EARLY DEVELOPMENT. Things will change and break, sometimes without warning.

LOOK LIKE 1983.
WORK LIKE 2025.

PiZXel is a retro operating system for LED-matrix displays: chunky pixels, Spectrum colours and real apps. Here you can run your own PiZXel in the browser and play it with your keyboard. No download, no account.

Start your PiZXel ▶ I have a handle

The launcher: arrow keys to choose, Enter to open
The launcher: arrow keys to choose, Enter to open

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

PiZXel and this website are being built in the open, right now. Features will appear, change and disappear. Things will break. At some point your saved PiZXel may be reset or lost: we'll try hard to avoid that, and we'll be more careful as real people start using it, but it isn't a promise yet.

Please don't keep anything here you'd be sad to lose.

WHAT'S INSIDE

Plus a timer, a screensaver, and add-ons you can switch on from the app shelf. More are on the way.

HOW IT WORKS

  1. Pick a handle and a PIN. That's all we ask: no email, no name, no account.
  2. Play. Arrow keys to move, Enter to choose, Esc to go back. On a phone, use the on-screen keys.
  3. Come back any time. This browser remembers you; anywhere else, use your handle and PIN. PiZXels unused for 90 days are deleted.

Start your PiZXel ▶ I have a handle

ALSO ON YOUR DESK

PiZXel runs on a Raspberry Pi with an LED matrix or a small screen, in a terminal, or in a browser. It's open source (MIT) and written in TypeScript. Get it on GitHub.