MNT September 2024 Update
We hope your summer has been great and you're ready for fall. We worked tirelessly on various projects during the past months, so here's a quick summary of what we have been up to.
New Products From MNT
1. MNT Pocket Reform
MNT Pocket Reform is now finally available in our shop! After the successful shipment of all crowdfunded units to Crowd Supply, we are now offering our 7" mini laptop with various options in terms of CPU modules, colors, switches, and extras:
- Available CPU modules: A311D (Banana Pi), RK3588 (16 GB RAM or 32 GB RAM)
- Available colors: Deep Black, Ultra Purple
- Optional: Print Version of the MNT Pocket Reform Operator Handbook
- Optional: NVMe SSD Storage (M.2), 1 TB
- Optional: MNT Pocket Reform Sleeve
- Optional: MNT Pocket Reform Magic Poster (Limited Edition)
Since native Wi-Fi is quite slow on A311D, and there is no built-in Wi-Fi in RK3588, a Wi-Fi card and antennas are included.
As always with MNT Reform products, the sources are publicly available.
2. MNT Pocket Reform Upgrade Bundle
If you supported our crowdfunding Crowd Supply campaign back in 2023, your MNT Pocket Reform contains the CPU module i.MX 8M Plus. At the time of the campaign, this module was a solid choice for Pocket Reform. We had the chance to obtain a processor module with 8 GB RAM, USB 3.0, PCIe, dual display, and good Linux mainline support. Shortly after the campaign, Lukas developed both the A311D (Banana Pi) and the RK3588 module for MNT Reform. We thought, if they were compatible with Pocket Reform, they would make a great addition. And they do! Since many use cases require a faster CPU and GPU, we decided to provide an upgrade option: By ordering the MNT Pocket Reform Upgrade Bundle, you can choose between the A311D and the RK3588 processor modules. This bundle also contains an optional NVMe SSD M.2 (1 TB) and an optional Wi-Fi Card plus Antennas. If you'd like to get MNT Pocket Reform with the original i.MX 8M Plus module, you can still order it on Crowd Supply.
3. MNT Reform Keyboard 4.0
We like a colorful atmospheric backlight, so here is our MNT Reform Keyboard 4.0! It features dimmable RGB backlight on all keys, individually programmable with OpenRGB. We also used this occasion to update our controller to the ARM-based RP2040. This chip is faster and better documented than the ATmega32U4 that we previously used.
MNT Reform Keyboard 4.0 is also the default keyboard for MNT Reform from now on.
MNT Pocket Reform Shipping Update
As mentioned before, we have successfully shipped all of the crowdfunded units to Crowd Supply. Mouser, who is Crowd Supply's logistics partner, has shipped out almost all of these units which is awesome! Some of you have contacted us, asking about the estimated shipping date of their crowdfunded device. We looked more into this yesterday and found out that Mouser did not ship all units chronologically as we expected, because there were some unresolved issues with certain orders. We are working with Crowd Supply to resolve this, and we are shipping more stock to Mouser in the next weeks and months to clear up any backlog caused by Mouser skipping over orders.
User Reviews of MNT Pocket Reform
Many people have started using Pocket Reform and have posted about their experience in the MNT Community forum.
One of our users, Andy Piper, has published a detailed article about his first impressions of MNT Pocket Reform which we really like.
Upcoming Events
KiCon Europe 2024
If you are interested in KiCad and happen to be in Bochum, Germany from Sept 18-20, you might want to check out KiCon Europe 2024 — a conference that revolves around KiCad! Lukas will give the opening talk on Sept 19 at 9:15 AM. Their talk bears the title: "How KiCad Enables the Open Hardware Future." Drop by, listen to their talk, and presumably find them at the coffee table afterwards.
MNT (Pocket) Reform Get-together
We would like to organize a cozy MNT get-together at our studio in Berlin at the end of October 2024. You are invited to bring your (Pocket) Reform along, ask our team questions about the development, the software, some secret hacks — whatever comes to mind. You can also take a look at other products that we are working on, for example MNT Reform Next. We will let you know as soon as an exact date has been set and how you can attend.
Have a nice weekend and see you (almost) daily on the Fediverse or in the MNT Community!