[rpastuszak]

Playdate (the came console) is amazing for this! I was really bored once and built a Claude Code remote control for Playdate.

Voice recognition was done via parrot + handy.computer Basically: different key combos were tied to different actions, e.g. \

    - hold A to speak
    - move the crank slowly to navigate
    - crank super fast to send the prompt

Eventually this became a universal remote control for the computers in my home (YAML file with bindings from Playdate UI → A11y events). Using the crank to control movies is fun!

(I can share the source -- just let me know if this is actually useful)

Also, I feel like the author and me have similar hobbies. A few years back I almost won a (re-sellable on Ebay) award for https://meat-gpt.sonnet.io !

(I lost to a gallery of 3d sandwiches)

[Waterluvian]

I really wanted to like the Playdate but it's such an unbelievably overpriced and underspecced toy. But the crank, which really looked like a gimmick, is oddly quite nice to have and I wish my kids' Retro Arcade had one.

[rpastuszak]

I mean it's 100-160 mHz CPU, 16 MB RAM, 4 GB storage -- you could run diablo 1 on it!

[Waterluvian]

Yeah in retrospect I really got it wrong with “underspecced.” I really should have said “not colour.”

This all comes as a retrospective comparing it to my kids handheld for their MakeCode Arcade projects. The device that was 4x the price ended up on a shelf and I find myself borrowing theirs. I just wish it had that dumb crank. It’s so weird and yet I love it.

[rpastuszak]

The lack of colour is actually quite cool (and it’s a fun creative constraint). But the lack of backlight and usb (iirc) is annoying. The first because you can’t use it in bed and I like to play something cosy/silly in low light (https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/obsidian-for-vampires/).

The second - because now I need a companion app/script to handle comms over WiFi (bonjour). You can use cable, but if I could pair this with my phone… as a personal assistant - that would be amazing!

[anana_]

I have one too and it never occurred to me to use it for anything other than games. Would be interested in seeing how you did it!

[rpastuszak]

OK, I'll clean it up and post it in a few days