We were catching up on a recent Hackaday hackchat with Eben Upton and learned some fun facts: such as the DVI hack for the RP2040 was inspired by a device called the IchigoJam. We remember reading about this back when it was an LPC1114, now it uses an RP2040. Well, we’re wrapping up the Metro RP2350, and lately, we’ve been joking around that with DVI output and USB Host support via bit-banged PIO, you could sorta build a little stand-alone computer. Well, one pear-green-tea-fueled-afternoon later we tried our hand at designing a ‘credit card sized’ computer – that’s 3.375″ x 2.125″, about the same size as a business card and turns out there’s even a standard named for it: ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1.
Anyhow, with the extra pins of the QFN-80 RP2350B, we’re able to jam a ridonkulous amount of hardware into this shape: RP2350B dual 150MHz Cortex M33 w/ PicoProbe debug port, 16 MB Flash + 8 MB PSRAM, USB type C for bootloading/USB client, Micro SD card with SPI or SDIO, DVI output on the HSTX port, I2S stereo headphone + mono speaker via the TLV320DAC3100, 2-port USB type A hub for both keyboard and mouse or game controllers, chunky on-off switch, Stemma QT I2C + Stemma classic JST 3-pin, EYESPI for TFT displays, 5x NeoPixels, 3x tactile switches, and a 16-pin socket header with 10 A/D GPIO + 5V/3V/GND power pins. The PSRAM will help when we want to do things like run emulations that we need to store in fast RAM access, and it will also let us use the main SRAM as the DVI video buffer.
When we get the PCBs back and assembled, what should we try running on this hardware? We’re pretty sure it can run DOOM. Should that be first? 🙂 We also need a name. Right now, we’re just calling it Fruit Jam since it’s inspired by the IchigoJam project.
Can I sign up for notification of availability?
How far can you take this computer thing, exactly? DOOM is an obvious choice, but it’d be really fun to have a little micro computer running “bare metal” circuitpython repl or a minimal Linux build on the dvi display…
Alternatively, plug in some USB gamepads and turn this bad boy into a little two-player arcade machine?
How about a homage to the microcomputer that most likely inspired Eben and others to create the raspberry pi. The BBC micro had one of the best “basic interpreters” around that you could just start using to play, program or explore the available resources on. It could also run pretty amazing games or apps in a small amount of RAM, and had a lot of I.O. that would be suitable for projects, circuit python or other other adafruit upgrades
I want one of these when they become available. I’ve been hoping Ada would do something like this for awhile.
I am VERY interested in these!
I’m guessing you can’t call it Raspberry jam 😉
This is perfect for a Circuit/MicroPython eval board or for general purposes tinkering/datalogging etc.
Currently I use RPi Nano class boards in a lab for long term data logging over a serial port, but at the right price this might be useful for more advanced time sensitive bit fiddling and logging for devices under test.
Being able to connect to even a tiny LCD to display status is super helpful, and the built in Pico DAP interface makes this a one-stop board.
Sign me up when they are available.
This is an amazing idea. Can hardly wait to get my hands on one.
Any ideas or concepts for FEC (10/100 Ethernet) or for adding that via some portion of the expansion headers?
I know there's a Linux port for the 2350 that runs on the RISC-V cores with the PSRAM, I'm wondering if there's a DTS for a DTB for this board?
Also, yes, VERY interested in this board.
Lady Marmalade
I am very interested in this. I can see many projects that can use this.
A great looking Pico board.
Cannot wait to get my hands on one.
Fruit Jam is a nice name.
But, I like Raspberry Jam better.
If Raspberry name is a problem I would go with
Rubus Idaeus Jam
Finally, a portable C-64. Please tell me more so I can get one, hopefully this summer. I miss playing Sokoban (the C-64 version).