I prefer the zero myself better for battery powered devices and the pi 3 is more useless sure it's small but with the extra power usage id just go all the way up to a matx desktop, laptop or a mitx.
I bought the PocketCHIP last year and it's such a cool little device. This isn't so much an out-of-the-box handheld games console, but a great little handheld Linux device. It's too under-powered to replace your tablet or smartphone, but a great little project. The fun is in hacking this little thing. I've 3D printed a new bezel for around the screen, and attached to that is a GameBoy style D-pad, which really improves the gaming experience. You can add speakers and a SD card reader yourself too, or even install some of the Kali tools for some penetration testing. Playing Doom on the PocketCHIP is a must too!
Pretty sure Lexaloffle is behind this. His earlier games like Chocolate Castle and Zen Puffle Garden are still some of my favourite indie games ever. He seem to have been super-sidetracked lately tho with stuff like this, and even opening a cafeteria in Japan. I mean, that seems supercool and all, but he's such a good game designer, I'd love to see what he can do with today's hardware and tools.
It was worth the cost. I learned so much about Linux using this thing. Sadly, 'Next Thing' went out of business. Reason? Well, I suspect it was due to hipsters not knowing what the hell they were doing. But It's early 2019 and I'm still using this thing. It's still on Jessie repo but thankfully you can still pull great programs from it. Using SM for RU-vid works rather well but don't expect to comment or even add a like to a video. I'd pay good money to see this setup with a Raspberry Pi Zero W. This thing is awesome once you get use to it.
@KWC Coin It's long gone. I can't use my PocketCHIP because I need it to be flashed but the software they used was a browser extension where you could only flash from the website. After the site was gone, there was a web forum where someone figured out how to flash from your desktop using the image files but it was a torrent and I think the torrent is now dead. So now I have a SBC that is useless. I am going to figure out how to hook up the hand held to another device, I just need to find documentation on what all the pins do..
I got the PocketChip because at the time I was into Pico-8 and thought it would be nice to code and play all these mini games on a real handheld. But the keys are horrible.
Very interesting new product, but you've got to wonder what they were thinking with that bare PCB keyboard…?! It seems like they've left space for modders or other companies to create clip-on keyboard covers that could incorporate things like real buttons or even thumbsticks or other gamepad type controls, but it seems very odd that they would even bother to include a keyboard in this case…
Someone suggested I install Hadoop on mine. So I did. Even got the newer NFS mounting for HDFS up and running. Why? No idea. It was a lot of fun though, and I can legitimately claim I have Hadoop in my pocket. Ultimately, that's where this device shines. It's a hacker's dream device, being everything I wanted out of a portable system back in the 90's.
I could imagine the PocketCHIP _addon_ for the use as a portable terminal when managing networks or just trying to learn some Python in your free time. The games look nice, remind me of what the GP32 community did back in the day, the only thing that really sucks as far as open source goes is the Allwinner chip. But then again, this thing is why the C.H.I.P. so low priced.
Well my good sir. I must say. I have to tip my black hat to you for introducing me to this wonderful device. I can see the endless possibilities this opens up. 😉
I came very close to getting a PocketCHIP for the sole reason I could code and run Pico-8 programs on it. Unfortunately from listening to owners of this system it is a real train wreck as far as the keyboard goes and if you can get past the glitz and glamor it runs Pico-8, then yeah it's not a good system at all interface wise.
if you want to do actual coding on the go I recommend looking at the GDP line of micro computers, they come in a variety of sizes and can run Linux and Windows out of the box.
This would be kinda interesting for like a sysadmin to use for logging into something via SSH and something that can be pulled out of a suit jacket pocket.
It's an Allwinner R8 as you can see @1:10 Basically an Chinese SoC that uses Linux variants with renamed GPL stuff for whatever reason. Essentially this is why Allwinner doesn't necessary enjoys the most reputation.
Great concept. A handheld device with a physical keyboard for testing code, doing math and use as a terminal. Bad execution. The keyboard requires the pressure of Thor and no external storage. I wanted to install SageMath and use it as a calculator also.
Lol, both of my CHIPs ceased to work almost immediately and they failed to respond to my emails and never shipped my HDMI adapters that I ordered during the Kickstarter. Pretty minor from a price standpoint, but CHIP was my introduction to Kickstarter disappointment.
Hey Colin, quick question (I know it's an older video of yours) but I was interested in finding out what game you were playing at about 4:04. Think you could boot the old beauty up and check for me? It resembled that new hit indie title Celeste by Matt Plays Games. Thanks for the great content you create!
This Does Not Compute Aww now that's respect! Love it when they play homage like that! A friend of mine mentioned finding out there are C sides even! Who woulda thought! Thanks for the info so soon.
look promising but first thing first we need casing forget the button, the pcb have many thing to hide for safety sake but overall its remind me of microsoft phone or blackberry which is good, still prefer press the real qwerty button than use touchscreen for texting
$70? Damn, here it's probably >100€ with taxes, shipping and duty. I mean NextThingCo wants like 20€ extra at the time of purchase but then most countries also make you pay the local tax and duty as well for imports that are over ~30€ in value...
they did the same to me but i was unfortunate enough not to buy from them because i was ignorant. the seller said sorry they never shipped the device. i payed 75+14s&h
the appeal seems to be the dev kit and community. It's not for me though. i use a Gameboy advance with a flash cart. I am not getting into programming.
Callen what Bryan said. if youre a more casual gamer/user, id honestly say you might be better off running a PSP with homebrew software. but if youre a more creatively inclined person, and are looking to get involved with, say, chiptune, the pocket chip offers a lot of bang for your buck. Gruber's album, 'The Last Bot', is a good example of what can be achieved creatively with the pocket chip, and also proof that the product isnt for everybody.
Damn, that is really cool! If only it has even a trackball or something like that, for better web browsing or just using better gui programs! Do u know if something like this already exists? (with trackball/pad I mean)
Alessio Paffarini I suspect trying to do anything Web based on that would be really unpleasant. 1ghz arm is very slow, 512mb ram is very low, and the screen resolution is ridiculously low for Web.
I'd take the Chip out of this and stick it in a GB/GBA body. That way you have the nice D-Pad, buttons and form factor of the GB or GBA, while still rocking the power of open-source Linux!
Gaming could use a solid old-fashioned handheld console. Not like anyone is going to develop for 3DS or whatever PS has now. Nintendo handhelds are all so strange since they started going with the dual screen.
Where can I get one of these? I heard about this a bit ago and I wanted a cheap micro controller like this, I have a project I need something like this for
@Anand Raj yeah i read up and found that after i wrote the comment, kinda sad tbh as it was an interesting product, but i read that they were not shipping product and that aint cool
Hey Colin I would like to buy a PocketCHIP. Will the store on the PocketCHIP website re-open sometime so I could buy it, or am I screwed for good? Great video :)
