from Hacker News

A DIY business card that runs Linux (2019)

by hansc on 6/3/23, 12:41 PM with 58 comments

by thrtythreeforty on 6/3/23, 1:56 PM
Author here! Trivia: I really, really wanted it to run Doom, so that I could have a section titled "But Does It Run Doom?". This is challenging with no screen; SDL has an experimental ASCII backend where in theory you could draw terminal graphics over SSH. But it refused to cross compile despite repeated efforts.
So, sadly it does not in fact run Doom.
by NoZebra120vClip on 6/3/23, 2:17 PM
I have some business cards that are so valuable, I can't give them away.
I was attending a conference with some vendor booths, and while it wasn't anything like a job fair, I thought I'd try my luck at pitching myself as a prospective hire. So I went to the most IT-oriented vendor that I could find, introduced myself, and proudly presented my solid plastic CompTIA A+ certification.
The good fellow thanked me and promptly pocketed it! It all went downhill from there as I had to explain that was a credential and not a calling-card, so I got it back, and definitely didn't get hired for anything!
by wkat4242 on 6/3/23, 1:28 PM
PS: This was also submitted back in the day and got almost 400 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21871026
Might make for interesting reading.
by rickstanley on 6/3/23, 4:13 PM
Look at that subtle circuit, the tasteful thickness of it... Oh my god, it even has a nano ARM!
by hansc on 6/3/23, 1:54 PM
Author also wrote a post on the design process, very interesting I think: https://www.thirtythreeforty.net/posts/2019/12/designing-my-...
by de6u99er on 6/3/23, 2:01 PM
This was a novel idea once. But nowadays I would stay away from plugging in a usb device of someone I just met.
by russellbeattie on 6/3/23, 6:18 PM
I'm surprised that Apple or Google hasn't integrated a business card app of some sort and accompanying file format. Like a digital rolodex. I don't need my plumber, accountant, dry cleaner, or a zillion random people I meet at a tech conference in my contacts/address book, even if they're grouped. Exchanging info by giving them my phone number/email is usually a lot more than I want, and URLs just get lost. A QR code or a peer-to-peer transfer with an open, stylized/formatted, .vcf style file that's meant for a business related info app seems like a non brainer.
I want to have a conversation with the digital equivalent of:
> "That's bone. And the lettering is something called Silian Grail."
> "It's very cool, Bateman, but... Egg shell, with Roman."
> Now a third broker pulls out his card. It looks exactly like the first two, except it reads TIMOTHY BRICE: VICE PRESIDENT.
> "Raised lettering, pale nimbus."
> "Impressive", Bateman mutters. "Let's see Paul Allen's card."
> The room falls silent as the third broker produces an absent colleague's card.
> «Look at that subtle colouring. The tasteful thickness.»
> His face creases in horror.
> «Oh my God. It even has a watermark.»
by mrweasel on 6/3/23, 1:59 PM
Really cool, but I can't help thinking: All that effort, and you're email address have a "5" in it....
by solarkraft on 6/3/23, 2:18 PM
Quite cool, but what are the chances people will plug a USB drive they just got from someone they just met into their computer?
by wkat4242 on 6/3/23, 1:28 PM
Really cool! It would be a pretty thick card though I imagine, as the USB connector requires an above-average board thickness and some of the components are also quite thick (especially that winbond chip, looks like NAND flash).
Kudos on finding something that can run linux without having to deal with BGA by the way.
by xg15 on 6/3/23, 2:29 PM
I had heard about that project before and was wondering how he managed to emulate USB devices on linux to a host system. TIL about the Linux Gadget framework: http://www.linux-usb.org/gadget/
by AlbinoDaffy on 6/3/23, 5:33 PM
Reminds me of business card CDs which also were given away as promotional disks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootable_business_card
by jxf on 6/3/23, 1:25 PM
Delightful, but in the simulataneous categories of "I would absolutely buy this" and "I do not have the time or energy to make this myself".
by Vaslo on 6/3/23, 4:59 PM
My memory isn’t good on most articles that are more than a few years old but I remember seeing this a few years ago and being amazed.
Author is probably a millionaire by now.
by gareve on 6/3/23, 1:55 PM
I wasn't expecting this to cost less than 3$
by xyst on 6/3/23, 1:59 PM
Cool concept. But no way am I plugging that into my computer without creating a sandboxed environment with no network access.
by barbariangrunge on 6/3/23, 7:02 PM
The fsf membership cards are also usbs with gnu-Linux on them
by yafbum on 6/3/23, 2:29 PM
Looks fun, but who in their right mind would plug this into anything other than an air gapped sandbox ?!
by yellow_lead on 6/3/23, 2:31 PM
2019
by nforgerit on 6/3/23, 1:38 PM
Does it run Doom?