3 ms·

It's been so frustrating that espressif offerings are basically the only wifi mcu options. Yes, there are a handful of other options, but they all fall short in

It's been so frustrating that espressif offerings are basically the only wifi mcu options. Yes, there are a handful of other options, but they all fall short in one or more of cost|sdk|availability. If you're wondering why I need an espressif alternative so badly - many companies won't rely on Chinese companies for components, especially if they're not easily interchangeable. There's always the concern of a Chinese backdoor (I prefer my backdoors to be NSA backdoors), and the US is always just on the cusp of a trade war with China. Edit: typos

colechristensen 3y ago
Espressif being a Chinese company, sure, but how many components from an arbitrary NATO-friendly country corp but are exclusively manufactured in China anyway and get the same treatment?
- jvanderbot 3y ago
  Logically it makes no sense. Legally and politically, it's still a concern.
ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
How about this one: https://wiki.makerdiary.com/nrf52840-connectkit/introduction/ https://wiki.makerdiary.com/nrf52840-connectkit/introduction... Discussed here yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36475144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36475144 On further examination, the one thing it doesn't discuss is Wi-Fi, although it has 2.4gHz. Well, I'll leave this here in case you find it interesting.
- mmoskal 3y ago
  NRF52 line is Bluetooth LE not WiFi.
- nrp 3y ago
  Nordic is certainly heading this direction. They have a WiFi 6 companion chip already, and are presumably going to make a single package solution at some point: https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Software-and-other-downloads/Product-Briefs/nRF7002-IC_Product-Brief-v1.0.pdf https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Software-and-other-downlo...
  - elromulous 3y ago
    Nordic products are generally excellent. But for wifi they acquired a company and my understanding is they basically slapped their name on and wrapped their sdk around a non-nordic solution.
  - antoniuschan99 3y ago
    Check out Espressif P4 and C5. Feel like those two upcoming pair of chips is going to compete with Nordics first WiFi offering. Will be interesting to see how low Nordics price point will go with their single package solution!
- numpad0 3y ago
  nRF5x family had been the gold standard for Bluetooth Low Energy gadgets like coin cell powered smartwatches, to the point that both Apple AirTag and its predecessor Tile tracker uses nRF52. But they never had Wi-Fi. Just way too much power consumption for nRF5x.
squarefoot 3y ago
MxChip has something interesting, but yeah, they're Chinese. http://mxchip.cc/ http://mxchip.cc/ There are no non Chinese alternatives, sadly, and even using only a Chinese network chip, this wouldn't protect from backdoors contained in the network chip firmware itself. I wouldn't like my hardware to be filled by backdoors by anyone, but if I had to choose, I would always choose backdoors from China, if not because I assume they'd be a lot less interested in spying me than my own government (that is, I would be to them a hop to reach a target, not the target) and also backdoors that connect to government addresses in my own country would be harder to spot and block compared to those connecting to another continent. In doubt, I would put that stuff behind a dedicated firewall anyway, no matter who makes the chips.
- kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
  Infineon has a line of WiFi chips acquired via Cypress and originally developed by Broadcom.
- antoniuschan99 3y ago
  I recently discovered an even cheaper wifi + ble chip that's widely used in the Tuya Devices called Beken (they migrated away from Espressif it seems). I can't find much info on it so guessing Chinese IoT companies have to buy them in bulk. They also have an sdk I'm guessing for HomeAssistant users called OpenBeken. https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/02/03/beken-bk7256-320-mhz-dual-core-risc-v-iot-mcu-offers-wifi-6-bluetooth-5-2-jpeg-video-encoder-decoder/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/02/03/beken-bk7256-320-mhz...

colechristensen 3y ago

Espressif being a Chinese company, sure, but how many components from an arbitrary NATO-friendly country corp but are exclusively manufactured in China anyway and get the same treatment?

jvanderbot 3y ago
Logically it makes no sense. Legally and politically, it's still a concern.

ShadowBanThis01 3y ago

How about this one: https://wiki.makerdiary.com/nrf52840-connectkit/introduction/ https://wiki.makerdiary.com/nrf52840-connectkit/introduction... Discussed here yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36475144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36475144 On further examination, the one thing it doesn't discuss is Wi-Fi, although it has 2.4gHz. Well, I'll leave this here in case you find it interesting.

mmoskal 3y ago
NRF52 line is Bluetooth LE not WiFi.
nrp 3y ago
Nordic is certainly heading this direction. They have a WiFi 6 companion chip already, and are presumably going to make a single package solution at some point: https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Software-and-other-downloads/Product-Briefs/nRF7002-IC_Product-Brief-v1.0.pdf https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Software-and-other-downlo...
- elromulous 3y ago
  Nordic products are generally excellent. But for wifi they acquired a company and my understanding is they basically slapped their name on and wrapped their sdk around a non-nordic solution.
- antoniuschan99 3y ago
  Check out Espressif P4 and C5. Feel like those two upcoming pair of chips is going to compete with Nordics first WiFi offering. Will be interesting to see how low Nordics price point will go with their single package solution!
numpad0 3y ago
nRF5x family had been the gold standard for Bluetooth Low Energy gadgets like coin cell powered smartwatches, to the point that both Apple AirTag and its predecessor Tile tracker uses nRF52. But they never had Wi-Fi. Just way too much power consumption for nRF5x.

squarefoot 3y ago

MxChip has something interesting, but yeah, they're Chinese. http://mxchip.cc/ http://mxchip.cc/ There are no non Chinese alternatives, sadly, and even using only a Chinese network chip, this wouldn't protect from backdoors contained in the network chip firmware itself. I wouldn't like my hardware to be filled by backdoors by anyone, but if I had to choose, I would always choose backdoors from China, if not because I assume they'd be a lot less interested in spying me than my own government (that is, I would be to them a hop to reach a target, not the target) and also backdoors that connect to government addresses in my own country would be harder to spot and block compared to those connecting to another continent. In doubt, I would put that stuff behind a dedicated firewall anyway, no matter who makes the chips.

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
Infineon has a line of WiFi chips acquired via Cypress and originally developed by Broadcom.
antoniuschan99 3y ago
I recently discovered an even cheaper wifi + ble chip that's widely used in the Tuya Devices called Beken (they migrated away from Espressif it seems). I can't find much info on it so guessing Chinese IoT companies have to buy them in bulk. They also have an sdk I'm guessing for HomeAssistant users called OpenBeken. https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/02/03/beken-bk7256-320-mhz-dual-core-risc-v-iot-mcu-offers-wifi-6-bluetooth-5-2-jpeg-video-encoder-decoder/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/02/03/beken-bk7256-320-mhz...