The Ben NanoNote (officially the 本 NanoNote)[2] is a pocket computer using the Linux-based OpenWrt operating system. An open-source hardware device developed by Qi Hardware, it has been called possibly "the world's smallest Linux laptop for the traditional definition of the word."[3] The device is also notable for being one of the first on the market made of entirely copyleft hardware.[4]
The computer takes its name from the Chinese character běn (本), translated as "an origin or the beginning place."[5]
History
Originally the hardware was developed by a third party as a digital dictionary. After the effort of several Qi Hardware developers, the design was freed as