Finally! A Raspberry Pi Linux Tablet that works!

The CutiePi is the first Raspberry Pi-based tablet I've used that I'd actually consider a 'tablet'. It's no iPad, but it is a fun and durable tablet with a little bit of fun in the form of a handle that doubles as a stand.

Is it a tablet for everyone? No. But it does have its uses, and it gives you a full open source hardware Linux tablet that can run a variety of systems, including CutiePi's own Shell UI.

Links, links, and more links (some are affiliate links):

#RaspberryPi #CutiePi

Contents:

00:00 - This is CutiePi
01:06 - CutiePi Walkthrough
03:17 - CutiePi Shell UI
07:51 - Testing YouTube playback
09:25 - Portable Use and Battery Life
11:22 - Drawing responsiveness
11:47 - RetroPie gaming test
16:17 - iPad replacement?
17:30 - Teardown
22:46 - Open Source Hardware
23:23 - Shipping delays and getting it finished
25:37 - My thoughts and gaffes

[seanfaherty]

“Not sponsored, I just like it “ is a better endorsement than any smooth segue.

[deanwoodward]

"This display requires a custom driver..." DAYS SINCE LINUX KERNEL COMPILED: 0

[RaidOwl]

Boy do I not need this...but boy do I want one lol

[Killerjerick]

I feel like this would be perfect to wall mount as a smart home tablet, have all your home assistant buttons/switches on it.

[drmosfet]

For an old timer that's been on the internet since the 90s, if someone told us back then you would have to uses an add blocker on a 4 core CPU operating at over a Ghz per core just to surf the web we would tell you your crazy, this is proof just how bloated the internet has become.

[fennoqueven]

I truly appreciate the calm demeanour in these videos - we're just here to enjoy what cool people are doing with tech.

[objection_your_honor]

They should expand the heat-sink plate to 4x the current size, instead of plastic stiffener ribs they currently have.
Also, there is plenty of room for that speaker behind the power switch.

[locusf]

Wow, I did something like this with SailfishOS and Nemo Mobile back in 2015. Raspberry Pi 2 of course but the tablet experience was there and the multitasking aspect of a real tablet/mobile-made OS is really good. Might pick this up at some point to refresh some old memories :)

[backslash]

That UI reminds me of my old Nokia N810 tablet. Those were the days. I'm happy to see something like this slowly appearing again

[gustavrsh]

I wish the screen was bigger, it would be a neat PDF reader for textbooks. E ink tablets are ideal but most aren't big enough for textbooks

[bbloggins]

Thank you for reviewing the CutiePi tablet Jeff, I've been looking forward to receiving my Kickstarter for quite some time. The upgrades to the CM4 module made it a much more worthwhile project indeed. I had high hopes regarding the custom interface they were building, and you've satisfied my curiosity about that.

I picked up the RasPad, and while it's very satisfying, it is a bit large. That being said, Linux on the tablet has finally arrived. Ubuntu 20.10 with a couple of Gnome tweaks is a dream on the RasPad. Ubuntu Budgie 21.04 is pretty solid as well.

[RetrospektiveAudio]

Would have been cool if they added the 40-pin GPIO header and a M.2 pcie slot. Then it would be an ideal device for hardware debugging assistance.

[shadowbanned]

this kinda opened my eyes to just how much goes into making these seemingly flawless devices that we use everyday.

[oliverpolden]

Being able to swap the compute module is a massive YES! I would love a high end version of this where I would keep the main system for say 15 years and upgrade the compute module say every 3 years.

[RuffianSoldier]

"Oh no I'm stuck in vim!" im dead

[fredrik]

Seems like really developed custom OS 'overlay' software. Impressive the work that's gone into this!

[ruijieyu]

17:30 Thank you so much for actually showing that you need to press down the cm4 onto the board. For the life of me I could figure out why my board didn’t work and was about to give up.

[grifter]

Thanks Jeff! Great review. I've been watching this project since before the kickstarter was launched, and am very keen to see it finally ship. I love the idea of a repairable, open-source tablet that leverages the Raspberry pi community. It is certainly difficult to compare to other consumer tablets since it is thicker, heavier, slower and buggier than other tablets at the same price point. But the fully open hardware and software ecosystem is a huge advantage that those other tablets can't match : I have a few older tablets that would still be perfectly useful today if they still had software support, but sadly they do not. One gotcha is that there are no PGIOs available, so this does't quite fill the same niche as the RasPad.

I'm not sure yet if I will buy one of these, but I feel like it wouldn't take too much to sway the balance in favour of the cutiepi. If version 2 be a bit lighter while rocking a 9 inch 1920x1200 display and staying the same price, then i'd be in! I guess the main issue is that a low-volume, niche manufacturer can't compete on price with the big players. I feel like Raspberry Pi could release their own product in this space that could close that gap. In the meantime, I just might buy one of these in the new year - it would still fill some niches that my Pi4+nexdock does not, and I'm sick of buying hardware that loses software support in just a few short years.

[kamilk]

It screams for 18650 batteries compartment right in the handle (or at the edge of device) leaving much more space for motherboard and IO ports at the same time.

[Ivan.Atanasov.]

Is it just me to see the handle as a perfect 18650 housing place for battery expansion