Khabri already wrote about Unihiker single-board PC as a novelty that appeared on the market. Now this device has found its way into the hands of several electronics enthusiasts, so much more has become known about it. Under the cat – details of what and for whom the device can be useful. Spoiler: for everyone, but especially for beginners, because the device provides many opportunities, plus it has everything you need for a quick start.

A few details about the device itself

Immediately about the cost – the manufacturer estimated the device at $79. Not much and not little. But if you take into account that the single-payer with a plus screen has a wireless communication module, then the price can be considered quite reasonable. Here are the specs:

• SoC: Rockchip RK3308B-S

• CPU: Quad-core Arm Cortex A35 with a frequency of up to 1.2 GHz

• RAM: 512MB

• memory: 16 GB eMMC Flash, Micro SD

• Microcontroller: RISC-V GD32VF103

• communication: Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 4.0

• ports: USB A

• Micro:bit: compatible connector with 19x GPIO, I2C, UART, 2x SPI, 6x 12-bit ADC and 5x 10-bit PWM

• additionally: 2×I2C, Edge connector, LED, Buzzer, three functional buttons

• screen: 2.8 inches, 240 × 320, touch screen

• sensors and microphones: light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone

• power supply: 5V 2A via USB C

• dimensions: 51.6×83×13 mm

Unihiker received Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) modules implemented in the form of a Realtek RTL8723DS chip. Accordingly, the single-payer can connect to a wireless network or work as an additional access point.

By the way, the screen is resistive, not capacitive. And in order to activate the touchscreen, you need to select calibration in the settings. Only after that will the detector work. Nothing will work without calibration, it becomes a stumbling block for some users who planned to use the touch screen immediately after turning it on.

As for productivity, you can’t call it strong. Somewhere on the level of Raspberry Pi 3B+, which is not bad. Therefore, you can use the device to develop many projects.

The manufacturer’s website has a large number of tutorials on the development of various systems for various areas – from machine learning to weather stations and robotics.

Why is the device good for beginners?

Unihiker runs on Debian 10 Linux and can be used to learn programming using the Mind+ IDE, for visual programming or the open source interface of Jupyter, and to learn the basics of IoT and AI through tutorials and tutorials.

The fact is that when the device is connected and turned on, it immediately turns on displays a menu with various projects that can be tested “out of the box”, as they say. A long press on the Home button loads the menu. Here you can see how the screen works, how to activate and use the sensors, and how to connect the camera for a face recognition or image classification project.

The instructions are detailed, so almost any beginner can figure it out. There is also a Services option, where the developers have collected a set of additional features.

Also, programming with Unihiker is made very easy thanks to Mind+. The IDE allows you to use both block “programming” like the well-known Scratch, and regular coding. So for a start, you can not know programming at all. By the way, the one-payer allows you to start learning coding in Python, because you can immediately get some result and consolidate knowledge in practice.

There is also Jupyter – with its help, you can quickly sketch a script to output text on the display or make the LED connected to GPIO23 blink.

VSCode from Microsoft also works without problems. Detailed and detailed documentation makes it possible to understand the nuances of the system’s operation and coding for it. It can be seen that the developers really tried.

Due to the presence of an edge connector, the capabilities of the single-payer expand. Yes, one of users were able to it is easy to connect the Kitronik board with the electric motor and, thanks to the code written in Python, “breathe life” into the motor. He immediately “started” and made money without any problems.

Likewise, the sensors work without any particular problems. A couple (well, a little more) lines of code and all the necessary modules are activated.

What in the end?

This small device has a wide range of applications. It can be used for learning, for serious DIY projects, and just for mischief. A machine learning project can be developed, the single-payer can easily be applied to network device management, IoT projects, and sensor data collection and analysis.

The device has a fairly large community, very good documentation, as mentioned above. And also many possibilities. The single-board device is easy to use, its small size allows you to use the device for a large number of projects. Embedded sensors are activated with a few lines of Python code, just like other capabilities.

The touch screen works without problems, the software is practically free of bugs, and the developers promise to support the system for a long time. At the same time, most likely, a second model, even more functional than the first, will be released in time.

Perhaps there are users on Habra who have already worked with Unihiker? If so, tell us about your experience, did you manage to do something interesting on the basis of this system?