MNT December 2024 Update
As 2024 comes to a close, we would like to use this opportunity to look back on what we have achieved, to give you an update on current developments, and to look forward to what the future holds for us.
2024
The year went by pretty fast and we were busier than ever. MNT Pocket Reform production and manufacturing started at the beginning of 2024 and it was huge! Usually, Greta is the person assembling our devices, but since our campaign on Crowd Supply went so well we knew we would need help to ensure a fast(er) shipment process. Luckily, we had come across Liaizon who learned the assembly steps quickly and helped build hundreds of Pocket Reforms, together with Greta. At times, Anri would also step in to test the devices and finish up assembly. At the time of writing, we have built and shipped around 350 units to Crowd Supply - with more to come.
The ongoing shipment of MNT Pocket Reform mini laptops pretty much dominated the year at MNT, facing various quality issues in the process. One of the major issues was and still is the display issue. As we wrote in our post-campaign update back in October, a lot of the displays we had sourced were broken or had (sometimes small, sometimes big) imperfections, so they were impossible to use. Our main supplier had left us hanging for a year and shipped the promised amount of 500 displays only last month, in November. When tested with their adapter, most of them were fine, but it was another story with our own adapter. Lukas was working tirelessly on a solution to get plug-and-play working, meaning: you can swap your display easily without downloading firmware and it will work with any processor module you have. They have succeeded and we were able to resume QA and preparation of the next shipment. We will ship the remaining devices to Crowd Supply in January 2025.
Despite the difficulties, we successfully launched the so-far most powerful processor module for MNT Reform (and MNT Pocket Reform): the MNT Reform RCORE RK3588.
With 4x performant ARM Cortex-A76 cores (up to 2.4GHz), 4x power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores (1.8GHz) and 16 or 32 GB RAM, this module really makes a difference in terms of performance and usage. We have already shipped the first batch of modules, with the second to come this very month.
We also overhauled our MNT Reform Keyboard, adding a beautiful RGB backlight to it and the ARM-based controller RP2040 which is faster and better documented than the ATmega32U4.
Last but not least, a major step towards a digital future with (more) computing autonomy, we are in the final stages of bringing up our brand new laptop: MNT Reform Next. This device is a faster, lighter, and more modular version of Classic Reform, and it has the potential to become your next daily driver (yes, it will house our powerful MNT Reform RCORE with RK355). We already introduced the Next in September — if you missed it you can read the (very nerdy) article here. At this point, tradition says there will be a campaign on Crowd Supply and we are happy to stick to it. Our pre-launch page is already up, with the actual campaign starting this month, in late December 2024. We will send out a short announcement once it's been launched, but we would also like to encourage you to subscribe to the MNT Reform Next newsletter over there at Crowd Supply. This way you won't miss out on news and developments of our incredibly fresh laptop.
In terms of events, Lukas gave a talk at KiCon Europe 2024 and nearly all of the people working at MNT will be present at 38C3.
Pretty exciting year, right? Let's see what 2025 holds for MNT. But before we get into this, let's have a look at our latest gadgets, now available in our shop.
New Products From MNT
1. MNT x Kolibri HALO-90 Electronic Earrings
In collaboration with our friend Sawaiz Syed over at Kolibri, we are thrilled to announce the launch of HALO-90. Sawaiz designed and engineered these fully open hardware earrings that respond to (your favorite) music in real time and light up in a glowing red or blue light.
The HALO product series, in which these earrings (HALO-90) are the first item, is a fully open source electronic jewelry line. It is designed with elegance and wearability in mind. "90" refers to the ninety individually controllable LEDs on the earring face. The built-in compute power is also suitable for creating complex light shows.
Features:
- 90 LED lights in a distinct ring
- Fully controllable
- Patterns that ebb and flow to the music
- Multiple modes available when pressing the button on the HALO; each press of the button cycles to the next mode, eventually circling back around.
- Powered by a common coin cell
- An engrossing look with retro vibes and a modern touch
- Includes an earring case that consists of two pieces held together with magnets. The cavities inside the case hold all components securely so that they do not rattle. The case can house two cells in its cavities, giving you a total runtime of approx. 36 hours.
- Runtime: approx. 13 hours
- Dimensions: 24 mm x 26 mm x 6.36 mm
- Weight: 5.2 g
A retro-modern 3D printed earring case and our handmade Piñatex sleeve round up this amazingly stylish product.
As always with MNT (and Kolibri) products, the sources are publicly available.
2. MNT Merch
Some of you may remember the first merch item that was launched in our shop back in 2021: the high quality MNT Logo Hoodie. We finally made another version of it, this time with a black back print and a white one. Pick your fav!
Features:
- 100% Eco Cotton, 350 g/m²
- Genderneutral fit
- Fair wear
- Printed by Cantana
- Model: Stanley Stella Cultivator 2.0
Available in sizes S-XXL.
iFixit Repair Guide of MNT Pocket Reform
We are still amazed that the very well-known and renowned website iFixit (that is all about repairs) has published a super detailed repair guide of our mini laptop. Even if you are not planning on (dis-)assembling it yourself, we encourage you to take a look. iFixit has also published a teardown video of MNT Pocket Reform that you can watch here.
Upcoming Events
38C3 (Hamburg, 27th-30th December 2024)
Another tradition we happily stick to: our participation at the Chaos Communications Congress. This year, we will be present with our main devices and some merch, and Lukas will even give a talk at the Community Stage. If you are also there come say hi, and if you don't you can see or listen to the talk on YouTube after the Congress.
2025
As mentioned in the 2024 chapter of this article, our Crowd Supply Campaign for MNT Reform Next will launch at the end of this year (on Dec 27th!) and will run until the end of January 2025. This will be our first major event of the new year.
As always after a campaign, the sourcing of components, the organization of the production and manufacture will take place, so this will most likely dominate most of the year like it did with MNT Pocket Reform.
We hope the campaign will be as successful as their predecessors so that we can make new MNT devices. We have several ideas that we would love to work on. We'll share more when the time has come.
We are also planning on attending the Open Hardware Summit 2025 in Edinburgh that takes place on May 30th and 31st. If you are also there, dear reader, come say hi!
The rest of 2025 is not settled yet. What we can say is: we will stay curious, accommodating, and inventive.
Have a great end of the year, and a smooth start to 2025! Thank you for all the support and see you (almost) daily on the Fediverse or in the MNT Community!