A YT channel I follow (N-O-D-E) had a segment on a DIY "Hackable" PC/Laptop: http://mntmn.com/reform/
It basically looks like a non-diagonal cyberdeck (pretty cool imo). One thing I'm not so sure about is using SoCs... would it be feasible (performance wise compared to a 'standard' PC) for a daily driver?

Wanted to post the link because the channel isn't very well known and I haven't seen the project anywhere else so maybe you guys haven't seen it yet.

What do you think?

If there is anything the laptop market needs it is modularity, but with sub-3h battery time and an external cord that loops back into the screen you wont get far. I wouldn't buy the first flying car either, but the future improvements are on spot. Having a built-in custom mechanical keyboard in a laptop by itself makes me very interested. I can't comment on SoCs, but if they can manage performance akin to my outdated Lenovo L430, I'd be a happy man.

Every modern PC and Laptop is based on a SoC, since the CPU contains at least the chipset, if not the GPU and even RAM, too. The performance isn't the problem of SoCs, but of ARM vs x86. At the moment, an ARM core just isn't nowhere near the performance of a x86 core. Not only, because of the architectual differences, but also because of better optimized compilers, tools and libraries on the x86 platform. But, of course, there is (to my knowledge) no free x86 chip out there, and both AMDs and Intels CPUs have undocumented firmware inside, which are a huge security nightmare. (All Intel processors actually run a custom MINIX inside of them, which probably makes it the most installed OS in the world=

I really can't say if this can or cannot work, or if it's technologically feasible, but I do have to say that I admire the spirit and.motivation behind this. Modularity can help devices live long beyond their "regular" age, since they are easily repairable by practically anyone, at the expense of efficiency caused abstraction. The question then becomes who would want to make this, since certainly the current way of producing laptops (one laptop, mostly one thing) seems to make more sense, economically. I'd guess that unless there is no strong movement towards a standardized modularization, on which individual producers can rely that others would also adopt, no practical effects of specific modular devices would be secured, sadly. What's the point of a modular device w/o modules? It's like a shell with an empty path.

(15-11-2017, 09:05 PM)asyncial Wrote: All Intel processors actually run a custom MINIX inside of them, which probably makes it the most installed OS in the world

I thought that they only had installed MINIX on Ring -3 in the last few years (somewhere early 2010's?). And besides that, aren't there considerably more Android/mobile device's running some modified Linux than desktops/laptops with Intel processors?

(15-11-2017, 09:25 PM)zge Wrote: I thought that they only had installed MINIX on Ring -3 in the last few years (somewhere early 2010's?). And besides that, aren't there considerably more Android/mobile device's running some modified Linux than desktops/laptops with Intel processors?

Yes, you are right, I forgot a word there. I meant to say in all modern Intel CPUs, thanks for the correction.

But you forgot list servers and HPCs/supercomputers. I think the big server farms have so many processors, that there is no chance even for AMD and ARM devices combined. But it would be interesting to count that. Andrew Tanenbaum himself at least thinks it is.

EDIT: fixed formatting.