Feather
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Feather is an Adafruit standard format for microcontrollers.
- Large, comparatively for microcontrollers.
- Still pretty small compared to a Raspberry Pi or other types of SBCs (Single Board Computers)
- Alot of feather boards.
- All the same size and mostly use the same standards for pins and connections.
Note
Not all feathers run CircuitPython.
Some Versions of the Adafruit Feather
| Device | Microcontroller | Code | RAM | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adafruit HUZZAH32 | ESP32 | Arduino only | 4MB Flash + 520KB SRAM | $21.95 |
| Adafruit M4 Express | SAMD51 | Arduino or CircuitPython | 512KB Flash + 192KB RAM | $21.95 |
| Black Adafruit Feather RP2040 | RP2040 | Arduino or CircuitPython | 8MB SPI Flash + 264KB RAM | $19.95 |
| Pink Adafruit Feather RP2040 | RP2040 | Arduino or CircuitPython | 8MB SPI Flash + 264KB RAM | $19.95 |
| Adafruit Feather ESP32-S2 TFT Feather | ESP32-S2 | Arduino or CircuitPython | 4 MB Flash + 2MB PSRAM | $24.95 |
| Adafruit Feather ESP32-S2 with BME280 Sensor | ESP32-S2 | Arduino or CircuitPython | 2 MB of SPI Flash storage | $24.95 |
| Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 8MB Flash No PSRAM | ESP32-S3 | ESP-IDF, Arduino or CircuitPython | 8 MB of SPI Flash storage | $17.50 |
| Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM | ESP32-S3 | ESP-IDF, Arduino or CircuitPython | 4 MB of SPI Flash storage + 2 MB PSRAM | $17.50 |
Make: review of Adafruit Feather RP2040
Adafruit Blog: RP2040 Feather ‘bones’ for a few different varieties
When we kicked off the adafruit feather series of boards we started with the atmega32u4 and made a bunch of PCBs that featured that chip with accessories at the end (https://www.adafruit.com/?q=feather+32u4&sort=BestMatch)
fun fact: the featherline is derived from the bluefruit micro which was a popular 32u4 + BLE devboard (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2661)
after the 32u4 we went to the SAMD21 which brought cortex M0 and some circuitpython-capability to the Feather line. the SAMD21 was like-wise compact enough we could add some components on the end (https://www.adafruit.com/?q=feather+m0&sort=BestMatch) with more people using circuitpython, the SAMD21 is a bit cramped with only 32KB of RAM.
it’d be better if we re-did the idea series but with the SAMD51 (https://www.adafruit.com/?q=feather+m4&sort=BestMatch) however, the samd51 uses a lot more PCB space and now-a-days we cant get SAMD51’s anyways so we thought, let’s maybe try a RP2040 Feather collection?
Here’s the ‘bones’ of the RP2040 SCORPIO but with everything we could do in 0402 and shoved to the left. we ‘test fitted’ a few popular modules/connectors to make sure they’d fit in the left-over cavity. can you guess what each one would be for, or maybe you have ideas for any ones we missed?
Featherwing
Plugin add-on boards that provide additional features. E.g., running motors, adding sensors, include displays, add bluetooth or WiFi capabliities.
Feather Format is an Adafruit standard format for microcontrollers (Large, comparatively for microcontrollers. It's still pretty small compared to a Raspberry Pi or other types of SBCs) Alot of feather boards. All the same size and mostly use the same standards for pins and connections. NOTE: not all feathers run CircuitPython.
Example: NeoPixel FeatherWing for all Feather Boards https://www.adafruit.com/product/2945
Some FeatherWings
| Device | Cost |
|---|---|
| Adafruit AirLift FeatherWing | $12.95 |
| Adafruit FeatherWing OLED 128x64 | $14.95 |
| Adafruit Ultimate GPS FeatherWIng | $24.95 |
Additional References
This page was last updated on 2023-02-08 18:45:07 -0500.