Top all-time · #1731
Jay Carlson
Personal blog · jaycarlson.nethardwareprogramming
Jay Carlson's personal blog at jaycarlson.net covers hardware and programming. Since 2017, 44 different Hacker News readers have linked it 48 times, most often “Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Most-linked posts?
- Exploring different microcontrollers less than $115 people · 15 mentions · first linked 2017-11-06
- So you want to build an embedded Linux system?13 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2020-10-16
- What's up with these 3-cent microcontrollers?7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2020-09-10
- Home Office/Workspace Tour4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-01-03
- The Cheapest Flash Microcontroller You Can Buy Is Actually an Arm Cortex-M02 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-02-05
What Hacker News says?
You might want to check out The Amazing $1 Microcontroller [1] which explores multiple microcontrollers that could be had for less than $1 (when buying a hundred of them) in 2020. I haven't checked how much the prices have dropped since (if at all) but it could still be a good starting point when looking for parts at the 8021's price range. [1] https://jaycarlson.net/microcontrollers/
Comment linking /microcontrollers/
on “NSA releases 1982 Grace Hopper lecture”Submitted Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1 as a story · 929 points
HN discussionAnd from https://jaycarlson.net/about/ : > Jay is available for engineering services on a contract basis I'm not saying that's the number one goal here, I think this very thorough and informative piece goes way beyond a personal advert. But it must help (and rightly so).
Comment linking /about/
on “Exploring different microcontrollers less than $1”Submitted The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017) as a story · 670 points
HN discussionJay also did a great rundown of $1 microcontrollers a few years ago: https://jaycarlson.net/microcontrollers/ This embedded Linux article is a really worthy followup!
Comment linking /microcontrollers/
on “So you want to build an embedded Linux system?”Submitted So you want to build an embedded Linux system? as a story · 535 points
HN discussionHave you read "The Amazing $1 Microcontroller" [0], which might have been posted here before? It's a survey of available microcontrollers, with the intent of helping you choose one. If you have read it, are you in agreement with the article, for example on how AVRs compare to others? [0] https://jaycarlson.net/microcontrollers/
Comment linking /microcontrollers/
on “What happens before main() is executed in C and why is it important?”Submitted The amazing $1 microcontroller (2017) as a story · 332 points
HN discussionI actually appreciate domain-specific programming languages. It's fine (for me) that JS is the native front-end language. It's fine that Rust targets systems and embedded. I love that Python is a middle ground, and really great backends are built on it. I'm great with C being a really low level language that forces me to think about the machine. Taking "I'm productive in it so it is great" to an extreme, we end up s…
Comment linking /embedded-linux/
on “Back-end languages are coming to the front-end”Submitted So you want to build an embedded Linux system? (2020) as a story · 233 points
HN discussion> You not only had to figure out the program logic, but you had to work within very tight hardware constraints. Try programming microcontrollers and you can enjoy that feeling today! Get comfy with the relatively powerful ARM Cortex-M variants, which typically sports 10s of kB of RAM. Then if you feel frisky, try your hand at some 8-bit uC's with less than 64 bytes of RAM (spend your bits wisely). https://jaycarlson…
Comment linking /microcontrollers/
on “Zelda Screen Transitions Are Undefined Behaviour”Submitted $1 Microcontrollers (2017) as a story · 173 points
HN discussionLinksys does not make Open Source Hardware. Also, it ships with their proprietary "Smart Wi-Fi", not OpenWRT. > While the Linksys WRT1200AC provides an outstanding experience via Smart Wi-Fi immediately out of the box, advanced users can further modify the router with open source firmware. Developed for use with OpenWRT, an open source Linux-based... [0] No one, to my knowledge, makes the appropriate Gigabit Etherne…
Comment linking /embedded-linux/
on “List of 8000 security vulnerabilities in 1200 Wi-Fi routers”Submitted So you want to build an embedded Linux system? as a story · 127 points
HN discussionPadawhatnow? This should answer your question why it was overlooked. And here is a link to the same author covering Padauk MCUs for people like me who have never heard about those despite having a degree in an embedded-related field: https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent...
Comment linking /2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent-microcontrollers/
on “The amazing $1 microcontroller (2017)”Submitted The $1 MICROCONTROLLER (comparison of cheap microcontrollers) (2017) as a story · 20 points
HN discussionPadauk microcontrollers were covered by the same author: https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent... Surprisingly, they have beaten ~25% of the $1 microcontrollers.
Comment linking /2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent-microcontrollers/
on “The amazing $1 microcontroller (2017)”Submitted The $1 MICROCONTROLLER: 21 microcontrollers – all less than $1 (2017) as a story · 7 points
HN discussion"The Amazing $1 Microcontroller" is a great place to start. It covers the main ARM micro families. Essentially you're looking for differences in peripherals, since the CPU is the same for any given Cortex M0, M3, etc. https://jaycarlson.net/microcontrollers/ Edit: I guess if you're looking to move to "more complex" things you may be beyond the $1 chips that this site reviews.
Comment linking /microcontrollers/
on “Teensy 4.1 Development Board”Submitted So you want to build an embedded Linux system? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionhttps://jaycarlson.net/ - His two in-depth articles on embedded linux and the $1 MCU are both excellent.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are some great engineering blogs?”Submitted The Cheapest Flash Microcontroller You Can Buy Is Actually an Arm Cortex-M0 as a story · 4 points
HN discussionAnd reading the article mentioned there about "THE CHEAPEST FLASH MICROCONTROLLER YOU CAN BUY IS ACTUALLY AN ARM CORTEX-M0+" (2023) [1] [1] https://jaycarlson.net/2023/02/04/the-cheapest-flash-microco...
Comment linking /2023/02/04/the-cheapest-flash-microcontroller-you-can-buy-is-actually-an-arm-cortex-m0/
on “Website is hosted on a disposable vape”Submitted The Amazing $1 Microcontroller (2017) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThis might be a good time to mention Jay Carlson's excellent "So you want to build an embedded Linux system?" article: https://jaycarlson.net/embedded-linux/ It's been discussed here before, but it's an impressive reminder of what an individual can accomplish with modern small-batch PCB manufacturing. It also goes a long way to make large-pitch BGA devices and high-speed signal design seem less intimidating to newco…
Comment linking /embedded-linux/
on “Running Debian on a 32MB RAM Single Core ARM SBC”Submitted Home Office/Workspace Tour as a story · 3 points
HN discussionsure! i hope you enjoy it! there was a lot of discussion of them about five years ago: https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent... https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent...
Comment linking /2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent-microcontrollers/
on “The PERQ Computer”Submitted Blinking an LED with an Original 1980S Intel 8051 Microcontroller as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWhat is wrong with an raspberry Pi pico? If you need more ram: https://jaycarlson.net/embedded-linux/ (just ignore the Linux part)
Comment linking /embedded-linux/
on “Commodore 64 Ultimate”Submitted I Teach Embedded Systems as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
