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BuddyTablet a Raspberry Pi 4 Tablet With No Soldering

The goals of the BuddyTablet are as follows:

  • Linux based OS
  • 1 TB of storage plenty of room for media, photos, games, and applications
  • External ports for power, video, and USB
  • At least one hour of battery life, and must be direct pluggable into the wall
  • Should be capable of software development Go, Python3, Docker
  • Blue Tooth audio support
  • External display support, portable monitors (https://youtu.be/YAZuRCUISaE) or desktop monitors
  • Must be able to watch videos YouTube, NetFlix, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV, etc
  • No soldering

Images of the BuddyTablet are here

Hardware

Parts List

Part Name Link Cost (USD)
Battery PiSugar 2 Pro https://www.amazon.com/Pisugar2-Portable-Platform-Raspberry-Accessories/dp/B08D8PPCKN 49.99
Raspberry Pi 7" touch screen https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-7-Touchscreen-Display/dp/B0153R2A9I 89.99
3M screws for case and SSD https://www.amazon.com/VIGRUE-570PCS-Stainless-Assortment-Machine/dp/B08H24W42K 14.44
2.5M standoffs for raspberry pi https://www.amazon.com/Sutemribor-Female-Spacer-Standoff-Assortment/dp/B075K3QBMX 12.99
Kingston A400 960 GB SSD https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-960GB-Solid-SA400S37-960G/dp/B079XC5PVV 84.99
Raspberry Pi 4 8 GB model https://www.pishop.us/product/raspberry-pi-4-model-b-8gb/?src=raspberrypi 75.00
Fan with Large heat sync https://www.amazon.com/GeeekPi-Raspberry-Low-Profile-Cooling-Heatsink/dp/B07ZV1LLWK/ 19.99
SATA to USB cable https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-10Gbps-Adapter-Cable-Drives/dp/B00XLAZODE 18.83
USB 3.0 cables L shaped https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F7Y21GW 11.99
Power Supply https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TSFYXBC 10.99
Total 389.20

A total of 389.20 sounds like a lot of cash but if you consider a iPad with 256 GB of storage and WiFi only is 479 you are saving ~ 100. Try and get a iPad with 1 TB and you have to select the iPad Pro and the cost is 1,499 for a savings of 1,110!

You could save money by reducing storage or reducing the amount of RAM on the Raspberry Pi 4, the BuddyTablet can be customized to meet your needs.

SSD/NVMe on Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi now boots from USB 3.0 ports which opens up a range of options. MicroSD cards are slow but are small and easy to take in and out of the Raspberry Pi. The BuddyTablet has an opening to allow you to swap in/out MicroSD cards which is nice if you want to experiment with a new operating system. By default the Raspberry Pi will boot the MicroSD card first if a MicroSD card is installed. You can find boot options with raspi-config. SSD is my favorite option because it offers the most speed for the least amount of power. If you want the fastest speed try NVMe but be warned because most NVMe drives will require extra power and the BuddyTablet would have to be modified to make up for the extra room. Our recommendation is to use a low power SSD drive the Kingson A400 is popular and works well so that is what we are using for the baseline BuddyTab configuration.

Benchmarks for SSD/NVMe on Raspberry Pi

https://jamesachambers.com/2020s-fastest-raspberry-pi-4-storage-sd-ssd-benchmarks/

USB Flash Drive

Is a USB flash drive worth trying? https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-Flash-Speeds-P-FD1TBPRO-GE/dp/B01E17LOL6?tag=w050b-20&th=1 Pi benchmarks on the PNY: https://pibenchmarks.com/brand/PNY_Pro_Elite_USB

I have not tried out the PNY Poo Elite but this might drive would eliminate the need for a USB to SATA cable.

2.5" SSD specifications

https://www.snia.org/technology-communities/sff/specifications?field_doc_status_value=All&combine=8201&items_per_page=20

Future version with higher resolution screen

PiSugar 2 Pro Battery

The battery on the PiSugar 2 Pro is 5,000 mAH which is large! Modern smart phones are usually less than 4,000 mAH. Try and keep your expectations in check usually I see 1.5 hours - 2 hours of battery life. Recall we are powering a screen, SSD, and fan. By reducing the brightness of the screen and turning down the CPU frequency can extend battery life. If you need more power you can always plug in a external battery pack to carry you along for more time on the BuddyTab.

Useful Links on the PiSugar 2 Pro Battery

3D case model

  • we tried to use the panel but lining it up was a pain, maybe in version 2?

https://github.com/PiSugar/PiSugar/tree/master/model_pro

Raspberry Pi OS Setup

We are going to use 32 bit of Raspberry Pi OS to make sure we can have hardware accelerated Chrome and VLC. To start we are going to use Raspberry Pi OS to keep things simple with no special programming required. The 64 bit version of Raspberry Pi OS is still in beta and it is still recommended to use the 32 bit version. We are using the "Bullseye" version of Raspberry Pi OS which was released on 11/8/2021.

Creating new user for your BuddyTablet

I recommend that you create a user other than the default user of pi.
Follow the Raspberry Pi OS directions here to create another user. To change the default user on a new boot read this post or follow the directions below. After the new user is created you can change the lightdm configration file to autologin with a new user.

  1. With sudo edit this file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf in your preferred text editor.
  2. Locate the line "autologin-user=pi"
  3. Replace "pi" with the desired username. The chosen user must exist.
  4. Save & close
  5. Reboot

Other steps you should take is add the newuser to a few useful groups with the following commands:

sudo adduser new_user_name bluetooth
sudo adduser new_user_name netdev

How to Run Programs Without Warning

Open PCManFM, Go to Edit/Preferences/General, Check box for "Don't ask options on launch executable file". This tip came from Unix Stack Exchange.

Matchbox on-screen keyboard

Install the matchbox on-screen keyboard with this command:

sudo apt install matchbox-keyboard

Add Icons to Desktop

  • Find application in the "Raspberry Pi Menu"
  • Right click application, then select add to desktop

A ".desktop" file will be created, icons I have made include:

  • CommanderPi
  • Chromium Web Browser
  • Terminal
  • Keyboard
  • Calculator
  • File Manager

PiSugar2 Battery Management Software

The software is described here on github. Install with this command:

curl http://cdn.pisugar.com/release/pisugar-power-manager.sh | sudo bash

After the software is installed you can check battery life in web browser with this URL: battery management

CommanderPi

CommanderPi lets you overclock the CPU/GPU easily and shows temperate and other real time statistics. To learn more about CommanderPi including how to install the software check out CommanderPi's GitHub.

RPI Backlight

RPI Backlight allows a user to set the backlight of the display. Recall the BuddyTablet has no ambient light sensor so the display needs to be set by the user. Follow the directions to install the software. We highly recommend following the directions here in order to install rpi-backlight-gui in the menu bar.

Bluetooth

The bluetooth application that comes with Raspberry Pi OS doesn't work very well, so I recommend blueman-applet. You can install blueman-applet with these commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install bluetooth pi-bluetooth bluez blueman

To learn more about blueman-applet read this blog post.

Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, video playback

The Raspberry Pi OS doesn't ship with Widevine digital rights management (DRM) content protection which all the major streaming services use to protect their content. But Widevine is available to the Raspberry Pi OS and can be installed with these simple commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install libwidevinecdm0

After installing the libwidevine package simply restart Chromimum and you will then be able to watch your favorite streaming service. To learn more about installing Widevine DRM read this blog post..

Telegram

Telegram is a chat application that is open source and free and runs across devices like the BuddyTablet, iOS, and Android. So you can can communicate with all your friends no matter what device they have. Telegram is in the Raspberry Pi OS repo so to install use the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install telegram-desktop

Games

Maelstrom

Maelstrom a asteroids clone from the 1990's that is completly free with a Linux port. To install it use the instructions below:

sudo apt-get install maelstrom

Quake 3

Quake 3 is a classic game that has offered me years of entertainment value. The demonstration version is very easy to install:

sudo apt install quake3
game-data-packager quake3 -i --gain-root-command sudo

If you own the game you can install the .pk3 files, read this blog post.

Arcade Emulation with Mame (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)

You could install RetroPi or RetroArch but they are complicated and offer many features that might not be needed. One simple solution if you only want to run classic arcade games is install mame from the Debian repository with the following command:

sudo apt-get install mame

To learn how to add ROMs check out the Debian wiki about mame.

Legal ROM Emulation

https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/play-classic-console-games-legally-on-raspberry-pi

More games to look at

https://raspberrytips.com/raspberry-pi-os-best-games/

3D Printing

All the parts were printed with PLA using a Creality Ender 3V2 3D printer. Blender was used to create the 3D models to create the BuddyTablet. The blender file is BuddyTab.blend. Blender is open source software and is supported on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

Measurements

  • M2.5 screw holes should be 2.75 mm in diameter

  • M3 screw holes should be 3.25 mm in diameter

    • most of the screws are M3 just the posts and the screws on the raspberry pi are M2.5

  • screw_hole_front: -4.7416, 79.258, 11.95

  • screw_hole_back: -4.7416, 2.6281, 11.95

  • standoff_1: -37.739, 73.48, 22

  • standoff_0: 10.063, 73.48, 22

  • screen_rail_top: 2.4884, 0, 113.33; rotation 0, -20, 0; dim 2, 163, 10

  • screen_rail_bottom: 23.949, 0, 50.577; rotation 0, -20, 0; dim 2, 163, 10

  • right clip: -36.025, -86.34, 130.86 move z +2 mm 132.86

  • left clip: -36.025, 85.82, 130.86 move z +2 mm 132.86

  • back: -41.845, 0, 78.856 dim: 2, 164, 110

  • back bottom: -42.1, 0, 15.55 dim 2, 190, 17

  • base bottom: -5.1179, 0, 7.8904 dim 72, 190, 2

  • base top: -7.5864, 73.684, 23.041 scale: 32.5, 2.5, 1 dim: 72, 190, 2

  • port panel: 73.415, 87.505, 7.0772 dim: 60, 17, 5.2

  • external USB ports 1.5 cm x 1 cm or 15 mm x 10 mm

  • right bracket -5.1305, 75.466, 24.869 scale: 35, 6, 1 Dim: 70, 12, 2

Advanced OS setup

This section is experimental and not completed.

How to Build QT 5.15 LTS

https://www.tal.org/tutorials/building-qt-515-raspberry-pi

How to Build KDE Plasma Mobile

https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/development#Set_up_kdesrc-build

Duke Nukem

https://github.com/nukeykt/NBlood and try the shareware versions?