Flipper One – we need your help

d3Xt3r

Cool, but I think they're holding themselves back with that weird form-factor. I would've preferred if they'd included a full QWERTY keyboard, like the the GPD Pocket 4[1] or the GPD Win Mini. With a proper keyboard, I could write code on the go, easily edit files, navigate a terminal and mess with things... and do so much more in general. Also, 8GB RAM is barely enough these days, whereas the GPD comes with upto 64GB RAM - and an X86 CPU too, which means you can run your favorite Linux distro and all your apps without any compatibility issues. I really don't see a reason why I should buy the Flipper One. https://gpdstore.net/gpd-pocket-4/

azalemeth

This looks flippin' amazing, but also like the definition of project scope creep. I imagine it will be brilliant, unaffordable, surprisingly cheap, terrible and awesome (in both senses of the word) all at the same time. 3GPP really needs a light shining through it. I sincerely hope I work out a way of getting someone else to buy the thing for me. And the push towards all in-tree source is fantastic. Genuinely impressed.

mritchie712

for reference, Flipper Zero was $199. does anyone know how much they're thinking for Flipper One?

fsflover

Related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48212046 This project looks similar to Librem 5 to me. The same goal of open drivers and minimal blobs everywhere.

monegator

No binary blobs. Not even cellular and wifi?

armchairhacker

Can someone explain why Flipper is making these decisions, or what advantages Flipper One has vs a Flipper Zero, RPI, and Linux machine? The (EDIT2: maybe not) AI writing doesn’t help. EDIT: looking more, it seems like the goal is to be a fun project like Playdate, except a Linux multi-tool instead of game console. Which is actually great, a step towards healing today’s corporatized tech culture. It’s unfortunate that the website non-explains this with AI and marketing speak. EDIT2: I wrote too soon, AI is making me too cynical. My only remaining critique is that they explain the motive instead of just stating features and repeating “we’re doing something exciting and important [for reasons not really explained]”

jdalgetty

I want it but I do not need it.

R_mand

“The two processors communicate over a set of interfaces we call the Interconnect: SPI carries the framebuffer to the MCU for display output” Even with peripheral DMA this idea sounds terrifying.

himata4113

Does anyone know why the binary blobs cannot be reverse engineered in the age of AI and recompiled to closely match the original source? Is it for legal reasons? Is it firmware signatures?

ctenb

Most articles I click on in the HN homepage turn out to be written by AI, judging from the phrasing. I'm weirded out by the fact that people don't seem to find it important to write their own thoughts down. The writing in TFA is clearly supervised by a human, but still, the wording is not human at all.

____tom____

Sounds like the second system effect. (The Mythical Man Month) First one is simple and focused, the second one tries to be & do everything. And frequently never ships.

Zababa

>We want to train a specialized AI model that knows Flipper One's internals and applications inside out, so general-purpose models won't cut it. We invite the community to get involved. I think a general purpose model would actually cut it pretty well if it has access to proper documentation and search. Since everything will be OSS, the model can have "full" introspection of the system.

ZiiS

Really worried about the pricing, will make or break.

h1fra

I have read the whole thing, and I'm not sure what you would build with it. Can anyone give me some examples? I'm genuinely curious.

bdavbdav

Wow. That really doesn’t know what it is. Love the idea of a hackable ethernet tool though.

fsflover

Here is a similar story of creating a smartphone that exclusively runs FLOSS on the main CPU and has WiFi and modem on M.2 cards: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground/

ihaveone

"It's not this, it's that" Once you see this phrase, you know it's AI written.

tekacs

I've said a bunch of times that I really really wish that Pebble had gotten a chance to finish the Pebble Core: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/getpebble/pebble-2-time... This reminds me of that in a good way – a small Linux device that doesn't have to maintain a screen all the time (power) or focus on real-time but has physical buttons, connectivity, a microphone and a sealed case so it can be thrown in your pocket would be... an absolute dream. Counter to some others here, I would buy this at whatever cost if it lived up to that intent!

kesor

Instead of re-inventing Linux distributions for FlipperOS on top of Debian. They should just choose to base it on NixOS which already has these "profiles" as a built-in feature called "Specializations" https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Specialisation

leobuskin

@zhovner, would you consider reverse engineering of the blobs as a temporary measure? in 2026 it's very doable and scales