M5Stack Unveils the CardputerZero, an All-In-One Pocket-Sized Gadget Powered by the Raspberry Pi CM0

M5Stack has introduced an impending refresh to its common Cardputer all-in-one growth board household — and this time it is dropping the microcontroller in favor of being powered by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero (CM0).

“M5 CardputerZero [is] your pocket Linux lab for coding, hacking, and creating,” the corporate guarantees of the primary Raspberry Pi-powered entry within the Cardputer vary. “From CLI [Command-Line Interface] and SSH [Secure SHell] access to on-device AI [Artificial Intelligence], it brings real Linux capability wherever you go. Upload your own projects or explore apps and community firmware in the built-in store. Switch instantly on-device — no PC, no reflashing.”

Previous entries within the Cardputer vary — the Cardputer and CardputerAdv — have been constructed round Espressif ESP32 microcontrollers, and have confirmed a well-liked alternative for these on the lookout for low-power embedded units with on-board shows, keyboards, and an inner battery. The new CardputerZero, although, significantly ups the efficiency stakes by switching out to the Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero, a Chinese-market-exclusive cost-reduced computer-on-module constructed across the Broadcom BCM2837 system-on-chip.

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero contained in the CardputerZero consists of 4 Arm Cortex-A53 cores operating at as much as 1GHz, a VideoCore-IV graphics processor operating at as much as 400MHz, on-board {hardware} codec for H.264 encoding at as much as 1080p30 and H.264/MP4 decoding on the similar decision, and 512MB of RAM. To this, M5Stack has added a 1.9″ LCD with HDMI output, an optional Sony IMX219 eight-megapixel camera, the Cardputer’s iconic compact 46-key keyboard, microphone and 1W speaker plus TRS jack for analog audio output, and an integrated 1,500mAh battery.

Elsewhere in the compact housing is an optional Bosch Sensortec BMI270 inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor, an Epson Crystal Device RX8130CE real-time clock (RTC), two USB Type-C and one USB Type-A port switchable between host and device modes, a wired Fast Ethernet port, single-band 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a microSD Card slot for storage, and a Grove port switchable between I2C and UART plus a 0.1″ 14-pin enlargement header with SPI, I2C, UART, and USB buses, a 5V energy provide, and general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) capabilities.

The firm has confirmed two variants of the gadget to be out there at launch: the CardputerZero consists of all of the above plus a bundled 32GB microSD Card, whereas the lower-cost CardputerZero Lite drops the digital camera, IMU and microSD Card to shave $50 off the worth. Interested events can register for “super early bird” pricing on the M5Stack store for $1, forward of a deliberate mid-May Kickstarter crowdfunding marketing campaign launch, to pre-order the CardputerZero Lite at $59 as an alternative of its deliberate $99 retail worth or the CardputerZero at $89 as an alternative of $149.