Not being real sure of where to post this, I thought this forum might be best.<br />
In another major forum that I frequent, (Pine64) has several products that cater to the open source community with probably the biggest being the PineBook Pro laptop computer. Recently they introduced a Pine Phone and a few other 'goodies' that all are open source. In a forum post for that company they state: "
<p>Earlier this month we asked what you’d like to see in a <a href="https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=11772">small PDA-style IoT device</a>, which will rely on LoRaWAN, WiFi and other alternative protocols for communication. We envision the device to be small in size – with a 5” or smaller LCD panel – and possibly quite modular. The PineCom would also be based on the same underlying architecture as the PinePhone, sharing many of its core features and making it pin-for-pin software compatible. As the name of the device indicates, the idea behind the PineCom is to explore alternative communication methods, but I can also see it being used for a variety of IoT applications, as a portable media player as well as a <em>Point Of Sales</em> device. I’m sure that you can think of other applications too. </p>
<p>I also need to note that the idea for the PineCom has been met with a fair bit of push-back from the community. Browsing the comments, those who oppose the introduction of a new device appear to think that it may detract from PinePhone development. There is also another group of people, lobbying for having PineCom’s features implemented into the PinePhone via custom back-covers and the i2c protocol. Let me address both points. The PineCom will not detract from PinePhone development because the new device will be compatible with existing PinePhone OS images. If anything, PineCom may bring new developers into the our ecosystem; but even if not, I cannot see it being a hindrance or draining existing resources. Secondly, having LoRaWAN and other alternative protocols enabled and working in Linux on the PineCom may actually convince us to create custom back-covers with these protocols for the PinePhone. </p>
<p>At any rate, I am really happy to have received so much feedback regarding this device. We will monitor the thread for weeks and will, most certainly, take all reasonable feedback under advisement. On a personal level, I don’t find the fears grounded in reality, and I’ll do my best to persuade you about it in the months to come. Ultimately however, if the community decides that the arguments are unconvincing and remains adamantly against the device then we won’t make it.</p>
<p>That’s all for this month, make sure to subscribe for some really exciting news the next month!</p>
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That post can be found at <a href="http://www.pine64.org/2020/10/15/update-new-hacktober-gear/">www.pine64.... </a><br />
My question or comment is could this item be adapted or modified to work within the frequencies of AREDN?<br />
Thank you,<br />
James Good kd5vxh</p>