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EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

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Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#21

Post by ajsnigrutin »

cracrecry wrote: post #15
moffkalast wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They decided to design this whole thing instead of just going with a read only SD partition or one of the CM4 docks with eMMC? Don't get me wrong, the end result is really cool and if just an ESP can cover their entire use case then the Pi was definitely overkill, but it just seems like inventing a flying car because you once got a flat tire.

We also depend on RPys. Right now the supply chain problems RPys are so big,that they are reselling RP 4s for over 300 euros!! Imagine that over night the price of cars go 3x and you have to wait a long time for them. Different people are finding different alternatives. We also created a very convoluted solution.

The problem here is, that an esp32 is not an alternative for a RPi,... it's a totally different kind of a device, that is only suitable in cases, where rpi was a clear overkill. This is like replacing a truck with a bicycle... if a bicycle was enough in the first place, there's no point in even using a truck for such a simple task.

The real alternatives are many other linux-based single-board computers (from Pis onwards)... sadly most of them come and go, and trying to find a recent OS image (with working binary blobs) for eve a 6 months old devices is proving to be hard.

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#22

Post by woile »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #21
cracrecry wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also depend on RPys. Right now the supply chain problems RPys are so big,that they are reselling RP 4s for over 300 euros!! Imagine that over night the price of cars go 3x and you have to wait a long time for them. Different people are finding different alternatives. We also created a very convoluted solution.

The problem here is, that an esp32 is not an alternative for a RPi,... it's a totally different kind of a device, that is only suitable in cases, where rpi was a clear overkill. This is like replacing a truck with a bicycle... if a bicycle was enough in the first place, there's no point in even using a truck for such a simple task. The real alternatives are many other linux-based single-board computers (from Pis onwa…

Where the price of the truck is almost the same as the bike

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#23

Post by kkielhofner »

I love seeing more ESP32 based projects and hardware. It’s a remarkably capable platform with a robust ecosystem that for a “microcontroller” somewhat resembles that of the Raspberry Pi.

I have an irrational frustration when I see people doing simple GPIO, etc with a Raspberry Pi 4 (when you used to be able to get them). I mean come on people, it has four cores, gigabytes of RAM, and can drive two 4k displays(at 30Hz) and you’re using a pin?!?

The Raspberry Pi has relatively low power consumption compared to what most people are used to with anything x86 but an ESP32 based solution comes in at 1/10 the power consumption (or less), a fraction of the cost, and you can actually get them these days.

Then I calm myself down when I remember GPIO on a Raspberry Pi is following one of the 100,000 guides that’s been written on the topic and can be done in a comfortable, standard Linux environment with a few lines of python (or whatever).

Question for this project - does anyone know the specific regulatory issues of a “commercial” product that calls for an external WiFi antenna? From my little understanding on the topic it seems that ERP, etc could pose a regulatory issue although I think there are exceptions for low scale/hobby products.

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#24

Post by NoboruWataya »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #21
cracrecry wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also depend on RPys. Right now the supply chain problems RPys are so big,that they are reselling RP 4s for over 300 euros!! Imagine that over night the price of cars go 3x and you have to wait a long time for them. Different people are finding different alternatives. We also created a very convoluted solution.

The problem here is, that an esp32 is not an alternative for a RPi,... it's a totally different kind of a device, that is only suitable in cases, where rpi was a clear overkill. This is like replacing a truck with a bicycle... if a bicycle was enough in the first place, there's no point in even using a truck for such a simple task. The real alternatives are many other linux-based single-board computers (from Pis onwa…

> if a bicycle was enough in the first place, there's no point in even using a truck for such a simple task.

Right, but people still use the truck, because it's what they know, and maybe because they like the form factor. A lot of Pis are overkill for the projects they're used in. If those projects could start using this, freeing up Pis for projects that actually need them, that would be helpful.

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#25

Post by moffkalast »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #20
moffkalast wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They decided to design this whole thing instead of just going with a read only SD partition or one of the CM4 docks with eMMC? Don't get me wrong, the end result is really cool and if just an ESP can cover their entire use case then the Pi was definitely overkill, but it just seems like inventing a flying car because you once got a flat tire.

...or a case with a place for an ssd an a usb3.0->sata or whatever interface... RPi4 supports usb boot for some time now.

Yeah, but it's not something you'd really want to use in production though.

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#26

Post by pmontra »

> writing permanent its log files and swap partition

If this is the problem, the solutions are no swap and log2ram https://github.com/azlux/log2ram

I also noticed that Armbian logs to a ramdisk. I didn't investigate the implementation and if its contents survive a reboot.

The only real problems for me are that the SD card will eventually fail no matter what (I mean, much sooner than a SDD or HDD) and that there are basically no Pis at sale at a reasonable price. As a platform it is nearly dead.

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#27

Post by nevi-me »

How does one get PCBs with all the components wired in? I've been prototyping for a while, and it would be great for me to learn how to start putting stuff in cases instead of having wires dangling around.

I was looking at PBCWay just yesterday, and the process is unclear. If I say that I need some parts, do I have to source them, or can PCBWay/alternative do so for me?

EDIT: what software does one use to draw PCBs for production too? I've seen a few options online, perhaps a better question is what preferences there are. One thing I'm curious about is whether that software will say "you need this much resistance between these 2 components".

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#28

Post by dghlsakjg »

nevi-me wrote: post #27

How does one get PCBs with all the components wired in? I've been prototyping for a while, and it would be great for me to learn how to start putting stuff in cases instead of having wires dangling around. I was looking at PBCWay just yesterday, and the process is unclear. If I say that I need some parts, do I have to source them, or can PCBWay/alternative do so for me? EDIT: what software does one use to draw PCBs f…

Jlcpcb has the easiest and most affordable service. They have a library of pre selected parts that you have to choose from, but it is pretty comprehensive (300k or so to choose from). They are the only ones that do the pre-selected parts library thing, but it also makes them SO much cheaper and faster.

They also have their own free eda software to design the schematic and pcb that links up with their parts library. Easy eda. It puts out a generic gerber file and bom too so you can shop around if you want to double check what the cost will be at another producer. Kicad is another alternative for PCB design.

Re: EsPiFF: An ESP32 in the Raspberry Pi form factor

#29

Post by le-mark »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #21
cracrecry wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also depend on RPys. Right now the supply chain problems RPys are so big,that they are reselling RP 4s for over 300 euros!! Imagine that over night the price of cars go 3x and you have to wait a long time for them. Different people are finding different alternatives. We also created a very convoluted solution.

The problem here is, that an esp32 is not an alternative for a RPi,... it's a totally different kind of a device, that is only suitable in cases, where rpi was a clear overkill. This is like replacing a truck with a bicycle... if a bicycle was enough in the first place, there's no point in even using a truck for such a simple task. The real alternatives are many other linux-based single-board computers (from Pis onwa…

The other fruit pis also have supply issues and the boards themselves can be quite buggy. Design your own with parts you can get in sufficient quantity seems to be the way, unfortunately.
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