Looks interesting and is called the beepberry/beep. Looks like a rpi0 with a addon that has a paper screen + qwerty keyboard.
Some articles about it:
https://www.theverge.com/23727218/beepberry-cyberdeck-mini-computer-raspberry-pi-beeper-messenger
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/messing-beepy-formerly-known-beepberry
PDA GUI and text UI are fairly different interfaces. Maybe you want the look and feel of an ncurses app? Maybe run GNU screen for windowing and apps like Midnight Commander, lynx, and vim on top? Certainly you could do all of that on the gadget posted here.
I agree that they are fairly different and I appreciate the examples. You’re in the right ballpark for what I’m imagining.
I don’t think I can fully articulate what I’m looking for exactly. Here’s some examples that I found that’s maybe closer than what I was saying before.
Got it. I think you want a GUI that feels like it’s from that pre-3.0 Windows era before vector fonts and when mouse input was secondary to cursor input.
Look at GEOS which is the OS the Communicator ran, but also ran on other desktops you could emulate. Maybe run the GRiD Compass emulator and GRiD-OS? Check out AmigaOS (AROS) and RISC OS too.
You’re on the right path and I appreciate the suggestions.
It seems like I almost want a TUI. With that term I found things that are closeish. Like this. But I also think you could have a pleasant typography style.
I have a habit of falling down extremely niche rabbit holes that no one else wants.
Blessed looks perfect for greebles. I think combining that with GNU screen or tmux to split the terminal into windows for Blessed, shells, and btop would fit the vibe you’re looking for.
edit: maybe what you really want is a HP 200LX. Hard to find one in good working condition, but it’s as close as you’re going to get to Case’s pocket computer from Neuromancer.
That’s close to the aesthetic I like but I tend more towards devices like: Psion series 5 HP 320LX HP Jornada 820 Or on the higher end Sony Vaio type P
I’ve kind of always liked “odd” devices or at least less mainstream. I’ve had a Sharp Wizard OZ-730, Gamepark GP32 BLU, Treo 650(god, what a device), and a Samsung SCH-i760.
I held onto my Treo 650 for 5 years and it was hard to let it go. The keyboard and battery life were unbeatable, and it was near indestructible.
It took so long for modern smartphones to catch up to what I could do on the Treo.
You might want to look at mobile Linux OS. The GeminiPDA currently runs Android OS or Ubuntu Touch, but can run other mobile distros.
Also something like what the pawnagotchi did with a paper display might also work, but not sure.
I’ve had my eye on the GeminiPDA for a while. It’s close to what I would want but not quite. Good suggestion.
The UI of the Pawnagatchi is nice.
Yeah. It seems like what you want is a mobile linux os with an old school desktop skin which you can def find and configure. Just check what arch they support and if they don’t officially support you can probably find docs on compiling the proper kernel with necessary drivers.