It will support PS/2 keyboards and VGA. Intended to be a learning platform for RISC-V coding, it's only got 2k of RAM. (I tried finding a 3rd party source for this announcement but I struck out, so I'm linking the actual olimex webpage. Not affiliated with them, just thought this looked neat.)
A CPU on its own cannot be a microcontroller alone via its definition; as a microcontroller contains a CPU and other needed components to drive it.
No microcontroller is going to beat a computer with a modern microprocessor on complex computing though. But it's good to know tech is still improving on all sides.
While I understand some of the hate in the thread, I appreciate someone creating something for us old timers. Working within the constraints of a system and making things work was a real satisfying experience.
Even at this price point isn't it more economic and sustainable to emulate a RISC-V device with already owned hardware. Especially since it's so low powered.
The esp32 doesn't have VGA.
I seriously doubt you can get these special Esp32 that have VGA and USB for $1 USD, I can't find pricing on any of them.
Cool concept though.
The board costs about $10, I have one on hand. Besides VGA and PS/2 ports, it also has an audio-out jack and a slot for SD cards. And if you want to compare specs, the ESP32 blows this away. Sure $1 sounds impressive, until you realize just how little you can do with it.