Electronics

From Miscellany

Microcontrollers & SBCs

Microcontrollers are special purpose PCBs [Printed Circuit Boards], while SBCs are Single Board Computers.

Single Board Computers (SBCs)

Raspberry Pi

A family of SBCs

BeagleBone

An opensource SBC platform that includes several models of varying capabilities

ZimaBoard

A crowd-funded, hackable SBC

Orange Pi

a collection of Raspberry Pi look-alikes at a cheaper price

OrangePi 3 LTS

Orange Pi 4 LTS

I have one of these, so updating this page as I learn more about it

OrangePi 5

Asus Tinker Board

Khadas VIM2

Microcontrollers (MCUs)

RP2040 Boards

In 2020, Raspberry Pi introduced their first custom chip, the RP2040, first used in the RPi Pico. It has become wildly popular as the basis for a number of devices.

RPi Pico & Pico W

Badger2040

Tiny 2040

Arduino

Rather than SBCs, Arduino (and Arduino-compatible) boards are microcontrollers, suitable for robotics and other embedded applications.

Native Arduino Boards

This article compares and contrasts all 9 "native" Arduino boards.

Arduino Uno

Arduino Mega

Arduino Nano

Arduino-Compatible Boards

Since the Arduino specification is open source, many third-party makers have created compatible devices. These are a few of them.

BBC micro:bit

Circuit Playground Express

Circuit Playground Bluefruit

Seeeduino Xiao SAMD21

Seeeduino Xiao ESP32S3

ATTiny-based DIY 'duino

Wio Terminal

SenseCAP Indicator

ESP32 & ESP8266

Arduino-compatible, but also runs on MicroPython

ESP32-Based Boards

Bee Motion ESP32 PIR Motion Sensor

Bee Motion S3

IDEs

Integrated Development Environments

Cloud Servers

Some applications require online resources. Here's some.

Books & References

Programming Books

Online Resources for Microcontrollers

articles & tutorials

Glossary

a growing collection of terminology used in the SBC/microcontroller world

Electronic Components

Resistors, Diodes, Capacitors, oh my!

Electronics Tools

Soldering

Power Supply

Testing Equipment

Breadboard & Perfboard

How to Use Breadboards

Where to Buy Breadboards & Perfboards

Computer Peripherals

Keyboards

Computer Tools

USB formatting tools