Moveable LoRa {hardware} specialist SpecFive, often known as Spec5, has introduced a brand new gadget, described as a fully-fledged “handheld Linux workstation” — and powered by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4: the SpecFive Strike.
“The SpecFive Strike is a compact handheld Linux workstation with a built-in LoRa mesh radio, designed for builders, hackers, makers, tinkerers, and off-grid communicators,” the corporate writes of its newest {hardware}. “Constructed across the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and our custom-built, in-house SpecFive motherboard (service board), it includes a 4.3-inch touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB ports, and a [Semtech] SX1262 LoRa module, bringing Linux flexibility and moveable mesh networking into one system.”
SpecFive is again with one other Meshtastic-compatible LoRa gadget, this time powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. (📷: SpecFive)
The brand new Strike, delivered to our consideration by Linux Gizmos, is a successor to the Nomad SpecFive launched in September final 12 months and which featured a Raspberry Pi 5 single-board laptop. The Strike, then, is one thing of a retrograde step by way of efficiency, being as it’s based mostly on the last-generation and significantly much less highly effective Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 — although a latest refresh of the Nomad, within the type of the Nomad 2 improve, introduced with it the choice to configure the system with both a Raspberry Pi 4 Mannequin B or Raspberry Pi 5 single-board laptop inside.
The shift to a computer-on-module with {custom} service board has, at the least, given the corporate an opportunity to slim issues down a bit of, with the Strike providing a extra compact structure than the Nomad or Nomad 2. There is a QWERTY keyboard to the entrance beneath a 4.3″ touchscreen show, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LoRa radios, and a 5Ah battery good for a claimed 3–6 hours of lively use — all housed inside a case 3D-printed in PETG.
The comapny has additionally launched a brand new model of its Nomad, which includes a full-size Raspberry Pi 4 Mannequin B or Raspberry Pi 5 inside. (📷: SpecFive)
For storage, the service board features a microSD card slot — and the corporate gives a “Prepared” variant which bundles the core “Base” {hardware} with a 32GB microSD card that includes a duplicate of the Debian-derived Raspberry Pi OS Linux distribution and the software program required to show the Strike right into a node on the Meshtastic LoRa mesh community.
The Strike is obtainable on the SpecFive retailer, priced at $379.99 in “Base” or $409.98 in “Prepared” guises; the refreshed Nomad 2 can also be out there, beginning at $499.99 for a “Base” variant with Raspberry Pi 4 Mannequin B 4GB fitted. These keen on experimenting with Meshtastic, in the meantime, ought to contemplate coming into our Meshtastic System Design Problem for an opportunity of sharing a prize pool valued at over $7,000 — submissions shut on September twenty fifth.
