Dylan Brophy's Clever Carrier Board Turns a Teensy 4.1 Into a "Single" Board Computer

Maker Dylan Brophy has designed a board that converts a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller into a single-board computer (SBC) style device — complete with support for the NTIOS "Android OS" operating system.

"I wanted a highly customizable & capable, but not overly complicated, computer system programmable via Arduino software," Brophy explains of the project's origins. "This way I have full control of the hardware without writing an OS [Operating System] from scratch, like would be necessary with typical SBCs. This environment is much easier and more stable, as well as more efficient, than systems like a [Raspberry] Pi or BeagleBone, however the trade-off is that you cannot run all the existing software for those systems."

The Teensy 4.1 Computer, to give Brophy's creation its official designation, is designed to act as a carrier board for a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller development board — adding to its functionality while swapping the breadboard-friendly form factor for something inspired by single-board computers. That enlarged board footprint provides room for some extras, too: four USB ports based on a Texas Instruments hub chip, a hi-fi audio circuit built around a Texas Instruments PCM5102 digital to analog converter (DAC), and a wired Ethernet port.

"I can, and have, hacked together very messy projects that have the same types of features as this," Brophy explains, referring to years of iteration to create an "Arduino Desktop" system. "It is so much better though, to have a board like this that is sturdy, looks good, integrates the exact needed features, is well documented, and can be standardized. This board is the natural next evolution."

It's possible to use the Teensy 4.1 Computer as an Arduino-compatible development board, freed of any underlying operating system, but not mandatory: the device is compatible with Brophy's NTIOS, an "Arduino OS" that allows programs to be loaded from and saved to SD Card. "The last thing I'll need is a video card of some kind," Brophy notes.

More information is available on Brophy's wiki page; assembled Teensy 4.1 Computer boards are available on Tindie for $55, rising to $87 for a bundle with a pre-installed Teensy 4.1 running the NTIOS firmware. The Teensy port of NTIOS, meanwhile, is available on GitLab under an unspecified license.