CHIP – The World’s First Nine Dollar Computer

chip 9 dollar computer

Have you ever heard of Kickstarter? It’s an online platform where people who have awesome and creative ideas but don’t have fund money share their ideas and ask the help of others to fund their projects (crowdfunding). Kickstarter is the birthplace of some pretty cool gadgets such as the Pebble & Pebble Time smartwatches, the OUYA video game console and the Micro consumer 3D printer.

One of the most popular on-going projects on Kickstarter is a project called C.H.I.P. or CHIP which is dubbed as the world’s first $9 computer.

As you can see from the video above, CHIP is very tiny (much smaller than a Raspberry Pi) and very easy to use. CHIP can be used by anyone – students, teachers, parents, grandparents, kids, artists, inventors, hackers, engineers, etc. It’s a cheap and easy way to acquire a computer for personal use as well as computer-based projects.

FEATURES & TECH SPECS

  • 1 GHz processor
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 4 GB Nand flash storage
  • Built-in WiFi
  • Built-in Bluetooth
  • USB port
  • Video/Audio/Mic port
  • Micro USB port

CHIP has a built-in composite output that allows you to connect it to compatible screens and available adapters that allows it to connect via VGA or HDMI.
chip 9 dollar computer

With the built-in WiFi, you can use C.H.I.P. to surf the Internet
chip 9 dollar computer

You can edit spreadsheets, create word documents or presentations with LibreOffice
chip 9 dollar computer

With the built-in Bluetooth, you can use a bluetooth controller to play your favorite retro games
chip 9 dollar computer

If you’ve tried or used Linux then you won’t have any problems running or using CHIP because the graphical display is similar. It’s built to run on a Debian-based distribution but it can run on any Linux-based distribution. Aside from that, CHIP also comes preinstalled with dozens of useful applications, tools and games such as Audacity audio editor & recorder, LibreOffice, VLC media player, Pidgin chat client, Gimp image manipulation and Inkscape vector graphics software just to mention a few. You can also download, install and run thousands of other open source programs.

CHIP can also be portable with the help of a Gameboy-looking device called PocketCHIP. It features a 4.3″ resistive touch display (470px x 272px), a 3,000 mAH battery and a full QWERTY keyboard. CHIP is attached to a hatch located at the back of PocketCHIP.

pocketchip
pocketchip

A nine dollar computer is pretty interesting and I’m really thinking about backing this project. However, I don’t know if I can wait that long for it to be available – May 2016. Anyways, I still have about 25 days to decide before this project ends.

To back this project or learn more about it, visit the official CHIP page on Kickstarter.

So what do you guys think of CHIP – the world’s first nine dollar computer? Would you be interested to have or buy one? If you had one, what would you use it for? Please share your thoughts via the comments below.

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2 Comments

  1. Jerry Laffertysays:

    I think i would like to see it $25 and give it a 2.0 processor and 2GB ram, Then you could actually put it to use.

    1. I know what you mean, however even with this current specs, it can already do a lot of stuff. Maybe they’re just trying this one out and if it works and is successful then they’ll probably make one with higher specs.

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