Pocket Chip: Alive in '25

In 2016, Next Thing Co. released the Pocket CHIP. It was a handheld Linux console, I was an early adopter - bought it thinking I'd write a game on Pico 8, write a song using Sunvox, learn coding, maybe write a novel on it.

Reality is I played with each gadget for a minute, and put it away for a few years.

Years pass, and I found that my Pocket CHIP died. If you leave it long enough - it's memory wipes out. The solution should be simple, you could flash the unit using a Google Chrom extension.

The issue is, Next Thing Co. bordered up before sending out their final orders, the Google Chrome extension works for some, but not for others, meaning a tonne of their stock is no better than a paperweight - however some smart folks have created scripts, mirrored operating system downloads.

If you have a linux machine.

I usually have a lot of different projects on the brain, and I figured out how to fix it. I have a Raspberry Pi - a cheap buy from an Op Shop that I never really got to using. It ties in a little to my want for old internet, I had it running on a monitor... the dream being able to run it on a square display... Maybe someday.

This was easier to flash with a Debian operating system, then I set myself onto reflashing the Pocket Chip. I can't even recall how I did it, a lot of trial and error, restarting from scratch and mixing a few different things up. It took me hours over a two weeks and I got there, Yet Another Tech Gemlog by nytpu and suramya's blog. I felt a personal achievement