This New Open Source CM4 Powered Linux Tablet Is Awesome! Hands-On With The Cutie Pi

[@JeffGeerling]

One quick tip: You can tap and hold on the + icon in CutiePi shell to get a full touchscreen Terminal session (powerful for people like me, who might want to use the tablet for some remote development work...).

[@linuxgeex]

Really liking this and I hope that the RK3588 gets a CM4-compatible format which is compatible with CutiePi. Have you tried using _xrandr --output LVDS1 --scale 1.5x1.5_ to get a 1920x1200 virtual display resolution?

[@Woodwerker]

ok

[@gazzy01]

Powerful people come from powerful places. Here's my Pi Man.

[@JeffGeerling]

@@linuxgeex Apparently Radxa wants to make a 'CM5' with that new chip...

[@kekwkekw5117]

Hi Jeff

[@boarlegion5077]

I would have made the handle fold into the case, so it wouldn't stick out when it is not used as a stand. Still a neat tablet. I agree on the one speaker and soldered in battery.

[@DylanDurdle]

I've setup a standard Linux install that uses Mate & compiz+fusion to give me a completely "touch" interface, so that I can use my Helix 2 Thinkpad tablet without a keyboard. I love the concept of Linux ARM tablets, so this is a good start. The keyboard looks very similar to "onboard" which is a onscreen keyboard that is available on any linux distro. This was the key to making my standard laptop linux distro fully touch supported.

[@queotzcatl3980]

Ah! Super interesting!!!! compiz+fusion is sorta MIracast for Linux? Got Linux too on the Helix 2 and the speak to each other??? I mean, would they speak? Ok, googled it and no, but I guess it would be nice setup...

[@------country-boy-------]

I'm a big fan of Compiz and Onboard. Linux 4 EVER !!!

[@grifter77]

This device is so close to being what I want in a tablet. The main selling points for me are the choice of operating systems, software community and long-term software support that come with the Raspberry pi CM4, coupled with the open hardware, relative ease of maintenance and possible compatibility with future drop-in upgrades. Unfortunately, the very small company doesn't have the economies of scale to be able to bring it out at a price that is competitive with the big players. I would love to see a device like this made by one of the big hardware manufacturers (or a first-party Rasperry Pi variation). Even as it is, I am quite tempted (if only it was readily available). Great job, Penk and the CutiePi team!

[@KreoleKingKenny]

I love your content. I used your content to help build my pi and learn how to run emulation on my chrome cast. Thank you so much.

[@kwakeham]

Missing NTC thermistor on the battery? The connector obviously supports it, it says temp. Hopefully production units will have an NTC thermistor for safety.

[@gmask11]

One of the things I like about the Raspad 3 is the space inside for a m.2 ssd, so I get a bit better performance out of the tablet. I’d love to see how lineage goes on the CutiePi as a way of getting my google play library up and running…

[@hassosigbjoernson5738]

This reminds me of my old Blackberry Playbook I used to have! It's a shame Blackberry didn't open up the bootloader for people to install android at that time! It was a really good tablet! Well build, smooth video playback, loud stereo speakers and had that premium feel to it. I kinda miss it and would totally use it today with android 11 on it.

[@ThatGuy-tu5jl]

Sold out already, would’ve been an awesome birthday gift😭

[@myaccount__7269]

Get an iPad . Way better

[@rklrkl64]

A nice attempt, but falls down on some important points, IMHO. Needs better storage than a microSD card, which tend to fail if heavily used (an internal M.2 NVMe slot would be ideal). There's no excuse whatsoever for the soldered battery - for many people, this will turn the tablet into e-waste when the battery fails (or can't hold its charge for long). One poor speaker is a disaster - the two most important items on a tablet are the display and the speakers because entertainment is arguably the main use for a tablet. Two decent sounding (and loud enough!) stereo speakers should be the bare minimum. Heck, my 2 current tablets have 4 speakers tuned by audio companies and they sound fantastic - it means I never need to use headphones with them which is inconvenient if you're forced to even when on your own.

[@Txesare]

Honestly I think the design is pretty cute, it feels retro without being actually so

[@mattg8888]

Very cool. Can't wait for the emulation video. I always wanted to build something small to take with me for emulators, but this could be it.

[@_Turbocat777]

You legit said that the handle comes in handy DED XD seriously though this is kinda awesome.

[@Kumimono]

It has shades of those old One Laptop Per Child devices of times past.

[@MobileDecay]

I'm gonna skip around with this outside with a lollipop in my mouth and man pigtails. Lol.

[@vfletes1]

That screensaver along with that handle..supose to be a BoomBox..while playing music.. 😆

[@FR4M3Sharma]

They could've added a bigger battery in it. They have so much space in it.

[@ETAPRIME]

I think an 8000 would have be perfect

[@onldhes]

I wish these tablets would use a 1080p screen. I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it had a headphone jack and a 1080p screen.

[@pchasco]

I wonder if using a lower res screen had more to do with software rather than expense. Unless the os and applications support scaling for dpi, trying to use 1080 on an 8 inch screen could be quite challenging.

[@pchasco]

Overall looks pretty nice. I’d like to see a less expensive version without the pi, and a bigger battery. Three hours for a tablet really is not great. I wonder if an OS designed to run on battery would fare better than raspbian?

[@lostxj]

I appreciate ETA's more realistic battery life test.

[@linuxgeex]

​ @ETA PRIME That's just regular OnBoard keyboard, with Settings->Window->Window Options->Docking set to dock to the bottom of the screen, and Auto-show->General->"Auto-show when editing text" enabled.

[@klazarski]

This is just what I was looking for! Now we need a CutiePi Smartphone! No more Apple/Android duopoly!

[@pchasco]

Pinephone

[@nickwort123]

Lol it’s so goofy with the controllers attached to the sides, I love it

[@carlosmcguire6501]

Already on the site now. This is great

[@plutoniumshore]

A wise man once asked "Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

[@JerziTBoss]

Two things I don't like: 1. Soldered battery - That's not that right to repair friendly. Sure nothing stops your from changing the batter but like ETA said it would be better if connector was used. 2. I hate the handle. For me it looks like a cheap $50 android tablet for kids. Kickstand would be much nicer. But for the price it doesn't look that bad. But stereo speaker and battery with connector would make this much better value and it wouldn't be hard or expensive to do. EDIT: Thinking about it... Yeah it's not that great value... If this was with 4GB model of CM 4 it would be really good value. But 2GB of ram will be limiting

[@metamorphicorder]

Soldering isnt that big a deal for something thats trying to keep its cost down. Its a first run for this so it will probably have improvements over time. I understand what you mean about the handle. However, its not really that bad. Could have been made to collapse and lock shut though that would be a failure point. I think it adds enough to the ergonimics that it justifies the sort of eye sore that it is.

[@AsTheCrowFlies745]

That handle is horrendous

[@dereketnyre7156]

Ordered one of these year and a half ago. Is cool that it will finally be shipping. Their community says they will be shipping the pre-orders once the Chinese New Years celebration break completes.

[@Idelacio]

Fantastic, you'll be able to get a CM4 for this in... August? Seriously the back order times for this board are crazy. :T

[@scottwilliams895]

@ETA Prime, @Jeff Geerling, Does that USB-C port do any data?

[@rancidbeef582]

I would like to use something like this as 1) A Mycroft digital assistant (too bad the speaker is weak...) and 2) A Home Assistant Gui. Then I could leave it by the bed and control all my crap via voice or touch.

[@goldibollocks]

3:11 to 4:10 shows continuous footage and the tablet goes from 55% to 30% battery in that one minute? 😳😳 Please tell me that is not its actual battery performance.

[@qazwsx000xswzaq]

It would be great if they offer a kit/barebone option. The included 2GB Lite CM4 is quite underwhelming.

[@fetchstixRHD]

Yeah, imo them including a CM4 ruins some of the appeal that draws me to this. It would be more fun and worth it to install your choice of CM4, though at least it's designed in a way that allows you to swap it out with another one.

[@myaccount__7269]

I mean it’s cool but a iPad for $300 is way better device. Like 100x better. But this is cool for pi people! Great video!

[@shahroz01]

This is amazing .. i can imagine how much people can do with that tab ...

[@Colin_Ames]

Not sure what to think about this. I feel they should have paid more attention to the sound system, as one puny speaker is not going to cut it. The soldered battery was probably done because if they had chosen to install a connector, any replacement battery would have to have the same connector. There’s no guarantee of this happening so you’d be soldering anyway.

[@pocketstationman6364]

Your channel is awesome, sir.

[@TwistedMe13]

I hope they sell a headless(?) model without a CM4 board preinstalled. I would like to roll with my own that has eMMC included. How easy is to remove that aluminum heatplate? One potential upgrade I could see is replacing it with a copper one and swapping the included thermal pad for some Fujipoly SARCON XR-m I have left over from another project.

[@scottwilliams895]

Very cool, can't wait to get one of these!

[@scottwilliams895]

@7:19 Can anybody identify the two plugs near the middle of the board?? Near TP65 (white plug), and also near J28 (black & grey)

[@quackmandoo]

Saw it coming after I saw the headline 😂👍

[@RixtronixLAB]

Nice video, thanks for sharing it :)

[@goranjosic]

As far as I can see there is no GPIO extension, it is not possible to access the pins? This would be an interesting option for children learning programming, just to be able to connect a sensor, LEDs, etc.

[@quarteratom]

What browser is the "Cutie Pi Shell" running? Does it have (non-Manifest-v3) addons? You can't browse the internet without addons nowadays. Does it have telemetry and spywares and censorship?

[@markconger8049]

I’m not sure that thin little heatsink will be enough since there’s no airflow inside. And if audio isn’t good there’s no real use as a standalone multimedia device. One thing I’d like to see added is an HDMI input so the thing can be a display.

[@FunkyELF]

Seems there was room for a full size HDMI don't know why they use the mini

[@Crescentmoon0701]

I'm getting this one!

[@IRWPD]

A very impressive screen on that.

[@karenmartin9743]

The speaker is of concern for me. I like a duel speaker... I want to be able to hear what is being said when viewing YT videos. However, I like it's portability.

[@gokuljosh1186]

Wish it had front facing camera rather than the rear facing one, or even better idea, had a swivel camera along side the hinge for handle which can server as bot front and rear facing.

[@meowcula]

I like the idea of this, but the price is a bit much. I'm sure future iterations will improve the cost as well as other issues like battery life. The concept of having a portable linux machine in tablet form is really enticing to me... as well as the concept that I could open it up and replace any part I want and mod it how I like. I am actually a fan of this form factor, however. I love the case idea with the handle. It seems utilitarian and comfortable to hold, and I could see myslef lugging it around the house and plop anywhere, like the kitchen so I can read a recipe or watch a video.

[@tdata545]

My few complaints, all that space and you couldn't fit the full IO of the raspberry pi in there (2x 3.0, 2x 2.0, 1 display out, a topside GPIO header), couldn't fit a bigger battery or another speaker?

[@smudgepost]

A long time Linux user, I'm very interested in this for reading and comic display. Phones are too small and keep having to zoom. Not sure how a 1280x800 will be easier to read than a phone resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels

[@KrKesomackan]

the lack of headphone jack is abit sad =/. but then again, isnt raspberry pi ment to experiment with *evil face* time to add a headphone jack LOL

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Would make a nice portable music workstation maybe?

[@Firefly55X]

Do you mind telling me what state you reside in and how long it took you to get the cutie pi?

[@SupaaManix]

I will buy in a heartbeat if I would be able to use my Samsung S10 instead of a raspberry. The screen is smashed but it works like a charm as a portable Dex device, but with that Cutie pie it will make it like a powerful tablet.

[@jakeparkinson8929]

I could easily see this being modified into a decent pi-top remove the handle and attach a keyboard with usb hub at the hinge.

[@sovo1212]

The Pi4 CM is slim enough for a tablet or even a phone. Why the thickness?

[@matthewyoung6069]

Thank you for your videos

[@tt3233]

@ETA Prime have you seen on steam deck update on the 26th. it says people will be emailed about finish buying and shipping the steam deck. I think it said it starts on February 25

[@cepn1]

love your videos man may i ask what is the movie at 8:17

[@Binighted]

The Cutie Pie is a great name 😂

[@42DangerVision]

Me, looking this up: Oh wow, that's even a decent price. This might be the first one of these I actually bu~*sold out* ...nevermind!

[@ivancho5854]

Cool! I love the right to repair policy. Later down the road you may be able to upgrade this to a CM5 or 6!!! 👽

[@n.lightnin8298]

Super weird and totally off-topic but that tablet looks strikingly similar to The mysterious handbag which are carved and depicted at ancient sites all over the world like at pumapunku in Bolivia or peru also Gobeletepe (however I spell that it's in turkey) 🤔

[@drakefs]

A bit surprised there isn't a audio jack on this.

[@TheSulross]

gosh, talk about timely - am tablet shopping right now to replace a very old ipad, but I really don't want to get another ipad since Apple sold out out on user privacy by scanning images on the last cal device. They cannot be trusted at all. I'd really love to get an open product that I can take the back cover off of - even if I did have to, say, resolder in a new clock battery one day - thanks for reviewing this

[@DarkWish98]

What is this thing and what is its purpose? i do not understand

[@queotzcatl3980]

Do you know if it's possible to Link the tablet use tha tablet as a Display for another computer like the Miracast thing missing from MS but if you got the Surface you might just be lucky to have it working? I just installed the new Os on a Pi 2B and it's blazing fast! Love this new OS!! It also run Linux so it could be possible to Steam some games on it...? I'd watch that... Display looks fantastic!!

[@hieuzzz]

06:33 I tried to forge but that metal plate looks sus 😭

[@JohnyMac-tb6ms]

I can not find anywhere. Do you know the weight of this tablet? Also, I want to down load some apps (FLdigi, FLrig, FLmsg, etc) via sd card or memory stick. I never want this tablet to touch the internet. Can I do that? Thank you.

[@espro436]

Does not make much sense with current price. Cool gadget, but much more practical thing is to add little bit money and buy cheapest iPad.

[@danbaucom]

HDMI in would be pretty nice. In in fact if it had that I would probably buy it.

[@kylenorris9585]

Its disappointing that in 2 years the price hasn't dropped its $229 with the 2gb compute module Id love a barebones version maybe with a 120hz screen. It would be perfect for the car as a TV Tablet just Hotspot it to the phone.

[@kylenorris9585]

What about a replacement speaker?

[@tomlee252]

I notice on all or at least most of the sights like this one, whether it's reviewing a phone, tablet, gaming system, hardly ever is the price ever mentioned, other than pre-production, I can't see a reason not too, otherwise you do a good job of reviewing, I do admit that I am envious that all you guys get to test out these products, other than buying them, if they send it to you, do you ever get to keep the item?

[@drdiesel1]

Is pen/stylus support possible? Xournal++ would be great on this if a pen worked.

[@stevemuzak8526]

This is still on beta level. Not good enough

[@kolegakolegi]

there is no review of camera & software?

[@mikefas5406]

Can't find a price... any idea?

[@topherc100]

would it be worth upgrading to high gig board

[@copshotakid5764]

Who's this for?

[@deanspanos8210]

The lan before time?

[@Dolinmyster]

I'd love to know how long the battery can last while you're doing your emulation testing.

[@godslayer1415]

So PI4 powered device runs like a PI4 device. Wow.

[@azouzn7ila112]

What about the battery life?

[@ticogis]

Very cool ! could you make a video testing android on it ?

[@Unix-qu4vj]

Is it possible to set the country setting language?

[@steffdia7080]

Are you testing M1 Max soon?

[@leledumbo]

Battery life is kinda meh, how could it be? Even a Gemini Lake laptop with the same 5000mAh (albeit at 7.6V) battery easily lasts 5-6 hours.

[@Mmmm_tea]

costs more than a galaxy tab :S

[@ch4.hayabusa]

Does the keyboard/shell support 日本語 ime input?

[@cuhdi8964]

Will Qin f21 emulate ?

[@ahmedelsayed3133]

I have never used a Raspberry Pi before, so could you explain how upgrading the RAM is so easy?

[@Tweak42]

The ram isn't upgradable per see, but the compute module itself is available in 2, 4, and 8GB ram configuration. Additionally non lites have emmc storage onboard. Because of the chip shortage, availability of higher ram configuration is pretty sparse, hence probably why this ships with the minimum 2gb lite version.

[@ahmedelsayed3133]

@@Tweak42 So it is not easy as you claimed.

[@Tweak42]

@@ahmedelsayed3133 I never claimed that it was easy. The average consumer tablet isn't at all upgradable and most are glued together such you can't even open them.

[@vaskarkumardutta6699]

@@ahmedelsayed3133 well its basically just pulling out the compute model and replacing it with one with higher ram Probably gonna cost you around 50 $ though

[@scott8940]

What was the cost?

[@qt31415]

on the site it says 229 but its sold out at the moment. so maybe it was preorder pricing? maybe more if we go for not lite version

[@DailyCorvidMusic]

Seems pricey for what they're offering if you consider what else 229 will get you at the moment

[@ivancho5854]

Ouch! That's for the CM4 2GB Lite model. Simply too expensive for what it offers. A real shame.

[@scott8940]

Perfect for checking your stock prices or watching a youtube clip while having a tea or coffee but doesn't offer much additional value to offer that a cell phone doesn't. But wait I can do that also with my cell phone as well . An 8" screen is too small for that cost imo. Cheers !

[@bibekmandal3718]

How to install Android software in cutie pi table...?

[@DIYRobotGirl]

I don't like the camera being in the back why not put it up front? I would to see an arduino board ran off of it.

[@moonlambo5229]

For $230 USD this looks like a fun toy.

[@SrinivasaRaoGurram]

what is the storage it comes it?

[@ericgene]

can this run Android Auto via Open Auto or, the open source Android Automotive?

[@rahul875]

Can we install steam?