The DevTerm could just be the start?

Since I got mine late last week, I’ve been enjoying having a device that’s so like the small portables of the 80s - things like the HX-20, the PX-8 and PX-4, that sort of thing. The idea of having something so small and so complete is more satisfying than I’d expected it to be, and it fills the gap better than the NanoNote or the OpenPandora (both of which I had) did for me, 10+ years ago. And it’s probably got the best keyboard on any portable device I’ve seen post-2000.

But it makes me think about other directions, too. My had got a Sharp PC-1211 back in the early 1980s, and I’ve long thought how cool something similar would be (single-PCB with SMT tactile switches for a keyboard, running on an Arduino or similar and using a one-line alphanumeric LCD, perhaps), though of course that’s not a Pi. And it’s a thought I’ve had for a long time anyway.

But that kind of thinking has led me to wonder if something similar in scale to the Compaq Portable III could be done with similar hardware to the DevTerm - a lunchbox portable maybe running on an x86 chip (hellfire I’d pay for a core board with a Zen chip on it, even a low-end one like a 3020e). XGA display panel, detachable wired keyboard (and trackball), Linux or Windows, full-size printer that uses fax paper, maybe even something that can accept an SSD in the place of an SD card.

Is there a suggestion box I could put that in?

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