ClockworkPi uConsole, My new favorite toy

 

This is something I ordered months ago and finally received. Clockwork Pi is terrible at getting product out the door, it is so bad, I had basically forgotten that I ordered it. The uConsole hand held costs $189.00 with the Raspberry Pi CM4 board, if you can source your own, they cost $119.00, which is what I suggest you do, simply because you can then get the CM4 with 8 GB of RAM, rather than the 4 GB they send. If you do not want to wait months and months to get one, they regularly become available on ebay, but you will pay a premium for them. You should also be prepared to assemble this yourself, which for me was half the fun.

Things I didn't like:

The screen is a bit small for my eyes, but considering its size, it is a trade off I am willing to make. I am not much of a thumb typist, so the keyboard took some getting use to. The assembly can be a bit tricky and the instructions are a bit vague. The big mistake I made was putting the CM4 in upside down, it would not boot, but I quickly figured the issue out when I saw an actual picture of what it was supposed to look like, so I had to tear it apart again. The default image of the Raspberry Pi OS provided by the company is based on an old version of Debian. Fortunately there is a community image based on the current version of Debian that seems to work really well. Finally, you will find your wifi signal to be weak, it is just a design flaw with positioning of the antenna. It was not a serious problem for me, but if you find it is, there are a couple of hacks out there for fixing the problem.

Things I liked:

This is just fucking cool. On the box it calls the uConsole a "Fantasy Console" and I agree with them. When I very first read Neuromancer back in the late 80's, this was what I envisioned a cyberdeck to looked like, the only thing it is missing is a headset. I like the tiny track ball, it is nicely calibrated for the screen and has a nice feel to it. While the keyboard does take some getting use to, the buttons are very tactile and feel solid. The screen, while a bit small, is very clear with a solid refresh rate. The CM4 with 8 GB of RAM make this a peppy little system, even though the OS does run off an SD card. If your are familiar with the Raspberry Pi 4, runs about the same.

Overall:

I think with some practice this could easily replace my laptop for traveling. Usually when I am out and about, I am not doing anything heavy duty. I don't think I could do any heavy lifting on this system, but for web browsing, email, light document creation and quick programing projects, this would exceed my expectations. Honestly, this thing is a work of art. It is beautiful to behold and a heck of a lot of fun to put together.