Looks like an MIT admissions portfolio project. Don’t know if it fits the uniqueness category for it but I guess the quality of the end product makes it good enough.

Admittedly this isn’t fully open source like the Novena or the Reform but I doubt adcomms care. I just wish I was rich enough and skilled enough to be able to spend $4.5k on a neat project like this.

Bryan is in his last year of high school.

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Keep building!

There are some obvious next steps for improving the polish on this, would you say you were more resource constrained, time constrained, or skill constrained?

For instance, did you put any thought into making flex PCBs to make the cable routing easier?

I also think the concept of a laptop with a removable wireless keyboard is brilliant, and I think your implementation is a lot cleaner than e.g. the Surface or the iPad's case-keyboards. If I had a laptop that did that, it would be my go-to travel machine. One less thing to cart around.

You did the smart thing there with the SoM (for the uninitiated: power sequencing to individual parts of an SoC and its external components is an epic hassle to get right and that's assuming you actually have proper documentation - without it it's an utter pain), but how in hell did you get the high frequency stuff working out on what was likely your first or second try? This is IMHO where your work really shines.

USB-C, DisplayPort (at 4K to boot) and PCIe at modern speeds are all but black magic to most, this isn't digital any more, this is good old analog circuitry and physics at work that most people don't even learn in university any more.

It's very impressive work and it makes me so happy to see real hacker news on HN. This is real hacking.

Wow! And I'm guessing if he attempts a 2nd edition, it'll probably be even thinner, lighter, and faster!

And possibly the year before.

Well, well done. Good luck to you!

Byran, I have been a professional engineer longer than you have been alive, I can tell you right now that I have met very, very few people that would have the motivation, skill and sticktoitivness to pull this off.

The mixed presentation of plug and play components interspersed with EE problems and solution really helped make it more accessible. It also got me excited about the possibilities and made me realize that we we might already approaching another open architecture DIY boom.

I got the sense that this is a side project, but I'm sure many have noticed that it could be a legit framework-level company. Someone already mentioned the recruiters, but also you're sure to have investors knocking. Whatever you do, please keep having fun and sharing it.

Suggestion: It would be nice to include a price list on the article.

This project is impressive as heck, but aside from being intellectually out-of-reach for most kids, it would be financially challenging as well. Last I looked, CNC aluminum blocks were well out of the reach of 99.9% of kids (but that was decades ago; perhaps prices went down).

For people wanting to follow in those footsteps, it'd be nice to know which things cost $5, which $50, $500, or $5000. Just that kind of intuition is helpful.

    1. Make sure the bootloader (u-boot) loads the kernel as fast as possible.
        - Disable automatic Ethernet/USB/other subsystems initialization (you can keep them enabled, just don't activate unless requested in the shell manually by the user)
        - Tune `distro_bootcmd` command
        - Make sure that MicroSD/eMMC/SSD works full-speed (with proper clocks and speed protocol)
    2. Use fast decompression algorithm for the kernel and initramfs
        - It's either zstd or gzip
    3. Collect boot file access data and sort the files on the filesystem
        - The benefit in near-linear access & read-ahead

It’s posts like this, fueled by incredible community support, that make Hacker News not just great but unmatched.

With 2,000 points (and counting), this Show HN is currently ranked as the 4th-best Show HN of all time. If we exclude the #1 post (this upvotes itself)—which isn’t a true project—this post would be the 3rd-best of all time. Who knows? By tomorrow, it may surpass 2,741 points and claim the #1 spot outright.

Outstanding work, Bryan. All the best.

In terms of college, still waiting :)

I'm honored that you think my keyboard implementation is nice! I put a lot of thought into it — truly. Oh btw the keyboard works just as well as a solo device. I've used the keyboard more than the computer in some ways. Thanks!

I hope this turns into something I can buy (maybe a diy kit), in the future!

I had the honor of learning high speed signaling from the best. I met some super cool people from Silicon Valley and research universities (from past work, like the MUREX Ethernet Switch). The ZMK Firmware community too!

It was a truly difficult undertaking! I was ready to quit at so many moments, but I always think about the final mission of sharing this little piece of knowledge with the world. :)

It also has two screens and its own stand, I use it as my travel machine.

Having said that, even with unlimited time this is such an awesome achievement and really shows the dedication. Well done!

What makes you think he is in high school

So there's probably a price there, but it's probably well under $1k

Price list would be cool to have

My Orange Pi 5 Plus boots to sway+firefox already open in about 15s and a lot of it is waiting for net being online.

    7.125s systemd-networkd-wait-online.service

> By tomorrow, it may surpass 2,741 points and claim the #1 spot outright.

Indeed! I just woke up to find that the post has got 2,742 points which officially make it the best Show HN of all time! You can see the full list here: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=show+hn

Byran, you now have probably the best C.V. you can use for any job and you should be proud of yourself.

Congratulations!

really hoping Byran's excellent writeup helps encourage others. SoMs have lowered the barrier to entry and birthed a ton of SBC/carrier communities, but most of their tribal knowledge is buried in discord servers