Popcorn Computer Has Made Their Pocket P.C. Open Source

A few years ago, Next Thing Co. released the Pocket C.H.I.P. handheld Linux computer based on their own C.H.I.P. single-board computer. That was quite popular, but Next Thing Co. quickly went out of business — leaving many customers with unfulfilled orders. Last year, Popcorn Computer purchased Next Thing Co.’s remaining stock of GR8 SoCs and launched their own SBC based on the chip. They then created an entirely new SBC that doesn’t require the discontinued GR8 chip and designed a Pocket P.C. similar to the old Pocket C.H.I.P., which they have now made open source.

The Popcorn Computer Pocket P.C. was launched through a crowdfunding campaign at the beginning of the year, and is currently available for pre-order for $199 with WiFi and Bluetooth, or $299 with LoRa connectivity added. It has a 1.2Ghz quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 32GB of built-in eMMC storage, a large 4.95” HD IPS LCD screen, a 3200mAh LiPo battery, and, most importantly, a tactile back-lit keyboard. Development has continued since the original crowdfunding campaign concluded, and the Popcorn Computer team seems to have been hard at work to bring the Pocket P.C. to market.

On August 5th, Jose Torres, Popcorn Computer’s lead engineer, posted an update to let the community know that the Pocket P.C. hardware has been made open source. They have created a GitHub repository where you can find the files that are currently available, though some of them, such as the CAD files, won’t be released until after the Pocket P.C. has started shipping. Torres also explains some of the design changes that have made during development, including added SPI flash memory, a switch from an 8-layer PCB to a 10-layer PCB, minor revisions to the keyboard layout, and a complete redesign of the USB power charging circuit. Popcorn Computer is also looking for embedded development help from the community in order to ensure that custom Linux kernels won’t be required, so consider joining the effort if you have the required expertise.