Floppy thumb drive integrates Adafruit PyPortal display based on Microchip SAMD51 MCU

Anne Barela’s Floppy Thumb Drive project houses the Adafruit PyPortal internet display in a 3D-printed enclosure that looks like a 3.5-inch floppy disk, just a bit thicker.

The computer-in-a-floppy-disk project runs CircuitPython code to list the first 12 files stored in the flash and can display photos or animations, play audio, or execute scripts.

The project consists of three main parts:

  • The Adafruit PyPortal internet display with
    • Microchip SAMD51 (ATSAMD51J20) Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ up to 120 MHz with 1 MB flash, 256 KB SRAM
    • Display – 3.2-inch 320 x 240 color TFT display with resistive touchscreen
    • Audio – Speaker
    • Storage
      • 8MB flash storage
      • optional microSD card (not used in the project).
    • ESP32 for WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity (not used in the project)
    • Sensors – Light and Temperature sensors
    • Misc – NeoPixel RGB
  • Micro USB to USB cable
  • 3D printed files for the front cover, back door, front door, disk, and back cover

Floppy thumb drive computer in floppy disk

The instructions to make the build including the STL files to print the plastic part, assembly instructions, and CircuitPython code can be found on the Adafruit website. Anne also explains the program can also be expanded by the user to make use of the other hardware such as the microSD card or WiFi (ESP32).

The Adafruit PyPortal Internet Display can be purchased from Adafruit for $54.95.

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