💾 Archived View for owo.pm › electronics › computers › others › devterm_a04.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 02:26:38. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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This novelty computer aims to reproduce (to a certain degree) the form factor of the Tandy TRS-80 Series 100. It's a portable computer that lay flat, with the keyboard and screen on the same side. There's no hinge, and the screen has a special aspect ratio. Aesthetically, this thing looks retro and very nice. It is selling an exciting experience, on which everything seems possible, just like most computer movies made in the 80s. The computer is offered with a couple of CPUs, from a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3, 4, an A04 and an A06. I felt for this promise and went for a kit with the a04 CPU.
I had to wait a couple of months before getting my paws on the machine. I received it as a kit to assemble, and for the most part, it was easy and fun. For the *most* parts, because the screen was not fun to put in the plastic frame. I was afraid to bend it as there's some force to apply. It's a nice bonus that the portable computer uses standard rechargeable batteries. It's not double-A batteries, but your electronics shop should have some. With the A06, I get a 5 to 6 hours of screen time, which is fine for my 'needs'.
Well how to put it... it's bad. It's really bad. I was 'unlucky' enough to choose the A04 instead of the A06 or a compute module. The only linux distribution that supports the a04 chip is Clockwork's own for of Armbian, and it's not maintained anymore. Even on a fresh install, the repositories are long gone (the armbian ones), and for some reason, the `apt search` or `apt install` commands hang at fetching the list of packages. It hangs at 60%, so it's not a total failure, but I don't know what it's doing. Making it impossible to install applications through apt.
The hardware provides a real retro feel! But I personnally feel like the OS was rushed out and does not deliver at all. Retro feel? Forget about it! Their armbian distribution comes with XFCE... XFCE! Just have a look at their marketing material!
The shipped OS does not do any favors to the Devterm. It is uninspiring, they could have done a lot better. But usually, on Linux, this is not a problem. Just switch to another distribution or install another desktop. But as I mentionned, apt is broken by default! That leads us to the other solution, switching distribution. As I mentionned earlier, no other distribution supports the A04. However, there's some supports in Manjaro for the A06. Many on Reddit are calling the A04 a dead platform. So I have this cool retro terminal, but with no software to put on it, which is a shame. I consider changing the A04 for something else, but it's frustrating as the A04 is a pretty capable CPU. The other option would be to do a port myself, but I've never done that before, that would be a new thing for me. Maybe an interesting challenge to give more life to this device.
Patches for the A06 in Manjaro
Also! The stock firmware for the keyboard/trackball is really bad, I recently flashed an alternative firmware (even recommanded by ClockworkPi themselves) and it's really night and day. It does not change the keyboard that much, but it gives the trackball the usabillity it deserved in the first place. The thing was slow and horrible to use, having to perform long 'swipes' to reach the corners of the screen.
I was trying to find a screenshot of the default XFCE setup but could not find one. I tried booting up my own devterm but nothing showed up at the screen, I'm currently reflashing the SD card to take that screenshot. I'm not very sure of what I did to upset the thing, but a freshly flash card did the trick.
