Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE • Hacker News Board

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#31

Post by coupdejarnac » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 10:31 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #8

Huwyt_Nashi_064 wrote: post #4

Maybe nitpicky but why is the ESP32 (dual core @ 240MHz, 300kb+ memory, options with megabytes of flash and memory integrated in package) relegated to coprocessor for a 48MHz microcontroller with 256kb flash and 32kb memory?

Not nitpicky at all. Some ideas. 1. I believe that there are some microcontrollers that have irreversible settings, such as a setting to permanently disable writing to flash memory. Is the ESP32 such a processor? If so, maybe they want to have WiFi on a coprocessor that they can write protect so that they can get certification to sell their modules in jurisdictions that require that WiFi has protections against peopl…

The topic of mining crypto on microcontrollers something I see so often, and it drives me crazy. Mining crypto takes a ton of energy, so why would you do that on a battery powered device? ffs

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#32

Post by GekkePrutser » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 10:36 PM UTC

Interesting, but the price is a bit too high for what it is IMO. You can get a pinewatch or M5stick for much less. For me the appeal of such boards is that they cost negligible money so you can use them everywhere.

I know they're not the same this and have some different specs, but they are in the same class. This is not something I'd buy as easily.

However I hope it does well, after all scaling up will bring prices down.

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#33

Post by tzs » Sun, Aug 29, 2021, 4:20 AM UTC

coupdejarnac wrote: post #31

tzs wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not nitpicky at all. Some ideas. 1. I believe that there are some microcontrollers that have irreversible settings, such as a setting to permanently disable writing to flash memory. Is the ESP32 such a processor? If so, maybe they want to have WiFi on a coprocessor that they can write protect so that they can get certification to sell their modules in jurisdictions that require that WiFi has protections against peopl…

The topic of mining crypto on microcontrollers something I see so often, and it drives me crazy. Mining crypto takes a ton of energy, so why would you do that on a battery powered device? ffs

Same reason people do cryptomining via JavaScript malware on web pages: it is using someone else's resources.

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#34

Post by nine_k » Sun, Aug 29, 2021, 5:57 AM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #21

Seems similar to the M5Stack ( https://m5stack.com/ ), which is a good thing, if only to have more competition.

...only much smaller. You can't make a watch out of M5, you can only make a clock.

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#35

Post by rwmj » Sun, Aug 29, 2021, 8:21 AM UTC

irq-1 wrote: post #15

OisinMcGrath wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! I am actually directly involved with Pocuter. Amazing to see it posted here! The ESP32 alone doesn't have enough pins to handle all of the features of the Pocuter, so the SAMD21 was selected as the main MCU to supplement this. We are looking in to upgrading to the ESP32-C3 in the near future.

The security features on the ESP32-C3 are great! > Secure Boot, Flash Encryption, Digital Signature and HMAC Peripheral, Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) / DRM That could open up new use cases. Strange its RSA only (no ECC). https://www.espressif.com/en/news/ESP32_C3?0

And it's RISC-V based too.

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#36

Post by coupdejarnac » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:18 AM UTC

tzs wrote: post #33

coupdejarnac wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The topic of mining crypto on microcontrollers something I see so often, and it drives me crazy. Mining crypto takes a ton of energy, so why would you do that on a battery powered device? ffs

Same reason people do cryptomining via JavaScript malware on web pages: it is using someone else's resources.

I mean, have you done much embedded systems dev? What good is crypto mining when the device dies in an hour?

Re: Pocuter – A coin-sized micro computer with WiFi and BLE

#37

Post by ksaj » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 10:59 PM UTC

ducktective wrote: post #18

ksaj wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't changing the locale settings defeat 1-?

locale? If you mean some config, I think the binary blob should handle WiFi protocol to the spec (BTW, It's a freeRTOS application IIRC)

Different territories have different channel restrictions. As a result, some countries have access to channels that other countries do not. Setting your wifi up as if it is in Japan gives you a couple of channels you are not legally allowed to access in North America, for example.