From the creative and cat-lovin’ engineers at KittenBot comes the Meowbit – a handheld retro gaming computer for coding your own games with MakeCode Arcade and MicroPython. This design is really fun, with a GameBoy-like shape that can plug into micro:bit expansion boards. The built in display is a 160×128 color 1.8″ TFT screen with the familiar ST7735 chipset over SPI. You also get 8 buttons (4-way D-Pad, A and B, menu and reset) to make games or interface with, and there’s also a built-in speaker and SD card. For inputs there’s a bunch of sensors including a light sensor, temperature sensor and even a 6-DoF gyro+accelerometer.
The micro:bit-familiar edge connector opens up access to many micro:bit expansion boards, but please note that the Meowbit isn’t a micro:bit, it uses a different chipset (STM32) and does not have wireless or bluetooth. However, it is a great portable game platform for both Arcade and MicroPython (and you could probably get it working with Arduino or other C platforms, pretty easily!)
Check out these cool features:
STM32F401 Cortex M4 CPU with native USB support
USB program download port / charging port with USB drag-n-drop bootloader (UF2)
Li-Poly charging circuitry and charging indicator LED. Lipoly battery not included, please pick one up separately.
160 x 128 TFT color screen
4 x Direction buttons, A + B Buttons, menu/boot mode button, reset button
Light sensor
Temperature sensor
MPU6050 gyroscope
On-off power switch
2 x Programmable LEDs
Buzzer
SD card slot
Headphone “JACDAC” Multiplayer Connector (this is not a headphone audio port!)
2 MB SPI-flash (default download unicode character table)
Edge connectors compatible with micro:bit
Silicone cover
Note: We have Meowbit in blue and orange, but the selection is random per order. We can’t change which one you get!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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