Hiya, I’ve been interested in getting a mnt for years, however the big thing holding me back besides cost, is battery life. Unlike you domestic folks, one of the big needs for a computer is very long battery life. It’s one of the reasons why I was thinking of building my own computer from years back.
I can sacrifice so much in exchange for battery life. I’ve been actually thinking about making a microcomputer which uses systems comparable to the “hulk-v risc-v Linux soc” research paper.
I am off-grid and mobile for days at a time.
How hard would it be to add liion support, or at least hack some stuff together so I can use hot-swappable hobby RC cells strapped to the back?
No clue how to change the charging hardware/logic to work with anything other than lithium iron phosphate batteries, but if you don’t mind extra cells strapped to the back, power banks, or similar solutions: The charging port of the Reform can handle a wide range of voltages. Anything between 9V and 32V works (see chapter 8.1.3 in the manual).
I will probably be looking into hand wiring some charging stuff at some point, however that makes the computer baseline viable.
For my own microcomputer, I think I’m going to discard the notion of a device-specific battery controller, and take from UAV tech for hot-swapable batteries.
The reform’s DC power is super versatile. If an external battery is on the table for you, just plug it in to the DC jack. I run mine straight off of solar panels and off my portable ham radio’s 14.4v battery pack.
