Flipper unveils a Linux-powered networking gadget built for hackers and tinkerers

Flipper Devices, maker of the Flipper Zero hacking device, today announced a new gadget called Flipper One that has multiple network connectivity chops and can act as a Linux PC (is this the year?). The company has sold over a million Flipper Zero units and has generated over $150 million in sales. However, the new device is not a successor as it operates on a different layer than the Flipper Zero, the company said.

The Flipper Zero device is popular in the hacker community, which can connect to radios like Bluetooth, RFID, NFC, a sub-1GHz transceiver, and Infrared. The device could act like a key fob or an entry pass, but could also be used in cases like spamming nearby iPhones.

Meanwhile, the new Flipper One device relies on network connectivity through 2x Gigabit Ethernet, USB Ethernet (5 Gbps), and Wi-Fi 6E (2.4/5/6 GHz). What’s more, the device has an M.2 port, which can be used to connect a modem for 5G connectivity or other devices like SDR modules, AI accelerators, SSDs (NVMe or SATA), and Wi-Fi cards via adapters. The device is still in development, and the company is merely announcing the project at the moment.

The device will run two processors along with an 8GB RAM. The first is an eight-core RK3576 chip that runs open Linux along with a Mali-G52 GPU and an NPU to run local AI models.

The company said that it worked with open-source software consulting firm Collabora to push this chip’s support into the mainline Linux Kernel, so anyone can download it from Kernel.org and tinker with it.

The second chip is a two-core Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller. This powers display, buttons, and touchpad, LEDs, and the power subsystem, so even when the Linux part of the device is turned off, users can operate the device.

Flipper Devices CEO Pavel Zhovner said that the company is also developing its own Linux-based flavour. He said in a blog that while Raspberry Pi OS is fluid and he enjoys using it, it is hard to do a clean factory reset after installing packages unless you re-flash the SD card for a new project. The Flipper OS, which is currently in a concept stage, will allow users to access profiles with different pre-configured packages and settings. By doing this, users can play around with software and go back to a clean copy without swapping or flashing SD cards.

As part of the development, the company is also making a FlipCTL interface to control small screen LCDs on devices like Flipper One with D-pad and touch controls.

The company said that with network connection drivers, users can use Flipper One as a router, a VPN gateway, or a bridge between. Plus, they can plug in a monitor, along with a keyboard and a mouse through a USB Hub to make for a Linux desktop or use it as an on-the-go media box through its HDMI 2.1 port with support for 4K streaming at 120Hz. Users can also run local AI models to operate the device, generate configs, and get useful tips without an internet connection.

Flipper Devices has just announced the device and overall roadmap of how it could be used. There are still a lot of missing software pieces to enable all the mentioned features. For instance, NPU for AI and hardware video decoding lacks mainline kernel support. Both FlipperOS and FlipperCTL are concepts at the moment. The team has yet to train offline LLMs that would help users with configs.

The company is inviting developers to join the community and develop parts of the software that could be used to ship the final device. It said that the final details of the consumer launch would be announced in the future, but the device is likely to cost less than $350 for the base configuration without cellular modules.