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This isn't what you asked for but... maybe you have one already?
My phone has an ARM processor and I can use my BT keyboard (Corne-ish Zen) with it.
Edit: alternatively the PinePhone also has a battery+keyboard case but I admit I don't exactly love typing on it.
That would be cheap! Home made laptops are expensive or huge and barely portable. If you want a bit better and thought out, check out MNT Reform laptops: https://www.cnx-software.com/2024/12/31/mnt-reform-next-open-source-rk3588-modular-12-5-inch-laptop/
It starts at $1100
"expensive", "huge", and "barely portable" -- throw in "impractical", "ridiculous", and "functional" and you've described my taste exactly
i used to bring a model m to compsci classes in high school because i was bored, and my prof didn't mind lmao
That keyboard (even the "space saving" version) is huge and weighs a ton and doesn't blend with the idea of a portable system. If you want to use it at home and it's worth the expenditure to you, then fine. If I were tight on funds and wanted to homebrew a laptop I'd probably start with a cheap keyboard, with the idea of upgrading later.
I think nowadays, laptops don't need built in keyboards for the most part. It's ok to use a completely external keyboard. I've been using a Logitech K400 (wireless keyboard with USB dongle and built in trackpad) with my laptop ever since the laptop's own keyboard broke, and it's been fine. The K400 is a fairly crappy keyboard but it's cheap, and it's one of the few that I could still find with a built in trackpad. Those were once popular but now have gotten rare. I don't know why. Depending on your power and portability requirements, you might be better off departing quite a bit from the traditional laptop form factor.
I'm not convinced at all that an ARM processor will be as FOSS-friendly as an x86. For example, I believe the Raspberry Pi still depends on binary blobs. I have no idea about RISC-V but I think the available boards cost more and have lower performance than ARM boards or maybe even x86.
I've been content to run Debian on older Thinkpads. If I were really determined I'd use Coreboot (or whatever the current ideologically correct fork is called), which does work on some Thinkpads. But I haven't bothered.
Added: somewhere around here I have an old Gateway keyboard that is a knockoff of an IBM Model M, I believe. If I can find it and if you want to cover the shipping cost, I can send it to you. I expect it either has an old school IBM PC plug, or maybe PS/2, but anyway older than USB. Getting it connected to a modern computer would require an adapter that might be hard to find by now. Like the model F, it is big and heavy enough that using it portably would be impractical, but I guess practicality isn't everything.
firstly, i greatly appreciate the offer, and thank you for it, but i use a model m every day, and have another "awaiting repairs" in my basement -- send it to someone who needs it! start a thread!
secondly, i use a coreboot'd thinkpad already. i want something heaver, jankier, and more "starts a conversation with CS-students". adding a 4g modem with a gigantic antenna (like i have laying around) would be even funnier.
i want to build something that i bring to class one day, people lose their shit, and then people just get used to it.
In this case I think you need an MIT Space Cadet keyboard (try web search), not a model F.
Added: OMG. https://www.techspot.com/news/106659-massive-173-mechanical-keyboard-tribute-classic-space-cadet.html
oh god... that's even more expensive. but my life will never be complete without it...
you motherfucker.
There are a lot of keyboards out there inspired by the Space Cadet. You can probably spend a while picking one out. There are even some original ones still in circulation.
noooo i have work and shit
i wore a pink spandex suit to class enough days last semester that a prof of mine said to me -- immediately before a final exam i forgot about and wore a FUCKING PINK SUIT TO, and that i fucking ACED -- "[spv], you're cool, you have a way of making the strangest things seem normal"
to which i replied "i'm just gonna take that as a compliment?"
"i meant it that way, you're, you're cool"
it was so uncomfy... lmao