Uzenet adapter V2

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uze6666
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by uze6666 »

danboid wrote: Fri Mar 31, 2023 7:04 am Have you redesigned and rebuilt the Uzenet adapter to fit in the official case yet Uze? You did say that should be possible right?
I said it's possible yes, but did not do anything since nobody asked. And I was on many other things. If you confirm interest I can make it.
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by danboid »

I've already bought and built one so I wasn't asking for me. I'd just like to think that if you sell any more that future users would have to option of keeping their case on with it attached, if they are using the official case.

Saying that tho, I do have a spare Uzenet kit so if/when I build that, I would like to use the revised PCB so it can fit.

There's no rush, I was just curious.
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by D3thAdd3r »

Somehow I hadn't come across this yet:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnx-so ... 2/%3famp=1

Main thing, it's an ESP32 line pin compatible with various ESP8266 modules. So in theory this should drop in as a replacement for the ESP-12F if they become unavailable in the future. They also have external antenna options in addition to the built in one(unecessary IMO).

ESP32 has more cycles, RAM, flash, along with Bluetooth. IMO that is basically useless since we should target the existing ESP8266 features. I'm going to experiment with these modules and see what the AT commands are like. I would add extra commands/variations to CUzeBox if they were useful for compatibility and could co-exist.
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by uze6666 »

Great find! I'm happy to see that ESP32-C3F is backward compatible with the esp8266. I wonder if we can access the bluetooth interface via AT commands. Could make come cool bluetooth-based uzebox projects.
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by D3thAdd3r »

Still waiting on the ESP32-C3F. Did finally get the WT32-ETH01! Also got an ESP32-WROOM-32...can't remember why.

If you must have the lowest latency(assuming), the ETH01 is sort of sweet in theory. You can use an Ethernet cable instead of WiFi(still has WiFi as option). Ethernet is nice for latency since it doesn't have the shared CDMA(Carrier Detect Multiple Access) that causes collisions/jitter.

Haven't tested, but it I attached the AT commands, look familiar? :) So it seems like the normal ESP32 commands, which are pretty well the same as the 8266 1.7 commands, or at least supports the subset. Just extra output for BT and Ethernet IPs, MACs, etc.

Anyway I will test and report back. These modules are pretty large though, due to lots of extra pins we wont use, and the physical Ehternet port.
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by uze6666 »

Cool for the WT32-ETH01, but quite bulky and wouldn't be a direct replacement for the 8266. One could mount it on the EXT header though like I did for Uzenet. Really looking to see if they are really software compatible.
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by D3thAdd3r »

My hacked up serial cable seems to have bit the dust, so haven't been able to test it. Might wire it to the Uzebox and try.
uze6666 wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 1:44 am One could mount it on the EXT header though like I did for Uzenet.
Indeed it's relatively massive, which I think will limit it's appeal to very few:
esp32-eth01-size-comparison.jpg
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

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That's a beast, hope it's worth it! :lol:
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by uze6666 »

I was discussing with Dan about the level of difficulty of soldering the ESP-12 that may be a bit much for many. The latest PCB version 1.3.3 was released quite some time ago and added a way to solder the ESP-12 in a though-hole manner (though the pin pitch is a bit smaller). This allows to mount the ESP on header rows and remove it to easily upgrade the firmware if required. All is needed is the appropriate male/female header and voila. I will add the correct parts to the Digikey BOM for those interested.
DSC00392.jpg
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DSC00393.jpg
DSC00393.jpg (66.9 KiB) Viewed 3967 times
This is a little JIG I made to help upgrading the firmware using a standard 5V FTDI cable. The one with the pogo pins was in the event I wanted to just flash the module the SMT way. I will add the schematics and bom to the dowloads page.
DSC00395.jpg
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Re: Uzenet adapter V2

Post by D3thAdd3r »

That's a nice solution :ugeek:
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