I grabbed a beepy a little while back (if interested BE ADVISED: they’ve since gone dark and left a bunch of people holding out for one, I got really lucky and ordered super early) so I could work on some python stuff on the go. I didn’t like having all the parts exposed, and the cases available seemed too flimsy for my liking.
I fired up blender and designed a unibody case for it. Printed it out on my Ender 3 and its been pretty great. I use it with some software I’m writing to turn a raspberry pi into a portable sensor data acquisition and visualization platform called a Picorder (Pi + Tricorder).
It took a couple revisions to get here, mostly to get the feel in the hand right. I wanted some bulbousness to make it easier to hold.
It’s designed so the PCB slides into it and is affixed by two screws, and then a top cap is secured with four more screws to protect the top.
I’ve been printing a couple years now and enclosures are still my favourite item to design and print. So satisfying to hold something in your hand that was once just a 3D model and is now a fully real object. I wanted to add some content here as I’ve enjoyed looking at the other posts!
I wish you all easy first layers and good prints!
So the beepy is just a display and keyboard for the raspberry pi zero? How do you like using it?
the keyboard is definitely “fine” to type on, its just a blackberry keyboard. The driver for the keyboard is also in development so theres not much support for using the trackbutton as a mouse. The display is difficult for practical use, its a monochromatic screen, there is no backlit, and the pixel density isn’t amazing so you can’t see full lines of code, lots of wrapping. It’s better than having NO display in the field though. I actually really like it, its quirky, but with some struggle it is very usable.
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Not just any keyboard and display, looks like they are gutting old Blackberry Bolds and slapped a pi zero in it.
Enclosures for electronics are the justification I gave myself for buying a 3D printer.
I bought my first 3D printer to print a replacement worm gear in my Venetian blinds that I could have bought for like 30¢
Totally justified.
Save yourself $0.30 enough times and sooner or later the printer is paid for, right? I hope so because that’s how I justified my 2nd printer 😏
What’s a beepy?
There’s a link in the post to the website which has an FAQ, and the first question is yours. Their answer:
Beepy is a portable computing device, with a beautiful high contrast, high resolution display, and a tactile keyboard + touchpad, it is the ultimate everyday hacking gadget.
Powered by the Raspberry Pi Zero W (or any other compatible SBCs), you can use it as a chat device (supporting all chat networks on Beeper e.g. iMessage/WhatsApp/Signal/etc. ), or use it as a hackable handheld cyberdeck, running any Linux application that runs on the Pi.
Does anyone know of a functional linux powered terminal that I can actually get my hands on? Beepy is dark, and the Clockwork Pi I ordered in September still hasn’t shipped and apparently might not for another 8 months.
The design-model-to-print pipeline is really what I enjoy the most too. Very nice design work!
Feels like a lot of people get into printing but then just print existing models from online- which is valid, but missing out on a HUGE opportunity that is really what makes 3d printing useful.
The nostalgia tells me I’d love it.
My recollection of physical micro keyboards tells me my nostalgia is a dirty dirty liar.
For coding I almost prefer it?
I think we take for granted how much predictive magic is happening behind the scenes on capacitive touch keyboards like on smartphones. I often find coding on a smartphone kind of challenging because it starts autocorrecting natural language, but on this its pretty easy since its just what you type is what you get. Lots of mistakes still, but having modifier keys available is also helpful.
I’m not trying to say its great, its just… very fine? Very okay.
My last physical QWERTY phone was a Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G which I broke in like 2016, and I still miss it every day. Actually, that’s not true – I had a Blackberry Priv briefly afterwards, which was stolen. Even that was not a great phone, but the dinky keyboard it had make it miles more usable than the current glass bars of soap. Before all of this I had a Nokia N900 which was probably closest in concept to what you’ve got there. That phone ran Maemo Linux and could be a full function hacking tool complete with the entire 'Nix toolset and functional terminal, SSH client, VNC, the works.
Touch screens are absolute pants for typing. Just, utter flaming garbage. Anyone who claims otherwise just has Stockholm Syndrome and is desperately seeking post-hoc validation over not being offered the choice anymore.
I bought a Moto Z Play on the promise that there would be a keyboard Mod for it, which turned out to be vaporware. I’m still salty about that.
Where can you get that awesome keyboard? Forget the fact that Beepy went dark, I’d love to build my own so I have a dedicated pocket serial terminal, that would come in so, so handy!
It’s the keyboard from a Blackberry Classic (Q20)
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That’s pretty damn rad. This is the type of stuff I like to see.
That looks fantastic! Do you know of anything thats like that form factor?
I got the general idea from the iPod Mini
Its basically a metal flatish sort of cylinder with a central chassis that slides in and out. I’ve used this technique a lot for printed enclosures because it feels pretty strong to me, and usually pretty easy to print, even with overhangs, since its such a regular shape. You also dont have to worry about applying components to the inside face of the case, since the whole things just slides in.
How much does this bleepy thing cost? I don’t see the price on the website:/
I think that they only did one run in August 2023. There’s talk of a v2, but the discord is kind of quiet.
It was $79.00 USD before shipping/etc.
Enclosures and cases for SBCs, MCUs, phones, and other electronics are basically the only reason I got a printer. Dust collectors never interested me.
I bought a 3D printer so I could print things for my 3D printer, apparently.
This is so cool
Looks good! I’d guess 80% of my printing is enclosures. ;)
New Lemmy Post: Made an enclosure for my beepy. I think enclosures are my favourite part of printing (https://lemmy.world/post/9306617)
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