Instruction of programmer Roberto Alsina how to build a laptop with a Radxa zero running Ubun­tu Fo­cal OS

Last Updated on April 14, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

http://ralsina.me/weblog/posts/so-i-built-a-laptop.html

what works:

• It runs the Falkon web brows­er
• Youtube video playback works
• it offers a light­weight graph­i­cal desk­top
• it run ter­mi­nal apps
• it is possible to edit text and write code
• but is it not possible to install other apps like Libre Office?
• If that would be possible, whould the reviewer not have chosen Libre Office as an example?

It run­s Ubun­tu Fo­cal but unfortunately not Armbian Focal which has been shown in previous posts to have Libre Office preinstalled.

issues mentioned by the developer:

• over­heating of the Radxa zero without a head sink
- The Radxa zero has the same processor, is it only overclocked and therefore needs a head sink?
• the usb keybard in the instruction has no point­er or a track­ball

A Tandy model 100 inspired homebrew laptop
byu/ralsina incyberDeck

• With some instructions, as this one, we asked ourselves if the the developer had to make this instruction at the wish of someone else?
• Does the developer use the device himself?
• Blutooth is not discussed, WIFI is not discussed, battery life is not discussed.
• The design is simple, but are instructions for similar devices not easier?
• Who will use a device without touch, trackball our mouse?
• There can be found a lot of instruction similar to that in the web, but instructions from programmers how to build a laptop run­ning Ubun­tu Fo­cal on Radxa Zero are rare, so is it an instruction which was made on request?
• Whatever, the demo is helpful, and shows us what can be done with a Radxa zero by a programmer, what works, and what are the issues.
• The instruction reminds us to instructions from Pinephone programmers who use the Pinephone for programming at an early stage of it’s developement.
• The device has has specifications which are similar to the Pinephone pro
• But is there a reason to change from a Pinephone or a Pinephone to this device, which we would if an instruction could convince us to do so.
• The Radxa zero is an afforable and powerful alternative to the Pinephone or the Pinephone Pro, this instruction shows us how to implement keybard and housing.
• The developement for the Radxa zero seems to progress very slowly, as the developement of the Pinephone the Pinephone progresses slowly, too.
• If we look at other demos of the Radxa zero, they do not show hardly any app demos, is it therefore not possible to install new apps?

pros:

• powerful
• affordable
• suspected long battery life of Radxa zero
• it is shown how a 1920×480 HDMI screen can be conncected
• it shows how an usb hub can be connected
• the Radxa zero consumes rough­ly 70% of the pow­er of a Rasp­ber­ry Pi 4 which is great to know.
• we suspect tough, that the battery running time of the Raspberry Pi zero 2 w is longer.
• the Radxa zero is a small SBC which us­es less than 5W of pow­er
• the Radxa zero uses little power, small batteries which are eventually sufficient for a long battery running time.
• It shows that the usb hub can be connected to a usbkeyboard and usb soundcard
• A Rasp­ber­ry Pi UP­S which is pow­ered by stan­dard 18650 bat­ter­ies is according to the developer better than a power bank.
• a free usb port on the usb hub pro­vides the possibily for an ex­posed Eth­er­net port

issues:

• Why did the developer choose an usb keyboard instead of a Bluetooth keyboard?
• There are a lot of Bluetooth keyboards and mice on the marked for every purpose, also devices with a trackpad
• Does Bluetooth not work with this setup, whould the instruction not have used Bluetooth if it would be possible, since it is much easier to use than usb keyboards?

The progammer has built this device over 16 month, and we reviewed such devices for more than 16 month, but the developer could still not convince us personally to build this instruction, since there are alternatives which are easier to build and have more followers and a bigger community. But still it shows what could be updated to make a device based on the Radxa zero interesting.

• Would Armbian Focal OS not be better choice than Ubun­tu Fo­cal OS?
• Other demo makers have shown that Armbian Focal OS for instance supports Libre Office from the start without installation, as well as web surfing.
• We did not find any information about WIFI, does it work?
• The instruction mentions, that the device runs terminal apps, where here issues with other applications?
• The display does not support touch, on the contrast, the Pinephone supports touch on all distros
• We worked almost a month every day a little bit to get Libre Office running on the Pinephone and had support from Pine64 for it.
• How is it with the Radxa zero, do we have a support which can be compared to the support from the Pin64 forum?

A big issue of the Radxa zero is that we know of hardly any user feedback of happy users who report to use this device.