426205124/https://www.elecrow.com/crowpi-l-real-raspberry-pi-laptop-for-learning-programming-and-hardware.html -.. _pCrowDoodle my beloved: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/gif/pcrowdoodle.gif - The official name of this product is `CrowPi-L`_ but mine only answers to the -moniker of `pCrowDoodle my beloved`_. +moniker of *pCrowDoodle my beloved*. + +.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/gif/pcrowdoodle.gif + +-------- +"laptop" +-------- .. _Armadillo\: Opossum Heavy Armor: https://web.archive.org/web/20240426210415/https://timandraka.bigcartel.com/product/heavy-armor -pCrowDoodle is best thought of as the computational equivalent of +pCrowDoodle is best thought of as the computer-equivalent of `Armadillo: Opossum Heavy Armor`_: .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/armadillo.jpg -You just lift the magnetically attached (??) back cover... +You just lift the magnetically (??) attached back cover... .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi7.jpg @@ -52,13 +50,14 @@ You just lift the magnetically attached (??) back cover... .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi10.jpg ...and you're basically ready to fire pCrowDoodle up and realize that there's -some boot firmware that's surely impossible to update and maybe backdoor'd: +some boot firmware that is impossible to update at best and backdoor'd at worst: .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi5.jpg --------------------- Form factor: wedgebot --------------------- + Cramming the RPi into the back results in a slope steep enough to downhill race on: @@ -73,11 +72,12 @@ race on: `Wheely Big Cheese`_ is dead, long live Wheely Big Cheese! ------------------------------------ -Dual boot: quite pleasant, actually ------------------------------------ +------------------------------------- +"Dual boot": quite pleasant, actually +------------------------------------- + pCrowDoodle came with a little SD expansion thingy that lets you switch -between an "A" SD card and a "B" SD card quickly: +between an "A" SD card and a "B" SD card fairly quickly: .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi8.jpg @@ -98,13 +98,16 @@ experience. ----------------------------------------- Unusable trackpad: a blessing in disguise ----------------------------------------- + The trackpad is comically small and has already started to freeze up on me: .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi3.jpg -But I knew this going into the purchase and didn't care. I've been meaning -to get really good at keyboard-based navigation so I'm kinda excited to -have something that takes away my crutch. +But going into the purchase I expected the trackpad to be unusable. I +was kinda hoping for it, actually... I've been meaning to get really solid +at keyboard-based navigation. This is the main "desirable difficulty" thing +for me. The other cool thing is it's forcing me to find CLI commands for +common tasks such as locking the screen. `Lobsters `_ on ``lynx`` somehow looks better than the actual website?? @@ -114,13 +117,20 @@ actual website?? ------------------ 40-pin GPIO header ------------------ + You need a connector (which was annoyingly not included with my purchase) but it's still possible to access all the pins: .. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi2.jpg --------------------- -The laptop I deserve --------------------- -As an irrational simpleton I am oddly excited for my future struggles -that arise from this decision. I will report back after the trip. +------- +Battery +------- + +I got 3-5 hours on the first full charge. I fully expect this to drop down +to 30 minutes after a month. My coworker had the good idea of using a +cellphone power bank as a backup. + +An interesting challenge (maybe project?) is that the RPi OS UI doesn't +seem to expect to run off battery so there's no "low battery" indicator. +Meaning when the battery's done pCrowDoodle just abruptly shuts down on me.