Gaming PC

PotatoP Laptop Aims for Two Years of Battery Life

An electronics enthusiast has designed a “laptop form factor device” that is estimated to run for two years between charges.modestly named Potato P Along with a mix of low-power components, it combines a 12,000 mAh battery pack with modest solar cells. Ultimately, PotatoP designer Andreas Eriksen wants to develop this laptop project to offer infinite battery life, as well as a larger display.

(Image credit: Andreas Eriksen)

PotatoP’s inspiration came from the creator’s frustration that his existing laptop’s battery was constantly running low. The “small programming projects” where it was used did not require powerful hardware. As long as the screen is crisp and easy to read and the keyboard is craftsmanship, it’s better suited to the user if the laptop’s design skews towards very low power usage.

To execute the above vision, PotatoP’s design relies on the SparkFun RedBoard Artemis ATP developer board as the “motherboard”. This basic component selection includes: Ambiq Apollo3 SoCs, which is claimed to “set a new standard for energy efficiency in battery-powered devices.” The SoC’s Arm Cortex-M4F operates up to 96 MHz and consumes less than 6 microamps per MHz. The SBC also has 384KB of RAM and 1MB of Flash memory, and given its size, it offers a variety of interface/connection options.

(Image credit: Andreas Eriksen)

Another key component of PotatoP as we see it today is the Sharp Memory in Pixel display. LS044Q7DH01This is a 4.4 inch diagonal monochrome 320 x 240 pixel display. Eriksen says he hopes Sharp will make a larger version of this display, and may be open to alternatives as long as it’s power-thrifty. The display has no backlight, making it more power efficient. However, this 4.4-inch display of his is described as “surprisingly readable” in well-lit areas. Finally, I have to say that the small display gives this his PotatoP device a unique style.

It’s a clear sacrifice in display and processing power, but it’s good that the creators of PotatoP didn’t put up with a subpar typing experience. Therefore, he sacrificed his old Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2 and integrated it into PotatoP.

As software, PotatoP runs a Lisp environment (uLisp). Eriksen, creator of PotatoP, says that using Lisp to create the necessary application software is one of his pleasures in using this homemade computer.

(Image credit: Andreas Eriksen)

Finally, the PotatoP already has years of great battery life and is tuned to eliminate the need for a charging cable. The author is working on optimizing the system to reduce power consumption. You can read about this in development. project logIf software tweaking alone isn’t enough to extend battery life to infinity (with the help of solar), Eriksen is looking at adding solar cells to help reach this goal.

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