By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
A few weeks ago we brought you news of a new palmtop computer for hackers, powered by the new Espressif ESP32-P4 application processor. The Tanmatsu (Japanese for “Terminal”) is a compact handheld device with a QWERTY keyboard and an 800×480 DSI display, and while it currently exists at the final prototype stage there is a pre-order page upon which you can reserve an early production model for yourself. We’ve been lucky enough to be invited to give one a close-up inspection, so it was time to hot-foot it on the train to a Dutch hackerspace in order to bring you a preview.
A Little History, And First Impressions
Before looking at the device, it’s time for a little history. The Tanmatsu has its origin in badge.team, the Netherlands-based group that has produced so many European event badges over the years, and it was destined to eventually become the badge for the upcoming WHY2025 hacker camp. As sometimes happens in any community there has been a significant difference of opinion between the event orga and the badge.team folks that it’s inappropriate to go into here, so now it exists as a standalone project. It’s destined to be open-source in its entirety including hardware and software (and we will hold them to that, never fear), but because of the events surrounding its conception the full repositories will be not be made public until some time late in the summer.
Picking the Tanmatsu up and holding it, it’s a rectangular slab a bit larger and thicker than a CD case with that QWERTY keyboard and display on its front face, an array of ports including an SMA socket for a LoRA antenna on its sides, and an expansion connector on its rear. It has a sandwich construction, with a PCB front face, a 3D printed spacer, the PCB itself, and a 3D printed back cover all held together with a set of screws. The recesses on its bottom edge and the lower halves of the sides locate neatly with fingers and thumbs when it’s held in two hands for two-thumb typing. The keyboard is a silicone moulding as is common on this type of device, and while the keys are quite small it was not difficult to type on it. The display meanwhile feels of much higher quality than the SPI parts previously seen on badges.
A Hardware Quick Tour
Unscrewing the rear cover, and the circuitry is revealed. We must apologise for only having a mobile phone to hand to take photographs, but from the accompanying image you should be able to identify the main parts. In the centre of the board is the P4 processor, above it is an ESP32-C6 which does the job of a network card. To the left of that is an Ai-Thinker Ra-01SH LoRA module, and to the right is the power circuitry. Mid-right is a USB hub chip for the USB-A and USB-C sockets, and the microcontrollers. Below the P4 is an expansion connector, to the left of which is an audio DAC and amplifier with 3.5mm socket, and to the right of which is a CH32 microcontroller. This last component serves the keyboard, and performs housekeeping tasks for the device. The peripheral connectors aside from those already mentioned include a PMOD that doubles as JTAG and SAO, a micro SD socket, a Qwiic connector, and a camera connector that is compatible with certain Raspberry Pi cameras. Finally, there are three physical buttons on the left hand side. The battery, below the bottom of the photo, is the usual LiPo pouch cell with built-in protection, and it sits under the keyboard. On the front of the board next to the screen are some addressable LEDs. Having seen several earlier prototypes and now having held this production-ready model, we can say that the accumulated experience of the team behind it in making event badges really shows. It feels solid and ready for manufacture, and looking at the component choices we don’t find ourselves concerned by inappropriate connectors or annoying layouts.
The expansion port on the back is intended to foster an ecosystem of clip-on add-ons, with early signs of boards such as a Flipper Zero style RF hacking device and a companion board with interfaces for talking to computers in data centres being in the works. It is said that boards with MIDI, a high quality audio codec, and a camera, will follow.
What About The Software?
The best hardware in the world is of limited use without software, so it’s time to look at this side of the device, The team behind the Tanmatsu have a history of producing badges with a common operating system platform supporting an app infrastructure, and this one continues that legacy.
It’s a new version of their OS for the P4, and we understand that as with the MCH2022 badge OS it is adapted from the AppFS system originally written for the PocketSprite game console, with the addition of a GUI launcher and an open source badge.team app store. It will support apps written in high level scripting languages such as MicroPython, as well as native apps compiled for the P4. The device we were handling had the OS with GUI and launcher, and a single name badge app installed. On an earlier prototype though, we saw work in progress on more useful apps, and even an x86 PC emulator running Windows 3.0. It’s clear that the OS is being designed for a productive pocket computer rather than a toy badge, and this is something we’ll give a more detailed look in the future.
In Conclusion
Having given the Tanmatsu a detailed physical examination and seen the operating system as it exists today, our conclusion is that it’s a device which is physically well-designed and ready for manufacture, and like the badges produced in the past by the same team, it shows every indication of being delivered on time and with working software. As we said earlier it will be fully open-sourced in the summer and we will hold them to that, and thus it’s a device that we’re quite excited about.
As a general purpose hacker’s palmtop computer it occupies an interesting space between devices such as the Flipper Zero or existing event badges, and Linux-based devices such as the uConsole or Raspberry Pi based machines. We think it wins handsomely over the Linux devices on price, so for anyone who wants the extra power of the full-fat OS the question becomes whether that convenience is worth the expenditure. If you want one they can be pre-ordered for €99.17 (about $102) if you are outside the EU and don’t have to pay sales tax, or €120 with the tax included for EU customers. We’ve got one on order, and we’ll being you our full review when it lands.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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