Notices by minute (mntmn@mastodon.social), page 2

running the "foot" terminal on gnome on imx8mplus (etnaviv) results in a "rectangle of doom", not sure how to describe it better

i did a linear algebra and suddenly my trackpad's recognition of "i want to scroll" vs "the second finger is just chilling over there" works really well?!

absurd

bizarrely this seems to involve extraction, compilation, xml and css at the least. whyyyyy

linux experts, what's the (verified working) way in 2025 to set a background picture in GDM? :D

trying out color combos for MNT Desktop Reform (affordable version). the bases are 3D printed and lid is aluminum.

for people who already have RCORE (esp for pocket reform) but desire to use PCIe+USB Wi-Fi+BT, there will be an as-cheap-as-possible upgrade option (only this adapter needs to be swapped out, you can reuse the main RK3588+RAM module)

there are also some small details like:
—mux to switch between DDC/AUX for the HDMI FPC connector so that it can switch to eDP (to be tested)
—reset signal for classic Reform DSI->eDP converter connected to support DSI on older motherboards without change
—some ethernet strap fixes

RCORE R-2 (the adapter board for Firefly RK3588 modules for the MNT Reform series) is finally technically done, just some checks and small polishing left for tomorrow. aside from minor bugfixes, a bigger change is the WIFI/BT connector. i exchanged SDIO/UART for PCIe and made that pinout largely compatible with the PCIe port of RPi 5, but with some extra pins for a USB 2 lane. the goal is to be able to support a 3rd M.2 slot in Pocket Reform (2nd in Next) for faster Wi-Fi/BT cards.

if git was named rug you could rug pull

any TU Berlin students here? there's a brand new Open Source Hardware seminar this semester (MNT will also make an appearance if it happens) and so far only 3 students registered! they need at least 5 to make it work, so if you're interested or know potential candidates at TU, spread the word: https://www.tu.berlin/qw/studium-lehre/lehrveranstaltungen/oshs-open-source-hardware-seminar

my current setup:
—computer at home and on the go: mnt pocket reform (rk3588)
—phone: fairphone 5
—gayming: ps5
—soon: mnt reform next

@lanodan @josch well it *is* kinda rugged.

setting up two dedicated MNT Desktop Reform workstations in the company for coworkers. these have RK3588 cpus and will provide access to internal documentation and "factory" tooling. it's all coming together, just the cable management is still too messy ^^

@josch yeah, but no spilling please :D

@whitequark if you move a resistor network to another pad then yes

someone wants a stack of semi/defective imx8mq modules before we throw them out? (boundary devices nitrogen 8m, 4gb ram, don't remember how much emmc).

ampere computer in the house :D unfortunately need to take care of more important things first

otoh it would be nice if someone made a comfy in kernel serial REPL for the "bringup sketching" or debugging phase of development, where you can interactively run and modify kernel driver functions in scripts etc, with integrated machine monitor that also has all clocks, regulators etc. a bit like remote gdb but better (iirc remote kernel gdb is somewhat broken on arm64)

i might have NIH tendencies in software partly because when writing software the speed of making progress and getting results and the wealth of resources can be addictingly pleasant versus with badly documented hardware and linux kernel compile-reboot-sigh loops it's sometimes just toiling for hours and days on a single problem like "the whole system just locks up" or "the display just stays off"