Here’s my notes:

https://taoofmac.com/space/links/2019/06/27/0713

...and a gist with the Pi setup:

https://gist.github.com/rcarmo/6ad6c09e904c35857bad2dd2769ed...

I switched from a Zero to a 3A+, though. The Zero is just too slow to do anything productively, and the only real issue with the 3A+ is still having only 512MB of RAM.

I'm imagining a follow-on version of this, where the Pi Zero has a battery backup built into the case.

So at any time your can just unplug it, and it will go into a low power mode, like sleep on a laptop.

That way the Pi can serve as a secure computing environment sharing the display and keyboard of my insecure laptop.

On top of that a bunch of neat integration can be added like the insecure laptop submitting ciphertext to the attached Pi with a seamless switch of keyboard and display over to the Pi where I can view the plaintext or do other operations on it, and have new ciphertext sent back to the insecure laptop with a seamless switch back of keyboard and display. I'm imagining integration with tools like mail reading software etc. for doing the switching.

Unfortunately USB-C alone isn't going to enable this level of integration, but I'm optimistic projects like the mntmn reform can facilitate this area of innovation in the future.

The first time I wanted this was when someone gave me a usbarmory [0]. It easily fit under my thinkpad's palmrest, but was of limited value for secure computing as the only way I could interact with it was via things like ssh / X over ssh, and I was still displaying/handling all of the unencrypted information on my relatively insecure network-connected host that runs web browsers and accesses all sorts of untrusted input like porn sites and message forums and what have you.

I was able to leave my private keys on the usbarmory which is a marginal improvement, at least nobody could easily sign things as me for instance. But for reading/replying to encrypted emails, I couldn't make the usbarmory connect to my keyboard and display directly, it doesn't have pins for such things nor do I have a micro KVM switch as you mentioned.

[0] https://inversepath.com/usbarmory

https://nexdock.com/

> $229 (excluding the pi)

> Laughs in $100 ThinkPad.

Seriously though this looks great. And from what I gather it works with lots of newer phones, and can even be used as a second laptop display.

* A bit of secure, encrypted storage for my ssh keys, important papers, and similar stuff.

* A u2f token.

* A password manager running in a secure, controlled environment which exposes itself e.g. as a web app.

* A VPN node that exposes itself as a modem / network card.

An RPi could be all these. I maybe would prefer something like USB Armory [1] for for higher security, though it lacks a wifi interface.

[1]: https://inversepath.com/usbarmory.html

But the Pi Zero is great precisely because I'm doing more with hardware lately, and so I have 40 GPIO pins available to do hardware testing on.

As a travel router for your devices to relay WLANs with captive portal (and/or handle VPN etc).

This allows the maker of iPads to change the underlying implementation how they see fit, without making users notice anything. If iPads started to run a mickrokernel OS underneath, the UI / UX won't change at all.

The expensive parts of an iPad are the screen, the battery, the QA, and the brand. The CPU is not particularly expensive, though maybe isn't a $5 part.

Okay, and if people were buying 4-figure Bang and Olufsen stereo systems and hooking up a 5-dollar cassette recorder as their music production system, I'd be perturbed by that as well.

If it's merely a consumption device, why attempt to develop on it? If it's a serious tool, why is the $5 component needed? Most of all - why don't you have a device that actually does what you want it to, properly, and why doesn't this bother you?

Here’s Steve Jobs’ take: https://youtu.be/YfJ3QxJYsw8

The OS architecture, drivers being written in Objective-C, foundation frameworks had nothing UNIXy about them.

For them the iPad is indeed a replacement.

Replace their oddity with something like a laptop or non iOS environment.

It's a Linux box with WiFi.

I assume the Pi broadcasts a WiFi hotspot and then they use some Remote Desktop software, but I'd love to know specifics of what people have found works!

Having said that, would also recommend the iSH app (https://ish.app/), which gives you an x86 Alpine Linux environment directly on the iPad without additional hardware.

Just to give an idea (and with all the caveats about this being a very unscientific comparison and not like for like in many ways), ‘time gcc hello.cpp’ runs in about .7s on that Pi* and 1.4s in iSH (on an Air Pad 2 from 2014). Using g++ instead, the time is 1.4s vs 1.8s.

So, yes, it would be crazy to use either for compute intensive tasks but they’re serviceable and not a million miles apart in terms of performance. The command line itself and apps like vim etc. do not feel ‘dog slow’ to me but there is likely an element of subjective ness there.

To be fair, I imprinted on using ANSI C on an Archimedes 310 with no hard disk where compiling would involve manually swapping 3.5” disks so this all feels like gravy...

* The first compile is actually also around 1.4s on the Pi then subsequent attempts come down to .7s, on iSH it’s more or less constant.

What I would love is to do the RPi wifi configuration wirelessly, perhaps through bluetooth on my phone.

> What I would love is to do the RPi wifi configuration wirelessly, perhaps through bluetooth on my phone.

As I understand it, this is what BerryLan does.

If you need a static ip or something else more complicated then this will fall short.

I switched to a Pi 3B+ for now but i have my eye on the 4 precisely for the ethernet over usb idea, although the 3b+ is capable enough for my needs for now.

Maybe a camera too? Then we could even call it a "cellphone".

Joke aside, any rooted cellphone works much better to run a normal linux distribution. Become familiar with bootstrapping and crosscompiling.

It's certainly interesting, but IMHO not obviously better.

Price of a used cellphone: generally nothing, as we all have extra as spares (and family members do the same). It is self contained.

If you need a brand new one, a ulefone with 6' screen costs as little as $57 all included: https://www.banggood.com/Ulefone-Note-7-6_1-inch-Triple-Rear...

It is ready to be rooted with mediatek exploit.

You get wifi + bluetooth + cellular, a screen (always useful for debug). Spend more if you want more ram, more processing power. $80 for a IP68/IP69K one, that's good.

I just can not see how spending more on an elaborate raspberry setup, to have an overall worse solution in the end can be a better idea.

A Pi Zero with WiFi costs about $10, case costs another $10, a name brand 32 GB SD card runs $10, and a 3.5" screen runs about $20 for a grand total of $50. A screen won't fit in the stock zero case but the zero does have a micro HDMI port.

I just can not see how spending more on an elaborate raspberry setup, to have an overall worse solution in the end can be a better idea.

Well none of that is true, so there's that. As an added bonus you don't have to exploit security vulns to get root on a Pi.

That's what the $57 new phone has.

EDIT: it was a rhetorical question. Never mind. Keep spending on Rapsberries, while I will keep spending on waterproof devices with a battery/screen/camera that are sold as 'phones'

Well the information is out there and freely available so I'd suggest looking it up if you're posing an earnest question.

That's what the $57 new phone has.

That $57 phone comes preloaded with an antiquated version of Android and lists for $80 (the sale ends in two days).

And you don’t need to trust a sketchy flavor of a phone OS or other sketchy phone subsystems made by vendors who do not have tight controls. Unlike Pi, phones are a highly targeted device type by certain governments including governments of countries where phones are made.

I use mine to run youtube-dl to download audio only versions of YouTube (I like long interviews, talks etc), save data and can listen with screen off.