Hi there!
I just ordered my devterm yesterday and can’t wait to try it out. I was curious if there is any real footage of an actual working unit? I want some kind of preview of the operating-system and the overall look and feel of the device. Is there any chance to see real photos or even better a video of a running device?
Greetings
Nico
sadly, not yet. hopefully within the next few weeks?
Yeah, there isn’t I search every few days on youtube, but there isn’t anything. It worries me like a delay is coming.
But my guess is really just a modified version of what we have running on gameshell which would be fine for me, I just want to see it working in action. It is a tad troubling that there isn’t a video of it working at this point, according to their own website these should start shipping in the next 2 weeks
I think it was mentioned before in another thread, but China doesn’t use YouTube. The devs are all Chinese, living in China. Heck I think any google services are blacklisted in their national firewall. So if there is any video footage of it, it would all be in Chinese on their own version of YouTube.
I must have missed the announcement re: shipping in the next two weeks. I just saw the note saying shipping before April.
I’m guessing they’re ironing out the kinks of the OS till the very last minute, so a video showing anything wouldn’t be reflective of the final product. But I guess people just want something.
I’d rather they spend their resources releasing a complete product, than focussing on updates and videos. Each to their own.
personally, the excitement and anticipation is killing me! i’m going to be geeked out whenever that shipping notice gets sent out.
They are a Hong Kong company, not Chinese, huge difference between Hong Kong and China, it’s actually sorta insulting to people in Hong Kong to be called Chinese, I live in the area. And regardless, you know how many Chinese electronics are previewed on youtube? lol I have a room full of them man, Chinese companies use youtube A LOT…
What kinks would there be 2 weeks before you ship that couldn’t be fixed with a patch? Plus, two weeks for software…? These should already be in a box packaged and ready to go months ago. I mean I’m as excited as anyone, I think the product will be great, I’m simply saying it’s very, very strange there isn’t a video of the product working at this point. What electronic device has shipped with out showing anything running on it? I mean it’s going to make it very interesting to open something for the first time, build it yourself and see what pops up on the screen, which my guess is a modified version of clockwork OS that is on the gameshell.
I think it will be great, I’m not hating, I’m just also a tad worried a delay is coming… but hopefully I’m wrong.
It’s been a while and a lot has happened since (especially this past year!), but I don’t remember ever seeing a video of the Gameshell in action before it was released, either. My memory might be faulty though, or I might have missed it. I remember the hardware, and maybe some simple stuff on screen, but I don’t remember seeing any emulators running, etc. Pretty sure that happened once people got them and started getting things working on them.
I thought of my purchase of the Gameshell like a Kickstarter purchase, even though I waited to buy it until after the Kickstarter finished and they started selling them again. (Part of the reason I waited was having been “burned” on some other Kickstarter items and I wanted to see what people thought of it.) Once I saw they actually shipped them, and the hardware worked, I got one because I figured either the software would get worked out over time, or I could spend some time and get it working the way I wanted it to. It made sense to me for the hardware alone, as long as a decent OS could boot up on it and run stable. In the end, it was a combination of those things that happened, with the software work done mostly by the community. 
I didn’t end up getting a Devterm, but Clockwork has proven they are reputable (even if mostly silent) so I’d be very surprised if the devices didn’t ship and arrive on time (or with minor delays). And I’d expect and hope the hardware design is as good as the Gameshell. I’d also expect there will need to be some work on the software side of things to actually make it usable, but since it’s even more obviously a device made for tinkerers, I’d hope it disappoints fewer folks.
There definitely seemed to be Gameshell buyers who were expecting a plug-and-play emulation machine out of the box, and some of the marketing materials were (unfortunately) flashy enough to make it seem like that’s what the Gameshell was, but it really wasn’t, at least at first. It still isn’t, if you actually want to make use of the thing in creative ways and you only load the official OS on it. I think it’s a platform. While that means it’s more flexible than say, an easy to use plug-and-play emulation system, it also means there’s some work involved in getting it to do what you might want to do. Devterm will likely be the same.
For my part, I might end up getting a Devterm later, but I’d like to see what people do with them first. I already knew what sorts of things I might do with the Gameshell even before I saw others playing with them, and I’ve happy I got one when I could. I’m just hoping I won’t be disappointed I didn’t get a Devterm when I could!
Hi,
just to make things clear; I have the same perception of buying this device as @adcockm already pointed out: Preordering something from a company is a deal of giving and taking: You give the money so that the company has the finanicial security to actualiy start the manufacturing-process. You also give them a lot of trust. Trust into the brand, the product and the willingnes to make the product become real.
But sometimes you need something real to gain trust. And for me a video of a working sample, footage of the OS, some photos of the manufacturing-process or even a short message: “We are working hard, seems to have some issues but we will work that out later. We are ready to ship in XYZ weeks and so on…” is part of the deal.
But I can be very patient. Clockwork seems to be a trustable company, even if the flow of information is not what I was expecting. One expample: When I contacted them a few weeks ago with the question for some “real” content and updates the simle answer was “Follow us on Twitter and Instragram for further updates in the next days.” Since then nothing happened on both channels.
The only clue is the short info on the homepage of their website: “Will be shipped before April 2021”. I am very aware of the situationen since the outbreak of corona and that things in developing and production and even the logistics of a device has become some kind of risky adventure. So let’s hope that the lack of information is a sign that they use their energy, creativity and productivity for delevloping an awesome gadget and not waste any time on social media!
So let’s keep on hoping that the guys and girls at CW know the business. Still can’t wait to get my hands on this awesome device!
Greetings
Nico
As a person who is from Hong Kong, I am actually fine with being called Chinese. But I may be in the minority here. You probably know better than me since you live there. I’m just Chinese.
The company may be based in HK, but a lot of the developers I’ve talked with are not. For the gameshell’s release, I know one of them was really under pressure, and ultimately wasn’t happy with the initial final 0.1 clockwork OS. This was something done up till the last minute.
In an ideal world, it would be great to have it all boxed and ready to send out. Hardware wise they might already be there! But they also need to package a pre burned SD card. This is dependent on the above.
It would be great if they could use whatever funds they have to hire additional people to help speed up the process, but as mentioned above, by pre ordering, we are essentially backing the company to produce something and essentially pay their workers/coders.
This would also include paying a marketing team to make promotional material; including videos. I would much rather the money go towards actually having it released on time.
There was once an admin on here called @Veronica , and she would post updates and act as the communication between the admins and the community; but one day she just vanished. Perhaps there wasn’t enough money in circulation to pay her? Either way, English may not be the developer’s first language, so communication could be difficult.
Just to mention a few other devices I’ve recently bought in a similar vein; the Gameshell, GPi case, PiBoy DMG NesPi+ and NesPi 4 are all things I purchased without seeing any videos. All of my 8bitdo controllers also were purchased without videos. There may have been some external videos, but from memory, the main pages of each of the above didn’t feature any video show case or demonstration. Of course I could be wrong, I don’t use YouTube very often.
When I pre ordered a different device; the piboy DMG, there was an indefinite delay. It was meant to ship before December for august pre orders. It arrived in February. This was an American company. I’ve just learned to accept that there is a hierarchy of orders that need to be fulfilled, based on order number, country it is posted to, availability and the availability of staff to physically post it.
Yes it is a lot of money we have trusted them with, and if they haven’t said anything, we can only assume they are on schedule. As far as they know, they probably are! But we are also humans living in a world of uncertainty, and anything can and will happen. If there is a delay, I am sure they will post about it. There are much bigger things to worry about than whether or not you get a package on time or not.
I’m not sure what this is referring to, but keep smiling at the beautiful sky! Possibly something lost in translation, since I’m Chinese?
thats also interesting to think about re: covid. they announced in last year, well into the pandemic with that april 2021 ship-by date. i think they would have either gone with a later date knowing how difficult the production logistics situation might be or otherwise have said “actually, we’re gonna have to release post-april” if things went haywire over these last few months. i think we’ll be hearing from them soon, and probably with good news!
朋友，看得出来你是一个很文明的人，但是你不需要和这种有民族偏见的人解释，他了解中国的方式就仅仅是通过那些资本家控制的媒体，香港是个美好的地方，但它也是也是中国的一部分，容不得这种居心叵测的人分裂它
Can we please try to stay on topic? If you have any personal problems with members of this forum: Please try to clear this via personal message. Thanks.
@rodeobravo Please try to stay polite. Some of your post on this topic are slightly over the line.
Exactly. There has been some recent supply issue, it is hard to tell how and where the DevTerm production is, but as stated in different topics now, there is a large electronic component supply issue right now, and a lot of product are delayed because of that.
CPi will come back to us in due time and explain the situation.
And we just are the 15, just about half the month, there are still plenty of time to ship if they have no delay.
Hello, I’m sorry for my words and deeds, but the reason why I do this is that “rodeobravo” user’s national biased remarks angered me. Some of his words and deeds are insults to the people of our country and an affront to our country’s sovereignty. I like this community and the latest terminal products I bought. I’m proud that such excellent products are our domestic development.I hope you can understand how I feel when I see the comments of “rodeobravo” users
Hey, the team is in Shanghai. Their office is right at the Renmin square.
BTW, Hongkong is a part of China, read some books mate.
In fact, I’m not racist. The happiest thing I’ve been doing is watching you discuss this new product in the forum. I didn’t speak until I saw the topic that made me feel insulted. The reason why I’m extreme is that you think the identity of Chinese people is insulting. OK, this topic ends. I hope you and I can change our ideas in the future
Glad everyone is happy. Moral of the story; don’t assume anything of anyone.
It’s established; some people are worried. Naturally, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and those who express their opinions get heard.
Just thought that I’d raise my hand as someone who isn’t concerned about how things are running, and feel that if there are delays, then they are outside of clockwork pi’s control. I think that people are expecting a Kickstarter style log of progress and reporting, but that’s not necessarily what this is.
There is no rush to get this out as soon as possible. I’ve been following another product; the play date. That has been in production for over 2 years. I feel rather privileged that the devterm could possibly be coming out within the next month.
I’m sure everyone has seen it, but there was a tweet made around January, hopefully shedding light on parts/suppliers being on track.
I trust that when the time comes to make an announcement, they will chime in on all of their social platforms; including the forums.
Back on topic: I’m assuming that all of the stills from the devterm sales page are of it actually in action. I recall some users asking what some things were, and the devs replying in the early devterm announcement days.
As the name would imply, it’s no doubt used for coding/development on the go. I’m not sure what people are wanting from a video. Game play perhaps? Besides open source games, emulation is what lots of people would use it for; and this is a grey area to have showing as an official advertising video; or even unofficial.
That would leave showing someone typing on it, or coding. I’m not sure what that would exactly show. It would not be the most exciting thing to watch. I suppose you could show how quickly it can compile code? Or render an image?
If there was a video of the devterm in action, would it be to show how it looks to hold? What the OS looks like? What kind of games it can play? How quickly it can compile? Proof that the thing exists and is operational? The printer doing it’s thing? ASMR Videos of the keyboard clacking? Or all of the above?
As someone who doesn’t like to follow video tutorials, see unboxings, or in general watch video demonstrations, I am genuinely curious as to what people want to see. I mean this sincerely and without any malice! 
I just prefer data, facts and diagrams. They have delivered on that front beautifully.
What do the people who want to see videos expect of the devterm? And I guess, what do the people who don’t care to see a video expect. I fear that people may expect the devterm to be something that it isn’t meant to be. Eg, I’m not expecting it to be a full fledged gaming console. But at the end of the day, it’s the community who will make the devterm into whatever they want it to be.
so for me personally, i don’t need videos of it prerelease. i’d be happy to see one though, specicifally to see real life size comparisons, how the screen looks, how the trackball and mouse keys work, how the keyboard works.
I’m fine with understanding delays and being patient, but I don’t think it’s wrong to expect some sort of message from the development team regardless of where they are, or how socially inept they might be when we’re at 2 weeks before shipping is supposed to start. Technically less then that as they said they would be shipping BEFORE April. Hal hasn’t even tweeted since January. people want to hear the team say something. Anything!