As someone who is interested in similar old hardware that occasionally lacks any kind of documentation (specifically cameras), I sincerely wish I had this level of patience and determination (and also understanding, I'm not really a software guy).

Having had coworkers who worked for Fisher-Price, using worse components to save a fraction of a cent per device seems their general MO.

I fear that the future will increasingly be filled with people framing old/new cultural artifact X or Y in terms of whether or not it reminds them of social media.

(Not a dig at the article or the immense technical skills required to accomplish all of this)

All to say it's a major bummer his cool work is tainted by his dehumanizing words and I wonder if he understands how he comes off to people.

I found Pixter online but are there a little bit more capable systems like this for kids made today?

EDIT: Looks like devices by LeapFrog and VTech are the closest alternative these days so far.

I was half expecting you to find the Pixter Color VM to be a Forth like interpreter ;)

That hand rolled DAC for the touchscreen with the eight gpio lines is hilarious.