GumBoard, a Tiny "Universal Wi-Fi IoT Board," Packs a 1/8" Jack for Solder-Free Expansion
Featuring a 1/8" jack for connectivity to sensors and an optional U.FL connector for an antenna, the GumBoard punches above its weight.
Jey Spulka, creator of the TeHyBug family of Wi-Fi-connected environmental trackers, has launched an ultra-compact development board based on Espressif's ESP8285 module and featuring an audio-style four-pin jack for connectivity to external hardware: the GumBoard.
"I needed a small board for simple Wi-Fi projects with buttons," Spulka explains of the board's origins, "where I can connect a display and sensors and navigate through the display menu through buttons. [The GumBoard is] a small hacking development board with four buttons, based on ESP8285 Module, an audio jack for easy connecting TeHybug Sensors and displays, and an RGB indication LED."
The tiny dev board includes a micro-USB port for power and programming, is supported in the Arduino IDE and by any other toolchain capable of flashing an ESP8285, and offers on-board Wi-Fi connectivity with an optional Hirose U.FL connector for an external antenna should the on-board antenna prove inadequate for a given project.
The board doesn't, however, include the usual general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins you'd see on rival designs. Instead, to keep the size down, external hardware is connected using a 3.5mm (1/8") four-pin audio-style jack — offering compatibility with Spulka's TeHyBug sensor boards and add-ons.
The board is now up for sale on the TeHyBug Tindie store starting at $19 for the standard model with on-board antenna, while a 0.96" OLED display with four-pin connector can be added for $6 and an AHT10 and BMP280 temperature, humidity, and pressure environmental sensor can be added for $5.
More information is available on the project's GitHub repository.
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