This lovely little display breakout is the best way to add a small, colorful, and bright display to any project. Since the display uses 4-wire SPI to communicate and has its own pixel-addressable frame buffer, it can be used with every kind of microcontroller. Even a very small one with low memory and few pins available!
Sometimes you need a little extra storage for your microcontroller projects: for files, images, fonts, audio clips, etc. If you need lots of space, like in the gigabytes, we always recommend an SD card because you can easily plug it into a computer to edit files. But sometimes you don’t need whole gigabytes; you just need a megabyte or two, with the lower cost and power usage that comes with it. That’s when we recommend an Adafruit SPI FLASH Breakout such as this one that is fitted with a W25Q64 – 64 Mbit / 8 MByte chip.
Compared to our QSPI breakouts, this one is single-channel SPI only…BUT it comes with level shifting so it can be used safely with 3V or 5V power and logic. Since we needed to add level shifting, the chip is pre-wired into single channel “SPI” mode, with level shifters so you can use it with 3V or 5V logic easily. You also get a 3.3V regulator and a pullup on CS.
Our QT Py boards are a great way to make very small microcontroller projects that pack a ton of power – and now we have a way for you to quickly add a strand of NeoPixels with a 5V level shifter and a detachable JST PH connector. It’s an excellent way to make tiny wearable, cosplay or IoT projects with dazzling LEDs.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
