Teensy becomes a small handheld and plays emulators

Science fiction predicted that one day we would all be carrying around tiny computers with great power. While smartphones are great, those predictions were based more on cuter systems that were closer to existing computers, complete with keyboards and screens. [Jean-Marc Harvengt] has built something along these lines, and it's called the T-COMPUTER.

This release centers around the mighty Teensy 4.1. That means it has an 800MHz Cortex-M7 processor, 1MB of RAM and 8MB of flash memory, eclipsing the specs of many retrocomputers of yesteryear. [Jean-MarcHarvengt] paired the Teensy with a 42-key keyboard and a TFT display, creating a compact handheld platform. It also has a VGA output for viewing on a larger screen, as well as a USB port and an old-school Atari joystick port! Power is via a small rechargeable lithium battery on the back, and 16-bit stereo audio is available via a standard 3.5mm jack. There is also a small GPIO available if you need to interface with something.

It is capable of emulating the Commodore 64 and Super Nintendo, as well as more obscure systems like the Atari Lynx. And before you ask, yes it can run DOOM. It's a fun little rig that would be nice for retrogaming and hacking on the go. If you want to build your own, files are readily available on Github to recreate the system.

Laptop versions are growing in popularity now that so much computing power can be had in tiny development board form factors. If you've built your own neat little rig, be sure to let us know! Video after the break.

[Thanks to Alex for the tip!]