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posted by martyb on Thursday September 01 2016, @04:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the CHIPs-Ahoy! dept.

Several sites have articles about the PocketCHIP, a handheld computer that was funded through Kickstarter. It seems to have shipped to its sponsors, or at least to review sites, but the company's Web site displays "Estimated Shipping October 2016" for the rest of us.

The device is built around the CHIP computer, which has a 1 GHz ARM Cortex-R8 processor, Mali 400 GPU, 4 GB of flash, 512 MB of RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, and USB 3.0. The PocketCHIP adds a plastic case, keyboard, lithium polymer battery and 480-by-272-pixel touch screen. It comes with Debian Linux and the PICO-8 software suite, which allows one to create and play video games.

The PocketCHIP is being sold for $69 ($49 for those who sponsored it), and the CHIP for $9.

Accessories are also offered to add VGA or HDMI output to the CHIP. It appears that owners of the PocketCHIP would have to take it apart to use those.

Articles:

Further information:
  manufacturer's blog


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by joshuajon on Thursday September 01 2016, @02:47PM

    by joshuajon (807) on Thursday September 01 2016, @02:47PM (#396184)
    I also received a kickstarter pocketchip, pretty early in the process from what I've read on reddit. The keyboard can be pretty tough. There's a project that posted 3d printable models for a snap on keyboard case/cover. When printed out of PLA it's supposed to be pretty great, although you lose the labels of the keys (which are pretty important since many keys have at least 3 functions associated). I'm an amateur at 3d printing, my first try printing this case came out with skewed button holes and clips that didn't quite snap on, but I can imagine it being pretty nice when professionally printed by shapeways or the like. There's a few other related projects on thingiverse too [thingiverse.com].
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  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday September 01 2016, @03:33PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Thursday September 01 2016, @03:33PM (#396207) Journal

    Those problems are more likely a result of differences between your printer and the designer's depending on what you mean by "skewed". If the holes are angled vertically, then your printer is printing layers that don't line up. If the holes don't align with the keys, it just means there is a subtle difference between your printer and his and there is no guarantee that Shapeways prints would fit. You could try shrinking the object to get the tabs to become snappy, but that shrinks everything and might offset the button holes. For example, if the original was designed for a 0.5mm nozzle, and you have a .35mm nozzle, it won't snap because there is always some degree of sideways ooze and the larger the nozzle diameter, the more of it you get. More side ooze with a wide nozzle would make the snaps work, too little and they will be loose and fail.

    You could try shrinking in your slicer but then you get the possibility of having buttons offset because everything shrinks. I think it is a shame that most people only release STL files but keep their source files private -- it would make objects such as the one you want much more widely usable. You can always reinvent the wheel and make your own design to match your printer's quirks. If you haven't already settled on CAD software and don't want to spend a bundle, you might want to try FreeCAD: http://www.freecadweb.org/ [freecadweb.org]

    • (Score: 2) by joshuajon on Thursday September 01 2016, @04:11PM

      by joshuajon (807) on Thursday September 01 2016, @04:11PM (#396232)

      It seemed like on one side of the keyboard the holes are perfectly vertical, but as the print progressed the became more and more angled. It's possible that it was caused by the issues you described, but like I said I'm also a bit of an amateur. I've on pretty old firmware for my device and relatively low print speeds so it might be caused by jitter introduced in to the build plate by the extruder movement. I'm also using free software for slicing at the moment, but plan to upgrade to Simplify3D soon as I've read that it makes a world of difference.

      • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday September 01 2016, @11:03PM

        by hemocyanin (186) on Thursday September 01 2016, @11:03PM (#396445) Journal

        If you try S3D, be aware that they have a 10 or 15 day return policy. I tried it -- hated it for printing ABS due to the way it set up the first layer of supports (no hash underneath and so they often came unstuck and ruined the print).

        The problem might also be in the STL on thingiverse. One thing I'd try is making a cube with a hole in the center -- very simple shape. Then scatter that around your buildplate. If you get angled holes, there is probably some tuning to do on your printer. If you don't, the file from TV is probably flawed. If you want to test that, I made a file you could use: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1748959 [thingiverse.com] After printing it would be informative to measure the height, length, width and diameters with calipers.