Steam Deck release date announced! Ubuntu Mate lands on the GDP Pocket 3, Framework open-sources their laptop firmware, and turning your Raspberry Pi 400 into a modern Amiga.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:10 Steam Deck release date announced
08:55 GDP Pocket 3 gets Ubuntu Mate
13:00 AMD powered DeskMini Manjaro edition
16:30 Framework open-sources firmware
20:17 Secure desktop messaging with Briar
27:47 Turn your Pi 400 into an Amiga
25’th of Deck
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675180/view/3117055056380003048
- On launch day, users who have already reserved Steam Decks will receive invitations to purchase devices from the initial batch.
- The first invitees will have 72 hours to order their Steam Decks once they receive the email, after which their invitation will be passed to the next person.
- After that, batches will be released weekly.
- We need a win after two years of nothing.
- Woohooo!
- I can’t wait to get my Steam Deck!
- Oh, and your reservation deposit will be applied to the final price of your Steam Deck, and shipping costs are included.
GDP Mate
https://ubuntu-mate.org/blog/ubuntu-mate-for-gpd-pocket3/
- This is awesome, so Martin Wimpress has been hard at work for several months getting Ubuntu Mate 21.10 working on the GPD Pocket 3 computer, you know that cute little mini 8-inch laptop that you can game on.
- Well he got it working flawlessly, and you can download the ISO now from the Ubuntu Mate official website.
- Ubuntu Mate 21.10 has many enhancements for the GPD Pocket 3 including:
- It enables frame buffer support and automatic screen rotation, which includes rotation of the touch screen and stylus via new accelerometer support.
- Enables audio support via the HDaudio legacy driver.
- And enables scroll wheel emulation while holding down the middle trackpad button.
- And one of my favorite features if I ever bought one, Ubuntu Mate 21.10 enables fractional scaling by default and double size console (tty) font resolution.
- You can find Martin Wimpress, Wimpy, playing Trackmania Stadium 2 with us on our live streams, or just having fun racing the maps on our server many times throughout the week!
- No support for the fingerprint reader.
- Suspend works and Tear-Free rendering by default.
Manjaro MiniPC (RTheren)
https://store.minisforum.com/products/deskmini-um700-manjaro-linux
- There is a new AMD Ryzen 7 3750H processor with Vega 10 Graphics Linux based MiniPC you can pre-order right now!
- And it has Manjaro Linux pre-installed, so you can get your “By the way, I run Aaaaarrrcchhh” on!
- The DeskMini UM700 is a powerful MiniPC running Manjaro Linux and starts at a great introductory sale price:
- $469.00 for 8GB Ram+256GB M.2 SSD
- Up to $539 for 16GB RAM+512GB M.2 SSD
- The price will start at $599 after the sale.
- Thank you RTheren for bringing this to our attention!!
- Three 4K video holes wifi and bluetooth and an allegedly silent fan.
- Did I mention the 2.5g ethernoodle?
- I really like the specs and the price.
- Having an AMD NUC has been on my list for some time.
- I just might head over to Amazon and buy one that includes 16GB of RAM a 256GB SSD for $15 less.
Framework firmware
https://frame.work/blog/open-sourcing-our-firmware
- Framework has published their open source Embedded Controller (EC) firmware for the Framework modular Laptop, which is available to download now on their GitHub page.
- Interestingly, the firmware is based on Google’s chromium-ec project, which is the Embedded Controller firmware used in Chromebooks.
- And, as we have mentioned before, Fedora 35 works out of the box on the Framework Laptop.
- They have been impressed with the Linux community’s contributions, hacking and experimentation.
- And there are easy to follow step by step guides for the most popular distros, such as Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, Manjaro, Arch, Debian, elementary . . .
- This thing knows how to Linux and so far the humans behind Framework have been knocking it out of the park.
- Showing the big lappy makers that you can make sleek , easily repairable and good looking laptops at a reasonable price.
- Something Apple / Dell / HP and the like said was unpossible.
Spike Desktop
https://briarproject.org/download-briar-desktop/
- Briar uses a nice combination of internet communication via the Tor network, or mesh networking via the phones bluetooth or WiFi when internet isn’t available.
- Do you like sending really secure messages on mobile?
- How about something that could work locally when the internet goes nope?
- Something without a central server that can be monitored and or attacked?
- Well now you can do all of that from the comfort of your desktop.
- Debs are available but you can jar if you want to.
Slice of Pi
Pi Powered Amiga
https://cubiclenate.com/pimiga/
- A workbench replacement built for the Pi 400.
- It’s BYOR but at least the sound & joysticks work.
- This guide will get you up and running with a quickness so you can experience the bad old days of computing.
- Then all the hardware snobs can give you static because it’s not a “real” Amiga.
- But hey, at least you can boot it into Linux and do something useful with it… unlike real Amiga hardware.
- You can have fun playing classic games on Workbench, or relive the golden days of animating with Lightwave.
