ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game developers

Not going to lie, this seems to scratch an itch I haven't thought about since the days of the Pocket C.H.I.P. If the keyboard is even remotely useable, I am interested.

Immediately went to buy, and I'm really not clear on what I should be buying. There are three different varieties and it's hard to tell what the differences are.

This feels like a great surrealist "let's hack on some outdoor IoT hardware" cyber-warfare device. I bought one.

That&#x27;s cute, and not insanely expensive.<p>On the &quot;little machine for custom jobs&quot; front, can anyone suggest a low cost subnotebook, x86-64 or ARM (i.e. Chromebooks OK) where I can wipe the Google software and install some version of Ubuntu? I&#x27;ve been using EeePC Seashell machines for that for years, but they&#x27;re wearing out and I need something close to current production.<p>I&#x27;m looking for a machine where there&#x27;s not too much difficulty doing this. That varies with the machine. Some require removing a jumper to let you overwrite the OS. Some require overwriting flash memory with somewhat sketchy binaries.

I vaguely feel like there&#x27;s an alternative version of me that, like, 10 years ago resisted the urge to get a smartphone and now owns something like this.<p>But for the actual me, I can&#x27;t see the point really.

Maybe I’m naive but what exactly is this? I couldn’t figure anything out from the website other than it’s a handheld device that shows a text console. What is a “fantasy console”? Why would a indie game developer want one of these devices?

The Steam Deck is a fantastic console for indie game developers, IMO. World class hardware, you can program your game on it, test on it, and ship on it.<p>I like little consoles like this but I never get one because I&#x27;m almost certain it would be novel and almost nobody I know would end up having one, unfortunately.<p><i>Update</i>: and, importantly for the Steam Deck, you have a wide player base out of the box. Maybe not as much for the Deck itself (yet) but definitely on all three PC platforms.

I&#x27;ve been looking for something like this for use as a serial terminal in the datacenter, with a bit of additional features (e.g. quickly starting up a DHCP server on the LAN port or similar)<p>Are there similar terminal devices that already include one or two DB9 serial connectors?

This is the kind of device designed to look so attractive for certain people that it would be an impulse buy: metal case, exposed screws, lots of ports for peripherals, full (mechanical?) keyboard and lots of buttons, a nice built in screen, raspberry PI inside… it’s like you’re describing an attractive woman.<p>But when you go beyond that, what is the point of this? Why is an indie game developer going to build things for this particular niche platform? In the end, I would buy this and it would just end up as another random device in a drawer. Nice aesthetic, but useless.

Holy crap, $200?<p>Too good to be true. What&#x27;s the catch?

I really want to like this kind of devices, but... seriously, this keyboard seems very uncomfortable to type with, and the &quot;pad buttons&quot; to play games look even worse!<p>It&#x27;s an interesting little computer that I would love to try once, but very likely wouldn&#x27;t spend money on it.

Can you turn this into a cyberdeck phone that actually works with AT&amp;T and Verizon?

&gt;40 Pins MIPI screen interface<p>I see a big chip straight between mipi screen socket and compute module doing hdmi-mipi conversion, telling me rpi foundation is still stubbornly fighting ability to use mipi dsi port on the pi.

It looks very cool and would love to find a use for it to justify buying it. Id love to use it as a dedicated device but does it instant boot? Does it at least hybernate properly?

I feel uncomfortable just by looking at its keyboard

Is there an ETA on when this would actually ship? I&#x27;m very tempted to order one, but I&#x27;ve already been waiting a good long while for a <i>different</i> handheld device with a physical keyboard (Astro Slide 5G) so I ain&#x27;t exactly keen on doubling that number unless there&#x27;s some timeline for these getting out the door.

Give these guys 3 more years and they’ll release a DIY Blackberry. This is already very close, just a bit too big.

A few years ago I would&#x27;ve been all over having a dedicated Weechat IRC client, it looks very tempting.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.clockworkpi.com&#x2F;product-page&#x2F;uconsole-kit-r-01" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.clockworkpi.com&#x2F;product-page&#x2F;uconsole-kit-r-01</a>

ON e photo shows what looks like a radio spectrum, which I&#x27;m guessing came from the optional 4G LTE modem. It would be great if that modem could be used as a generic SDR, putting programmable sniffing capabilities in a small portable device.

I want this so bad my brain is starting to split in half just thinking about it.

This.. or something like this, looks like a fun little interface to hang on the wall. Though the keyboard might be a bit extreme for that, given the difficulty to type on the wall heh

Looks neat, but what&#x27;s going on with that keyboard layout and the enter&#x2F;backspace. That would be difficult to de-muscle memory

They call this Fantasy? Looks more Sci-Fi to me.

Very interesting - I have never seen the &quot;open-design&quot; logo ANYWHERE before.<p>Has anyone seen this anywhere else?

Is there any way to buy just the console without the cores if you already have one for the devterm?

Reminds me of the Sharp Zaurus, it had an linux ecosystem. Good times.

This looks really cool but I don&#x27;t really understand what the market is for this product.

This was an instant purchase for me on the basis of its mid-90s PDA aesthetic alone.

Sadly ordered the full version before this come out. Look great though.

Cool hardware like this makes me regret switching off of QWERTY.

Does it support NVME for storage? I only see MicroSD card.

This would be the perfect remote control for a media PC.

Is it certified for Windows 95 or 2000?

This will look great next to my PocketCHIP, and Pimoroni PicoSystem in the fantasy console drawer I&#x27;ve begun since they got too dusty on the shelf.

With that keyboard, it’s only a “fantasy console” if you’re a masochist.