Supply Elements is again with one other system launching beneath the Popcorn Laptop model, with a view to placing a fully-functional if bare-bones Linux PC proper in your pocket — within the type of the compact Popcorn Laptop PopStick.
“PopStick is a USB laptop, operating the most recent Linux kernel,” Supply Elements explains of its newest {hardware} design. “Upon plugging PopStick into a bunch, it may well seem as any kind of USB system that you simply want. Need it to point out up as a scriptable USB keyboard and mouse? No drawback. Would you wish to SSH into it, or run a webserver on it? PopStick can seem as a USB Ethernet system. Have one thing fully customized in thoughts? The chances are infinite.”
The Popcorn Laptop model is again with a brand new design, this time choosing a pocket-friendly embedded Linux. (📷: Popcorn Laptop)
The system, designed in a gumstick kind issue with a USB Kind-A connector at one finish and delivered to our consideration by CNX Software program, is constructed round Allwinner’s F1C200s system-on-chip, giving it a considerably dated ARMv5TE-based ARM926EJ-S processor operating at 533MHz and 64MB of DDR1 reminiscence. There’s 128MB of SPI NAND flash storage, onto which Supply Elements has pre-loaded a customized Linux distribution based mostly on the most recent kernel model, with microSD growth. There’s additionally a micro-USB connector offering entry to a UART bus internet hosting a serial console.
The Popcorn Laptop model launched 4 years in the past as a non secular successor to the sadly-shuttered Subsequent Factor Co. and its standard low-cost C.H.I.P. single-board laptop and Pocket C.H.I.P. handheld provider. The corporate pledged to launch a pin-compatible C.H.I.P. successor, dubbed the Authentic Popcorn, and an upgraded model referred to as the Tremendous Popcorn — however failed to achieve its crowdfunding purpose. The corporate bounced again with a follow-up design, the Pocket P.C., based mostly round extra highly effective {hardware} — and would later make the design out there beneath an open-source license, albeit within the face of continued manufacturing delays.
The brand new system follows the troubled growth of the Pocket P.C., pictured. (📷: Popcorn Laptop)
The PopStick is a significantly extra modest system, and an order of magnitude cheaper than the Pocket P.C. because of this: Supply Elements is taking pre-orders on the Popcorn Laptop web site at $29 with out microSD card, or $37.99 bundled with a 32GB card. Extra data is accessible on the devoted product website.