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Zimmiebob_zim@infosec.exchange
Mar 19, 2026, 3:37 AM
A lot of people criticize iOS and Android for making it harder to learn the low levels of how computers work. I’ve got to say, though, modern microcontrollers are so cheap and powerful it’s unreal. My first microcontroller was a 4 MHz PIC with 16 *bytes* of RAM and 256 *bytes* of storage for the program.
Today, for $19, you can get a pack of three ESP32 S3 units. Two primary cores at 240 MHz, a third core at ~20 MHz, 512 kB of RAM, 384 kB of main storage, 8 MB of SPI flash, all kinds of built-in peripherals (UARTs, SPI, I2C, even WiFi and Bluetooth). Learning how computers actually work has never been easier for people who want to know!
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Replies

Zimmiebob_zim@infosec.exchange
Apr 4, 2026, 4:14 PM
I have a small new project which needs a little compute and a Bluetooth transceiver, so I picked up a pack of ESP32-C6 “supermini” boards from a Chinese seller. I’ve seen boards like this pop up then disappear when the seller moves on to something else, but they also sent a solid documentation package. Schematics, board footprint, datasheets for all the chips down to the voltage regulator. They were something like $3.20 each.
The microcontroller world is so much better than it was when I was learning.
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Zimmiebob_zim@infosec.exchange
Apr 14, 2026, 10:48 PM
Test equipment is also so much better and more accessible. My multimeter has been annoying me (it takes *six* AA cells!), so I got a combination multimeter, signal generator, and oscilloscope for under $75 shipped. The oscilloscope part has limitations, but it’s extremely capable for the price. 50 MHz bandwidth on each of two channels, Y-T and X-Y modes, the ability to do math on the two signals and show the result as a third trace, live FFT, the ability to save a waveform for later viewing on a computer, all kinds of stuff.
Logic analyzers have also gotten really good and really cheap.
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