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g · HardwareCurated

Arduino chip adds Wi-Fi to the hobbyist board

Summary

In 2022 Arduino co-founder Gianluca Martino wanted to fund the Jolly module via Kickstarter; it replaces the Arduino Uno’s microcontroller with a variant with Wi-Fi. It combines an ATmega328PB with an ESP8285 including 2 MByte of flash, an integrated antenna and Wi-Fi 4. Because the chip is compatible with the ATmega328P, form factor, GPIO pins and existing Arduino software are meant to keep working.

Ideas

  • A replacement chip retrofits Wi-Fi to an existing board without changing its form factor.
  • CPU and Wi-Fi module communicate via SPI and UART.
  • Compatibility with the original chip preserves existing software.
  • Crowdfunding does not guarantee a finished product.

Insights

  • Retrofit solutions extend the life of popular hobbyist platforms.
  • For hobbyists, compatibility is often more important than maximum performance.

Facts

  • The Wi-Fi modem is an ESP8266 in the ESP8285 package.
  • For installation, the original ATmega chip has to be removed from the board.

References

Critique

  • The report names neither price nor launch date and itself points out the crowdfunding risk.

Recommendations

  • For new Wi-Fi projects, rather choose boards with an integrated ESP32 or the Raspberry Pi Pico W.
  • Only back crowdfunding projects with amounts whose loss you can live with.

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