A PDA-style mini pocket laptop

For a time within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, PDAs (private digital assistants) had been fairly well-liked. However smartphones made PDAs out of date, as even early fashions had way more performance. A lot of at this time’s microcontrollers have efficiency much like early PDAs and Volos took benefit of that to construct an Arduino Nano-based mini pocket laptop paying homage to a traditional PDA.

PDAs — particularly early fashions — had been rather more restricted than smartphones. Their options had been extra akin to what we name “dumbphones” at this time, besides with none type of WiFi or mobile connectivity. They often solely had a handful of “apps,” reminiscent of a calendar, watch/timer, calculator, and notes. Later PDAs would come with some connectivity choices and the flexibility to ship emails, however this mini PC is extra like the primary technology of PDAs just like the Psion Organizer from the ’80s.

An Arduino Nano board controls all of this system’s capabilities. It attaches to a customized PCB that doubles because the physique of the system. The PCB additionally comprises a small OLED display in portrait orientation, three buttons, a potentiometer, an LED, and piezo buzzer. Volos designed the PCB in order that two boards can stack, separated by stand-offs, with the LiPo battery sandwiched in between. Volos programmed some primary PDA apps that make the most of customized libraries which preserve reminiscence utilization down.

In case you’re concerned about constructing your personal Arduino Nano mini PC, Volos revealed the entire recordsdata you want on his GitHub web page.