So, I'll tell y'all about it now, and post a pic of an assembled unit this evening or tomorrow.
This is a serial WiFi dongle that works with Q68, Q40 or Q60.
It provides:
Processors:
CPU: Xtensa dual-core (or single-core) 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, operating at 160 MHz - 600 DMIPS
Ultra low power (ULP) co-processor
Memory: 520 KiB SRAM
Wireless connectivity:
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE
Peripheral interfaces:
12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels
2 × 8-bit DACs
10 × touch sensors (capacitive sensing GPIOs)
Temperature sensor
4 × SPI
2 × I²S interfaces
2 × I²C interfaces
3 × UART
SD/SDIO/CE-ATA/MMC/eMMC host controller
SDIO/SPI slave controller
Ethernet MAC interface with dedicated DMA and IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol support
CAN bus 2.0
Infrared remote controller (TX/RX, up to 8 channels)
Motor PWM
LED PWM (up to 16 channels)
Hall effect sensor
Ultra low power analog pre-amplifier
Security:
IEEE 802.11 standard security features all supported, including WFA, WPA/WPA2 and WAPI
Secure boot
Flash encryption
1024-bit OTP, up to 768-bit for customers
Cryptographic hardware acceleration: AES, SHA-2, RSA, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), random number generator (RNG)
Internet on your Q68, including secure sites, plus 28 highly configurable GPIOs.
The wifi features are accessible though serial using the AT command set. They are trivially easy to use. The other features are configurable using the JTAG port. The dongle is programmable in C++ using the Arduino development tool chain and some custom libraries. The dongle comes with custom firmware pre-installed, so you can get online right away.
Additionally, ALL GPIO lines are brought out to two standard headers. You can create any interfaces or custom hardware to side on this board, which includes a 3.3v power supply on the header.
I'll supply the dongle, USB JTAG cable (in case you want to update, write custom firmware or develop/configure it) and a support webpage with links to documentation. You'll need to supply a mini-USB adapter. The unit draws a peak of around 200mA, and about 5mA at idle. I chose mini-USB because it is cheap, internationally available and more durable than micro-USB.
Obviously, this dongle enables some exciting things: internet on QL hardware, Q68 to Q68 remote file transfer, co-operative multiplayer gaming, etc. One little project I did with the prototype was a keyboard membrane interface for the QL keyboard matrix.
My intent is to develop a fast serial card, so this can be brought to the BBQL also in due course. If anyone has a working serial port design capable of 115k+ that integrates with the OS that they would be willing to let me make, I could have it ready quite quickly.
I will release the Q68 dongle on February 14th, for £39.
Please be aware this is a prototype/beta version. I will listen carefully to feedback and make a second batch based on feedback received. If people regularly use the same IO ports, I can implement them in hardware on the next release.
General AT command set documentation (starting at Chapter 4. Don't worry about the content before then - this is done for you.) can be found here:
http://www.espressif.com/sites/default/ ... les_en.pdf