CutiePi Tablet Officially Launches on Kickstarter

The open source device runs a Linux and Qt-based stack on the Raspberry Pi CM3+ Lite.

CutiePi, an open source tablet in development for over a year and now, the company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to promote and sell the tablet for just $179. The device runs on Linux, of course, along with Qt-based stack on a quad-core, 1.2GHz Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ Lite. It also has an 8" 1280x800 touchscreen, a 5000mAh battery, a 5MP camera, and USB/micro-HDMI ports. Backers should expect the tablet to ship around November 2020.

The CutiePi features a CutiePi shell mobile UI built with the Qt framework, and it runs the Raspberry Pi OS via X-Wayland. All of the tablet's hardware is open source, and all the OrCAD schematics, Allegro PCB layout, BOM, Gerber files, 3D files, middleware, STM32 firmware, and CutiePi shell software can be found on GitHub.

CutiePi's custom-designed carrier board for the RaspberryPi CM3+ is OSHWA-certified. In addition, the device ships with a microSD card preloaded with the OS and SH1.0 cable set for the GPIOs and the STM32 MCU.

The ultrathin 213 x 134 x 12mm tablet contains an 8" 1280x800 IPS LCD screen. The 5000mAh Li-Po battery lasts for up to five hours when the display is set to 50% brightness, and it charges via a USB-C port. CutiePi is also rigged with a micro-HDMI port, six GPIO pins, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and it includes a handle that doubles as a stand. It even comes with a 5-megapixel camera, a 2W speaker, and a sleep/wake button.

The CutiePi Shell ships with applications that allow the user to type commands into a terminal, connect to a WiFi hotspot. It’s an interesting setup for sure. But, I wonder if the forthcoming Compute Module 4 will be hot swappable.

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