Adafruit ESP32-S3 pen with 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM
The Adafruit ESP32-S3 Feather represents an upgrade to ESP32-based microcontrollers in the popular Feather form factor. This new ESP32 chip is a dual-core design running at 240 MHz. It has built-in support for Wi-Fi and BLE. For comparison, the ESP32-S2 was single-core and did not support BLE. Both chips have native USB support, making it easy to run CircuitPython or emulate input devices. The ESP32-S3 has 512 KB of SRAM. The version we tested has an additional 2MB of slower PSRAM and 4MB of flash memory. A previous version of this product, still available, had no PSRAM and 8MB of flash memory.
The ESP32-S3 Feather has all the features we've come to expect from an entry into the Feather ecosystem. There is a LiPoly battery connector that powers a battery monitor and charge controller. A connected LiPoly battery will charge whenever the Feather is powered through its USB-C port. There is a STEMMA QT port for adding I2C-based peripherals. The STEMMA QT is a four-pin port that provides power and the I2C bus to sensors and actuators compatible with STEMMA QT or Sparkfun's QWIIC system. Compatible cables and batteries are available with your Adafruit order.
There are twenty GPIO pins spread across the pen. The pin assignments on the ESP32-S3 are very flexible. Six of the pins on the pen are marked as analog inputs, but in fact fifteen of the pins are capable of accepting analog inputs. Pins marked for SPI bus, I2C bus and UART can all be used for GPIO. Most GPIO pins can be used for PWM, I2S, I2C, SPI or UART if you need them. The onboard NeoPixel LED connects to its own microcontroller pins and does not duplicate broken pins. Note that all I/O on Feather platforms is 3.3V.
To test this board, we started by installing the latest version of CircuitPython, following Adafruit's guide. Simply double click the reset button on the board to mount it as a USB mass storage device called FTHRS3BOOT. You can then download the latest CircuitPython firmware for that board and drag and drop it to install it on the board. Note that the link in the guide is for the non-PSRAM / 8MB flash version of the board and will not work with the model we tested. Follow our link above or browse the CircuitPython website to find the correct firmware version. You will know that the firmware has been successfully installed when the board reboots and remounts with the name CIRCUITPY. Adafruit then walks you through installing and using the Mu editor to interact with the map. You can also drag and drop libraries and code onto the CIRCUITPY player to run them. Because the board has the standard built-in red LED, you can download and drop the flashing example onto the board for that first program experience.
The Adafruit ESP32-S3 Feather represents an upgrade to ESP32-based microcontrollers in the popular Feather form factor. This new ESP32 chip is a dual-core design running at 240 MHz. It has built-in support for Wi-Fi and BLE. For comparison, the ESP32-S2 was single-core and did not support BLE. Both chips have native USB support, making it easy to run CircuitPython or emulate input devices. The ESP32-S3 has 512 KB of SRAM. The version we tested has an additional 2MB of slower PSRAM and 4MB of flash memory. A previous version of this product, still available, had no PSRAM and 8MB of flash memory.
The ESP32-S3 Feather has all the features we've come to expect from an entry into the Feather ecosystem. There is a LiPoly battery connector that powers a battery monitor and charge controller. A connected LiPoly battery will charge whenever the Feather is powered through its USB-C port. There is a STEMMA QT port for adding I2C-based peripherals. The STEMMA QT is a four-pin port that provides power and the I2C bus to sensors and actuators compatible with STEMMA QT or Sparkfun's QWIIC system. Compatible cables and batteries are available with your Adafruit order.
There are twenty GPIO pins spread across the pen. The pin assignments on the ESP32-S3 are very flexible. Six of the pins on the pen are marked as analog inputs, but in fact fifteen of the pins are capable of accepting analog inputs. Pins marked for SPI bus, I2C bus and UART can all be used for GPIO. Most GPIO pins can be used for PWM, I2S, I2C, SPI or UART if you need them. The onboard NeoPixel LED connects to its own microcontroller pins and does not duplicate broken pins. Note that all I/O on Feather platforms is 3.3V.
To test this board, we started by installing the latest version of CircuitPython, following Adafruit's guide. Simply double click the reset button on the board to mount it as a USB mass storage device called FTHRS3BOOT. You can then download the latest CircuitPython firmware for that board and drag and drop it to install it on the board. Note that the link in the guide is for the non-PSRAM / 8MB flash version of the board and will not work with the model we tested. Follow our link above or browse the CircuitPython website to find the correct firmware version. You will know that the firmware has been successfully installed when the board reboots and remounts with the name CIRCUITPY. Adafruit then walks you through installing and using the Mu editor to interact with the map. You can also drag and drop libraries and code onto the CIRCUITPY player to run them. Because the board has the standard built-in red LED, you can download and drop the flashing example onto the board for that first program experience.
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