So... what's the OS situation? From a glance at <a href="https://github.com/mecha-org/linux" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/mecha-org/linux</a> -> <a href="https://github.com/mecha-org/linux/commits/imx/lf-6.12.20/" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/mecha-org/linux/commits/imx/lf-6.12.20/</a> it <i>looks</i> like they're starting from a 6mo-old kernel (6.12.20 vs current LTS 6.12.67 and current stable 6.18.7). Is there any reason to expect upstreaming or even just consistent updates, or is this yet another device that will ship with an old-ish kernel and never get updated again?
Creator here, thanks for highlighting this.<p>We are currently following the NXP IMX downstream kernel, that is why you can check the 'imx-' prefix on our branch, their releases follow 6 months after the LTS release. NXP IMX 6.18 will release roughly by end of March, when it does you will see us updating to 6.18 as well. By the time we ship, we mostly likely will be shipping 6.18.<p>Now we do intend to upstream, we've even got mainline u-boot to start working with the device albeit the display. We were waiting for the hardware configuration to be stabilized before we submit the device trees and start actively working on mainline support. It won't happen overnight but you will see our documentation clearly defining how far we are from the mainline. Also to add here, compared to other SOCs, NXP already has very good mainline support.
Thanks for this. When I first saw this I was expecting to find it was a dead-end Chinese SoM with an ancient kernel - so the fact it's an iMX (which has great support from NXP) is great.<p>I had a poke around the u-boot and linux repos they share, and it looks like the changes from mainline are pretty minimal - mostly related to device trees and configuration. That's to be expected for any custom board.<p>Obviously if the company died before this stuff was mainlined, then someone would need to maintain it. But from what I've seen everything you'd need is out there already.
This is why I went with a Hackberry Pi CM5 [1]. I insert the CM5 I want to, and there's that.<p>It comes with a good, proven BB keyboard. No option for GPIO pins or gamepad module, but I don't need such anyway. Instead, what I have in it is a USB hub which fits nicely in the side.<p>Unfortunately, the RPi CM I had lying around were CM4 with eMMC or CM5 w/o WiFi/BT. So I bought a new CM5, with 16 GB RAM. That was end of last summer. I'm not sure I'd bother now, given the RAM prices which surely affected CM5 prices. Actually, I should probably sell those for profit, since they're not doing anything.<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/ZitaoTech/HackberryPiCM5" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/ZitaoTech/HackberryPiCM5</a>
For what its worth the kickstarter page states:
> Our software support will be officially available till 7 years, our SOC is supported till 2036. Community support could last even longer.
I'd take that claim by Mecha with a huge grain of salt.<p>How are they going to fund 7 years of support for a device that sells maybe a few thousand units? How are they going to guarantee they will still be around, and interested in maintaining the device drivers in 2033?<p>The Linux kernel project will remove the device drivers from the mainline kernel if they are no longer actively maintained and in use. So it is very likely that the support will be dropped from the mainline kernel way before 2033, as there probably won't be any users of this device remaining, and the original developers long gone.<p>Call me negative, but I expect that this company wil just vanish after some time. The team will just move on, maybe even start again under a different name, but there will be nobody to be held responsible for promises and claims they made in the past.
Creator here.<p>I can completely understand the skepticism, any startup today releasing something and promising to support will be taken with a grain of salt. I cannot guarantee that Mecha will not run out of business in 7 years. But at the very least we have the confidence to commit to 7 years of support, if we are able to keep the show going.<p>Why we are confident of extending this support -<p>1. The SOC from NXP is widely used in automotives and industries. Their support is listed till 2036, <a href="https://www.nxp.com/products/nxp-product-information/nxp-product-programs/product-longevity:PRDCT_LONGEVITY_HM" rel="nofollow">https://www.nxp.com/products/nxp-product-information/nxp-pro...</a> which means their downstream will keep seeing updates. In above comment I mentioned that they follow 6 months+LTS release dates. To give an example, IMX6 that were released in 2011 are still actively supported in 2026. You can even buy SOMs and are still deployed in production.<p>2. The WiFi chip we are using is NXP IW612, again has longevity till 2038, which means it will still see its driver being updated and maintained.<p>3. Our audio codec is from Analog (MAX98090) again widely used and in production.<p>4. Most of our usb and power controllers are from TI, which can be expected to be around in the kernel for a long time.<p>5. None of the parts we've used are not recommended for new design or obsolete or come from unknown vendors. A lot of care has been taken in choosing the right parts?<p>From my point of view our work in supporting is to ensure we pull changes, run our test suites, see if everything works and repeat. What am I missing? There are no device drivers built that are exclusive to the Comet at this stage. You can review our device trees on our repos.<p>Also, we have a longer roadmap ahead of us - selling few thousand units in 5 days is no indicator of how things will be in the future. We are betting on this hardware and more hardware that we release later.<p>You can sit on the fence and keep expecting us to fail, that is your prerogative. But that doesn't automatically imply that we are ill-prepared.<p>(edit: formatting)
2033 is not that far away. If they sell a few thousand items there would still be users, so the kernel would usually not remove the drivers if not defunct.<p>You might very well be right about the company, it is the likely outcome after all for all companies. But if the kernel support is seeded properly there should be a bit more time than predicted even then.<p>Also, positively: They did the communication on the website really well (I stumbled over the comet before), extended it nicely and the kickstarter campaign seems to be a big success. They have a good chance to stick around.
You’re probably right. Seems these appear every couple of years with much hype and then the business behind them conveniently goes out of business.<p>I learned my lesson with this niche market after CHIP: <a href="https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Features/Exploring-the-Tiny-9-C.H.I.P.-Computer" rel="nofollow">https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Features/Exploring-the...</a><p>These clowns didn’t even tell anyone they went out of business, it took someone going to their listed address in person who found the office had been completely gutted to get ready for the next tenant.
Buyers beware: 4-core A53 is genuinely unusable (original Pinebook/PinePhone specs), A55 is better but I still wouldn’t recommend buying. You may expect performance similar to 15+ years old desktops.
And what’s wrong with a 15+yo desktop? Light OS, get stuff done. Are we trying to run a Switch emulator on this thing?
First time I heard about this project what's wrong with the CPU? I mean what makes it unusable?
User of Librem 5 phone with this CPU here. It works fine as a daily driver. Firefox with Noscript works fine in desktop mode. See also: <a href="https://puri.sm/posts/the-danger-of-focusing-on-specs/" rel="nofollow">https://puri.sm/posts/the-danger-of-focusing-on-specs/</a>
Stumbled across this thing a while back and thought it looked really cool but I have never been able to come up with an idea for how I would use it so I haven't pledged.<p>I want to want it but I fear it would just sit on my desk. Does anyone have cool ideas for uses?
Added this y'day to make it easier to understand use-cases,<p><a href="https://mecha.so/comet#use-cases" rel="nofollow">https://mecha.so/comet#use-cases</a><p>I'll add pictures/videos of the examples we've internally tested in a bit!
On the bottom of the website, several use cases are mentioned. It is a fairly robust list of examples.<p>Anything with USB-A is neat with this type of device. For example, a LimeSDR USB would work (even a uSDR for M.2, though I'd wait for the successor).<p>For Kali, I sport a GPD Pocket 2, and that works well, but I'm in the process of switching that to my Hackberry Pi CM5.<p>Still, I bought that end of last summer. I honestly would not buy any computer right now. The RAM prices are simply insane.
I’d love to see a click wheel attachment for input, then it could become a neo-iPod.
Same.<p>Looks rad, but I have a Legion Go which I can play any game I want and tinker on. This seems like it would be a worse version of that, but also not a useful phone replacement.
It’s not exactly cool but mobile media server and tool box. Knowing I have tools I can trust in my pocket is nice. Being able to travel and watch my shows without setting up a vpn is double nice.
I made a really cool cyberdeck. It sits on my desk.
I kinda wish it could be used like a smart phone with a GSM module.
looks like it would be great for making calls, texting, and emails, taking pictures,
and looking at web sites, listening to music, and watching video, when not creating the software for a lunar lander.
I wish we can have the low power Intel or AMD chip rather than ARM :( the distro fragmentation in ARM and my distaste for uboot makes me hard to press the buy button.
Website's a bit weird. The app icons highlight when you hover over them, but don't seem to do anything.<p>They've got a grab-bag of unrelated Linux etc. org icons - Nix, Debian, postmarketOS, Node, Kubernetes… You could argue that someone _could_ run Nix or Node on it, but Debian is just nerdbait. It's not relevant to the product they're selling, unless you're gonna wipe the disk and support it yourself.
Ah, sorry, that's on me; some of the links are still not active. (It's been a mad week!)<p>Could you tell me which section it was? I'll fix it
The OS for it was entirely based on Debian stable. They recently switched to a fedora build. I think the whole idea is you can put any OS on it you want!
This reminds me of Phonebloks from 13 years ago.<p><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonebloks" rel="nofollow">https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonebloks</a>
Or Project Ara<p>Or Moto Z<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto_Z" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto_Z</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara</a>
I remember that!<p>Reminds me also of Motorola's attempt to have a hardware-expansible phone a few years ago, the Moto Z range and Moto Mods.<p><a href="https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/259117-motorola-z4-moto-mods-modular-phone-ecosystem-failed.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/25...</a><p>Obviously this is much more open than the proprietary moto-z stuff.
Strange to have this posted on Kickstarter and not on Crowdsupply or another open source hardware crowdfunding platform. But I suppose Kickstarter does have more reach.
This project is currently seeking funds (and is funded) on Kickstarter:<p><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mecha-systems/mecha-comet-modular-linux-handheld-computer" rel="nofollow">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mecha-systems/mecha-com...</a><p>(and the super early bird rewards are all gone)<p>I might be interested if I weren't still waiting on the Soulcircuit Pilet to ship....
Open Hardware + Open Software is good enough for me to hit the buy button.
Seems like a good toy, I hope I don't lose interest within a month of buying.
I backed this on Kickstarter and have been following for a while. I am after a gadget to tinker with but still on the fence a little bit. It's about 300€ all in so I will see.
Small gimmicky computers seem to attract so much attention and people who can’t help themselves but buy it, play with it for a while, then toss it into a drawer and never use it again.
I feel personally attacked!...<p>You are right though, ive loved tinkering especially some if the cool linux based handhelds but i always come back to mobile/tablet because my limiting resource is time and android/ios kinda just works.
Too late backed it at maximum tier all extensions....<p>No idea what I'm going to use it for, possibly as a mobile Kali setup or something
This makes me feel good. Aching for a portable computing future where daily driver needs can be fully met via open tech.
I'll buy it when I see it working as a phone. Looks like phone support is an option here, but after I bought the pinePhone, I am wary it's not going to work.
I am planning to build something similar as a hobby project except my idea is that Claude Code runs everything on the device for you.
will it have a screen?
Yes, I have 2 candidates so far:
- A 7-inch OLED (that's 1920 by 1080)
- A much cheaper but still nice IPS display. Again, 7-inch
I'm not sure where I'm going with this yet, but if other people want one, I want to have some flexibility in the specs and pricing for people to select from.<p>I've been meaning to make a post about this on X for some time, so I went ahead and did it tonight. If you want to head over there and see the renders of what I'm thinking: <a href="https://x.com/TroyCherasaro/status/2016767340457980403" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/TroyCherasaro/status/2016767340457980403</a>
So it’s a Raspberry Pi except now I can type Unix commands with my thumbs on a blackberry keyboard……ouch.