SB Components’ StackyFi is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth IoT board with a 40-pin GPIO header compatible with most Raspberry Pi HAT expansion boards and a camera connector for image capture to a microSD card or machine learning applications.
The Raspberry Pi Zero-sized board also comes with two USB Type-C ports, one “native” and the other for serial debugging, an IMU sensor, an RGB LED, and Boot and Reset buttons. The board can be powered through one of the USB-C ports or a LiPo battery. It partially builds upon the earlier StackPi board with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.
StackyFi specifications:
- Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1
- MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM
- Memory – TBD PSRAM
- Storage – TBD flash
- Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5
- PCB antenna
- Storage – MicroSD card
- Camera I/F – FPC connector that works with OV2640 camera module
- USB
- 1x USB-C 1.1 OTG port
- 1x USB-C serial port
- Sensor – Unnamed IMU sensor
- Expansion – 40-pin GPIO connector compatible with most Raspberry Pi HAT expansion boards
- Misc
- Boot and Reset buttons
- RGB LED
- Power Supply
- 5V DC via USB port
- 2-pin connector for LiPo Battery; charging circuit
- Dimensions – 65 x 30 mm (Raspberry Pi Zero dimensions)
SB Components claims the board is open-source, supports Arduino IDE, MicroPython, and CircuitPython programming, and the StackyFi can be controlled remotely via a smartphone or laptop. However, the company may be one of the worst board vendors when it comes to documentation during the crowdfunding campaign. I had to spend a significant amount of time to come up with the specifications above, and they did not even disclose flash and PSRAM capacities, so there’s no way to know if a specific firmware will fit or even run on the board.
They did share some schematic screenshots on the Kickstarter page, but those are so blurry you have to wonder if they are not just trolling their potential customers. They also claim support for Raspberry Pi HAT boards for their ESP32-S3 board, but from what I see, they did not even bother testing any. There aren’t any showcased in the video above or at least specific models mentioned in the description. More information should be released on GitHub once the campaign is over.
In case you are still interested, SB Components launched the StackyFi board on Kickstarter with rewards starting at $29 for the board only and $33 for the StackyFi with an OV2640 camera module. Shipping is expected to start in November and adds 7 GBP to the UK, and about $19.50 to the rest of the world.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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I’m glad you called out their lack of documentation or support. They certainly ship product, but if you go back to the original StackyPi with the RP2040, I raised a bunch of issues and asked questions on the GitHub repository 2 years ago, and got nowhere. On the software side they absolutely just chuck stuff over the wall and leave it, no maintenance or interest in community or responding – I’m avoiding them as a result.