I've had several requests, over the years, from readers of my books for me to write a book on the ESP32. Yes, there is lots of information out there on the Internet, but it's nice to have everything in one place, and also tried and tested on a variety of ESP32 boards. So, somewhat late to the party, I've finally written one. I've based the book on MicroPython...

I'm currently in the final stages of a new book 'Programming the ESP32' and while browsing the MicroPython documentation for the ESP32, I came across a section describing setting the output current of an ESP32 GPIO pin. This implied that by including this in your code:  p6 = Pin(32, Pin.OUT, drive=Pin.DRIVE_3)  you could set the drive current of...

After some inconsistent and unreliable results reading an analog input from an ESP32 board, I decided to get all scientific and do some experimenting with an ESP32, a Raspberry Pi Pico and an Arduino Uno R3.MethodMy test setup was a bench power supply providing the reference voltage to be measured by the test board. The output of the bench PSU had a...

I was lucky enough to get hold of a pre-release Raspberry Pi 5. Here are my impressions of this latest incarnation of the Raspberry Pi Single Board Computer. First ImpressionsThe first thing to strike me was the almost minimalist PCB layout, the top-side being mostly big chips with a lot of the tiny little capacitors and resistors on the underside...

 In the fourth part of this series of posts, we'll take a look at making a battery extracted from an e-cig safe to use in your products. DANGER: There is a really good chance that the battery of a discarded e-cig is still holding quite a lot of energy. The fluid runs out first. So if, during disassembly, the unit triggers (quite likely), then a big...

MonkMakes Press Publishes Getting Started Guide to the Software IndustryAugust 10, 2023. Preston, UK. Press ReleaseCoding: The 21st Century’s Most Valuable Skill is the latest book by best-selling non-fiction author Simon Monk. Aimed squarely at anyone contemplating a career in the software industry, this book gives the reader a taste of coding, as...