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Comment by Etheryte

5 years ago

This scratches a fairly specific itch I've had for quite a while now — portable DIY electronics. At the moment, even if you use something as Lego-like as Adafruit's boards [1], you still need your primary logic board, a separate module to handling charging, a battery pack, a case that holds all of the above in place neatly, and more. Personally I don't find the keyboard to be a very attractive feature of Precursor, but all the rest of this project is super exciting and I can't wait to see them deliver on it.

[1] https://www.adafruit.com/

6 comments

Etheryte

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semi-extrinsic  5 years ago

Personally I just use ESP32 (specifically Lolin D32) in an altoids-type box with a run-of-the-mill small USB power bank taped to the back. Usually with some level shifters and stuff to run the Blinkenlights (FastLED + ws2813).

If that's too ghetto for you, have a look at the M5Stack series. A main unit (ESP32, screen, speaker, TF card reader, in a case with some buttons) costs $35, and the battery module you can stack on is $10. There is even a keyboard and a gameboy-like attachment.

I like the look of the Precursor, but personally the FPGA is a bit off-putting, just because I've never gone down that road.

gabrielsroka  5 years ago

From TFA

> if your application does not require a large display and a keyboard, you can simply remove them and replace the bezel with a full-sized circuit board

josalhor  5 years ago

> This scratches a fairly specific itch I've had for quite a while now — portable DIY electronics

Just the other day I found out about WiPhone: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2103809433/wiphone-a-ph...

The project appears to be in a "limbo" state.

  • squarefoot  5 years ago

    It's sad to see that. The project is interesting, but making it WiFi only restricted immensely its use. Although it seems obsolete tech, many countries still use 2G GSM phones (my phone is only GSM in fact). Adding a cheap SIM800 chip on a small removable board would turn this into a real phone, and the sales from people who needed GSM would help to cover for further development for the 4/5G version.