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Gemini PDA

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sjukfan
Posts: 386
Joined: 2010-03-01 19:39

Gemini PDA

#1 Post by sjukfan »

So I accidentally backed the Gemini PDA on Indigogo. For those who haven't heard of it it's a Psion style pda running android and dualbooting Debian. I've been looking for something smaller with a physical keyboard for quite a while and as long as this ships it looks perfect for me.
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debiman
Posts: 3063
Joined: 2013-03-12 07:18

Re: Gemini PDA

#2 Post by debiman »

oh, please keep us updated when it starts shipping!

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GarryRicketson
Posts: 5644
Joined: 2015-01-20 22:16
Location: Durango, Mexico

Re: Gemini PDA

#3 Post by GarryRicketson »

It does look kind of neat, my eyes are to poor for something that small, but the kids would love it,...

Argus
Posts: 20
Joined: 2017-12-03 01:19

Re: Gemini PDA

#4 Post by Argus »

I'm quite intruiged by the Gemini too. I currently have a GDP Pocket which I love.

The keyboard looks awesome with deeper keys -- great for people like me who suffer from RSI and don't get along with modern laptop keyboards at all.
I like that it's dual booted with Android and Linux. Personally, I don't care about Android, but I think it will get a lot of people on-board with Linux who would be more receptive to buying it as it comes with an OS they're familiar with in addition to Linux. I'm curious how easy it will be to load another distro on it and change the partitions though, as I personally don't have any need for Android.

I love that these little netbooks are making a come back, and at least attempting to support / run Linux.

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debiman
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Re: Gemini PDA

#5 Post by debiman »

i wonder if this is a genuine dual boot or more-or-less one of those chroot solutions that alread exist for android.

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sjukfan
Posts: 386
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Re: Gemini PDA

#6 Post by sjukfan »

They've been a bit bad at explaining detail like the dual boot, but in this video they first shut down android to boot Debian so hopefully it's a true dual boot.

I've been looking for something like this for quite a while. I love my Thinkpad X200s but it's a bit big. Been looking at 10" netbooks but for comfortable surfing I'd like one with a higher resolution than 1024x600 and those are really hard to find. The GDP pocket looks great but at $539 it's a bit more than I can/want to spend on a secondary computer. Also, i haven't been able to find any information if they're going to support local keyboard layouts. I mean I love the idea of the PocketCHIP but I don't want to use twelve fingers when I type characters like ÅÄÖ. Also, an on-screen keyboard isn't an alternative, I just don't think those can type as fast as a real keyboard when you're writing much, and I don't want to write a novel with swype :D

They've had to cut down on some of the hardware from the original specs. Plannet 8000mAh battery became 4220mAh but that's still decent for an ARM based computer, the cuts are all reasonable (in my opinion). I do wish they had added a Thinkpad style touchpoint to it though. One of the early 90s attachable trackballs for laptops could be nice too.
Bullseye amd64, AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Buster amd64, Intel Xeon E3-1240 v3
Sid ppc, PowerPC 7447a
Sid ppc64, PowerPC 970FX

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