ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266 • Hacker News Board

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#11

Post by fulafel » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:46 PM UTC

kanwisher wrote: post #6

makapuf wrote: post #4

This is really nice, riscv plus Wifi and BT will be a dream for hackers provided the chip and firmware is well documented. The datasheet is also in the comments ( https://mega.nz/file/nk41mSAL#R_d0njlKRb-aIoGuX6JXUB5eeflAdy... )(chinese pdf) : 160MHz 400k sram apparently single core.

Some reason this didn't work, someone made an English translation https://mega.nz/file/4VRGgLzK#YIzeMvj_Z-LayxY8KztL4WiifcmQYc...

What will networking be like from SW POV?

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#12

Post by corty » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:46 PM UTC

renw0rp wrote: post #8

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #3

> Pricing will also be similar to ESP8266. How can they possibly sell these chips at these prices? This is impossibly cheap. You can’t even accuse them of trying to flood and control the market because they already own the market!

what market are you talking about? hobby projects market? that's for sure, but that's not where the big money is.

consumer goods with builtin wifi like switchable lightbulbs, remote-controlled extension cords, etc are often esp32 plus a relais on the IO pins.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#13

Post by gsich » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

renw0rp wrote: post #8

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #3

> Pricing will also be similar to ESP8266. How can they possibly sell these chips at these prices? This is impossibly cheap. You can’t even accuse them of trying to flood and control the market because they already own the market!

what market are you talking about? hobby projects market? that's for sure, but that's not where the big money is.

The "smart" home market. ESP chips are heavily used there.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#14

Post by praseodym » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

Scaevolus wrote: post #10

meekrohprocess wrote: post #2

Nice. The XTensa cores always felt weird. Too bad they only included the I/M/C extensions - no floats, vectors, or atomics. And USB would be nice (nevermind, it has USB :D). But it's still very exciting. Maybe there'll be less conflict between ARM/XTensa/PIC32/etc. cores in the coming years.

Why do you need atomics on a single core device?

There are ESP32 variants with a dual-core Xtensa processor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP32).

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#15

Post by meekrohprocess » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:56 PM UTC

Scaevolus wrote: post #10

meekrohprocess wrote: post #2

Nice. The XTensa cores always felt weird. Too bad they only included the I/M/C extensions - no floats, vectors, or atomics. And USB would be nice (nevermind, it has USB :D). But it's still very exciting. Maybe there'll be less conflict between ARM/XTensa/PIC32/etc. cores in the coming years.

Why do you need atomics on a single core device?

Interrupts and exceptions can happen at any point in a program's execution on a microcontroller, and they are free to modify memory and peripheral registers.

>Load

>Modify register in memory

>>Interrupt happens and changes

>Write incorrect value back to .

These sorts of bugs can be pernicious to debug, and they are easy for novice developers to create.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#16

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 5:59 PM UTC

makapuf wrote: post #4

This is really nice, riscv plus Wifi and BT will be a dream for hackers provided the chip and firmware is well documented. The datasheet is also in the comments ( https://mega.nz/file/nk41mSAL#R_d0njlKRb-aIoGuX6JXUB5eeflAdy... )(chinese pdf) : 160MHz 400k sram apparently single core.

The PDF is encrypted.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#17

Post by nrp » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 6:03 PM UTC

Espressif is no longer alone in the ultra low cost hobby WiFi SoC space. Pine has started working with the Bouffalo BL602 which seems to be a fairly similar RISC-V powered part: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/28/the-quest-for-a-blob...

It will be interesting to see which one gains critical mass in community use.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#18

Post by ducktective » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 6:04 PM UTC

Just recently, Bouffalo Lab introduced BL602 which is a RISC-V WiFi-BLE chip with ESP8266 price. I guess Espressif had other plans for the competition!

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24877335

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24916086

Skimming over C3 datasheet, it seems it doesn't have DAC but has one I2S. BL602 has DAC but no I2S!

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#19

Post by makapuf » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

codetrotter wrote: post #9

kanwisher wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some reason this didn't work, someone made an English translation https://mega.nz/file/4VRGgLzK#YIzeMvj_Z-LayxY8KztL4WiifcmQYc...

The comment parent to yours had a closing parentheses and stuff after the link that broke it. The link for the Chinese pdf is https://mega.nz/file/nk41mSAL#R_d0njlKRb-aIoGuX6JXUB5eeflAdy...

Good catch, corrected.

Re: ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE RISC-V processor is pin-to-pin compatible with ESP8266

#20

Post by Avamander » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

Sounds like the Bouffalo BL602 and BL604 that were recently revealed. Competition in this sector is very interesting, I hope the Espressif chip will be as open or even more open than the Bouffalo chip.