BBC Doctor Who “HiFive Inventor” Coding Kit aims to teach IoT to kids

BBC Doctor Who HiFive Inventor Coding Kit

In what should be one of the first RISC-V education platforms, the BBC, Tynker, and SiFive have just announced the BBC Doctor Who “HiFive Inventor” Coding Kit that comes with an MCU board with WiFi & Bluetooth and guided lessons for kids that teach them to code for the IoT. The HiFive Inventor board is based on a SiFive FE310 RISC-V microcontroller ( the same chip as found in the HiFive1 board) and an ESP32 Solo module for WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x/5.x connectivity. Just like the BBC Micro:bit, HiFive Inventor provides a kids-friendly edge connector with I/O, an LED matrix, sensors, and more. The kit includes the HiFive Inventor hardware platform, a battery holder for three AA batteries (not included), the HiFive Speakers, an illuminated USB cable for power and programming, and alligator clips to connect the speaker or other add-ons to the HiFive Inventor board. HiFive Inventor board […]

PixelBlaze v3 WiFi LED board supports live-coding via a web interface (Crowdfunding)

We’ve previously covered a couple of ESP8266 WiFi boards to control LED strips from ANAVI Technology ESP8266 powered ANAVI Miracle Controller and ANAVI Light Controller Starter Kit, but Ben Henke has also made similar ESP8266 LED controllers with PixelBlaze boards. The latest iteration – PixelBlaze v3 – is based on ESP32 WiSoC and comes in two variants: PixelBlaze v3 Standard with headers and PixelBlaze V3 Pico in a much tinier form factor (33.3 x 11mm) with both models supporting live-coding via a web interface. PixelBlaze v3 specifications: Wireless SiP or module Standard – ESP32-WROOM-32 module with Espressif ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash Pico – ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with Espressif ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash 4-pin header with VCC, GND, DATA, CLK for LED matrix or strip Compatible with APA102, SK9822, DotStar, WS2811, WS2812 (up to 2,500 LEDs), WS2813, WS2815, NeoPixel, and WS2801 actively […]

WT32-SC01 is a thin 3.5-inch ESP32 color touchscreen display

3.5-inch ESP32 Display

Looking for an ESP32 board with a color touchscreen display? There is plenty of choices here, including Espressif Systems own ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1 multimedia devkit with a 3.2-inch display or M5Stack Core2 with a 2-inch display. But if you’d like a thinner and larger display, Tag Wireless WT32-SC01 is an ESP32-powered 3.5-inch color display with a 2-point capacitive touchscreen designed to be integrated into your own project or product. WT32-SC01 WiFi display specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-WROVER-B module based on ESP32-D0WD dual-core processor up to 240 Mhz with 4MB SPI flash, 8MB PSRAM, 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11 b/g/n up to 150 Mbps, and Bluetooth 4.2 LE Display – 3.5-inch 480×320 display (SPI) with 2-pin capacitive touchscreen (I2C) Expansion – 2x 40-pin I/O pads with GPIO, I2C, VN/VP,  I2S, UART, 5V, 3.3V, GND Misc – Reset button (6), power and UART LEDs Power Supply – 5V/1A via USB type-C port for display only, or […]

Giveaway Week 2020 winners announced

Giveaway Week 2020 Winners

CNX Software’s “Giveaway week 2020” took place last week with 7 different prizes including three MINIX accessories (USB-C hubs and USD PD charger), M5Stack Atom Echo ESP32 based programmable speaker,  Miniware DT71 smart tweezers, and two SBC’s namely RockPi 4C and Ryzen Embedded based DFI GHF51. All people had to enter was to leave a comment with the country to which the parcel would have to be sent. With the help of random.org, we now have selected and confirmed winners which all happen to come from the US or Europe this time around: MINIX NEO Storage Plus USB-C Hub with 480GB SSD – Marc, USA Miniware DT71 Smart Tweezers – xdcc_master, GERMANY MINIX NEO C-G USB-C Multiport Adapter – Barnaby, UK RockPi 4C SBC – Garrett, USA M5Stack Atom Echo ESP32 Speaker – Venet, ITALY MINIX NEO P2 100W USB-C Charger – Michal, SLOVAKIA DFI GHF51 Ryzen Embedded SBC – […]

TTGO T-Higrow is a WiFi & Bluetooth connected soil temperature & moisture sensor

LilyGO WiFI Bluetooth soil-sensor kit battery case

LilyGO has made plenty of ESP32 “TTGO” boards with various features be it PoE, battery support, OLED display, cellular connectivity, and even a devkit in watch form factor. The latest product from the company specifically targets smart farming/gardening as TTGO T-Higrow embeds either DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor or BME280 temperature, humidity, and barometric sensor to report soil temperature and moisture over Bluetooth or WiFi. It can also come as a kit with a battery and a 3D printed enclosure. TTGO T-Higrow board specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual-core LX6 processor @ up to 240 MHz with 520 LB SRAM, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth Storage – 4MB QSPI flash Wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Sensors Option 1 – DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor Option 2 – BME280 temperature, humidity, and barometric sensor Expansion – 2x 12-pin through holes with UART, […]

$6 WT32-ETH01 is a Tiny ESP32 board with Ethernet

WT32-ETH01 ESP32 Ethernet board

Espressif Systems ESP32 processor supports WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet connectivity. There are only a few boards coming with an Ethernet RJ45 jack out of the box including esp32MX-E ESP32 board, TTGO T-Internet-POE, and Olimex ESP32-Gateway board among others. Those boards are fine, but they sell for $16 and up, so if you’d like a cheaper and tinier ESP32 board with Ethernet, Wireless Tag WT32-ETH01 may be an option for projects not requiring PoE support. WT32-ETH01 board specifications: Wireless Module – Wireless Tag WT32-S1 based on ESP32 dual-core WiSoC with 4MB flash, on-board antenna Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet via LAN8720A transceiver 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR and LE Expansion – 2x 13 through holes and castellated holes with GPIOs, I2C, SPI,  2x UART, EN, LINK, 5V, 3.3V, and GND signals Power Supply – 3.3V or 5.5V via headers, minimum 500 mA; typical operating current: 80 […]

Giveaway Week – M5Stack Atom Echo ESP32 Speaker

I reviewed M5Stack Atom Echo Bluetooth speaker powered by ESP32 earlier this year, and that will be the fifth prize of Giveaway Week 2020. It’s very much like a (low-quality) Bluetooth speaker, but you can program it with the Arduino IDE to do whatever you want. There’s also a Grove connector and I/O headers to control external modules. There’s no battery, so a USB-C cable is needed for power. To enter the draw simply leave a comment with your country and whatever else you’d like to say. If the country is missing, I’ll consider the entry void. Other rules are as follows: Only one entry per contest. I will filter out entries with the same IP and/or email address. Contests are open for 48 hours starting at 11 am (Bangkok time) every day. Comments will be closed after 48 hours. If comments are open, the contest is still going on. […]

ESP32-S2 board targets battery-powered applications with 30uA deep sleep power consumption

ESP32-S2-DevKit-LiPo vs ESP32-S2-WROVER-Devkit-LiPo

A few months ago, Olimex unveiled renders of ESP32-S2-Devkit-LiPo WiFi board that was supposed to consume as little as 2uA in sleep mode, follows ESP32-S2-Saola-1 board form factor and pinout, and adds an ultra-efficient circuitry to support LiPo batteries. The good news is that Olimex has now launched two versions of their ESP32-S2 board optimized for battery-powered applications with ESP32-S2-DevKit-Lipo and ESP32-S2-WROVER-DevKit-Lipo (with 2MB PSRAM) going for 5.56 Euros and 6.36 Euros respectively. ESP32-S2-DevKit-LiPo specifications: Wireless module: ESP32-S2-DevKit-LiPo – ESP32-S2-WROOM with Espressif ESP32-S2 single-core 32-bit LX7 microprocessor up to 240 MHz with  128 KB ROM, 320 KB SRAM, 16 KB SRAM in RTC, 4MB SPI flash ESP32-S2-WROVER-Devkit-LiPo – ESP32-S2-WROVER – same as above plus 2MB PSRAM Wireless connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFI 4 up to 150 Mbps Expansion – 2x 20-pin I/O headers with SPI, I2S, UART, I2C, touch sensors, PWM, etc… (pin-to-pin compatible with ESP32-S2-SAOLA-1) Debugging – […]

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