An 8-Bit Arduino Laptop
An 8-bit ATmega2560 microcontroller is perfectly capable of blinking LEDs, reading sensors, or controlling a hobby robot. Running a multitasking desktop environment with games, a file manager, and video playback is another matter entirely. But that is exactly what Vladimir set out to do with AVR-Laptop, a tiny homemade computer built around an Arduino-compatible Mega 2560 Pro Mini development board.
The finished machine's 3D-printed enclosure measures just 12 × 11 × 3.4 cm. Along with the ATmega2560 board, it contains a 128 × 64 monochrome ST7920 LCD, a VS1053 audio decoder and speakers, a microSD card slot, a real-time clock, an 18650 battery, and a custom QWERTY keyboard. Its firmware runs on FreeRTOS, giving the little 8-bit computer a true multitasking environment.
A look inside the case (📷: Vladimir)
That means applications can continue running in the background. Start playing a video, switch to Sokoban with Alt+Tab, and the audio...
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