Will there ever be a Radxa 500 computer with a passively cooled keyboard?

[Herzog_Zwei]

Why does RADXA still not have an analogue? I don’t want a Pi 400, it only has 4 gigabytes of RAM and a weak processor, as well as micro HDMI and no PD 3.0 and no support for 4K@120Hz video mode, I don’t want an Orange 800, it has a stupid VGA, it’s a little more powerful, but that’s all it is also weak for 2024 and it is of lower quality, which can be seen from the traces of rough processing of the cooling metal. I’m a fan of Radxa, I like this team and I would buy such a PC keyboard with support for 4K@120Hz video mode via one 3 in 1 PD cable - Power, Video, DATA and 8-16Gb of dual-channel RAM LPDDR5X 7500MHz or 9600MHz. It would also be cool to have an M.2 SSD slot or two, Or better yet, a soldered fast SSD memory of 256 gigabytes or 512. I would install FydeOS on it, it would be a great backup PC, they could become very popular and carve out a niche for themselves and get updates every few years. A green bottom would look cool next to these two. If it appears, please make the Enter button large in the shape of an L, like on retro computers.

If it appears, please make the Enter button large in the shape of an L, like on retro computers.

[hukka]

Then why not have the keyboard version use a 65% iso layout?

[Herzog_Zwei]

I didn’t mean the small inverted Enter, but the one on this white Mitsumi keyboard.

[hukka]

I would be happy if Radxa would offer a combo of a 65% membrane keyboard and a small “fingertip” mouse, both wireless with a shared dongle. Because for me a tiny computer by the display works better as I move about with the keyboard and mouse and would have problems with the cables.

However… My backup computer is a pi400 so I understand the allure of a more powerful keyboard computer.

[hipboi]

we have an experimental device:

Is 87 key mechanical keyboard too big for you?

[hiddej]

Is 87 key mechanical keyboard too big for you?

For me personally, that is the sweet spot. (also especially for something like this where it is impractical to connect an external keyboard)

That experimental device looks really nice.

[hukka]

Is 87 key mechanical keyboard too big for you?

It’s not the number of keys, for me, but the height of them. I prefer a low-profile keyboard. The added area for arrows and such also makes the keyboard too asymmetrical for me. The mouse ends up too far to the right for my right shoulder. Additionally the adjustable feet under the unit further angles the keyboard in the wrong direction. I type without looking and my wrists like it when the keyboard is angled away from me…

This a few of the reasons to why I use a separate (low-profile wireless) keyboard with my Rock 5B.

The larger area of the ten-key-less keyboard would improve the cooling. In fact, I believe it would be difficult to have enough cooling for a Rock 5-series device (with NVME) within the limitations of a 65% layout. A more moderate SoC might be a better combination for just tinkering, the way I use my Raspberry Pi 400 as the secondary computer here.

Something like a Zero 3W in a 65% layout, perhaps?

[hipboi]

Got your point here. We will check what to implement.

[hukka]

I worry about the number of different keyboard layouts. Could it be handled with keycap sets?

[Herzog_Zwei]

Cool, but in my opinion VGA is not needed, you can leave it only if you replace this terrible industrial connector with the SNES Multi Out connector, in which you can make two synchronization options at once H/V and C-Sync for RGB SCART TV and at the same time a linear output sound. And who needs a regular connector could use an adapter.
It would also be better to have a low-profile keyboard and more USB-C, and USB-C should be 3 in 1 Power/Video/DATA. It would also be cool if you made one or two ports on the front for SNES gamepads.

And I would prefer Big Enter instead of big backspace. Why did they stop making big Enter?
Please add a volume control and low profile keys to the Radxa 500.

[hukka]

https://deskthority.net/wiki/Return_key

[hukka]

A low profile mechanical keyboard would make the 5-series device look a bit like Keychron K13 pro.

A 3-series device could be made with a smaller footprint, something like Keychron K7 pro.

…and one possible placement of a volume potentiometer is as a thumb wheel below the space bar, accessible from the front. LEDs for things like Power, Bluetooth and CapsLock could also be placed under the space bar.

[hukka]

For the 5-series device the connectors for the game controllers could be recessed on the bottom side, with indented channels for the the cables to the front. There would be rubber feet raising the unit a few millimeters from the table too. The computer will go airborne with violent gameplay anyway. Wireless game controllers is of course an alternative on this device.

The 3-series device would use wireless controllers exclusively. I can even imagine a unit without a Ethernet port. A USB-c dock could be used to add that functionality at a later stage, if needed.

[Herzog_Zwei]

What 3-5 episodes are you talking about? This is not an Intel Core processor. No one will make multiple versions of this PC keyboard. The keyboard should be short, this is the beauty of minimalism. For larger keyboards, buy a mini PC or desktop. It is unlikely that this product will have mechanical keys, what we were shown above is a test sample. I would prefer regular membrane or scissor keys so it would be similar to the PI 400 and not be much different in price, just have better performance and at least 8Gb of RAM.

[hukka]

The machine you seem to want is a keyboard computer with at least the same performance as the Rock 5B. That means a Rockchip 3588. The Rock 5A and 5C use the similar but slightly limited Rockchip 3588S, but I group all those SBCs (and the CM5) as 5-series boards.

Similarly I group the Rock 3A, 3B, 3C, Zero 3W and 3E as 3-series boards. The boards use Rockchip 3568 or 3566 chips.

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I keep two possible keyboard computers in my head. One that has roughly the same performance as the Rock 5B and the other with a performance level of a Rock 3B.

The 5-series machine would of course have a higher performance level. This would lead to more heat. That heat would probably need a heat sink with a larger area than the one found in a Raspberry Pi 400 or Orange Pi 800. The larger heat sink could fit if the keyboard was larger. The prototype computer that @hipboi showed us is exactly that: A larger heat sink under a keyboard layout with more keys.

The paired down 3-series machine (basically a Rock 3B or even a Zero 3W) would have a more modest level of performance which would need a smaller heat sink, which would fit under a smaller keyboard layout, such as the 65% gaming one (that has full size arrow keys and puts the delete key in a better position, imho). The result would be a computer roughly the same size as the Raspberry Pi 400 with enough performance for basic needs.

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…and remember that a keyboard computer even when based on the humble Zero 3W still would have one free USB-c socket (for a dock?), 64 GB of eMMC, wifi 6 and bluetooth 5.4 LE.

[hukka]

Took time to compare some sizes. Basically a keyboard close to the grey prototype showed by @hipboi earlier in the thread would be 18 percent larger than the Raspberry Pi 400.

The same type of comparison to a keyboard with a 65% gaming layout gives that it has a surface 15 percent smaller than the RPi400.