UMPC - Handheld and palmtop computing

Original YT Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXehobjmJtI

Palmtops and UMPCs are experiencing a quiet resurgence among people who want something more focused than a laptop and more tactile than a phone. Compact e-ink devices and tiny Bluetooth keyboards have become affordable building blocks for exactly this kind of project, letting makers combine them into pocketable machines tailored to writing, reading, or just tinkering. The result is a small but growing wave of DIY cyberdecks and writerdecks that feel like modern reinterpretations of classic Psion palmtops.

The Palm(a)top Computer v0 is one of those projects, born on Reddit when user CommonKingfisher decided to pair a BOOX Palma e-ink Android phone with a compact Bluetooth keyboard and a custom 3D-printed clamshell case. The result looks like a cross between a vintage Psion and a modern writerdeck, small enough to slide into a jacket pocket but functional enough to handle real writing and reading sessions on the go.

There are a million ways to use a tiny single-board computer in a hobbyist project, but one of the most obvious might be to turn that little board into a full-fledged, pint-sized computer. Redditor stopdesign has done just that, and the result is a simple, yet beautiful handheld computer that I absolutely don’t need, yet cannot imagine living another day without. The goal of the project was to create a distraction-free coding computer that can be used anywhere and everywhere. But since it runs Linux, it could just as easily be repurposed for other tasks.

The cool thing about building your own computer is that you don’t have to adhere to industry norms of form and function. You can build whatever chunky, awesome thing your heart desires, and that’s precisely what [Rahmanshaber] did with the MutantC cyberdeck.