The ESP32 is Espressif’s follow-up to their extraordinarily popular ESP8266 WiFi chip. It has a dual-core, 32-bit processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, ADCs, DACs, CAN, a Hall effect sensor, an Ethernet MAC, and a whole bunch of other goodies that make this chip the brains for the Internet of Everything. everyone has been able to simply purchase an ESP32 for a few months now, but the Hackaday suggestion line isn’t exactly overflowing with projects and products built around this wonderchip. possibly we need an ESP32 dev board or something.
The Hornbill is the most recent crowdfunding campaign from CrowdSupply. It’s an ESP32 dev board, packed with the most recent goodies, a single cell LiPo charger, and a USB to serial chip that will probably work with many operating systems. The Hornbill comes in two varieties, a breadboardable module, with a breakout board that includes an SD card slot, sensors, an RGB LED, and a bunch of prototyping space. The second version is something like an Adafruit Flora with big pads for alligator clips.
While this isn’t the first ESP32 breakout we’ve seen — Adafruit, Sparkfun, and a hundred factories in China are pumping boards with this chip out — it is a very easy and economical way to get into the ESP32 ecosystem.