ESPboy
Homebrew gadget / Development platform
Retro games, IT/IoT STEM, education and fun
open source, portable, modular, Arduino IDE/PlatformIO compatible
for IT geeks, retro game fans, makers
[ explore ] [ create ] [ learn ] [ code ] [ play ]
with WiFiAppStore, WebAppStore and community support
ESPboy - indie STEM project with unique handmade gadgets is designed to help enthusiasts learn/improve IT/IoT skills and promote Arduino making and engineering creativity.
An interesting hobby for you and your children, an opportunity to learn/improve programming, neo-retro game development, MCU and IoT technologies, electronics and digital devices making.
Feel free to email me, welcome to the ESPboy community Discord channel and forum.
Have fun!
Regards, Roman S. -- IT project manager by day, ESPboy developer by night :)
All ESPboy versions are compatible!
Improved ESPboy for €85 5 in stock / 274 sold
The basic device without additional modulesPayPal payment for fully assembled and tested device, loaded with LGE games and WiFiAppStore, ready to play and access to WebAppStore. Payment includes a logistics fee. Please send your name and shipping address to ESPboy.edu@gmail.com. Shipment within 3 days provided with tracking number. Feel free to ask questions: discord chat, project forum or e-mail.
Check out Tindie.com for alternative protected payment, project description and user feedback.
ESPboy:Kit or ESPboy:Kit PCB 3 in stock / 21 sold
At ESPboy:KIT you can order original "ESPboy:Kit" circuit board, electronic parts for it and even complete soldering of the device. This is a simplified version of the original ESPboy1/ESPboy2 with all the through-holes and cheap parts, designed to help beginners make their own ESPboy. Assemble the whole device yourself. Upload the firmware from ESPboy github or WebAppStore and have fun! Try Apps from the ESPboy WiFiAppStore and WebAppStore. Feel free to ask questions: discord chat, project forum or e-mail.
ESPboy:DIY or ESPboy:DIY PCB 1 in stock / 84 sold
At ESPboy:DIY you can order original "ESPboy:DIY" circuit boards and enclosure panels, electronic parts and even complete soldering of the device. Assemble the whole device yourself if you have experience in soldering SMD components. Upload the firmware from ESPboy github or WebAppStore and have fun! Try Apps from the ESPboy WiFiAppStore and WebAppStore. Feel free to ask questions: discord chat, project forum or e-mail.
ESPboy:Breadboard
Follow the instructions on the www.instructables.com and build your own handmade "ESPboy:Breadboard ". The parts will cost you about $10 and can be ordered from sites such as www.aliexpress.com, www.digikey.com, www.mouser.com, www.lcsc.com, etc. Upload the firmware from ESPboy github or WebAppStore and have fun! Try Apps from the ESPboy WiFiAppStore and WebAppStore. Feel free to ask questions: discord chat, project forum or e-mail.
Highlights
WiFiAPPSTORE & WebAPPSTORE
try WebAppStore using Chrome browser or WiFiAppStore on your ESPboy device connecting to WiFi with a huge quantity of games and appsATTACHABLE MODULES
full keyboard, weather station, MP3 player, FM radio, LORA messenger, GSM phone, GPS navigator, DAC player, and more and your own...GAME-DEV & PLAY
Little Game Engine web IDE, MicoJS web IDE, ZX spectrum 48k, GameBoy, Chip8/Schip, Arduboy, Gamebuino-META, ANARCH - 3D Doom-like game.CHIPTUNE MUSIC COMPOSE
Using original ESPboy EBT trackerIoT & ONLINE SERVICES
WiFi-IoT.com, mysensors.org, mydevices.com, thingspeak.com, cloudmqtt.com, cloud.google.com, hivemq.com...PENTESTING & OFFENSIVE SECURITY
WiFi attacks, BadUSB, RFID/NFC, SUB-1Ghz transceiver, iButton, InfraRedCODING & PROTOTYPING
Arduino IDE, PlatformIO, espressif SDK, micropython, Ardublock.ru, lua, basic, javascript, visuino, fl-prog...MOBILE PHONE INTEGRATION
blynk.io, remoutexy.com, virtuino.comEXTENSION CONNECTOR
i2c, SPI, UART, ADC, i2s, LED out, MCP23017 GPIOsSPECIFICATION
ESP8266, 80/160Mhz, 4/8Mb, WiFi, LCD 128х128, LCD brightness DAC, RGBled, HQspeaker, 8 buttons, 600mAh battery, 30x70х17mmESPboy - improved and glamour
ESPboy:DIY look and spirit
Users
What to do with ESPboy
Explore the Open Hardware and Software
Make hardware research, understand the schematic, and improve it. Use as a platform for fast prototyping.
Rapid prototyping
With ESPboy you have everything you need to quickly prototype your idea
100% Arduino IDE and Arduino libraries compatible, display for the UI, buttons to control, speaker and RGB led for alarming and indication, WiFi for communication, battery for standalone operation, extension port for connecting external sensors or servos, compact size for portable use
Code Arduino IDE, VS code/PlatformIO, MicroPython, LUA, Basic, Scratch
Learn to code. You don’t need to make low-level code, just take the right library from the huge Arduino community. Check all the ESPboy open-source Arduino software. Write your own applications easily in standard IDEs using a wide range of compatible libraries.
Visual programming & firmware constructors
If you are new in coding, but full of ideas, try to draw your first program or use an online program constructor just selecting options or moving blocks: ardublock.ru, scratch.mit.edu, visuino, fl-prog, wifi-iot, mysensors.org
Chiptune music compose
Use EBT tracker to compuse your own chiptune music
Try WiFiAppStore and WebAppStore
Update the firmware in a minute, using WiFi and selecting the App from the list right on the ESPboy. No programming, buggy libraries, compilation, fighting the bugs, and wires.
With the WebAppStore, you can upload apps to your ESPboy using the Chrome browser.
Indie neo-retro games rapid development
Make your first game in a few hours using online web MicoJS IDE or Little Game Engine IDE with the help of community, Mico JS documentation/ LGE documentation, and samples.
Play retro old games youth of your parents, touch the most famous platforms of the past, learn how emulation works ZX-spectrum and GameBoy.
Explore the world of Arduboy, Pokitto, Gamebuino META, CHIP8/SCHIP: platforms, community, and games.
Use extension connector & gadget modules
All useful interfaces on the expansion connector: I2C, SPI, I2S, UART, ADC, few MCU GPIOs and additional GPIOs of the MCP23017 GPIO expander.
Connect and control anything you want. The ideal prototyping mobile platform to test and improve your digital ideas.
Turn your ESPboy to the fully functional gadget in a minute with a standard expansion module or make your unique. MP3 player, GSM phone, FM radio, GPS navigator, LORA messenger, DAC AY38910 player, radiation meter, weather station. Play with it, understand the hardware, software, protocols, interfaces, create another one.
Do pen-testing and offensive security
Research the protocols and make penetration tests of communication networks and security systems. WiFi attacks, storing your office cards RFID/NFC with it's reading and emulation, storing iButton keys, remote control of the 433Mhz barriers, and garage doors, use as a universal IR remote control all of your devices, use as U2F security token and play with BAD-USB payloads.
Learn Internet of things, online services & mobile phone integration. Make your home smart
Learn the world of IoT. Connect the home automation sensors and actuators. Control them all or make the ESPboy one of them. Using WiFi onboard, get the data from the net, provide remote wireless control and monitoring of your home, send telemetry data to the online databases and services like www.thingspeak.com, www.cloudmqtt.com, cloud.google.com, www.hivemq.com
Take control of your ESPboy and other devices, connected to it with your smartphone. We are supporting blynk.io and RemoteXY.com
Connectivity
There is WiFi onboard. But connecting the attacheble modules to expansion connector, you can use any trasiever: HC-11 for UART 433Mhz (excellent to control your robot or rover), CC1101 for 315/433/868Mhz (for controlling garage doors and barriers), NRF24le01 for 2.4Ghz, HC-06 for bluetooth, LORA modules and so on. The great thing that there are a huge quantity to open-source libraries for Arduino IDE so you can compile the included example and test the module just after the connection. No need to learn datasheet and then do low-level programming.
Specification
ESP8266 microcontroller (80/160Mhz 32bit Tensilica Xtensa CPU and 4-16Mb RAM)
WiFi onboard
1,44'' TFT 128х128 color display
8 buttons
MCP23017 GPIO extender
MCP4725 DAC to smoth control TFT backlit
RGB WS2812B LED
High-quality speaker
20pin extension header (DC, I2C, SPI, UART, ADC, MCU & MCP23017 GPIOs)
450mAh battery keeping high run for about 8 hours and years in sleeping mode
Modules and Software
Connect the original module to the ESPboy's extension header, update the software through WiFi, and get the fully functional gadgets in a minute. Or build your own, explore, how it works.
Already tested modules
433mhz sub-1Ghz inspector, GSM phone, GPS navigator, LORA messenger, Weather station, MP3 player, DAC player, IR remote, FM radio, Full layout keyboard, RFID/NFC reader-writer, CW Radio beacon, Radiation meter, Digital thermometer, Digital ruler, Pulsometer
Under development modules
Air quality monitor, Health monitor, OBDII car scanner, iButton reader/writer/emulator, Signal generator, Energy monitor, Arduino firmware uploader, Bad USB payloads, Оscilloscope, Thermovisor, photo camera
Software
WiFi deauther, WiFi analyzer, Pinger, Packet sniffer, PT3 chiptune player, CHIP8/SCHIP emulator, ZX Spectrum 48k emulator, Little Game Engine, Arduboy2 lib port + about 100 games already ported, GameBoy emulator, ANARCH - 3D Doom like game, Gamebuino META lib port + about 20 games already ported, ESP8266AUDIO library mod to utilize internal ESPboy speaker
IoT and online services
The core of ESPboy is ESP8266 MCU widely used in IoT and supported by all of the infrastructure
Code, connect and explore
Arduino IDE compatible and all its libraries. More over, there are wide range of supported development platforms
EBT tracker chiptune music
Check your sound volume
EBT is a tiny, minimalistic, yet quite powerful chiptune-like music editor with a tracker interface, originally developed for the ESPboy portable DIY handheld platform.
The source code is portable, so it may be available on other platforms as well. Currently it features an SDL port, so it can run on a regular desktop PC as well, sharing the same data format, so the song and instrument files are easily transferable between the devices.
Demo videos
Check ESPboy in action on Youtube :)
ESPboy:Breadboard DIY
Make yourself the ESPboy multigadget in 30 minutes
Assemble instructions
Solid Works 3D model
Full schematic
Software
Build instruction
Kit assembly video instruction
Bill of materials for minimal breadboard configuration
Speaker 50 Ohm (50 Ohm is important!)
ANARCH - 3D Doom-like game
Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator
Pokitto compatible
There is ported Pokitto library specially for ESPboy. Now it's easy to migrate lot of excellent games from amazing neo retro Pokitto platform! About 10 games are ready to play right now at ESPboy and you can port any of them in a few hours.
Gamebuino META compatible
There is ported Gamebuino meta library specially for ESPboy. Now it's easy to migrate any of 50 excellent games from amazing neo retro Gamebuino META platform! About 20 games are ready to play right now at ESPboy and you can port any of them in a few hours.
Arduboy platform compatible
There is ported Arduboy2 lib specially for ESPboy. Now it's easy to migrate any of 200 excellent games from amazing neo retro Arduboy platform! About 100 games are ready to play right now at ESPboy and you can port any of them in a few hours.
Little Game Engine
To play Little Game Engine games online, choose the game, then in LGE IDE press "compile" and "play" icon. You can check the source code of these games, learn LGE C-like script and then program your own first game in a few hours! With the help of ESPboy community in forum and chat.
To try game online: select one below, press "Compile" button and then "Play" icon
CHIP8/SCHIP emulator
The heritage interpreted programming language for the the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers in the mid-1970s . Play old games and try to make you own to win Octo Jam