meConsole? weConsole? uConsole!

Okay, so I wasn't going to do this, but y'know...I had the purchase of 2 x T-Echo devices "cancelled", so I some "spare" cash available that was close to the price of this device.....I watched a few YTube videos, scanned a few online reviews & then did some research on the CM4 Pi modules, it looks like it should upgrade to handle the CM5 Pi module, so it "should" have a longer usage life.

So what is it? a uConsole.

It's a tablet, no, it's a mini-laptop, no, it's a ..... well, it's a thingy.  It's an inbetween & I like it.

Back in 2007/8-ish I purchased an openpandora.org device, it was way ahead of its time.  It is a single board computer, no moving parts, just a small keyboard, small touchscreen with a stylus, able to handle 2xSD-Cards with external USB, onboard WiFi and Bluetooth.... it was & still is amazing!  So much so that I ended up getting another one, just in case I broke one.  I did end up chipping the corner of one, so this was a good idea.  Oh, the battery life - about 11hours of continual usage!  I used to use the device for a full day when I was flying over to SFO, I could use it to write notes, write code, work out plans using mindmaps and spreadsheets as well as playing Grand Theft Auto and Playstation emulation games.

As it says, bottom right text, production of these devices stopped in 2013.

I used this device pretty much until about 2015-ish when I was working with more Android & iPad devices.  I would have continued usage, however the base OS for the devices was/is based on Linux, however the software is packaged a bit differently requiring a bit of a walled garden approach.  A smart person did end up porting Slackware that was a closer to Linux OS that allowed for a better behaviour of a more natural Linux.  I did keep an eye on the progress and I did keep the OS/software up to date, however it seemed to stop around the 2017/2018 time period, which is when I got a bit more distracted by work/work & these devices went onto the shelf to gather dust until I re-organised my home office and I plugged them in, charged them up & they work(ed) absolutely fine, no issues at all.  Amazing.

I had kept an eye on the websites and noticed that there was a proposal to build a newer version that had a higher spec & potential 4G connectivity, called the Pyra.  I recall seeing this mentioned previously & I also remember tutting & shaking my head & saying, "good luck with getting that licensed"... & guess what, yep.... that has held things up quite a bit.  Also, the price & method of building/selling these devices is very unique, you have to put down a rather large deposit and be placed into a queue, if/when a device is manufactured it can then be sent to you, they make them in small batches.  This was fine back in 2007, but things have moved on significantly since then, for instance kickstarter, indigogo, PCBWay & the technology available from China has gotten smaller / faster / cheaper, so the thing that made the openpandora.org unique is now the normal & it is falling behind.

Now, with that in mind, the newer version works out at about £1000.  Hmmm.... that's quite a lot and I don't believe I can run UBuntu OOTB (I could be wrong about this, please correct me).  I've been keeping an eye on other devices as they appear & I've been bookmarking them & I've not seen anything that can offer me what I was really looking for.

I did find this device, the sipeed, which is more a laptop than the uConsole, but again, the price ranges from £300-£450, so more in alignment with the openpandora.org device.  I'll keep an eye on this one from a distance, it's also based on the RISC-V chipset...

For instance, I've been using a Raspberry Pi 5 8Gb for a few months as a desktop replacement (running UBuntu) and tbh I've been more than happy with it.  It is on par with my £800 laptop, however it requires a keyboard, mouse and monitor - which suits me, as I can pick up the case and take it from place to place and use it.  However, I really want that as a small laptop device.

I liked the idea of the retro Hand 386 device layout, but that is more a novelty - however, I did like the form factor / layout.

I also liked the T-Deck device as this is more a Blackberry style device, I like the keyboard usage, small screen and mouse/trackball... but it's a bit too small.  yes, it's an ESP32, so I could write my own apps, but it is way too small for a full UBuntu OS, it's an embedded device not a computer.

So....when I saw this device... and after much debating (okay, about 8hours) I decided to press the [buy it now] button, I decided upon the CM4 Raspberry Pi module (RISC-V might be the future, but I'll let other pioneers go down that route) as well as the 4G plug-in.  

For the pricely sum of around £220 ($280) - now, in comparison, that's an f---ing bargain!

I don't know when it will be sent to me, I did read on some sites it has an April 2024 release date, but there was no mention of that in the sales page or follow-up emails.  We'll see.  Even if it is April, I don't really mind / care, as that just means I offset the "playtime" with it until then.

My only minor niggle with the device is the fact it only has 4Gb RAM, but that is actually more than enough in normal usage, I have just been doing some "stuff" with ollama and running LLMs offline that really need 8Gb, but y'know I can live with running that still on the RPi 5 / Jetson - and you know what'll happen, ollama as software will evolve, LLMs will become SLIMs (Small Language Inference Models!) that will get trimmed down more & more and probably end up fitting within the 4Gb range.

After reading through the uConsole forum postings, it also looks like they are making it more module with upgrade paths being thought about / planned for the start - or if not direct plug & play replacements, there will be the ability from the community to work out a way to upgrade and keep it future relevant.

Oh, the other "nice thing", you get the device in pieces.  I love that.  you get to put it together.  Why do I like that?  Well, if I get a device, first thing I do is invalidate the warranty by removing those stickers and undoing the screws of the case to take a peek inside and see what is there.  Take some photo's / video's & then put it back together.  This device starts off that way, you get to see the components to start off with, no surprises, you see where components are on the board, where the heat is going to come from, where the airflow needs to be, where extra space is available for potential modifications etc..etc..

Until it arrives, I'll keep on keeping on and will post an update when I do get my hands on it.  More than likely the update POST will be created & published from the device itself!