
Today’s mobile computing space is dominated by smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers. One maker remembers the no-standards frontier days of mobile computers, though. Harkening back to the PalmPilot, Apple Newton, and ultra-mobile PCs (UPMCs) like the HP Jornada 720, the creator is developing the Raspberry Pi-powered Pocket Z into a UPMC for under $100.
The software engineer known as Icepat on Hackaday has a first prototype already in hand. This UPMC has a seven-inch 1024 x 600-pixel capacitive touchscreen display, and a silicone membrane keyboard, and runs Linux. Since the goal is to have a GUI, the Pocket Z runs the XFCE Desktop Environment and Conky. It’s all driven by a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.