The Arch Linux Goober

Today, we're installing a very special version of Arch Linux, Arch32, on an absolute goober of a Panasonic ToughBook handheld PC.

How painful could it possibly be?

Thanks @MichaelAStanhope for donating this lil' fella.

LINKS:
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#Arch #Linux #Pentium

[mattafaak]

Michael MJD and Action Retro are now merging into a singular entity

[dustinb]

"If you enjoy command line pain and suffering, consider subscribing."

I feel seen.

[TheTruz]

6:35 "Fix the problem, the archlinux-keyring will." - Yoda

[Squonk]

That signature issue will keep coming up with this old hardware. One could say it's become the Arch nemesis to this kind of content.

[willpenington]

If it's got a built in scanner it presumably would be fair game to print out every command in the Arch install guide as a barcode to avoid typing on the built in keyboard

[justinnamilee]

We used to use these for field work in Northern BC... And I had to maintain them! You wanna talk about pain? These are pain. "Oops, I dropped it out of the helicopter and now it doesn't show anything on the screen, can you reboot it or something?"

[TheRetroRoadshow]

I know less than nothing about 3D printing, but it would be a crime to not 3D print a Fallout-style Pip-Boy shell and wrist-mount for this thing!

[EnderShiru]

I see Arch Linux 32 in the thumbnail and I already know he's in for suffering because of the eternally broken keyring that you have to fix

[Akselmoi]

Kid: "I want a steamdeck"
Mom: "we have a steam deck at home"
Steamdeck at home:

[esseferio]

I remember testing this as a mobile POS back in the day. My favorite demo was to throw it to the ground in front of anyone, just to show that the "Tough" moniker was indeed deserved.

[joeconti]

The use of Goober and Nugget in this video makes me think Sean is slowly transforming into a certain shouty Australian man.

[zhalberd]

"Well its the middle of the week and I don't have a real job so..." I spit out my coffee

[forgottentechnology]

I bought a lot of 2 of these for very cheap on eBay a few months back. One is basically a parts machine but the other got the linux treatment. You’re reminding me to pull it out after work today as it’s been a bit.

[andreasbaumann]

Cool. Thanks for making this video! We ArchLinux32 maintainers (the few of us) really appreciate. The issue with the keys is a constant source of trouble. There are various ways around it, like manually installing the archlinux32-keyring into the installation chroot. Also, ISOs don't always have the correct keys on them (they once got copied from the ISO to the chroot, so updating them after booting the ISO might also be an idea). And sometimes we (or should I say I) forget to have a timer for gpg renewals, so then I have to invent a time machine to go back fixing wrong keys..

[iBolski]

The company I work at is a utility company and one of the mobile apps I supported used the Panasonic Toughbooks, but they were basically a rugged laptop/tablet (you could fold the screen back on the unit to make it a complete touch device). Didn't know Panasonic made an even smaller version like what you have. At least the Toughbooks I supported had a full, actual keyboard on them. lol! But those were slow too running Windows XP. Luckily, I no longer support that app. Fun times!

[RinoaL]

I'm glad you showed the SSD upgrade because I forgot how I did mine all those years ago. Gosh these things are slow.

[nilbject]

Try `sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys` to fix the pacman signature error

[metalwolf]

I have two of these that I installed debian on. While the SD card slot is not bootable, you can do something of a "split install" by putting /boot on a usb stick and / itself on an SD card. I did this to free up the usb port while in operation. The usb storage is one of those tiny sandisk usb drives that barely sticks out above the unit when inserted. I zip tied it to the cable for the stylus so it'll never get lost.

As far as the side buttons, they do report keycodes that are not mapped in the kernel by default. you can use a command to remap the keys and make them whatever you want. I have the top left rocker mapped to up/down since it makes scrolling pages while holding the unit a lot easier.

It isnt the fastest device, but for use as a thin client, it works well enough. I use them to remote into a VM that is much more capable

[steveg]

In the near future (late sept to be honest) i will be doing a via c7 laptop install of odd operating systems. Would you want me to benchmark arch32 on it?

[NielsPaul]

*DankPods voice* “Look, it’s the goober!”