I’m just a lurker on mastodon with no account, so instead of replying to minute: "Most exciting/useful for you as a potential MNT o…" - Mastodon I create a new topic here.
I would love to be able to buy an MNT open hardware Linux phone.
I have an Openmoko GTA02 and a Librem 5. The Librem 5 is a beautiful device and created with the right mindset, but too limited in resources with only 3GB memory and 32GB eMMC.
A small fanless desktop box would certainly be useful, for example as a home theater machine. Although, in practical terms, I would probably just put a Raspberry Pi in that role if I were to change my current setup, and beating the Pi’s price point would probably be extremely difficult and not worth it I guess.
So I voted for Pocket Reform upgrades, as I intend to use this machine for quite some time.
a laptop or tablet with an integrated wacom or equivalent to draw on. this could even just be a modification/option on one of the existing machines.
I had one GTA01 (neo1972) and two GTA02 and put money down for the Neo900 project. I was involved with the pyneo project and essentially created the Debian chroot for it with what was multistrap back then, then became polystrap and is now mmdebstrap. Here is a photo from one of the Openmoko meetings from 16 years ago:
This is what got me into Debian, into cross-building, into creating tools for creating Debian chroots (what reform-system-image is today) and what got me into mobile open Linux hardware. But with all hardware I’ve had from then up to when I got the Reform: there was always some problem that made it not quite ready for being a daily driver due to reliability issues. What I learned from building Debian chroots and front-end applications for Openmoko back then is that building phones is really, really, really hard. I pre-ordered the Librem 5 but am told that the Librem 5 also still has a few rough edges that make it very close to but not quite able to be a real main phone. I understand that Linux phones on somewhat open hardware are still a very, very hard thing to create. I would really dislike for MNT to be another entry into the list of teams that tried to create an open hardware phone but then never quite get to the daily-driver status because of what a huge mountain of work such an endeavor is…
Yeah me too. Really want to pimp out my pocket reform - more than the botched attempt via PCBWay to get an aluminium backplate. Ideally would go a bit steampunk, but guess that probably wouldn’t be an option via the MNT shop…
I had GTA02, GTA01 (but never used this one) and then upgraded with the the GTA04 motherboard. I have tried really hard to use it (the GTA02 was my main and the only phone for about 3 years). The same conclusions 
I’m actually quite confident MNT can pull making a Linux phone off.
In [answered] What prevents from receiving and making voice calls? - #13 by minute minute says: It is possible to use the i.MX8MPlus Pocket Reform to make phone calls.
These days the (open) hardware is there, the software (phosh) is there.
MNT Pocketer Reform?
The difficult thing about a phone is it would be difficult to do it “the MNT way” with the ability to swap out processors and the like. Phones are so small that everything has to be very compact and fragile. I’d almost prefer something a little bigger that also can make calls if desired, perhaps in this kind of form factor: A Precisely Elegant Cyberdeck Handheld | Hackaday
This device is simply beautiful!
But I am probably not the right person to ask, as I don’t like phones at all and have recently abandoned smartphones altogether. The Linux phones are nice, but I never found a use for them, as phone-style “apps” aren’t very useful to me. I need a keyboard! The Pinephone with keyboard was close, almost a modern Psion, but you can’t use the USB port if the keyboard is attached (it can fry the USB or power chip).
The PinePhone and Librem 5 are just as modular as an MNT laptop. Even the almost 19 year old OpenMoko had several motherboard revisions in a single package.
The current Pocket Reform is almost a phone. All hardware and software to make phonecalls are in a Pocket Reform. Remove the keyboard and the hinges to make it a bit lighter and thinner, flip the screen, give it touch capability.
Right, but that requires swapping out the entire board. Using a module board and adapter board like other MNT devices would make the device much thicker than a standard phone, even thicker than the Librem 5 which is quite hefty. The module system allows for reuse of core components without needing a full motherboard replacement, and dropping that feature would be a change for MNT.
It may be possible to do something similar using a second board connected via ribbon cable or micro connector, but I would not want to be in charge of RMAs for that product after an upgrade is released! Working on phones requires a bit more dexterity than working on laptops, and it’s easy to damage those tiny flex cables.
for me it would be something like a full sized version of the pocket reform keyboard for the reform.
ie same design but full sized keys
Sadly, if I could vote against a phone, I would — only because it seems like a brutal engineering tarpit, with many features hostile to open/modular entries into the market.
However, a handheld e-ink device of approximately phone-ish size, with no attempt at cell modems? I would be very excited, and this seems feasible.
Yes, a full sized ortholinear keyboard would make the larger models like Reform Next much more interesting to me. That would be cool.
Sadly I don’t feel anywhere near competent enough with custom hardware to make this happen myself.
same with me. I have built a keyboard in the past but it was never fully stable.
