Hello all!
Due to the recent statements by Google (as well as their track record the last few years) I’ve decided I do not want to use Android as a phone operating system anymore. But Apple is just as bad, if not worse. So I’ve decided to build my own custom device.
I am working on building a phone using a single board computer, right now I’m using the raspberry pi 5. This is still a proof of concept, but I want to share my ideas with others, so like minded individuals can start messing around with this idea in their own homes to further this goal.
You can view more images of the device here, as well as the step by step instructions here (these are still very rough and incomplete) https://github.com/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone OR https://codeberg.org/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone
Right now it just runs raspberry pi OS, with a different desktop look and feel. Everything that normally works in a pi 5 works on this device, additionally I am experimenting with a Mobile Broadband modem, to allow the device to text and call, as well as access internet, like a normal phone off wifi
The total cost is around 200 dollars, not including the 3d printer to make the custom case.
This project is barely off the ground, and I’ve got a lot to learn before I can stop relying strictly on the raspberry pi 5, my end goal is to custom design SBCs, and release those designs for free alongside the plans for the device, so that interested parties can select their own System on a Chip to use for the device. I need to get into designing boards, I’m interested in trying Stephen Hawes’ Lumen PnP (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkTcxh-9gA) for that phase.
But that’s for the future, for now, I’m hoping to get more people interested in the prototype so that I’m not the only one noodling around on this idea. I’d love some feedback, and if anyone was willing to put one together for testing, I would appreciate it greatly!
If you’re really going to do this you need a RISC-V processor SOC. If you look around online there’s a few places where you can obtain these.
For the my layperson friend reading over my shoulder… erm, why?
SOC has a small form factor which can fit neatly in a phone sized device (this us why all phones have them) and RISC-V is a completely open source processor instruction set that can be customized to whatever function you wish to implement.
Are the processors good? Like, does performance compare to the alternatives? (I’m assuming these are alternatives to like an ARM based SOC?)
If you are using a Pixel with a Tensor processor then you are using a RISC-V SOC.
Oh cool. Thank you for the info. I hear people talking about RISC-V a lot, but was nearing the parks and rec meme of “I don’t know and am too afraid to ask”, lol.
This is Lemmy not reddit. Unless it’s a political thing on .ml feel free to ask and most people will be happy to answer your questions, especially if it has to do with Linux or FOSS.