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Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

jaycarlson.net

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Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#11

Post by alister »

If I hadn't seen this article on Hacker News today, is there any combination of plausible keywords I could have typed into Google to find this particular article if I were looking for an in-depth review of microcontrollers?

I tried "best microcontrollers reviewed", "best low-cost microcontrollers", "survey of microcontrollers", and a bunch of others. Nothing that Google finds in the first 10-20 hits is as good this resource, other than Wikipedia, though very good, isn't a technical review.

I suppose the lessons are: there's room for lots of improvement in search engines, or SEO really works and you better promote yourself no matter how good you are, or word of mouth (Hacker News in this case) is still the way to find the best stuff.

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#12

Post by xt00 »

cjsuk wrote: post #10
xt00 wrote: post #7

Now if somebody from China can make a list of the cheap micros under 1-2 RMB, now that would be a nice list for super low cost stuff.. that I'd be very interested in...

I think you can get 8051 parts for that.

Yea I'm hoping somebody can provide a list of various manufacturers and part names similar to the article..

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#13

Post by blhack »

Yaggo wrote: post #9

Didn't read all the author's criteria, but esp8266 is worth mentioning in the context of cheap microcontrollers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266

I am falling in love with wemos's breakout boards for ESP. For instance, this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WeMos-D1-ESP-Wroom-02-ESP826...

This is an ESP8266 breakout/programmer for about ~$3: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-ESP12-ESP-12-WeMos-D...

Absolutely incredible stuff.

Ordered this one coming soon: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WEMOS-WiFi-Bluetooth-Battery...

And in the realm of awesome breakouts that I'm excited for: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-TTGO-LORA-SX1278-ESP32-...

There is some really incredible stuff coming out based on the ESP8266 and ESP32 right now. IMO completely blows all of the normal arduino stuff out of the water.

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#14

Post by lucaspiller »

Yaggo wrote: post #9

Didn't read all the author's criteria, but esp8266 is worth mentioning in the context of cheap microcontrollers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266

Yeah if anyone is just looking to get started tinkering with embedded hardware I'd say this is the way to go. The chips were made popular by NodeMCU which uses Lua, but you can easily run Arduino or write plain C on the same hardware.

I've tried a few breakout boards and my favourite is the WEMOS D1 Mini. All you need to supply is a MicroUSB cable. You can get them shipped from China for under $3: https://wiki.wemos.cc/products:d1:d1_mini

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#15

Post by reidrac »

inasring wrote: post #3
m_eiman wrote: post #2

Perhaps Jay should have hosted the page on a microcontroller instead of a database; archive copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20171106070102/https://jaycarlso...

it's HN's hug of death

I'm sure that doesn't exist. I've had my site in the front page several times and I never had a problem. I agree I'm a competent sysadm and there's a peak on visits often in a short period, but my server is not as optimised as it could be and it did just fine.

I think what we have here is a server or a web app poorly configured.

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#16

Post by jaydcarlson »

m_eiman wrote: post #2

Perhaps Jay should have hosted the page on a microcontroller instead of a database; archive copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20171106070102/https://jaycarlso...

With 21 of these parts on my desk, that would have been a good idea. Thanks for linking to a cached version — I'm working to get my little blog on Cloudflare to handle the traffic.

I appreciate the kind words from everyone so far; it's been a huge learning opportunity, and I hope others can get inspired to grab one of these parts (especially one of the weirder ones) and do something cool with it.

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#17

Post by jacquesm »

reidrac wrote: post #15
inasring wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's HN's hug of death

I'm sure that doesn't exist. I've had my site in the front page several times and I never had a problem. I agree I'm a competent sysadm and there's a peak on visits often in a short period, but my server is not as optimised as it could be and it did just fine. I think what we have here is a server or a web app poorly configured.

HN Managed to kill the uplink of my provider...

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#18

Post by jaydcarlson »

xt00 wrote: post #12
cjsuk wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can get 8051 parts for that.

Yea I'm hoping somebody can provide a list of various manufacturers and part names similar to the article..

My article includes the Holtek HT-66, the STCmicro STC8, the Nuvoton N76, and the ST STM8 — all hover in the 1-2 RMB range (especially when purchased in volume from within the mainland).

The STC8 and N76 parts are 8051, the other two are their own design. The HT-66 looks very much like a PIC16 part, and IDE and compiler are totally free.

The STM8 is probably the best-performing part in that price range, and has a free IDE and compiler.

My review includes pretty extensive discussion on the main page, plus separate reviews for all these parts — check it out and let me know if I need to clarify anything!

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#19

Post by ctack »

jaydcarlson wrote: post #16
m_eiman wrote: post #2

Perhaps Jay should have hosted the page on a microcontroller instead of a database; archive copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20171106070102/https://jaycarlso...

With 21 of these parts on my desk, that would have been a good idea. Thanks for linking to a cached version — I'm working to get my little blog on Cloudflare to handle the traffic. I appreciate the kind words from everyone so far; it's been a huge learning opportunity, and I hope others can get inspired to grab one of these parts (especially one of the weirder ones) and do something cool with it.

Not your issue, but the current timeout Cloudflare page is saying that thanks to it's "Always Online™" technology, we can surf a snapshot of the site. But there is link or option to said snapshot :/

Re: Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1

#20

Post by TeMPOraL »

alister wrote: post #11

If I hadn't seen this article on Hacker News today, is there any combination of plausible keywords I could have typed into Google to find this particular article if I were looking for an in-depth review of microcontrollers? I tried "best microcontrollers reviewed", "best low-cost microcontrollers", "survey of microcontrollers", and a bunch of others. Nothing that Google finds in the first 10-20 hits is as good this r…

> I suppose the lessons are: there's room for lots of improvement in search engines, or SEO really works and you better promote yourself no matter how good you are, or word of mouth (Hacker News in this case) is still the way to find the best stuff.

The way I look at it: SEO really works, and shit sources tend to spend a lot on it, while quality sources tend to not spend anything on it at all - therefore a lot of quality stuff is hard to find, unless you can hear the right words from the right mouths.

(IMO SEO, beyond making your website not look like shit, is user-hostile behaviour. It games search engines into serving users links to those who spend effort on gaming search engines instead of links to content the user was looking for.)

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