FunKey-OS VS licheepi-nano-buildroot

So here is the thing: The iPod Nano 7g is from 2012. I've seen many people designing custom PCBs and releasing Kickstarter projects for custom audio players[5] or game handhelds[6]. I know Rockbox (which is great, but its lacks support for Wifi and Bluetooth AFAIK and just does not compete with the UX of iPod's audio book features in my opinion) and iPod Linux. 10 years ago someone even reverse engineered the iPod Nano 6g display[3].

Although I'm not skilled enough in PCB-Design, after some research I found the Lilygo T-Display S3 Pro[4] based on ESP32 S3, which would be the size, but lacks audio and OS. There is also the Mango PI CyberPad[7], which looked interesting, but maybe is already too clunky.

Programming wise, LVGL[8] may be a good framework to develop a modern and efficient UI - at least it looks promising.

So, why is nobody interested in recreating an iPod nano like device? It should be doable with modern tech, but Phones have completely taken over the marked...

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/comments/14ue4un/comment/ks1sj99/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

2: https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf-app/issues/847

3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TedIzmguP0

4: https://www.lilygo.cc/products/t-display-s3-pro

5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C597AkhGtw

6: https://www.funkey-project.com/

7: https://mangopi.org/cp1m

8: https://lvgl.io/

I have checked the FunKey project to have a more complete design, their stuff is awesome, and documentation insane, I think I will make a donation since they helped me so much.

I thought with some modifications (touchscreen, audio jack) it might be possible to create a small, affordable and hackable replacement of my iPod nano (see my github issue[5]).

So I would like to Ask HN:

- What would you think of a retro portable audio player mod?

- What other interesting projects could you think of for this?

[1]: https://www.funkey-project.com/

[2]: https://doc.funkey-project.com/developer_guide/hardware_reference/

[3]: https://github.com/FunKey-Project/FunKey-S-Hardware

[4]: https://github.com/FunKey-Project/FunKey-OS

[5]: https://github.com/FunKey-Project/FunKey-S-Hardware/issues/5

I'm in my 40's and play on this all the time in public Funkey S

For actually playable gaming, consider the Pocket Sprite, but for GOD tier mini-gaming, the Funkey S is just out of this world. Playstation emulation (and many others) in keyring size. Just insane.

The software is open source, Funkey OS.

possibly the wrong file extension? supported extensions: https://github.com/FunKey-Project/FunKey-OS/blob/master/FunKey/package/picodrive/opk/megadrive/megadrive.funkey-s.desktop

https://www.funkey-project.com/ Here's the link so that you can buy your own! :3 ,It's 65 Euros (or $75 US dollars). What color are you getting?

The FunKey S is another super tiny, but well built device.

I also want to mention the Lichee Pi Nano, though it is much smaller and targeting a different use case: https://www.cnx-software.com/2018/08/17/licheepi-nano-cheap-.... Made an embedded distro Buildroot config for that one some time ago (https://github.com/unframework/licheepi-nano-buildroot).

If this is indeed relevant, I also ported the Lichee Pi Nano vendor's kernel fork to newer Linux version as well (see links in the readme for https://github.com/unframework/licheepi-nano-buildroot).