[4] The computer takes its name from the Chinese character běn (本), translated as "an origin or the beginning place.

All source code, documentation and test procedures, software and hardware schematics are available under copyleft licenses.

[18][19][20] UBB, or Universal Breakout Board,[21] is a PCB shaped like a microSD card, focused on DIY projects and general purpose interfacing using the available MMC/SDIO port.

So far two hacks had been published: one of them, the integration with a 443 MHz RF transceiver[22] for power sockets control purposes and later a mix of bit banging and SDIO/DMA features turning the SD card slot into a VGA port.

[23][24] As the Ben NanoNote uses an Ingenic JZ4720 processor it supports booting from USB without use of the NAND flash memory.