ESP32-C3-DevKit-Lipo RISC-V development board with build in USB JTAG, WiFi, Bluetooth5, Lipo charger and 15 GPIOs

ESP32-C3-DevKit-Lipo is EUR 6.00 Open Source Hardware compact development board with:

• RISC-V running on 160Mhz
• 400KB RAM, 8K data RAM
• 4MB Flash
• Two headers (soldered) with power supply and GPIO signals
• ESP-PROG-C compatible rescue connector (if you mess with bootloader)
• USB-C for programming and JTAG debugging
• LiPo battery charger allowing handheld applications with single LiPo battery
• 4 mount holes

This is all you need to get started with RISC-V programming in C and Assembly.

Shteryana Shopova recently did RISC-V workshop with this board and explained how to setup your tools for programming and debugging. Here you can find her work.

ESP32-WROOM-32 WiFi/Bluetooth module is in stock!

ESP32-WROOM-32 modules are in stock now!

Again these are from the very first lot and with limited supply. To give chances to more developers to try them we will not allow more than 3 modules per order.

This module is good only if you develop your own board. For these who are not good with the soldering iron and SMD components soldering our advice is to wait for new supply of ESP32-CoreBoards or our own ESP32-EVB which will come with two Relays, Two buttons, SD-card connector, Ethernet 100Mbit and all signals on prototyping friendly 0.1″ step connectors.

Thanks for all who posted tips on our blog about ESP32-EVB feature wishlist!

EDIT: there was question on Twitter if these are original Espressif parts and why there is no FCC/CE markinig, my guess is that the certification is not complete, as it’s in the datasheet but not on module body. The modules come directly from Espressif, as you can see from reel label they are manufactured October 15th 2016 and one week later are in our stock for sale 🙂

New product: The popular HC06 Bluetooth to Serial modules are now in stock

HC06 are popular Bluetooth to Serial modules bases at CSR BC04 Bluetooth technology. They have with build-in 2.4GHz antenna, support Bluetooth class 2 power level and operate with voltage in range 3.1V~4.2V

If you want to add Bluetooth wireless connectivity to your next device without hassle with Bluetooth protocol, HC06 will allow you this working as simple as with UART. The module have AT commands to listen and pair to other nearby BT devices, then you exchange data like if you worked with wired uart.

Tons of Arduino examples are available on the net. The module is made to be easy soldered on your own custom board.

Blueooth and Internet of things. Whaaat?

When I hear this for the very first time, I though OK these guys just have no clue, but this term comes again and again.

Yesterday Cypress had seminar about their PSoC BLE solutions which I participated and again I heard Internet of Things dozen of times.

C’mon guys how do you connect BLE sensor or device to Internet? -> With computer/gateway connected to Internet.

Then I can connect any sensor with USB or UART to computer and again make it visible to Internet, but I do not call any devices with USB or UART IoT devices!

If one device have no Ethernet or WiFi how does it connect to Internet???

BLE is good, it’s low power 2 to 5 meter wireless device which could even make mesh and this way to extend the range or wireless connectivity, but this is not Internet! So please stop this marketing buzz!

(BLE != IoT) period

New Product in Stock: OLIMEXINO-NANO-GSM shield EURO 23 Quad band GSM/GPRS + Bluetooth/FM radio

OLIMEXINO-NANO-GSM shield is compatible with OLIMEXINO-NANO and adds Quad core GSM/GPRS capability. With this shield you can send and receive SMS, place and take phone calls, connect to http or ftp via GPRS.

In addition to GSM/GPRS module SIM800H also have Bluetooth 3.0+EDR and FM radio, which are also included as capability of this module. The GSM antenna is external for better range and reception, the Bluetooth antenna is printed on the PCB.

This module can be used with any of our other UEXT boards via jumper wires.

OLIMEXINO-NANO-GSM cost EUR 23 in single quantity.

Arduino library and demo code working with OLIMEXINO-NANO is provided.

OLIMEXINO-NANO-GSM shield prototypes works fine

OLIMEXINO-NANO is small 30×30 mm Arduino Leonardo compatible board with microSD-card, UEXT, micro USB and stack-able shields, the available shields for the moment are:

• LiPo charger and Lithium coin battery shield
• Breadboard shield
• Bluetooth Low Energy BT 4.0 stackable shield (in production)

OLIMEXINO-NANO-GSM is new 4 band GSM shield + Classic Bluetooth combo board. It stacks on OLIMEXINO-NANO and add GSM/GPRS capability to it + Classic Bluetooth connectivity.

The shield will be in stock end of the month and will cost EUR 20

New Product in Stock: Bluetooth 4.0 BLE module

MOD-nRF8001 is a low cost EUR 9.95 Bluetooth low energy module (Bluetooth 4.0) which works with Arduino, Pinguino, Maple boards. Demo examples for these three platforms have been tested.

BLE is interesting for iPhone developers since BLE is not subject to a bogus license from Apple as normal Bluetooth, this means you can connect devices to iPhone via BLE without the need to be “approved” by Apple. Other phones and tablets with Bluetooth 4.0 also can work with MOD-nRF8001. This makes interfacing to sensors and physical computing possible at low cost. MOD-nRF8001 has a range of up to 50-60 meters when no obstacles and walls are present.

MOD-nRF8001 is made for easy integration to existing PCBs and can be soldered on the PCB using the cut-through pads, those who want to work with breadboards can solder 2 x 0.1″ step connectors to MOD-nRF8001 and plug it to a breadboard, the third way to connect MOD-nRF8001 to board is by soldering 10 pin UEXT connector to it.

Special OLIMEXINO-NANO nRF8001 shield is designed and will be in stock in February.

New Product in stock: OLIMEXINO-NANO wearable Arduino Leonardo clone

In October I blogged for our new Arduino clone: The NANO with size only 30x30x8 mm.

Well we have them all three in stock now!

OLIMEXINO-NANO is the core module with USB micro connector, the stackable connectors for shields and UEXT to connect our many UEXT modules like BMP085, MPU6050, HMC5883L, Zigbee, temperature, magnetometers etc. etc.

OLIMEXINO-BB is stackable shield which allow you to connect NANO to Breadboard-1

OLIMEXINO-BAT is shield which contain Lithium 3V battery, connector for LiPo battery and on board charger.

The power supply for NANO is made very intelligently and as soon you connect LiPo it will take power from there, if the USB is connected the batteries are disconnected and start charging them.

We have two more modules which will be ready in few weeks:

• EUR 10 Bluetooth 4.0 BLE shield which will allow the wearable NANO to be connected to iPhones without licensee issues or to Android phones with Bluetooth 4.0 and will allow interactions with phones and tablets with different sensors connected to NANO
• EUR 22 GSM/GPRS 4 band shield with external antenna which will add connectivity via GSM

The NANO shield concept is that the connectors are SMT type and stackable, on bottom there is male connector, on top is female connector so you can stack as many shield as you want together.

Look Mom! I shrink the Arduino!

We love to play with Arduino and like it very much but one thing have always bothered us – it’s HUGE.

What you do when you want to make small data logger, RF/Zigbee baecon, sensor network, something wearable etc? use this BRICK? No way.

This is how the idea for OLIMEXINO-NANO came.

We made complete Arduino replacement with size of only 30x30x8 mm

What you see on the pictures above is TOP and BOTTOM view of the OLIMEXINO-NANO.

It have these features:

• ATMega32U4 processor (Leonardo compatible)
• micro USB connector for programming and power supply when debugging
• RESET button
• USER button
• microSD card connector for data logging on SD-card
• UEXT connector for RF, Zigbee, Ethernet, RELAY, RGB LED, etc UEXT modules
• two status LEDs
• Connector 14 pin 0.05″
• Connector 20 pin 0.05″

the connectors allow other boards to stackup like normal Arduino shields.

The first shield we made is with Battery power supply:

On this battery shield there is:

• power ON/OFF switch
• LiPo battery connector for our 1400mA/2200mA/3000mA/4400mA/6600mA batteries
• LiPo charger with three status LEDs
• Li 3V CR3023 battery holder

Here are how NANO and BATTERY shield snap together:

both fit perfectly in this small plastic enclosure:

The next shield was to allow easy connection to Breadboard:

Here is view of BreadBoard shield with Battery shield snap on top:

And here is same with NANO snap on bottom:

and here is side view:

Here is again how NANO looks next to OLIMEXINO-328 (Arduino-2009 clone)

and to cigarette lighter:

and together with the small 45 x 40 x 20 mm enclosure:

As you see above these three boards are the first prototypes which we built, now we will do some testing and run production in November. The prices? They will be very competitive and similar to OLIMEXINO-32U4 which uses same processor.

Another shield we work now on is Bluetooth 4.0 BLE shield which to snap and to allow trouble free connection to iPhone and Android devices

Add Bluetooth to A13-OLinuXino-WIFI with MOD-BT

To add Bluetooth connectivity to A13-OLinuXino is very easy with MOD-BT as both have UEXT connector.

To tune MOD-BT is a bit tricky though as by default on UEXT UART is conected the console so all console messages will go through MOD-BT and vice versa all messages from MOD-BT will go as commands to the console.

Here is the correct sequence to enable Bluetooth on A13-OLinuXino with MOD-BT:

1. Make sure you have ssh enabled

# /etc/init.d./ssh start

2. Reboot A13 WITHOUT MOD-BT

3. Connect via ssh

#ssh root@192.168.0.xxx

4. Disable the console to UEXT UART

#nano /etc/inittab
and comment "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L -a root ttyS0 115200 vt102"
then restart inittab
#init q

5. Connect MOD-BT to UEXT end enter the following commantds:

#echo AT+BTAUT=1,0 > /dev/ttyS0
#echo AT+BTSRV=1 > /dev/ttyS0

these commands initialize MOD-BT to enable Serial UART Bluetooth profile, i.e. from now on all input stream received by MOD-BT will be transmitted to the paired device and all messages received will be sent to the UART

this way you can use remote device to connect to A13-OLinuXino via Bluetooth COM port

6. On other PC or PHONE connect to MOD-BT and start virtual COM port

7. Enable again the console now which will be seen by the Bluetooth device

#nano /etc/inittab
Uncomment "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L -a root ttyS0 115200 vt102"
#init q

that’s it now your console is again enabled but your MOD-BT is configured to send and receive the messages through Bluetooth Serial Port Profile to the paired Bluetooth device