Diskio Pi Revisited, Now Cheaper with Improved Design

Last year, the original Diskio Pi was launched on Kickstarter with the promise of being a DIY modular tablet that was powered by the Raspberry Pi or Odroid SBCs. Unfortunately, it tanked, most likely due to costs, as it had a price tag of nearly $400 and a target goal of $451,000 — a little steep for an SBC-powered tablet. Guillaume Debray, the man behind the Diskio Pi, has since revised the DIY kit with an improved design that’s now more affordable (about $214).

As far as features go, the Diskio Pi packs an Innolux 13.3-inch (1920 X 1080) WLED touchscreen (connected via USB 2.0), video control board with HDMI 1.4 to eDP converter, stereo amplifier, and a pair of 1W speakers and a daughter board outfitted with Genesys USB hub, 9V to 5V/4A buck converter, fan controller, and HDMI external output. It also sports an Ethernet and 3.5mm stereo sound jack board, as well as the internal cables needed for connecting the Raspberry Pi or Odroid boards.

The Diskio Pi is equipped with a wealth of ports, including a pair of USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, USB power-out, and 9V DC jack. The tablet is being offered with a couple of optional rechargeable batteries based on your needs, including a 4-cell 7,000mAh, and 6-cell 10,500mAh. As far as SBCs that are compatible with the Diskio Pi- the Raspberry Pi 1 Model B/B+, Raspberry Pi 2, Raspberry Pi 3 B/B+, Raspberry Pi Zero, Odroid C1+, Odroid C2, Odroid XU4, and Up Board are all supported.

Guillaume is currently crowdfunding the Diskio Pi on Kickstarter with pledges beginning at about $214 for the Basic kit, which gets you just the Diskio Pi without a battery, of course, those are added at higher price tiers.