> So people end up running full desktop environments (KDE, GNOME, etc.) squeezed onto a tiny 7" touchscreen. It's miserable.
to add on to this: you can definitely make great UI's for small screens and unconventional controls -- Playdate [1] builds their UI around a physical crank on the device, and it feels fun to use it :)
The honesty here is refreshing. "We're genuinely terrified" is not something you typically hear from a hardware company, and it makes me more inclined to trust them, not less.
The ambitious goals list is interesting because it reads like someone who's been burned by the exact problems they're trying to solve. Mainline Linux kernel support means they've dealt with downstream kernel hell. Pushing vendors to open binary blobs means they've fought with NDA-encumbered firmware. Building a custom GUI framework means they've tried to use existing ones and hit walls.
The co-processor architecture (MCU + CPU) is the smartest design decision here. It means you get real-time I/O handling on the MCU side without the latency and determinism issues you'd hit trying to do the same on a Linux userspace process. It's how serious embedded systems work, and it's why Flipper Zero was able to do things that a Raspberry Pi running Kali couldn't.
The part that concerns me is scope. Mainline kernel + open firmware blobs + custom GUI framework + hardware expansion system + co-processor architecture... that's five hard problems, any one of which could sink a company. The ask for community help makes sense but community hardware projects have a rough track record on delivery timelines. I hope they can keep the scope tight enough to actually ship.