5 ms·

New $14 esp32 VGA/mouse/keyboard/VT100 computer capable of running micropython

58 points by andrewstuart 8y ago

The machine has 8MB PSRAM so it can run micropython: https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.html Videos of it in action: Network terminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5c27-y5tm4&t=154s Collision detection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OPSq4HhDE Double buffering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQcIiWQCJw Space Invaders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL8J7tjxeXA Video modes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urp0rPukjzE&t=7s Github repo: https://github.com/fdivitto/FabGL Link to buy the machine: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TTGO-VGA32-V1-1-Controller-PS-2-Mouse-And-Keyboard-Controller-Graphics-Library-Game-Engine-And/33014937190.html

andrewstuart 8y ago
Specs of the esp32 from wikipedia: CPU: Xtensa dual-core (or single-core) 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, operating at 160 or 240 MHz and performing at up to 600 DMIPS Ultra low power (ULP) co-processor Memory: 520 KiB SRAM Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Peripheral interfaces: 12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels 2 × 8-bit DACs 10 × touch sensors (capacitive sensing GPIOs) 4 × SPI 2 × I²S interfaces 2 × I²C interfaces 3 × UART SD/SDIO/CE-ATA/MMC/eMMC host controller SDIO/SPI slave controller Ethernet MAC interface with dedicated DMA and IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol support CAN bus 2.0 Infrared remote controller (TX/RX, up to 8 channels) Motor PWM LED PWM (up to 16 channels) Hall effect sensor Ultra low power analog pre-amplifier Security: IEEE 802.11 standard security features all supported, including WFA, WPA/WPA2 and WAPI Secure boot Flash encryption 1024-bit OTP, up to 768-bit for customers Cryptographic hardware acceleration: AES, SHA-2, RSA, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), random number generator (RNG) Power management: Internal low-dropout regulator Individual power domain for RTC 5μA deep sleep current Wake up from GPIO interrupt, timer, ADC measurements, capacitive touch sensor interrupt
- geezerjay 7y ago
  Aren't OrangePi Zero devboards more bang for the buck? Edit: why are you downvoting a honest question?
  - shifto 7y ago
    Totally different use-case.
metildaa 8y ago
Why wouldn't you save a few bucks and get a full ARM board that can run mainline Linux? https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html
- Koshkin 8y ago
  Because, no VGA, no PS/2, and too much RAM?
  - metildaa 8y ago
    VGA and especially PS/2 are getting rarer by the day, if anything having extra ram can be handy for fully utilizing all the I/O a board has to offer...
    - ianai 8y ago
      I don’t see vga leaving server hardware anytime soon.
      - metildaa 8y ago
        VGA seems to be leaving monitors en masse
        ianai 7y ago
        Desktop monitors, sure. Rack mount KVMs, not so much. Nonetheless you have a point, I think, but I hope it’s considered. HDMI would be awful for something like this. It’s liable to fall off in use where vga can be screwed down. Displayport seems like overkill. Etc.
  - LIV2 8y ago
    The VGA and PS/2 are bitbanged in software so it'd work just as well
- andrewstuart 8y ago
Koshkin 8y ago
This is perfect, there is little fun in having to deal with HDMI and, especially, USB. Impressive, too!
xenospn 8y ago
Perfect! Now what about 3G/LTE?
- YaBa 8y ago
  Who cares about 3G, the real question is... can it run Doom?
  - Koshkin 8y ago
    > Doom Did you mean Crysis?
  - rz2k 8y ago
    Of course it runs Doom.[1] I don't think there are any esp32 boards that come with support for cellular networks, but there are esp32 boards that come with support for LoRa, which does low power, long range (miles), slow speed radio communication. [1] https://youtube.com/results?search_query=doom+esp32 https://youtube.com/results?search_query=doom+esp32
Zanni 8y ago
Just copying the whole post to make the links active: The machine has 8MB PSRAM so it can run micropython: https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.html https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.... Videos of it in action: Network terminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5c27-y5tm4&t=154s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5c27-y5tm4&t=154s Collision detection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OPSq4HhDE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OPSq4HhDE Double buffering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQcIiWQCJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQcIiWQCJw Space Invaders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL8J7tjxeXA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL8J7tjxeXA Video modes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urp0rPukjzE&t=7s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urp0rPukjzE&t=7s Github repo: https://github.com/fdivitto/FabGL https://github.com/fdivitto/FabGL Link to buy the machine: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TTGO-VGA32-V1-1-Controller-PS-2-Mouse-And-Keyboard-Controller-Graphics-Library-Game-Engine-And/33014937190.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TTGO-VGA32-V1-1-Controller-P...
- matt_trentini 7y ago
  Of course, while 8MB of PSRAM is really nice, it's not necessary for MicroPython which can operate without any PSRAM - the onboard 520KB RAM on the ESP32 is fine.

58 points by andrewstuart 8y ago

andrewstuart 8y ago

Specs of the esp32 from wikipedia: CPU: Xtensa dual-core (or single-core) 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, operating at 160 or 240 MHz and performing at up to 600 DMIPS Ultra low power (ULP) co-processor Memory: 520 KiB SRAM Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Peripheral interfaces: 12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels 2 × 8-bit DACs 10 × touch sensors (capacitive sensing GPIOs) 4 × SPI 2 × I²S interfaces 2 × I²C interfaces 3 × UART SD/SDIO/CE-ATA/MMC/eMMC host controller SDIO/SPI slave controller Ethernet MAC interface with dedicated DMA and IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol support CAN bus 2.0 Infrared remote controller (TX/RX, up to 8 channels) Motor PWM LED PWM (up to 16 channels) Hall effect sensor Ultra low power analog pre-amplifier Security: IEEE 802.11 standard security features all supported, including WFA, WPA/WPA2 and WAPI Secure boot Flash encryption 1024-bit OTP, up to 768-bit for customers Cryptographic hardware acceleration: AES, SHA-2, RSA, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), random number generator (RNG) Power management: Internal low-dropout regulator Individual power domain for RTC 5μA deep sleep current Wake up from GPIO interrupt, timer, ADC measurements, capacitive touch sensor interrupt

geezerjay 7y ago
Aren't OrangePi Zero devboards more bang for the buck? Edit: why are you downvoting a honest question?
- shifto 7y ago
  Totally different use-case.

metildaa 8y ago

Why wouldn't you save a few bucks and get a full ARM board that can run mainline Linux? https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32603308880.html

Koshkin 8y ago
Because, no VGA, no PS/2, and too much RAM?
- metildaa 8y ago
  VGA and especially PS/2 are getting rarer by the day, if anything having extra ram can be handy for fully utilizing all the I/O a board has to offer...
  - ianai 8y ago
    I don’t see vga leaving server hardware anytime soon.
    - metildaa 8y ago
      VGA seems to be leaving monitors en masse
      - ianai 7y ago
        Desktop monitors, sure. Rack mount KVMs, not so much. Nonetheless you have a point, I think, but I hope it’s considered. HDMI would be awful for something like this. It’s liable to fall off in use where vga can be screwed down. Displayport seems like overkill. Etc.
- LIV2 8y ago
  The VGA and PS/2 are bitbanged in software so it'd work just as well
andrewstuart 8y ago

Koshkin 8y ago

This is perfect, there is little fun in having to deal with HDMI and, especially, USB. Impressive, too!

xenospn 8y ago

Perfect! Now what about 3G/LTE?

YaBa 8y ago
Who cares about 3G, the real question is... can it run Doom?
- Koshkin 8y ago
  > Doom Did you mean Crysis?
- rz2k 8y ago
  Of course it runs Doom.[1] I don't think there are any esp32 boards that come with support for cellular networks, but there are esp32 boards that come with support for LoRa, which does low power, long range (miles), slow speed radio communication. [1] https://youtube.com/results?search_query=doom+esp32 https://youtube.com/results?search_query=doom+esp32

Zanni 8y ago

Just copying the whole post to make the links active: The machine has 8MB PSRAM so it can run micropython: https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.html https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp32/tutorial/intro.... Videos of it in action: Network terminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5c27-y5tm4&t=154s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5c27-y5tm4&t=154s Collision detection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OPSq4HhDE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OPSq4HhDE Double buffering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQcIiWQCJw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQcIiWQCJw Space Invaders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL8J7tjxeXA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL8J7tjxeXA Video modes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urp0rPukjzE&t=7s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urp0rPukjzE&t=7s Github repo: https://github.com/fdivitto/FabGL https://github.com/fdivitto/FabGL Link to buy the machine: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TTGO-VGA32-V1-1-Controller-PS-2-Mouse-And-Keyboard-Controller-Graphics-Library-Game-Engine-And/33014937190.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TTGO-VGA32-V1-1-Controller-P...

matt_trentini 7y ago
Of course, while 8MB of PSRAM is really nice, it's not necessary for MicroPython which can operate without any PSRAM - the onboard 520KB RAM on the ESP32 is fine.