MNT November 2025 Update

Our November 2025 Update includes Quasar, Next, community contributions, and new shop products!

MNT Developments and Updates

MNT Quasar Processor Module

It was a good month for the MNT Quasar Processor Module: Lucie got our 12.5" display working via DisplayPort!

Not only that: GNOME and Blender are also working, the latter with the integrated GPU (thanks to Mesa/Freedreno).

This project is part of our on-going collaboration with Linaro. Casey (from Linaro) is currently helping us with U-Boot and Linux development infrastructure where we want to leverage the EFI industry standard for booting.

MNT Reform Next

Lucie has been in the last stages of the MNT Reform Next development and successfully debugged why the MicroSD Express card (PCIe) didn't link in the latest motherboard revisions.

The left port board was completed at the beginning of November and features the EQCO5X31C0 reclocker/redriver for USB 3.0, new data and power mux details, a hard reset button, and LEDs next to the USB-C Power Delivery port. They also swapped two connectors for better internal cable management.

Lucie also finished the right port board. They redid most of this board to optimize for USB 3.0 performance and put in the EQCO5X31C0 reclocker/redriver as well. This board has a 4-port USB hub and now an internal USB3 downstream host port to connect to the optional camera module, or other expansions.

The last technical objective to make MNT Reform Next shippable is the final validation of the battery packs. When this is done, we can buy the remaining parts for a small first shipment to Crowd Supply which is scheduled for February 2026.

Reform Power Daemon

Lucie wrote a tool called "reform-power-daemon" as part of "reform-tools." It can run as a service and limit the GPU frequency when no AC power is supplied. It also sets the CPU governors to a power saving mode. To install it, open a terminal and type:

sudo apt update; sudo apt install reform-tools

We highly recommend installing it to prevent brown-out resets and other power-related issues. Thanks to everybody who provided reports and log data that helped us fix this issue.

Order Fulfillment Table

We updated the order fulfillment table for you to track our progress on your orders:

Table last updated: 2025-12-01

You can also access this table on our FAQ page and in our support system under the category My Order. We aim to update it at least once a month. Note that we have no information about orders placed on Crowd Supply and Mouser. Please contact their customer support if you need information.

New Products

MNT Reform Motherboard 3.0

For this new version, Lucie implemented USB-C power delivery, bumped the NVMe SSD slot from 1x to 4x PCIe lanes (for RK3588), modernized parts of the power system, and a lot more. A detailed list of changes can be found on the product page.

MNT Pocket Reform Charger Board V2

The Pocket Reform Charger Board V2 has a redesigned PCB layout optimized for better current flow and less noise. It also features a new, additional level of overvoltage protection using NXP NX20P5090 chip and improved balancing resistors. These changes make the charger board more reliable and efficient to keep your batteries safe.

Thanks to F. Schneider and Carson Walls for helping with design and layout!

Spare Part: MNT Pocket Reform Trackball

We've been uploading some spare parts to the shop and this is one of them: Our custom-designed 15 mm trackball for MNT Pocket Reform including sensor and cable. The trackball enables precise pointing and—combined with one of the buttons—easy and quick scrolling in two dimensions.

Spare Part: MNT Pocket Reform Display Panel 7"

Another spare part that is now available: The 7" display panel for MNT Pocket Reform. It includes the custom MIPI-DSI panel with adapter for JDI LT070ME05000 compatible connector and features Full HD+ resolution.

Fun Stuff

Fun things we've discovered using MNT devices.

Touch Screen Test

Lucie experimented with a 7" touch screen overlay attached to Pocket Reform and drawing in Krita was surprisingly fun:

Post by @mntmn@mastodon.social

View on Mastodon

Fallout 4

Lucie got Fallout 4 working on Classic MNT Reform via Steam and an external AMD GPU:

To make this work, Lucie made a special version of our Linux kernel build with some patches to work around RK3588's PCIe controller pecularities and attached the AMD RX580 graphics card using an M.2 slot to Oculink adapter. Lucie found the patches in the Radxa forum, where they were contributed by Mario Bălănică. Moreover, they tested Blender and it worked great. Astonishingly, the external GPU can be used to 3D accelerate software running on the internal laptop display as well.

GNOME Extension for Launching Custom Commands

Lucie wanted a hassle-free way (meaning no use of phone apps necessary) to change the light bulb color in their room and found an awesome GNOME extension called "Command Menu 2". It lets you build custom menus, including icons, for launching custom commands. So now they can change the light bulb color by clicking icons on their desktop:

Community Contributions

MNT Pocket Reform USB-C Adapter

Recently, Thea contributed a small adapter design which turns the MNT Pocket Reform keyboard and trackball modules into standalone USB-C devices. It's very useful for testing, hacking, unbricking, or a potential reuse of the module.

Mleds: RGB Keyboard Toolkit

MNT Pocket Reform power user amospalla wrote an intricate RGB keyboard toy/toolkit called mleds. Description from the repo: This tool allows you to "easily generate, enqueue, play, and manipulate small movies/frames on the keyboard LEDs, either as background loops, or informative data."

Events

39th Chaos Communication Congress

Small reminder that we'll be at the Chaos Communication Congress from December 26th until December 30th 2025! We'll announce the exact location of the assembly shortly before the event on Mastodon. Looking forward to meeting you!

That was November! Thanks for reading our updates and see you on here in one month or (nearly) daily on the Fediverse!