There are so many products and projects based on Raspberry Pi that it’s difficult to keep track, and many are often not that interesting, not because they are not useful, but instead because it just feels we’ve seen those before. But this week I’ve come accross three projects that looks to be newsworthy including two handheld computers with a 4″ display, and one retro-gaming console with standard arcade buttons and controls similar to what is found in Pandora’s Box/Key 5S. hgTerm DIY Raspberry Pi Handheld Computer hgterm is a portable computer based on a stripped down Raspberry Pi 3 where the Ethernet port, HDMI port, and most of the USB ports have been removed. It features a 4″ touchscreen display, a Bluetooth keyboard all housed in a 3D printed case. It’s not actually a product that you can buy (yet), but a project made by Igor Brkić which you can […]
Roshambo Retro Gaming Console Kit Features Rock64 or RockPro64 Board
Recalbox, Lakka TV, Retro Arena, and Batocera are some of the retro gaming distributions optimized to run on development boards. You can install those by yourself, and enclose the board is any case, but if you want something more fancy, Cloud Media is now selling Roshambo retro gaming kit based on Rock64 (RK3328) or RockPro64 (RK3399) SBC’s. Roshambo and RoshamboPro retro gaming kits are compatible with respectively Rock64 and RockPro64 boards, come with a shell with carrier board, power supply, cooling fan (Pro model only) and support cables. The kits support 256GB or 512GB SSD cartridges provided by the company, and optional game controllers with analog triggers and buttons are also available for purchase. Pine64 Rock64 / RockPro64 boards are compatible with Recalbox, Lakka TV, Retro Arena, and Batocera distributions, but bear in mind ROMs are not provided, so you’d have to install your own, or play free games only. […]
SAPPHIRE FS-FP5R 5×5 AMD Ryzen R1606G/R1505G Motherboard Comes with Three DisplayPort++ Outputs
AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 dual core/quad thread processors launched a few days ago, and we’ve seen a few products based on the new processor including Atari VCS gaming console, and ASRock iBox-R1000 mini PC as well as the corresponding 4″ NUC-R1000 motherboard. Sapphire FS-FP5R 5×5 is another motherboard based on AMD Ryzen R1606G or R1505G processor with support for three independent display connected over DisplayPort++, and targeting for small form factor embedded applications such as electronic gaming machines, medical imaging, interactive digital signage, thin clients, PoS (Point-of-Sale) terminals and more. Sapphire FS-FP5R 5×5 specifications: SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen Embedded R1505G dual core/quad core processor @ with Radeon Vega 3 graphics; 12 to 25W TDP AMD Ryzen Embedded R1606G dual core/quad core processor @ with Radeon Vega 3 graphics; 12 to 25W TDP System Memory – 2x DDR4 ECC/Non-ECC SO-DIMMs; Dual Channel speed up to DDR4-2400 Storage – […]
AMD Unveils Ryzen Embedded R1000 Dual Core Processors
Last year, AMD launched Ryzen Embedded V1000 series processor found in UDOO BOLT single board computer, industrial motherboards, and rugged mini PCs. The company has now introduced their second Ryzen Embedded processor family with AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 SoC based on the same Zen cores, and offering 3x the performance per watt against the previous AMD R-Series SoC, and 4x the performance per dollar compared to a system based on an Intel Core i3-7100U Kaby Lake processor. AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 processors all come with two cores / four thread configuration, 1MB L2 cache, 4MB L3 cache, VEGA 3 graphics, support for three 4K displays, 4K60 video decode & encode, dual 10Gbit Ethernet, and a TDP configurable between 12W and 25W. Two Ryzen Embedded R1000 processors have been announced so far: Ryzen Embedded R1606G with 2.6 GHz base frequency, 3.5 GHz one-thread boost frequency, and 1.2 GHz GPU Ryzen Embedded […]
Kittenbot Meowbit Retro Game Console Features BBC Micro:bit Edge Connector
At first glance, Kittenbot Meowbit gaming console looks like a kid’s toy, but it’s bit more than that as its STM32 MCU can be programmed with MakeCode arcade, Scratch3.0 based Kittenblock, or MicroPython, and features the same edge connector as found in BBC Micro:bit board, and as such is compatible with several Micro:bit accessories. Kittenbot Meowbit specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F401RET6 Arm Cortex M4 micro-controller Storage 2MB SPI flash to store Unicode character table (default) SD card slot to store programs or extend wireless modules Display – 160 x 128 full-color TFT LCD Sensor – Light sensor, temperature sensor, MP6050 gyroscope USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming Expansion – 40-pin BBC Micro:bit “goldfinger” connector Misc – Charging/work LED, 2x user LED, power switch, reset button, DFU mode button, 4x direction buttons, A/B buttons, buzzer, multiplayer connector (15) Power Supply – 5V via USB, or 3.7~4.2V via […]
Batocera.Linux OS Combines Kodi & Retro Gaming for Raspberry Pi & ODROID Boards
There are already several ways to run retro games on development boards, with for example RetroPie, and derivatives like RetrOrangePi, Lakka and Recalbox. Batocera.Linux is another option that I had never heard about so far, and works on PCs, as well as Raspberry Pi and ODROID boards, with ODROID-N2 support having been added very recently. batocera.linux operating system can easily be run from a USB flash drive on your computer without altering your existing OS, while it will boot from a standard microSD card on Raspberry Pi and ODROID boards. Beside retro-gaming support, the OS also includes Kodi media center for playing videos, or listening to music. You may even play games in it since retro-gaming support was added in Kodi 18. The partial compatibility table above shows all platforms have a different level of support, and for Intel hardware support more emulators than Arm based boards. The Orange arrow […]
POWKIDDY X18 is a Low Cost Portable Android Game Console Powered by MediaTek MT8163 SoC
GPD XD Plus handheld Android game console launched about nearly one year ago with a MediaTek MT8176 hexa-core Arm Cortex-A72/A53 processor, and a 5.0″ display, and is now sold for under $210. But there’s now another portable game console that appears heavily inspired from GPD design, but featuring a low end MediaTek MT8163 quad core Cortex A53 processor instead, as well as a slightly larger 5.5″ display. Meet POWKIDDY X18. POWKIDDY X18 hardware specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT8163 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.3GHz with Arm Mali-T720 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, microSD card Display – 5.5″ IPS Screen with 1280 x 720 resolution, 5-point capacitive touchscreen Video Output – HDMI port Connectivity – WiFi 4 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth: 4.0 USB – 1x micro USB port (for charging only?) Buttons – Power button, D-Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L1/L2/R1/R2, left & right joysticks, Start & […]
GameShell Kit Review – Part 2: An Hackable Retro Gaming Console
ClockworkPi GameShell is an hackable retro gaming console combining Arm Linux and Arduino boards that happens to come in kit form, and that’s lot of fun to assemble as we’ve seen in the first part of the review of ClockworkPi GameShell. Since then I’ve had time to have more fun, play some games, and experiment with the device, so I’ll report my experience and point out the good parts, as well as some of the shortcomings I came across. We can press the power button to start it up, and after a few seconds we get to the main menu with several icons including… the self-describing Settings, Retro Games with MAME, MGBA, NESTOPIA, and PCxs emulators that require your own ROMs/BIOS, as well as Indie Games with ready to play games like OpenTyrian spaceship shooting game, or NyanCat. Moving on to the right of the menu we’ve got the famous […]