Notices by minute (mntmn@mastodon.social), page 3

ok, the new top back plate for the MNT Pocket Reform is finally in our shop at cost. it improves Wi-Fi reception because the outer zones are not covered with copper anymore (design error in the original). https://shop.mntre.com/products/mnt-pocket-reform-back-plate

we don't have a cheap way to ship these outside of germany/the EU. this is why i would ask you to organize a group buy at https://community.mnt.re if you want to save on shipping to e.g. the US.

all current pocket shipments already include this new plate.

TIL avery brooks (ds9) did a commercial for ibm back in the day touting linux https://youtu.be/UQAa_WKJxPs

funny that gnome-shell uses more cpu than qemu here

(just testing some qemu-kvm)

> Complete the setup as usual. To avoid using a Microsoft account, use Shift-F10 and run oobe\bypassnro

those were the days?!

extremely low-fi and thicc protoype to test some dimensions and weight (crafted with cardboard and tape by @theawesomerandomness around pocket reform electronics)

lets say someone made an OSHW touch device running linux that's intended to fit in your pant/dress/jacket/handbag pocket. what would be the maximum display size (diagonal, inches) you would tolerate? bonus if you like rabbitholes like this: maximum thickness and weight?

@gkrnours has vesa mount!

(opinions welcome!)

@qwazix could be another option but has bad heatsinking properties, so would require some other heatsink. with the current solution, this large alu plate is a cheap and effective way for cooling

classic reform motherboard 3.0 is around 140 eur BOM (at 100x batch) with all its expensive components. rcore (rk3588 module) is also quite costly at low qty. complete computer BOM would be around 450 EUR for 16GB and 550 EUR for 32GB (remember this is all without labor and package). sale price would end up ~ 710 EUR for 16GB and 870 EUR for 32 GB machine incl vat.

so we can probably get the main case 3d printed from recycled PETG in slovakia (so EU) for around 27 euro per piece at a low batch size of 50, and the aluminum plate would be like 3 euro. with port pcbs and thermal pad we would arrive at maybe 45 eur bom, so with 30% margin and 20% vat we could arrive at something between 70-80 eur sale price (depending on labor and how much else is in the kit, i guess we put in the thread inserts and rest is DIY)

now i need to understand how much material quality/polish people want in the case parts vs how much they're willing to spend. i would love also a full aluminum case with nice anodizing but it'll be spendy. the current approach is to have an economical version with 3d printed main case (need to get quotes for various materials now) and lasercut 2.5d alu top plate with countersinking is pretty affordable now.

state of the mnt desktop reform prototype. it's a box with some electronics integrated into the side panels that turn the laptop motherboard into a standalone computer with upgradeable cpu/ram modules. need to order all the components to have blinkenlights and button etc now, and decide on final material options.

@kaia i wish :D soon we might need to move to a different pcba house even for complex designs with consigned/turnkey part mix

it's me, i'm PCBs

btw my hunch about what's slow here once i drag the points of that cube is actually the text that's overlaid on top once i do that, not the 3d model itself

patch: https://source.mnt.re/-/snippets/14

some notes:
—geometry shaders are afaik not used anymore, at least there was a big effort to replace them in UI
—not sure if multiDrawIndirect is still used (reference: https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/commit/84cbf33b38b02f424dcf8b47be82e25626d0f4c7)
—multiViewPort: https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/commit/983ff8e616b1abbe2efec98297384f71b8a16b4f
—gl_ClipDistance is used in a few shaders
—dual src blending mostly in eevee, otherwise rare: https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/search?q=FRAGMENT_OUT_DUAL&fuzzy=false

cc @kusma

blender 4.5 (git) somewhat working on panvk (mesa git) on mnt pocket reform with rk3588 with some light patching