It's no secret that we're fans of the Raspberry Pi here at Tom's Hardware but ever since the company decided to release the microprocessors along with the Pico and Pico 2, we've seen an amazing plethora of custom boards created by the community. Today we've got a really cool example to share of such a creation, this one put together by Vcc Labs and shared to Kickstarter. Vcc Labs has created a super tiny Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered RGB LED matrix known as Nova.
So far, the Kickstarter has been posted but is not open for purchases so pricing information and tiers have yet to be made available. If you decide to follow this Kickstarter, it's important to note that supporting campaigns should be viewed more like an investment, and is not a guarantee that you will receive the product listed. So be cautious and discriminatory in what you decide to support.
When we say the Nova is tiny, we mean it. It's so small it can fit on your thumb but manages to pack a 7 x 10 matrix full of RGB LEDs. This board is similar to Pimoroni's Pico Unicorn Pack but is much smaller and more compact. If you want to know more about the Pico Unicorn Pack, you can check out our review posted by Les back in 2021.
According to Vcc Labs, the Nova is built using a 4-layer PCB. The RGB LEDs are WS2812 which are fully addressable and extremely small, measuring in at 1 x 1mm each. The board is powered by an RP2040 microcontroller and is both programmed and powered by a USB Type-C interface.
Programming details are a little bit scarce but Vcc Labs confirmed that compatibility is one of the main goals of the project. According to the Kickstarter campaign page, you should be able to program Nova using a variety of options like MicroPython and even Arduino IDE so it can be accessible to both beginners and more experienced makers.
If you want to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, you can check it out over at Reddit and Kickstarter. Again, the project is not yet live and we're not sure how much it will cost but you can sign up to follow the campaign launch over at Kickstarter. If you don't feel like waiting and want something similar, we highly recommend checking out the Pico Unicorn Pack, put together by Pimoroni, which offers a fun RGB matrix experience albeit with a slightly larger form factor.
