Microcontrollers
ESP8266
The ESP8266 is a microcontroller by Espressif.
Properties
| Property | Value |
| Nominal Voltage | 3.3 V |
| CPU |
32 bit CPU |
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz Wifi, Bluetooth |
| ADC | 1 10-bit ADC with max 1.0 Volt |
| Pins | GPIO Pins, I2C, SPI, UART |
Boards
NodeMCU 1.0
The NodeMCU 1.0 is a popular development board for working with the ESP8266 (Often with the variant ESP-12E). It has the following properties:
- A USB interface (usual Micro USB)
- USB-To-UART Chip (CH340 or CP2102)
- Voltage regulator for 3.3 V
- Reset and Flash button
- Breadboard friendly pins
- 4MB Flash memory
Rasberry Pi Pico
Pinout
A good website to look at the pinout: https://pico.pinout.xyz/
ESP32
The Family
The ESP32 is a whole family of microcontrollers. Depending on the type, they differ from e.g. CPU or Wi-Fi capabilities.
Overview
| Chip | CPU | Wi-Fi | Bluetooth | USB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32 | 1–2× Xtensa, 240 MHz | Wi-Fi 4 | BT Classic + BLE | ❌ |
| ESP32-S2 | 1× Xtensa, 240 MHz | Wi-Fi 4 | ❌ | USB OTG |
| ESP32-S3 | 2× Xtensa LX7, 240 MHz | Wi-Fi 4 | BLE 5 | USB OTG |
| ESP32-C2 | 1× RISC-V | Wi-Fi 4 | BLE | ❌ |
| ESP32-C3 | 1× RISC-V, 160 MHz | Wi-Fi 4 | BLE 5 | USB Serial/JTAG |
| ESP32-C5 | 1× RISC-V, 240 MHz | Wi-Fi 6, 2.4 + 5 GHz | BLE 5.2 | USB Serial/JTAG |
| ESP32-C6 | 1× RISC-V, 160 MHz | Wi-Fi 6 | BLE 5 | USB Serial/JTAG |
| ESP32-H2 | 1× RISC-V, 96 MHz | ❌ | BLE 5 | USB Serial/JTAG |
| ESP32-P4 | RISC-V | ❌ | ❌ | USB OTG |
| ESP32-S31 | 2× RISC-V, 320 MHz | Wi-Fi 6 | BT 5.4 | USB OTG |