[HN Gopher] I Made a Wemos D1 Mini Dev Board
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       I Made a Wemos D1 Mini Dev Board
        
       Author : engneering101
       Score  : 56 points
       Date   : 2023-03-01 13:38 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | dusted wrote:
       | It seems less convenient than just using the D1 mini (great
       | amazing little thing by the way) in a solderless breadboard.
       | 
       | That said, still a cool project!
        
       | wtfmcgrill wrote:
       | Relay go click. Nice board, should add an LED parallel to the
       | coil with a jumper to enable/disable the led, can very helpful if
       | you're in a louder area and you can't reliably tell if the relay
       | is on.
        
       | coggs wrote:
       | WeMos D1 Mini FTW. So many ESP8266 libraries out there now.
        
         | adolph wrote:
         | It is a really nice minimal package with maximal software. I
         | recently hooked one up to an 8x8 panel of WS2812 rgb LEDs and
         | then found the WLED ecosystem which installs directly from
         | browser (https://install.wled.me/) and has a web/mobile app
         | front end to control the array, accept button inputs, integrate
         | with iot home stuff.                 1. Flash D1 mini from
         | browser via USB       2. Solder 3 wires (5v+, ground, data)
         | 3. Power up D1 Mini from USB       4. Have fun with some
         | blinkenlights
         | 
         | WLED Project: https://kno.wled.ge/
        
           | cronix wrote:
           | Yes, but they're going away from 8266 and going to ESP32.
           | They've already dumped support for the audio reactive version
           | due to low processing power of the 8266. There are ESP32's in
           | D1 Mini form factor.
        
             | bobsmooth wrote:
             | Support for the 8266 is going to be maintained for the main
             | branch. It's still plenty powerful for running up to 1k
             | leds.
        
               | pantalaimon wrote:
               | GCC will forever be stuck at version 5.4 for this though
        
             | adolph wrote:
             | Yes, I was on the fence about mentioning that 8266 isn't
             | great for new work since it is going away (however slowly).
             | Additionally, moving to Espressif's newer SoC adds security
             | features that 8266 doesn't have. In my mind the route
             | forward is ESP32-C3 for low power and ESP-C6 for
             | speed/capacity, since both are on RISC-V ISA as opposed to
             | ESP32[-S[2,3]]'s LX7.
             | 
             | [Edit] Also, I hadn't looked at the WeMos ESP32 mini, but
             | the examples I saw aren't pinout compatible (prolly b/c the
             | 32 has a lot more) and don't have the handy 5v boost
             | converted pin. That means that the above WS2812 project
             | would need to add a 3-5v boost converter. Not a biggie, but
             | 50% more parts...
        
       | argulane wrote:
       | Building such dev board shields/carrier boards is a nice beginner
       | friendly way to get into electronics and pcb design.
        
         | fimdomeio wrote:
         | Yes. for someone that sometimes plays around with
         | microcontrollers but knows very little about electronics I feel
         | if this had detailed documentation it could be the perfect next
         | learning step. Who knows it might event make me take an
         | adventure into ordering custom pcbs and soldering surface mount
         | components.
        
           | cronix wrote:
           | Here's a good 3 hour tutorial for the ESP32, which got me up
           | and running with my first board design:
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_p0YV-JlfU
        
         | Rebelgecko wrote:
         | I'm starting to get into it (I just ordered some tweaked
         | versions of the Airgradient PCB, which also uses the D1 Mini).
         | I had kind of a realization like "oh wait, just because
         | something is a PCB doesn't mean you have to use tiny surface
         | mount components"
         | 
         | What are some of the typical tool people use? I used EasyEDA
         | because the board I was modifying was already in their system
         | and their coupon made ordering the PCBs basically free (I think
         | I'm paying $3 for 5 PCBs + shipping). However that software
         | felt a bit unpolished, are there better alternatives? (granted,
         | most of the EE software I've used feels rough, looking at you
         | Xilinx)
        
           | jamesmunns wrote:
           | KiCad is a really excellent tool, usable for a pretty wide
           | set of use cases, even professionally if you don't need a
           | specific tool like antenna design or complex high speed trace
           | matching.
           | 
           | All of the low and high code board houses will support either
           | kicads project formats directly, or kicad supports standard
           | Gerber format export.
        
       | adolph wrote:
       | I was a little confused by the title. This is not a D1 Mini
       | clone, but an expansion chassis for the D1 Mini. The term "dev
       | board" is of course colloquial and perhaps lacking a technical
       | definition, but following Espressif's and others' terminology:
       | * SoC: The raw chip       * Module: SoC  with supporting chips
       | such as storage mounted to a PCB often with castellated or
       | through hole pin-outs and a PCB antenna or an antenna connector
       | with RF shielding and often a small LED       * Dev Board: Module
       | mounted to another PCB that facilitates programming the SoC, pin-
       | outs in a breadboard friendly pitch, and potentially some basic
       | devices, like an LED, button, maybe a temp, accelerometer or
       | similar sensor       * Burning Fixture: PCB with pins to
       | temporarily hold a module for power and programming, often
       | includes other features of a dev board like breadboard pitched
       | pin-out
       | 
       | Given that the D1 Mini is not much larger than the ESP-12F module
       | it uses, I can see how this is a dev board that wraps the sparse
       | D1 Mini dev board with some commonly used switches and sensors.
       | At the same time, it seems to reproduce the function of a
       | breadboard but is strongly coupled to the D1 Mini in ways that
       | limit future use.
        
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