Stuff like a pretty case with slots for optical drives, a laptop with a shitton of ports and all-day battery life or anything else that seems to go against the trends.
This thread is for complaining about how you can’t find it and (maybe) finding it thanks to someone else.
Something that’ll let me plug a raspberry pi’s micro hdmi output into either: the usb-c input OR mini hdmi input on an (already-powered) external monitor. If anyone has success stories, I’d appreciate it.
A phone with current hardware but without a camera notch in the screen. I absolutely hate the notch, it annoys me on a deep level that I can’t get over.
Android (or at least my Galaxy) has a setting that lets you disable the portion of the screen where the notch is, which makes it essentially identical to a phone with no notch.
Looks like its a developer option, “display cutout”
On mine it appears to be a regular setting under the display options called “camera cutout”. I do have developer options enabled though, so maybe that doesn’t appear for people who don’t.
there are multiple phones without camera notches, the sony ones with just a thicker top bezel, the redmagic’s with an under-display one and some of the older ones with popup cameras
I have a nothing phone 2a and it’s just a circle on the screen, standalone. Idk if that’s much better but it’s smaller and not connected to the top.
I’d like a way to disable all the various way too bright indicator lights.
Electrical tape
The edhesive eventually melts down and becomes a sticky mess. Expidided by heat.
there are sticker packs for that, called “light stickers” or whatever
They put the lights behind ports, controls, vents etc that you can’t tape over. And indicator light is helpful I just dont need to read a book with it.
Sometimes spraypaint or model paint works but not suitable to every application.
A phone with a 5-5.5" screen. I’d be fine with a midrange chipset and camera. The Zenfone 10 was the last one that even came closer but they would only support it for two years and locked the bootloader (and lied about the unlock service eventually coming back online).
A phone that runs Linux, has decent battery life, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
I’ve got one, but does it have to sell outside the EU too?
The reason this doesn’t work is because Android and iOS limit the crap out of app functionality to allow for battery optimization. On Linux, users (and apps) do whatever the crap they feel like (and that’s a good thing, until you talk about battery).
I’d really love to find a new radio for my car that: 1) can serve as a monitor for my back-up camera, and 2) isn’t a fucking touch screen.
There are models that are one or the other, but I haven’t found anything that’s both. The closest I’ve found is a compromise - a touchscreen that also has a few tactile controls. But I don’t want to have to rely on any touch screen when I’m driving. I simply don’t feel compelled enough to spend $400+ for a frustrating half-measure.
I settled on a SPH-10BT a few years ago. It didn’t have backup camera support though IIRC there is a radar add-on, but don’t know how available it is anymore.
It seems insane to me, especially with the prevalence of Apple/Android Auto, that no car company is willing to have the phone be the supplemental screen in the car.
That there’s no built-in phone mounts in cars still bugs me. Put wireless charging on a spot on the dash, NFC/Bluetooth to get it to automatically snap into car mode. Don’t have to develop an in-house UI that everyone hates and can focus on making a car.
My nissan rogue (2014-2016ish) has this
the battery thing is real. I basically can not find a laptop with weak/low power cpu and igpu, but a huge battery. I get that we can not do more than 99whr, but for weak stuff, I can not find anything above 50 practically.
well, if you carry around a bag anyways a battery bank could alleviate that
yes, but that is a separate investment
I want a Japanese ketai phone with android 10+, easily rootable, AND HAS A DAMN TOUCH CRUISER. They day Sharp decided to stop making flip phones with touch cruiser is the day innovation truly died.
Or an e-ink flip phone, that would be pretty cool.
A low power 17 inch or larger laptop in a sub $1K price point. I have big hands (and crap vision) and I use the fuck out of numpad, but i really dont need a gaming GPU or a higher end cpu in a laptop.
If you don’t need much power, you could probably look for something used and get a good deal on a 17" laptop.
An app like Shazam but that shows me : this is the song you played and these are the songs it reminds you of because the melody is from here and the vocals melody is from here etc. I am mad that every other song reminds me of another but I cannot check which one it is.
A small android smartphone with good software support
Little retro games handheld with a clamshell oled display
Just wait for Anbernic Rg45XXV, which should be a few months away given the rate they put out devices.
The catch: it still uses H700 chipset
A SBC with SATA ports, to use as a Plex server. I’ve only ever found one (the Zimaboard), but it’s a bit pricey for something that I’d still have to find some way to house with an external HDD.
The ODROID-HC4 has two SATA ports. Alternatively, you can get one with an NVMe slot and stick a NVMe to SATA card in it that will likely get you four ports.
I hadn’t looked at any ODROID stuff, and the HC4 is a cool looking solution! I’m actually even more impressed with the M1S, which has a built-in M.2 slot. Can’t use my existing spinny drives, but for the price of the M1S, I could pick up an NVMe drive to go with it.
Another option would be to get a RPi and throw a hat on it:
I had looked at those, but the hat alone is over $70. Plus they need an RPi5, because earlier ones don’t have a PCIe interface. For that much, I could get a Beelink or something similar.
The hat is a cool idea, though.
Ive heard some people use usbC connecting drive enclosures, could probably rig something up with the backplane from one of those, but yeah a finished product like that would be neat.
I think ive seen a mini-PC with a hotswap m.2 bay built in though?
You can easily get a case with an optical drive slot if you just get an older case. You can fit an older case with more modern components just fine. My current PC case is from 2017 and has an optical drive slot (which is fitted with an optical drive—though I’m afraid I’ve not used it in years…)
As for laptops with ports, they’re out there but you may have to either get an older one or pay more money annoyingly. I wish it was standard for laptops to have ethernet ports. My modern, fairly mainstream trend-following laptop has all the other ports I need (USB obviously, HDMI, and 3.5mm headphone jack).
A Steam Deck with stock pricing in Mexico.
