9 ms·

Didn't read all the author's criteria, but esp8266 is worth mentioning in the context of cheap microcontrollers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266 https://

by Yaggo 9y ago

Didn't read all the author's criteria, but esp8266 is worth mentioning in the context of cheap microcontrollers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266

restricted_ptr 9y ago
Yep, enjoyed this one.
blhack 9y ago
I am falling in love with wemos's breakout boards for ESP. For instance, this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WeMos-D1-ESP-Wroom-02-ESP8266-Nodemcu-WiFi-Module-With-18650-Battery-Charging/32817675179.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10344_10345_10547_10342_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10562_10084_10083_10561_10178_10312_10313_10314_10550_10073_10551_10552_10553_10554_10557_10558-10550,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=e1aae482-0c4a-4b5b-9dd9-ac5cda98f697&algo_expid=8ab3d1af-a0d5-47e9-a01d-a89c2e861f08-2&algo_pvid=8ab3d1af-a0d5-47e9-a01d-a89c2e861f08 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WeMos-D1-ESP-Wroom-02-ESP826... This is an ESP8266 breakout/programmer for about ~$3: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-ESP12-ESP-12-WeMos-D1-Mini-WIFI-Dev-Kit-Development-Board-NodeMCU-Lua/32653918483.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10344_10345_10547_10342_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10562_10084_10083_10561_10178_10312_10313_10314_10550_10073_10551_10552_10553_10554_10557_10558-10550,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=08a29c25-5462-4269-b59f-aba059e2f7cf&algo_expid=61c40478-e028-4e04-b853-fc44623a7f9e-0&algo_pvid=61c40478-e028-4e04-b853-fc44623a7f9e https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-ESP12-ESP-12-WeMos-D... Absolutely incredible stuff. Ordered this one coming soon: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WEMOS-WiFi-Bluetooth-Battery-ESP32-development-tool-ESP32-battery-esp8266-ESP-WROOM-32-ESP32/32819459737.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10344_10345_10547_10342_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10562_10084_10083_10561_10178_10312_10313_10314_10550_10073_10551_10552_10553_10554_10557_10558,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=6afe83b5-f204-431c-bb21-130bd4bd77e5&algo_expid=2d089ef2-2fcc-4aba-ad2d-b8a0cd3b5a6d-0&algo_pvid=2d089ef2-2fcc-4aba-ad2d-b8a0cd3b5a6d https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WEMOS-WiFi-Bluetooth-Battery... And in the realm of awesome breakouts that I'm excited for: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-TTGO-LORA-SX1278-ESP32-0-96-OLED-16-Mt-bytes-128-Mt-bit-433Mhz-for/32833821668.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-TTGO-LORA-SX1278-ESP32-... There is some really incredible stuff coming out based on the ESP8266 and ESP32 right now. IMO completely blows all of the normal arduino stuff out of the water.
- slug 9y ago
  I believe that for the US market you are required to use the 915MHz ISM band LORA modules, the one you pointed to works in the 432MHz band.
  - blhack 9y ago
    I'm not sure about that, but adafruit also sells a 432mhz board in the US without any warnings: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3079 https://www.adafruit.com/product/3079
- StavrosK 9y ago
  Wait, is that last one two ESP32 boards with LoRa and a screen for less than $20? If so, that's amazing, but it's too cheap and I don't see the ESP32.
  - hwh 9y ago
    It (the ESP32) is right in the middle of the bottom view photo. The actual SX1278 is smaller, on the right. On the bottom, you have the SPI flash for the ESP32.
    - StavrosK 9y ago
      Ah, interesting, I thought the ESP32 had the same layout as the ESP8266 (processor + flash storage) so I got confused. I guess the ESP8266 storage is embedded in the chip. Very nice breakout, I'll have to look around for a 864 MHz one.
  - blhack 9y ago
    Well that is what they're advertising, which is absolutely insane in my opinion. I ordered a few of them[1], so I'll let you know when they get here. It looks like the ESP32 is on the back. Sparkfun also sells an ESP32 that comes in that package: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13907 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13907 What's really interesting going on right now is that adafruit/sparkfun have become radioshack, and aliexpress has become my go to place to find interesting new stuff. I will say that whenever I'm doing a commercial project[2], however, I still use the more expensive adafruit/fry's/genuine arduino boards. [1]: I help run a hackerspace in Phoenix, and I do all sorts of maker workshops all over the world, so having a bunch of weird dev boards and parts and stuff is pretty important to me. If those don't end up working, it was worth the $40 to find out. [2]: Part of my life is helping create one-off experiential advertising installations. Usually these things have a stack of arduinos in them controlling lights, sensors, motors, etc.
lucaspiller 9y ago
Yeah if anyone is just looking to get started tinkering with embedded hardware I'd say this is the way to go. The chips were made popular by NodeMCU which uses Lua, but you can easily run Arduino or write plain C on the same hardware. I've tried a few breakout boards and my favourite is the WEMOS D1 Mini. All you need to supply is a MicroUSB cable. You can get them shipped from China for under $3: https://wiki.wemos.cc/products:d1:d1_mini https://wiki.wemos.cc/products:d1:d1_mini
- Jedd 9y ago
  Agreed - the 3v3 thing can be a bit of a pain if you've got a collection of Arduino 5v-friendly bits, but not insurmountable. Big warning I'd make, though, is that the D1 has two revisions - the R1 (rarely described as such of course), and the R2. You definitely want the R2. However, many ebay vendors are still selling R1's.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    In my experience, the ESP8266 is fine with 5V, I have yet to burn one even with 5V on its pins.
    - aexaey 9y ago
      > ESP8266 is fine with 5V Yes and no. ESP8266 would typically survive 5V applied on any pin, and sometimes even sort-of work with 5V power applied (although with much higher power consumption and no WiFI). But there is a catch. Pretty much all CMOS chips (ESP8266 inclided) have body diodes from each IO pin to power/ground. This means - you can't have voltage higher than VCC+0.6v or lower than GND-0.6v on any pin. So what happens when you have ESP8266 powered from 3.3v and connected to 5V I/O is - ESP will get (partially) powered via I/O pin. Depending on what 5V part is connected to that I/O, that might be bad for that part (excess of I/O sink current). And in extreme cases (5V I/O pin that can deliver high current, or ESP is in deep sleep), this will supply current into 3.3V VCC rail, bringing it up as high as 5 - 0.6 = 4.4v potentially. Which could be bad for anything else on that rail. As a practical example - let's say we have ESP8266 powered by a switching supply with MP2307DN [1] chip delivering 3.3v, and connected to a 5v AVR. In normal operation, ESP takes ~70mA, which exceeds 40mA driving capability of AVR, so it's all good [2]. However once ESP8266 goes to deep sleep, all 40mA from AVR's I/O go via ESP's body diode back to MP2307DN switch, which usually would fail catastrophically and end up shorting input to output, supplying 12 (or whatever the input is) volts to ESP's VCC. Which is likely to fail as well, sending 12v further and frying the whole thing. [1] MP2307DN is widely and cheaply available on "Mini360 DC-DC buck convertor" boards and it really doesn't like current being back-fed into its output [2] Except I/O drive transistor in AVR is overloaded, which might or might not lead to its failure eventually.
etiene 9y ago
Yea, I was hoping to see it there on the comparison list. I guess it fails some criteria.
- pantalaimon 9y ago
  > I guess it fails some criteria. > A new series that explores 21 different microcontrollers — all less than $1
  - ketsa 9y ago
    The ESP8266 microcontroller chip is probably less than 1$ since we can find full esp modules for 1$50 or less...
- logicallee 9y ago
  It fails the "only" criterion (it costs more than $2.20, whereas the author had a strict $1 cut-off precisely stating that a huge field opens up above that price range.) Fom "the rules": >While some projects that come across my desk are complex enough to require a hundreds-of-MHz microcontroller with all the bells and whistles, it’s amazing how many projects work great using nothing more than a $1 chip — so this is the only rule I established for the shoot-out. >I wanted to explore the $1 pricing zone specifically because it’s the least amount of money you can spend on an MCU that’s still general-purpose enough to be widely useful in a diverse array of projects. >Any cheaper, and you end up with 6- or 8-pin parts with only a few dozen bytes of RAM, no ADC, nor any peripherals other than a single timer and some GPIO. >Any more expensive, and the field completely opens up to an overwhelming number of parts — all with heavily-specialized peripherals and connectivity options. Of course, the ESP8266 is precisely this "hundreds of megahertz" chip (160 Mhz) with "heavily specialized connectivity options" and peripherals (wifi and, in the case of ESP8265, a full megabyte of flash memory). While all this is interesting, at the $2+ price there are "an overwhelming number of parts." So the author chose $1 as a very hard cut-off.
  - rasz 9y ago
    ESP8266 is $1.4 in single chip quantities, <$1 in bulk

by Yaggo 9y ago

Didn't read all the author's criteria, but esp8266 is worth mentioning in the context of cheap microcontrollers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266

restricted_ptr 9y ago

Yep, enjoyed this one.

blhack 9y ago

I am falling in love with wemos's breakout boards for ESP. For instance, this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WeMos-D1-ESP-Wroom-02-ESP8266-Nodemcu-WiFi-Module-With-18650-Battery-Charging/32817675179.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10344_10345_10547_10342_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10562_10084_10083_10561_10178_10312_10313_10314_10550_10073_10551_10552_10553_10554_10557_10558-10550,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=e1aae482-0c4a-4b5b-9dd9-ac5cda98f697&algo_expid=8ab3d1af-a0d5-47e9-a01d-a89c2e861f08-2&algo_pvid=8ab3d1af-a0d5-47e9-a01d-a89c2e861f08 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WeMos-D1-ESP-Wroom-02-ESP826... This is an ESP8266 breakout/programmer for about ~$3: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-ESP12-ESP-12-WeMos-D1-Mini-WIFI-Dev-Kit-Development-Board-NodeMCU-Lua/32653918483.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10344_10345_10547_10342_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10562_10084_10083_10561_10178_10312_10313_10314_10550_10073_10551_10552_10553_10554_10557_10558-10550,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=08a29c25-5462-4269-b59f-aba059e2f7cf&algo_expid=61c40478-e028-4e04-b853-fc44623a7f9e-0&algo_pvid=61c40478-e028-4e04-b853-fc44623a7f9e https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-ESP12-ESP-12-WeMos-D... Absolutely incredible stuff. Ordered this one coming soon: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WEMOS-WiFi-Bluetooth-Battery-ESP32-development-tool-ESP32-battery-esp8266-ESP-WROOM-32-ESP32/32819459737.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10065_10151_10068_10130_10344_10345_10547_10342_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10562_10084_10083_10561_10178_10312_10313_10314_10550_10073_10551_10552_10553_10554_10557_10558,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=6afe83b5-f204-431c-bb21-130bd4bd77e5&algo_expid=2d089ef2-2fcc-4aba-ad2d-b8a0cd3b5a6d-0&algo_pvid=2d089ef2-2fcc-4aba-ad2d-b8a0cd3b5a6d https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WEMOS-WiFi-Bluetooth-Battery... And in the realm of awesome breakouts that I'm excited for: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-TTGO-LORA-SX1278-ESP32-0-96-OLED-16-Mt-bytes-128-Mt-bit-433Mhz-for/32833821668.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-TTGO-LORA-SX1278-ESP32-... There is some really incredible stuff coming out based on the ESP8266 and ESP32 right now. IMO completely blows all of the normal arduino stuff out of the water.

slug 9y ago
I believe that for the US market you are required to use the 915MHz ISM band LORA modules, the one you pointed to works in the 432MHz band.
- blhack 9y ago
  I'm not sure about that, but adafruit also sells a 432mhz board in the US without any warnings: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3079 https://www.adafruit.com/product/3079
StavrosK 9y ago
Wait, is that last one two ESP32 boards with LoRa and a screen for less than $20? If so, that's amazing, but it's too cheap and I don't see the ESP32.
- hwh 9y ago
  It (the ESP32) is right in the middle of the bottom view photo. The actual SX1278 is smaller, on the right. On the bottom, you have the SPI flash for the ESP32.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    Ah, interesting, I thought the ESP32 had the same layout as the ESP8266 (processor + flash storage) so I got confused. I guess the ESP8266 storage is embedded in the chip. Very nice breakout, I'll have to look around for a 864 MHz one.
- blhack 9y ago
  Well that is what they're advertising, which is absolutely insane in my opinion. I ordered a few of them[1], so I'll let you know when they get here. It looks like the ESP32 is on the back. Sparkfun also sells an ESP32 that comes in that package: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13907 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13907 What's really interesting going on right now is that adafruit/sparkfun have become radioshack, and aliexpress has become my go to place to find interesting new stuff. I will say that whenever I'm doing a commercial project[2], however, I still use the more expensive adafruit/fry's/genuine arduino boards. [1]: I help run a hackerspace in Phoenix, and I do all sorts of maker workshops all over the world, so having a bunch of weird dev boards and parts and stuff is pretty important to me. If those don't end up working, it was worth the $40 to find out. [2]: Part of my life is helping create one-off experiential advertising installations. Usually these things have a stack of arduinos in them controlling lights, sensors, motors, etc.

lucaspiller 9y ago

Yeah if anyone is just looking to get started tinkering with embedded hardware I'd say this is the way to go. The chips were made popular by NodeMCU which uses Lua, but you can easily run Arduino or write plain C on the same hardware. I've tried a few breakout boards and my favourite is the WEMOS D1 Mini. All you need to supply is a MicroUSB cable. You can get them shipped from China for under $3: https://wiki.wemos.cc/products:d1:d1_mini https://wiki.wemos.cc/products:d1:d1_mini

Jedd 9y ago
Agreed - the 3v3 thing can be a bit of a pain if you've got a collection of Arduino 5v-friendly bits, but not insurmountable. Big warning I'd make, though, is that the D1 has two revisions - the R1 (rarely described as such of course), and the R2. You definitely want the R2. However, many ebay vendors are still selling R1's.
- StavrosK 9y ago
  In my experience, the ESP8266 is fine with 5V, I have yet to burn one even with 5V on its pins.
  - aexaey 9y ago
    > ESP8266 is fine with 5V Yes and no. ESP8266 would typically survive 5V applied on any pin, and sometimes even sort-of work with 5V power applied (although with much higher power consumption and no WiFI). But there is a catch. Pretty much all CMOS chips (ESP8266 inclided) have body diodes from each IO pin to power/ground. This means - you can't have voltage higher than VCC+0.6v or lower than GND-0.6v on any pin. So what happens when you have ESP8266 powered from 3.3v and connected to 5V I/O is - ESP will get (partially) powered via I/O pin. Depending on what 5V part is connected to that I/O, that might be bad for that part (excess of I/O sink current). And in extreme cases (5V I/O pin that can deliver high current, or ESP is in deep sleep), this will supply current into 3.3V VCC rail, bringing it up as high as 5 - 0.6 = 4.4v potentially. Which could be bad for anything else on that rail. As a practical example - let's say we have ESP8266 powered by a switching supply with MP2307DN [1] chip delivering 3.3v, and connected to a 5v AVR. In normal operation, ESP takes ~70mA, which exceeds 40mA driving capability of AVR, so it's all good [2]. However once ESP8266 goes to deep sleep, all 40mA from AVR's I/O go via ESP's body diode back to MP2307DN switch, which usually would fail catastrophically and end up shorting input to output, supplying 12 (or whatever the input is) volts to ESP's VCC. Which is likely to fail as well, sending 12v further and frying the whole thing. [1] MP2307DN is widely and cheaply available on "Mini360 DC-DC buck convertor" boards and it really doesn't like current being back-fed into its output [2] Except I/O drive transistor in AVR is overloaded, which might or might not lead to its failure eventually.

etiene 9y ago

Yea, I was hoping to see it there on the comparison list. I guess it fails some criteria.

pantalaimon 9y ago
> I guess it fails some criteria. > A new series that explores 21 different microcontrollers — all less than $1
- ketsa 9y ago
  The ESP8266 microcontroller chip is probably less than 1$ since we can find full esp modules for 1$50 or less...
logicallee 9y ago
It fails the "only" criterion (it costs more than $2.20, whereas the author had a strict $1 cut-off precisely stating that a huge field opens up above that price range.) Fom "the rules": >While some projects that come across my desk are complex enough to require a hundreds-of-MHz microcontroller with all the bells and whistles, it’s amazing how many projects work great using nothing more than a $1 chip — so this is the only rule I established for the shoot-out. >I wanted to explore the $1 pricing zone specifically because it’s the least amount of money you can spend on an MCU that’s still general-purpose enough to be widely useful in a diverse array of projects. >Any cheaper, and you end up with 6- or 8-pin parts with only a few dozen bytes of RAM, no ADC, nor any peripherals other than a single timer and some GPIO. >Any more expensive, and the field completely opens up to an overwhelming number of parts — all with heavily-specialized peripherals and connectivity options. Of course, the ESP8266 is precisely this "hundreds of megahertz" chip (160 Mhz) with "heavily specialized connectivity options" and peripherals (wifi and, in the case of ESP8265, a full megabyte of flash memory). While all this is interesting, at the $2+ price there are "an overwhelming number of parts." So the author chose $1 as a very hard cut-off.
- rasz 9y ago
  ESP8266 is $1.4 in single chip quantities, <$1 in bulk