Desk of Ladyada – The 8051 Throwback Episode – CH552 #DeskOfLadyada #Adafruit @adafruit
This week at my desk, we played around with this CH552-based QT Py board before the chip shortage. Now parts are plentiful, so we made some prototypes and are trying out the CH55xduino board support package. And, it works!
There’s a few things to watch for given it has C but not C++ support. However, for about ’40 cents’ per chip, you get a 8051 with native USB that can do CDC/HID, has 4x 8-bit ADCs, hardware serial, I2C, SPI and doesn’t need a crystal or a lot of passives.
Obviously there’s down sides to such a minimal 8-bit microcontroller chip, but we think it could be super fun for some very basic USB projects!
We’ll show off a couple quick demos we threw together. We think of it as a native-USB-ATtiny85-alike, a nice update to our old Trinket ’85s.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
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 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: New Python Releases, an ESP32+MicroPython IDE and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
