User:Valenoern/Pine64 Lisp Machine

I (Valenoern) have been working on a project to build my own "ideal" Pine64 box as part of producing my own linux distributions.
Here I will explain the various pieces of my project and what stage of completion they are at.

ROCKPRo64 setup

Bluetooth

I did not have much luck with the ROCKPro64 wifi/bluetooth module for unclear reasons. (I may not have attached it correctly?) I have a memory of the signal being weak or unreliable but it may simply not have worked at all.

As a result I have always just used an external bluetooth adapter and a wired network. This has not been much of a problem since, for instance, one USB slot I could use for a mouse can instead be used for a bluetooth mouse.

ROCKPro screws

The screws that shipped with the ROCKPro NAS case were very easy to accidentally break by grinding the threads, although I found they still remain usable if you push on the screwdriver and effectively carve them back out again. There is also not a dedicated item to buy new ones in the shop.
Due to these frustrations, I will give you a small guide to replacing screws.

ROCKPro screws are classified as:

• machine screw (cylinder shaped)
• flat / countersunk head
• Philips drive
• 5 mm head diameter (1/5 inch)
• 5 mm long (1/5 inch, includes countersunk head)
• 2.5 mm ±1 mm thread diameter (~1/10 inch)
• thread pitch: 0.5 mm (50.8 threads per inch)
• ISO name: M2.5 × 0.5 × 5

I am currently trying to verify these measurements with new screws, and will report back later.

G-refracta

G-refracta is a basic distribution intended to replicate refracta as closely as possible on an Arch base.
It takes its name from Grevillea refracta, a kind of plant.

v-refracta

v-refracta is a more advanced distribution intended as a transitional step between traditional GNU/Linux distributions and a Lisp Machine.
(Note: the "v" has nothing to do with the name Valenoern or any associated name. It simply comes from the distribution's programs.)

Planned features:

• a POSIX-like command line shell called vxsh ([fsxɐˈdʲiʂ] / [vɛˈxaʂ]), which is really a Lisp REPL but doubles as a Linux shell capable of running Lisp in a simple bash-like syntax
• a "universal" software manager called VRaptor, which would allow managing Arch packages, quicklisp packages, git repos, and other kinds of packages from one interface, with backwards compatibility for those who are used to debian and apt. (Hence the name VRaptor.)

v-refracta may end up overlapping with the mezzano project since they will both need common elements such as a graphical Lisp desktop.

bopwiki

bop (or bopwiki in longhand) is something of the centrepiece of v-refracta. It is a new kind of note-taking program based on the idea that card boxes are the computer documents of the future and all computer documents and applications should be as intuitive and seamlessly integratable with each other as "computations" on a physical page of paper.

I was first inspired to create bopwiki by the notion of combining microblog posts and wiki pages. Microblog posts are simple text-based journal entries which are easy to type and self-contained, and are connected to a particular post date and a logically-arranged history of events. Wiki pages are powerful text-based documents capable of connecting knowledge together and preserving the most important pieces for the future while maintaining a "chain of custody" for information sources and also providing an edit history. By putting these two things together, it would be possible to create a sophisticated system for gathering knowledge, organising knowledge from a chronology of recent events into a more structured form, keeping a history of how the collection of notes itself changed, and keeping track of prior sources of knowledge which were relevant to recording or organising notes. In a sense, bop is meant to be the perfect companion for things like thesis research or writing a reference book or fictional story. It is almost like a kind of "trackable source code for books", allowing you to back up and version-control the entire book creation process much the same way you would manage a folder of in-progress source code and TODO files.

zensekai

zensekai is a project to create a modular and extensible "kaiju game" engine, which will run on both desktop and mobile Free Software operating systems.

Please see User:Valenoern on the OpenStreetMap wiki for a bit more on zensekai and the AR zensekai Sphere.

References

• Assembling desktop setup for newbies? - Pine64 forums
• How Fasteners are Identified
• Fastener Type Chart
• Machine screw diameter
• Pinephone USB host fix (failed) - documentation I used for explaining PinePhone 1.2 VCONN Hardware Fix
• G-refracta archive - old iso images etc
• Grevillea-refracta packages - programs for use on G-refracta / v-refracta
• vxsh repository - as it says, just a simple demo right now