Questions about PocketCHIP

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GrevenGull
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Iscritto: 12/18/2017

I noticed that the user chaosmonk was talking about using the PocketCHIP as a GPS device, which got me intrigued about learning more of what the PocketCHIP can and cannot do. Especially in light of the recent Pinephone hype.

One thing I noticed about about the Pinephone from a few youtube videos was the seemingly not great touch screen.

How does the PocketCHIP connect with GPS?

chaosmonk

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Iscritto: 07/07/2017

Unfortunately the company that made the PocketCHIP went out of business years ago. You can no longer buy them, unless someone is selling a used one. However, any portable device running GNU/Linux can be used similarly. Before I set up my PocketCHIP to use for navigation, I would set a laptop on the passenger's seat and just follow the voice commands. I b0rked my PocketCHIP about a few months ago, after which I replaced it with a small netbook that fits in my glove compartment.

> How does the PocketCHIP connect with GPS?

I use a BU353-S4 USB GPS reciever. There may be other models that work as well, but that's the kind I've tested. It should work with any GNU/Linux system that has a non-ancient kernel.

GrevenGull
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Iscritto: 12/18/2017

I think they're selling them here https://shop.pocketchip.co/collections/frontpage/products/pocket-c-h-i-p-new

If they are, or if I can get one used, is it easy to transfer files to and from my laptop to use the PocketCHIP as a portable music player?

chaosmonk

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Iscritto: 07/07/2017

> https://shop.pocketchip.co/collections/frontpage/products/pocket-c-h-i-p-new

This isn't the original company, but it looks like they have a supply of PocketCHIPs that they bought before NextThing went under.

If you buy one, note that the WiFi card requires non-free firmware.

> If they are, or if I can get one used, is it easy to transfer files to and from my laptop to use the PocketCHIP as a portable music player?

The CHIP itself does not have a lot of disk space. When I used it as a car navigation device I would also play podcasts from it, and I could only store about 15 episodes at a time before I would start to run out of space (that was with OpenStreetMap data for my state stored on the CHIP as well).

I had an idea to buy a USB splitter so that my PocketCHIP could use a flash drive and GPS at the same time, and to then load podcasts and OSM data onto a flash drive that I would attach to my keychain. Then I could just plug the USB drive into my PC, update my podcast feeds and maps, and plug the USB drive into the PocketCHIP when I got into my car. However, my PocketCHIP stopped working before I got around to setting this up.