TinyLlama Is the Minuscule x86 PC You’ve Been Praying For

We’re currently experiencing something of a tiny computer renaissance brought on by the proliferation of single-board computers (SBCs) like Raspberry Pis. But the vast majority of SBCs contain Arm processors with limited operating system compatibility. There are exceptions, but most SBCs can only run Linux distros and that limits the available software selection dramatically. Laptops and desktops almost exclusively utilize the Intel-developed x86 architecture, but Arm processor-equipped SBCs can’t accommodate that. However, the TinyLlama mini PC platform supports x86 architecture and is perfect for DOS gaming.

Microsoft’s MS-DOS is far and away the most popular implementation of DOS in history. Early versions of Microsoft Windows ran on top of MS-DOS, but that changed with the release of Windows 95. That and later versions of Windows still included MS-DOS for compatibility reasons, but they run on their own kernels. The ‘80s and ‘90s were the heyday of DOS gaming, with popular exclusives like Day of the Tentacle and Duke Nukem 3D. You can’t play the original versions of those games on a Raspberry Pi or similar Arm SBC without resorting to DOS emulation, but you can play them on the TinyLlama computer.

The heart (or brain) of the TinyLlama computer is a Vortex86EX 32-bit x86 processor that can run at 60-500MHz — blazing fast for games of the era. That comes on an 86Duino SOM that includes 128MB of DDR3 RAM and 8MB of programmable flash ROM. The Vortex86VGA module acts as a PCI-E video card and supports a maximum resolution of 1024x768 at 60Hz with 4MB of SRAM. A Crystal CS4237B sound chip mimics a Sound Blaster Pro soundcard.

Power comes from a micro USB port and the TinyLlama draws between 3 and 4.5W, which means any USB cellphone charger can supply enough power. There are two USB-A 2.0 ports for a keyboard, mouse, or additional storage. The primary storage is handled by a microSD card. Other connectivity includes a DE-9 serial port and a three-pin TTL serial connector. A small 12mm onboard speaker handles system beeps and chirps, while a standard 3.5mm TRRS line-out audio jack provides output to speakers from the sound chip.

TinyLlama also supports the addition of a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 that acts as a MIDI synthesizer. That’s an interesting provision, because it lets users produce high-quality synth sounds using retro DOS software. That isn’t the same as chiptuning, because the sound isn’t generated by a vintage chip with limited wave-generation capability. But it is a cool way to play around with old electronic music production software.

The BIOS is built on Coreboot and SeaBIOS, and TinyLlama can run either MS-DOS or FreeDOS. TinyLlama isn’t available for sale at this time, so you’ll have to build your own. But this is an open source project and all of the design files and instructions are available on the GitHub page.