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CHIP was a small Debian-based single-board computer promoted in 2015 with a $9 entry price. That figure described the board’s advertised starting price—not a complete desktop setup—and the product is now discontinued. Using one as a computer required power, a screen, and input devices; buying a new one from its maker is no longer an option.
What was CHIP?
CHIP, styled C.H.I.P., was a single-board computer made by Next Thing Co. It ran CHIP OS, based on Debian Linux, and was designed for general computing and hardware projects. The official product documentation listed 4GB of storage, stereo audio, video output, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, and project connections. Its wireless specifications were Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 LE. The CHIP documentation described it as a platform for activities including browsing, email, games, music, writing, programming, and making projects; those are stated use cases, not modern performance benchmarks.
The maker’s product copy summed up the aim: “CHIP is built for making – we’ve packed a powerful processor, 4 GB of storage, stereo audio, video out, and lots of connections for playing and making your projects and products.”
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What did the $9 price cover?
The $9 figure was CHIP’s promoted entry price for the board, not the price of a ready-to-use desktop. The official guide says desktop use also called for a power source, a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse. The campaign’s funding total and number of backers do not indicate how many units were sold or shipped.
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- Arty A7 comes in two FPGA variants: Arty A7-35T features Xilinx XC7A35TICSG324-1L. Arty A7-100T features the larger Xilinx XC7A100TCSG324-1.
- Internal clock speeds exceeding 450MHz, On-chip analog-to-digital converter (XADC), Programmable over JTAG and Quad-SPI Flash
- 256MB DDR3L with a 16-bit bus @ 667MHz, 16MB Quad-SPI Flash, USB-JTAG Programming circuitry, Powered from USB or any 7V-15V source
- 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, USB-UART Bridge
- 4 Switches, 4 Buttons, 1 Reset Button, 4 LEDs, 4 RGB LEDs, 4 Pmod connectors, shield connector
How did CHIP get its power and connect to a screen?
Power for the board
The guide recommends a 5-volt supply with 2A of current available and a USB-A-to-micro-USB-B cable between the adapter and CHIP. Its stated typical draw is about 500mA during boot, around 200mA while running, and about 80mA when idle. The guide warns that a supply providing as little as 900mA risks brown-outs, so the recommended 2A capacity provides headroom.
The guide also documents an alternative battery connection: a single-cell 3.7V LiPo battery with a 2-pin JST-PH connector. That specification does not mean any battery or connector is suitable.
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- 【Wi-Fi/Bluetooth and Arduino Cloud Compatibility】 - This board uses 2.4GHz dual-mode WiFi and wireless chips with low-power technology, which are RoHS-compliant, simplifying wireless communication and allowing you to easily connect devices and platforms. Whether you are using a compatible Arduino IDE or exploring other development environments, our board can easily adapt to your needs.
- 【Improved and Professional Edition】 - All IO pins are brought out for easy development; no additional breadboard is required; the Type-C interface is equipped with electrostatic discharge protection diodes and transient voltage suppression diodes to protect the chip from damage by electrostatic breakdown and various surge pulses. In addition, it is equipped with a freeRTOS operating system, which is very suitable for the Internet of Things, smart homes, and building smart robots/game consoles.
- 【Easy to Use】- The ACEBOTT ESP-32 Development Board includes everything you need to support the microcontroller. Just connect it to a computer via a USB cable or use an AC-DC adapter or battery to power it to start using it. Whether you are an experienced developer or a hobbyist, this development board can provide you with the tools you need for unlimited innovation.
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Display and input
For a desktop setup, users had to supply a screen and keyboard and mouse; CHIP’s $9 starting-price description did not include those peripherals. TIME’s 2015 coverage discussed video output as a way to reuse older televisions, among the proposed uses for the board. That article quoted Next Thing Co. founder and CEO David Rauchwerk on the idea: “We have a lot of fun, retro gear in our studio,” says Rauchwerk. “It’s a way of giving life to this stuff that would be otherwise thrown away.” This was his stated design rationale at the time, not a current company statement.
What was PocketCHIP?
PocketCHIP turned the CHIP board into a portable configuration by combining it with a case, keyboard, display, and battery. Its documented display was a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 480 × 272 pixels, and it had a full QWERTY keyboard. The PocketCHIP documentation also describes using its terminal for file handling and GPIO work.
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- 🍊[High-Performance Processing]: Orange Pi 5B is powered by a Rockchip RK3588S 8-core processor, featuring 4 Cortex-A76 cores and 4 Cortex-A55 cores, with a maximum frequency of up to 2.4GHz. Along with a built-in NPU offering 6 TOPS of AI computing power. Available with 4GB, 8GB, 16GB of LPDDR4/4x memory, and 32GB, 64GB, or 256GB of eMMC storage, this board supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and up to 8K display processing capabilities.
- 🍊[Enhanced Connectivity Over Orange Pi 5]: Orange Pi 5B adds advanced wireless communication features, including Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 to the Orange Pi 5. The Wi-Fi supports 2T2R 802.11 ax/ac/a/b/g/n, utilizing both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands with MIMO standard, using PCIe 2.1 interface. Bluetooth 5.0 uses UART/PCM interface. Additionally, the Orange Pi 5B can be equipped with 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of eMMC storage, enhancing its performance and versatility.
- 🍊[Versatile Application Scenarios]: Orange Pi 5B single-board computer offers a rich set of interfaces, including HDMI output, a GPIO interface, USB Type-C port, Gigabit LAN port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and 1 USB 3.0 port. It is designed for a wide range of applications, including tablets, edge computing, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, AR/VR, intelligent security, smart home systems, and various AIoT industries.
- 🍊[Advanced Display and Multimedia Capabilities]: With the ability to process up to 8K displays, the Orange Pi 5B is perfect for high-resolution multimedia applications. Its powerful GPU and NPU make it suitable for complex image processing, AI tasks, and immersive AR/VR experiences, ensuring top-tier performance across various use cases.
- 🍊[Support for Open Source Operating Systems]: Orange Pi 5B supports a variety of open-source operating systems, including Orange Pi OS, as well as Android, Debian, Ubuntu and Orange Pi OS (OH) based on OpenHarmony. This flexibility makes it an ideal platform for developers and enthusiasts working on diverse projects.
Learning activities and project parts
The PocketCHIP guide presents educator-oriented Pico-8 activities: making a game, editing a sprite, and using an LED activity to introduce basic circuits. The LED activity lists a mini breadboard, male headers, and female/male jumper cables. These components belong to that documented lesson; they were not included in CHIP’s advertised $9 board price.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How successful was the Kickstarter campaign?
The Kickstarter campaign ran from May 7 to June 6, 2015. Kickstarter records 39,560 backers and $2,071,927 pledged toward a $50,000 goal. Those figures describe campaign backers and pledges—not product sales or shipment counts. The campaign page is the source for those totals.
Can you still buy or use CHIP?
The historical overview at getchip.com describes CHIP and related products as discontinued and says Next Thing Co. entered insolvency in 2018. It does not establish current reseller inventory. Anyone considering a used unit should verify the seller, condition, included accessories, access to a usable OS image, and compatibility with the services or peripherals they intend to use. The available historical documentation does not establish that CHIP remains a supported alternative to current single-board computers.
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