Review on 🔌 SparkFun Thing Plus SAMD51 Development Board: Powerful Microcontroller with Qwiic Connect System and Integrated LiPo Charger (No Soldering Required) by Adrian Hayes

I am currently evaluating various boards that support Arduino. Since they come in all shapes and sizes, this will be an ongoing task for a while. I used to treat Arduino solutions like craft toys, but I've realized the family has grown. So far, the NodeMCU ESP32 has been on my favorites list so much that I keep starting a new project with it. I have a feeling the SAMD51 chips that came out recently could change that! This Sparkfun Plus thing has a major advantage, as it packs an ARM processor, memory, voltage regulator, and lithium-ion charger into a breadboard-friendly little breadboard. circuit board. It even has a Quiik connector as an I2C bus. Designed for Arduino programming, I found out there is also a Circuitpython port for "thing plus". For those unfamiliar with Circuitpython while it is in development, a standout feature of this board is the implementation of this board as a flash drive with all python scripts stored as files - how amazing is that? Combined with the extensive Circuitpython library, you can do just about anything with a simple text editor. The task I am currently working on is driving a high resolution display via SPI. So far the thing-plus offers the highest SPI frequency out of the box (compared to other boards) without having to fiddle with hardware settings. The board itself may be too big for what I mean, but if space is not the limit, this board promises a lot. I will definitely spend more time with him!