Honestly, an MCU taking any more time than a couple milliseconds to boot is embarrassing. What exactly is taking so much time to load & set up? The rp2040 can run at 200mhz, and only has ~250 kb of ram. A one second boot up time would be equivalent to filling the entire memory with zeros 66 times. (Using all twelve channels of the DMA) And if you're talking about setting up the OS, that would be around 800 instructions per byte. It just doesn't make sense how that much time could be wasted.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

As cool as this is, the problem with these new OS projects is the lack of software, especially as it only runs micropython software (which can't run most normal python software)

You're stuck either writing a bunch of the basic apps yourself, or making a way to easily cross compile apps for it.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

I’ve seen a couple devices like this and the Clockwork Pi uConsole is one of the few cyber decks that pulls no punches. All aluminum construction, bespoke backlit keyboard, full compute module support, proper battery life (I get around 5-6 hours), hardware support from the dev, you name it. All of this for around $200.

The downside is they take nearly a year to ship. I was worried they were never going to deliver, but now I have the best portable way to play RCT2 among many other classic PC titles too annoying to run on a Steam Deck with no keyboard.

https://www.clockworkpi.com/uconsole