BrainBoardz Neuron

by BrainBoardz Inc.

Image of Board

  • BrainBoardz is a revolutionary modular Mini PCI Express (mPCIe) based system that greatly simplifies the design of circuit boards and custom microcontroller projects. Through the use of our inexpensive ESP32-S3 based Neuron modules and our ever expanding range of BrainBoardz prototyping boards anyone can easily develop custom projects to harness the impressive capabilities of the latest generation Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller. Simply plug in a Neuron module to a BrainBoardz mPCIe connector and you are ready to go. Neurons not only provide complete access to the extensive range of capabilities provided by the cutting edge ESP32-S3, they can also function as standalone modules if required. You are welcome to design/manufacture your own BrainBoardz compatible boards and Neuron compatible module(s). The entire BrainBoardz system is open source and 100% license free.

  • The components we have included on the Neuron are those that are most likely to be needed in core operations for the vast majority of prototypes and production. These include an ultra-low noise TI 5V to 3.3V LDO, a Mini-USB connector, a status LED and a MicroSD card reader. This razor focused approach ensures that we can provide the most affordable and flexible solution for ESP32-S3 microcontroller based projects!

  • Neurons and BrainBoardz are provided with a complete set of mounting hardware. It only takes a few seconds to add/remove a Neuron module to/from a BrainBoardz. There are no fragile pins to contend with in the BrainBoardz system. If you have access to an 3D printer you can also print as many spare mPCIe mounting parts as you need using the STL/FreeCAD model files provided in our GitHub repository. This revolutionary mPCIe connector based approach supports ultra-low profile projects and guarantees microcontroller module re-usability. We even provide an mPCIe stencil to make designing your own low profile boards easy. We fully support CircuitPython, Arduino, MicroPython and PlatformIO. Are you ready for a prototyping revolution?

Features:

  • ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N8R8 Module
  • 32-bit 240 MHz Dual-Core LX-7 Processor
  • 512 KB SRAM
  • 8 MB Flash
  • 8 MB OCTAL PSRAM
  • 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi - 802.11b/g/n
  • On-Board PCB Antenna
  • Bluetooth LE: Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth Mesh
  • Native ESP32-S3 USB Port
  • Reset Button
  • Boot Button
  • Support for 14 Touch Sensors
  • Blink LED
  • MicroSD Card Reader
  • Micro-USB Connector
  • Low Noise TI 5V to 3.3V LDO
  • 2.54mm 4 Pin Header4 (Neuron-Z) Boards
  • Access to All of the ESP32-S3’s GPIO Pins
  • Compatible with all BrainBoardz boards

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CircuitPython 9.0.4

This is the latest stable release of CircuitPython that will work with the BrainBoardz Neuron.

Use this release if you are new to CircuitPython.

Release Notes for 9.0.4

DOWNLOAD .BIN NOW DOWNLOAD .UF2 NOW

Built-in modules available: _asyncio, _bleio, _pixelmap, adafruit_bus_device, adafruit_pixelbuf, aesio, alarm, analogbufio, analogio, array, atexit, audiobusio, audiocore, audiomixer, binascii, bitbangio, bitmapfilter, bitmaptools, board, builtins, builtins.pow3, busdisplay, busio, busio.SPI, busio.UART, canio, codeop, collections, countio, digitalio, displayio, dualbank, epaperdisplay, errno, espcamera, espidf, espnow, espulp, fontio, fourwire, framebufferio, frequencyio, getpass, gifio, hashlib, i2cdisplaybus, io, ipaddress, jpegio, json, keypad, keypad.KeyMatrix, keypad.Keys, keypad.ShiftRegisterKeys, locale, math, mdns, memorymap, microcontroller, msgpack, neopixel_write, nvm, onewireio, os, os.getenv, paralleldisplaybus, ps2io, pulseio, pwmio, qrio, rainbowio, random, re, rgbmatrix, rotaryio, rtc, sdcardio, select, sharpdisplay, socketpool, ssl, storage, struct, supervisor, synthio, sys, terminalio, time, touchio, traceback, ulab, usb_cdc, usb_hid, usb_midi, vectorio, warnings, watchdog, wifi, zlib

CircuitPython 9.1.0-beta.0

This is the latest development release of CircuitPython that will work with the BrainBoardz Neuron.

Alpha development releases are early releases. They are unfinished, are likely to have bugs, and the features they provide may change. Beta releases may have some bugs and unfinished features, but should be suitable for many uses. A Release Candidate (rc) release is considered done and will become the next stable release, assuming no further issues are found.

Please try alpha, beta, and rc releases if you are able. Your testing is invaluable: it helps us uncover and find issues quickly.

Release Notes for 9.1.0-beta.0

DOWNLOAD .BIN NOW DOWNLOAD .UF2 NOW

Built-in modules available: _asyncio, _bleio, _pixelmap, adafruit_bus_device, adafruit_pixelbuf, aesio, alarm, analogbufio, analogio, array, atexit, audiobusio, audiocore, audiomixer, binascii, bitbangio, bitmapfilter, bitmaptools, board, builtins, builtins.pow3, busdisplay, busio, busio.SPI, busio.UART, canio, codeop, collections, countio, digitalio, displayio, dualbank, epaperdisplay, errno, espcamera, espidf, espnow, espulp, fontio, fourwire, framebufferio, frequencyio, getpass, gifio, hashlib, i2cdisplaybus, io, ipaddress, jpegio, json, keypad, keypad.KeyMatrix, keypad.Keys, keypad.ShiftRegisterKeys, keypad_demux, keypad_demux.DemuxKeyMatrix, locale, math, mdns, memorymap, microcontroller, msgpack, neopixel_write, nvm, onewireio, os, os.getenv, paralleldisplaybus, ps2io, pulseio, pwmio, qrio, rainbowio, random, re, rgbmatrix, rotaryio, rtc, sdcardio, select, sharpdisplay, socketpool, ssl, storage, struct, supervisor, synthio, sys, terminalio, time, touchio, traceback, ulab, usb_cdc, usb_hid, usb_midi, vectorio, warnings, watchdog, wifi, zlib

Absolute Newest

Every time we commit new code to CircuitPython we automatically build binaries for each board and language. The binaries are stored on Amazon S3, organized by board, and then by language. These releases are even newer than the development release listed above. Try them if you want the absolute latest and are feeling daring or want to see if a problem has been fixed.

Previous Versions of CircuitPython

All previous releases of CircuitPython are available for download from Amazon S3 through the button below. For very old releases, look in the OLD/ folder for each board. Release notes for each release are available at GitHub button below.

Older releases are useful for testing if you something appears to be broken in a newer release but used to work, or if you have older code that depends on features only available in an older release. Otherwise we recommend using the latest stable release.

BROWSE S3 BROWSE GITHUB

Install, Repair, or Update UF2 Bootloader

Latest version: 0.18.2

The UF2 bootloader allows you to load CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino programs. The bootloader is not CircuitPython. If a UF2 bootloader is installed, you can check its version by looking in the INFO_UF2.TXT file when the BOOT drive is visible (FTHRS2BOOT, MAGTAGBOOT, HOUSEBOOT, etc.)

It is not necessary to reinstall a UF2 bootloader you unless a BOOT drive is not visible when in UF2 bootloader mode, or you know of a problem with your current UF2 bootloader.

If a UF2 bootloader has never been installed on the board, or the UF2 bootloader was removed by erasing or overwriting the flash, the UF2 bootloader must be installed in order to flash .uf2 files onto the board. .bin files can be uploaded without a UF2 bootloader, using the ESP Web Flasher or esptool.py.

Note: update.uf2 files are not currently working on ESP32-S2 or ESP32-S3 boards.

Important: this will erase previously flashed firmware and sketches from the board, but needs to be perfomed only once.

The instructions here are general. We recommend you consult the manufacturer's board documentation for detailed instructions, which may be different.

  • Unzip to find the file combined.bin.
  • Place board in bootloader mode:
    • Plug board into a USB port on your computer using a data/sync cable. Make sure it is the only board plugged in, and that a charge-only cable is not being used.
    • Press and hold down the BOOT or 0 button.
    • Press and release the RESET or RST button.
    • Release the BOOT button.
  • Upload combined.bin (Google Chrome 89 or newer):
    • Open ESP Web Flasher in a new window/tab.
    • Select 460800 Baud from the pull-down menu (top-right).
    • Click Connect (top-right).
    • Select the COM or Serial port from the pop-up window.
    • After successful connection, click Erase.
    • After successful erase, click any Choose a file..., then locate and select the combined.bin file unzipped earlier.
    • After successfully choosing combined.bin, click Program.
    • After the TinyUF2 firmware update is complete, press the RESET button on the board. A new drive BOOT should be visible in your file browser.

After installing the UF2 bootloader, enter the bootloader by double-clicking the reset button. On boards with an RGB status LED, tap reset once, wait for the LED to turn purple, and tap again before the purple goes away. On other boards, consult the board documentation.

After you update, check INFO_UF2.TXT to verify that the bootloader version has been updated. Then you will need to load or reload CircuitPython using the .uf2 file.