From the creative and cat-lovin' engineers at KittenBot comes the Meowbit - a handheld retro gaming computer for coding your own games with MakeCode Arcade and MicroPython. This design is really fun, with a GameBoy-like shape that can plug into micro:bit expansion boards. The built in display is a 160x128 color 1.8" TFT screen with the familiar ST7735 chipset over SPI. You also get 8 buttons (4-way D-Pad, A and B, menu and reset) to make games or interface with, and there's also a built-in speaker and SD card. For inputs there's a bunch of sensors including a light sensor, temperature sensor and even a 6-DoF gyro+accelerometer.
The micro:bit-familiar edge connector opens up access to many micro:bit expansion boards, but please note that the Meowbit isn't a micro:bit, it uses a different chipset (STM32) and does not have wireless or bluetooth. However, it is a great portable game platform for both Arcade and MicroPython (and you could probably get it working with Arduino or other C platforms, pretty easily!)
Check out these cool features:
- STM32F401 Cortex M4 CPU with native USB support
- USB program download port / charging port with USB drag-n-drop bootloader (UF2)
- Li-Poly charging circuitry and charging indicator LED. Lipoly battery not included, please pick one up separately.
- 160 x 128 TFT color screen
- 4 x Direction buttons, A + B Buttons, menu/boot mode button, reset button
- Light sensor
- Temperature sensor
- MPU6050 gyroscope
- On-off power switch
- 2 x Programmable LEDs
- Buzzer
- SD card slot
- Headphone "JACDAC" Multiplayer Connector (this is not a headphone audio port!)
- 2 MB SPI-flash (default download unicode character table)
- Edge connectors compatible with micro:bit
- Silicone cover
