Grab Your Sonic Screwdriver
The universe will surprise you, constantly - and with the new BBC Doctor Who HiFive Inventor Kits, you'll be constantly surprised!
Hello everyone and happy Friday! We are happy to announce that we're now accepting pre-orders for the BBC's new Doctor Who HiFive Inventor Kits featuring our favorite new Doctor, Jodi Whitaker! These kits are a fantastic way to learn the RISC-V architecture using the tried-and-true ESP32 WROOM and micro:bit feature sets. Following that, we have a new version of the LCD Touchscreen HAT for Raspberry Pi, high temperature PTFE jaws for your Stickvise, and a new GPS ground plate!
If you're curious when you'll need to get your order before the holidays, make sure to check out our Holiday Shipping 2020 page.
Now, let's take a closer look at all of our new products!
The Doctor Who Inventor Kit is based on the HiFive Learn Inventor and is a partnership with the BBC, Tynker, and SiFive. This kit uses the popular Doctor Who series to get kids and fans interested in programming and hardware. This kit borrows from the very popular BBC micro:bit platform, but instead bases it on the free and open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture. With built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies, this kit reinforces the wireless data handoff “HiFive” between devices that power Internet of Things (IoT) applications like smart cities, intelligent factories, and enhanced wearable technology. With the rapid increase in Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart consumer products, opportunities for bright young minds with coding skills are being created every day.
This LCD Touchscreen HAT fits snuggly on top of the Raspberry Pi, practically form fitting on top of it so as not to compromise the Pi's overall dimensions. The resistive touchscreen provides you with an easy way to display information coming off of the Raspberry Pi and the OS currently running on it.
Concerned about accidentally melting the standard Nylon jaws on Stickvise? Upgrade to these high temperature PTFE jaws instead! They will not melt or become damaged by incidental contact with a soldering iron.
Want to improve your GPS antenna multipath convergence time performance to near survey-grade GNSS levels? Just using this simple steel plate effectively improves simple patch antenna performance to near professional level antenna setups.
We're always trying to improve things here at SparkFun. This updated design features a 1/4-inch nut welded to the bottom of the plate. This adds additional thickness so now the tripod screw is no longer prone to the plate. We've also decreased the thickness of the plate to reduce weight.
That's it for this week! As always, we can't wait to see what you make! Shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see what projects you’ve made! Please be safe out there, be kind to one another, and have a great weekend!
There seems to be a contradiction in the HiFive Inventors Kit (Base Kit) page: In the "Note" it says it does NOT include a USB cable, but the "Includes" tab says it does. Which is correct?
Also I'm curious about something: It looks (from a glance) that the "edge connector" at the bottom is the same as that on the micro:bit. Is it compatible with SparkFun's Breakout and/or the "gator" series (e.g. the gator:circuit kit)?