The Raspberry Pi, as awesome and potentially portable as it is, has a problem: as a computer, it's kind of stuck in place. That's fine for the little local web server / SSH MUD server / Hercules mainframe on my dresser. But with it being so small, it would make a solid mobile device - or at least a laptop. Now, obviously, for hard core hardware DIY gurus, this is a non-issue - just solder on a battery-related gizmo and done. But for us mere mortals... it's not so straightforward. And as for regular laptops... they're great until the battery dies. Then they're basically desktops too. So I've been looking for a way to take Linux on the go. There are touch screens that are supposedly compatible - but again, you have to power them. So that's not really a solution. So when I asked what I would like for Christmas, one thing I asked for was a portable charger with an outlet-style 3-prong connector. Wouldn't work for the Pi 5, but it would absolutely work for my spare laptop (which btw is a hilariously weird clunker I got cheap off eBay - 6 GB of RAM, sometimes showing "invalid partition table" on boot but letting you press Enter to continue - super weird and not good for much else).
But getting back to the Pi, I started window-shopping, and I stumbled on something that's hands-down the weirdest, goofiest, and in some ways kinda coolest thing I've seen in a long time: a "portable monitor" that looks like a laptop but isn't.
https://www.amazon.com/ELECROW-Portable-Keyboard-Compatible-Raspberry/dp/B0F21J5V58/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Omr01slD7uhMyYNGOLyhc8Bb_OtvZdfalN5u7O_cpoxcY8wPm2kpG56nriBuN3TiDcFDSuQ7htNfZaxUinbWjTRH33i9JgIzITGDOTFQlbKUBhNADApLqXePFCfZs3_Fg30pTrLYvDJ4oR2YxHNeUbk78YQfVqBrBXpdEk1VjMNE8DAghiAQsKGcD7rIwGtY1nftrKJbInYyCmC2l3-yNiQCZKTgV3trmFj9lKCG5kM.HYbW0EvyhcQYadwgfCr5hLRTV5NaUzu2TNKDrpryrZM&dib_tag=se&keywords=raspberry%2Bpi%2Blaptop&qid=1766204335&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
So wait... it costs as much as some computers... but it, by itself, doesn't do anything. Really? It's funny because in many ways it reminds me of a terminal - ya know, the kind people hooked up to their KIM-1 or Altair or Apple 1 or IMSAI or whatever. I mean, how "full circle" are we gonna go here? But on the other hand... it might be worth grabbing. Cuz as much as I love the concept of open hardware, and want to see more of it, it does mean you need to have some actual hardware know-how. If it boots, I can usually figure it out. But to actually geek-rig a bunch of capacitors and resistors and who knows what else is beyond me. But this "CrowView Note" thing... idk... I mean it looks like it solves that problem pretty well. is to the Pi what terminals were to the classic computers that didn't come with a display. Then I could take my Pi outside of my room (my other one, not the server, lol) and use it from anywhere.
Oh, and what about that "Mister" FPGA thing I've heard so much about?! I did a search, and this same thing (or one similar to it) came up in the middle of the results list. I'm gonna have fun watching videos on YouTube about that Mister thing; idk what it can do or what I can do with it, but it looks similar enough to the Pi to where yeah, if I want a portable keyboard/mouse/monitor rig, this modern-day terminal wanna-be would be a nice fit.
But what do you guys think? Anyone ever used a thing like this? Even seen one? :-D