Review: M5Stack Cardputer Adv Version (ESP32-S3)

Electronics Other Boards Technology
Review: M5Stack Cardputer Adv Version (ESP32-S3)

By David Groom

David Groom

David bought his first Arduino in 2007 as part of a Roomba hacking project. Since then, he has been obsessed with writing code that you can touch. David fell in love with the original Pebble smartwatch, and even more so with its successor, which allowed him to combine the beloved wearable with his passion for hardware hacking via its smartstrap functionality. Unable to part with his smartwatch sweetheart, David wrote a love letter to the Pebble community, which blossomed into Rebble, the service that keeps Pebbles ticking today, despite the company's demise in 2016. When he's not hacking on wearables, David can probably be found building a companion bot, experimenting with machine learning, growing his ever-increasing collection of dev boards, or hacking on DOS-based palmtops from the 90s.

Find David on Mastodon at @ishotjr@chaos.social or these other places.

View more articles by David Groom
Cover of Make Volume 96. Headline is "Change it Up!" 3D printers Snapmaker U1 and Prusa XL are on the cover.
This article appeared in Make: Vol. 96. Subscribe to Make: for the latest articles.

Manufacturer: M5Stack

Price: $30

Link: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5stack-cardputer-adv-version-esp32-s3

I have adored the M5Stack Cardputer since its first incarnation (see “Board Hoard,” Make: Volume 91), through v1.1 (“Word Is Board,” Make: Volume 95), and was completely overjoyed when I was handed the latest Adv model at Maker Faire Shenzhen in November.

The Adv retains the credit-card-sized form factor of the original, though it trades the light-grey colorway for a brilliant white front and dark grey back. The latter is adorned with M5’s typical feature flow chart, though it loses the original’s top row of 10 Lego Technic receptors and moves the remaining four holes to the upper side. The reason for this is the addition of a 14-pin header along the top, as well as a 3.5mm audio output jack below the existing 1W amplified speaker.

Accommodation for a wrist strap on the bottom right is a welcome addition. The diminutive 56-key keyboard and 1.14″ LCD display are carried over from the original, as is the ESP32-S3-based Stamp-S3A microcontroller from the v1.1. An even bigger 1,750mAh battery helps power the existing microSD slot, Grove connector, and IR emitter, while a new IMU further increases the platform’s capabilities.

And yes, the whole thing can still be magnetted to stuff, plus it makes adorable random little bleeps with each keypress. The built-in firmware does a fantastic job of demonstrating its key functionality, and custom code comes via Arduino, ESP-IDF, PlatformIO, or M5’s own UiFlow2.

You can also turn it into the world’s cutest Meshtastic device using the new 14-pin header!

This article appeared in Make:Volume 96. Subscribe to Make: for the latest articles.

Tagged

By David Groom

David Groom

David bought his first Arduino in 2007 as part of a Roomba hacking project. Since then, he has been obsessed with writing code that you can touch. David fell in love with the original Pebble smartwatch, and even more so with its successor, which allowed him to combine the beloved wearable with his passion for hardware hacking via its smartstrap functionality. Unable to part with his smartwatch sweetheart, David wrote a love letter to the Pebble community, which blossomed into Rebble, the service that keeps Pebbles ticking today, despite the company's demise in 2016. When he's not hacking on wearables, David can probably be found building a companion bot, experimenting with machine learning, growing his ever-increasing collection of dev boards, or hacking on DOS-based palmtops from the 90s.

Find David on Mastodon at @ishotjr@chaos.social or these other places.

View more articles by David Groom
Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!

ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe now to Make: Magazine
The official magazine of Maker Faire

From the Shed: Electronic Kits

Maker Camp Electronics Pack

Maker Camp Electronics Pack

$75.00
LED Wooden Maker Sugar Skull Kit

LED Wooden Maker Sugar Skull Kit

$7.00
Make: Electronics Ultimate Components Pack

Make: Electronics Ultimate Components Pack

$280.00
Subscribe to Make: Magazine Today

Get Make: Magazine

$19.99
FEEDBACK