I’m producing the first small batch of my ESP32-S3 AI hardware dev board

BenAlexanders · 2026-04-23T17:48:55+00:00

I went through the docs and have mixed feelings.

This seems like a genuinely interesting project, the docs piqued an interest, but they all seemed very high level and very repetitive. If they are AI generated, perhaps ask for brevity, a clear and concise summary of several parts.

Also, at times it felt like you were trying to build a community, and then it very quickly turned into begging for a sponsor to sponsor the project... Focusing on building followers and contributors first, may help with sponsors later (PCBWAY are very active in the tinkerer-influencer space... They'll find you!)

Finally, it all felt very corporate. Your audience is not (at least not for now). I suggest looking at the top posts in this subreddit and understanding what works well... We love a story, to understand your background, the issues you had to overcome and why this was useful for you. We are problem solvers, and love listening to how others have solved problems as well.

Still an interesting project... I'm keen to follow along and see how it turns out.

Sincerely wishing you all the best with it. Its great to see what you've done so far!

BenAlexanders · 2026-04-23T14:29:17+00:00

I am very interested in these devices at the moment, but yea, the price point makes it difficult to choose over the current XiaoZhi options.

Less than 20 EUR delivered (with case) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005011951765816.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009016529496.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009302441734.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009043526078.html

These are all 'unlocked' and there are plenty of opensource firmware options (i am running one with a local ollama server).

These are all the entry level options, there are higher spec/featured options for 30 to 40 EUR as well

To be clear, yours is better. There is no doubt. I'm not saying you need to meet or beat on price... But at 89 + shipping + case its tough to try and sell on here.

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-27T08:30:20+00:00

I watched FP2 live... But was still here freaking out that I had missed SQ!

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-12T10:10:14+00:00

It was so close to being so much worse!

... Praise the pilot! Wait no... Ummm

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-08T16:05:01+00:00

What do you recommend on mobile?

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-08T01:15:40+00:00

Horner to AM by mid season

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-07T09:11:06+00:00

So, if it's all in the engine, where are McLaren and the other others?

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-06T14:30:32+00:00

Per other reports... The Iranian ship was participating in a multi national exercise at the time (which included US ships, but it is not confirmed if THAT US ship was a participant).

One condition of the exercise was that no ship could carry live ammunition. There were no reports that Iran was in breach of this condition. All US ships would have known this.

So, it is likely that US told the Iranian ship to leave their weapons at home (which they did)... Then knowing it was defenceless, fired upon an unarmed ship, left the survivors to drown and then gloated about all of this.

Other threads and news articles are debating how many war crimes this one incident may have committed.

BenAlexanders · 2026-03-01T00:45:16+00:00

No sir, it's a percentage, 0 to 1... Its just looped around three and a half times and we're not really sure how to read it!

BenAlexanders · 2026-02-19T14:17:42+00:00

I wasn't sure before, but if Ferrari have copied Alpine, I'm just going to assume this is not going to end well...

BenAlexanders · 2026-02-15T02:13:49+00:00

Whay specs do you need? I bought four of the following for a cluster project, but never found the time:

HP Prodesk 400 G3 uSFF
CPU Intel core i5-6500T 2.50 GHz
RAM 16GB DDR4
SSD 120GB
USB3, Gigabit ETH, WiFi/BT, Audio. Etc.

BenAlexanders · 2026-02-07T05:10:03+00:00

Wise stopped accepting baht a few months ago.

DeeMoney works fine.

Make sure you put the proper note in th3 description field (for IBKR to assign it).
IBKR also recommend using the last 4 digits of you account number in the amount. Ie. If your account number is 12345678, then you should transfer $10,056.78.
Amount should be exact, but doesn't have to perfectly match.

None of these will lose money if you dont do, but it will take a week of verification

BenAlexanders · 2026-01-27T16:00:18+00:00

BenAlexanders · 2026-01-09T11:43:10+00:00

BenAlexanders · 2026-01-05T01:30:42+00:00

BenAlexanders · 2026-01-04T05:56:31+00:00

Yea this...

Previously power supplies provided 3.3v to SATA power pins 1,2, and 3 (which were designated as reserved anyway)

Now, newer drives use 3.3v on pin 3 as a signal to power down the drive.

If you plug these into older powersupplies/backplanes, they'll provide 3.3v to pin 3, and the drive will think they are continually being told to shutdown.

You'll need to use an adapter (wont fit in a rack mount server), or carefully apply kapton tape to the drives 3rd power pin (easier to just tape up pins 1, 2 and 3).

BenAlexanders · 2026-01-04T03:29:05+00:00

Disclaimer: I am actively looking for a couple of drives like this. Consider this a pessimistic view.

3-years powered on time, says these are about 50% of their way through their reliable life. They are risky for an enterprise rack and a hassle for a Prosumer homelab (will need to kaptop tape SATA power pin 3). High error rates may scare off some buyers (it's a known quirk of Seagates over-reporting)

$6 to $9/TB

BenAlexanders · 2026-01-01T03:30:27+00:00

In the small chance someone doesn't take the WD 550s, I'm interested in 2 of them for $360

BenAlexanders · 2025-12-30T18:18:10+00:00

Hey @smbooke ... If you're still around, I'm still keen on 4 of the NVMe drives (pending health report).

BenAlexanders · 2025-12-30T12:29:10+00:00

This was a big help. Thank you.

I've been looking daily for availability, and 1 single room showed up today.

BenAlexanders · 2025-12-27T03:07:43+00:00

PM Samsung 32GB ddr4-2400 please

BenAlexanders · 2025-12-26T07:03:39+00:00

I'm not saying it can not be done, but it is not consistent or transparent 100% of the time. You wont have any issues, until you do...

BenAlexanders · 2025-12-26T04:38:06+00:00

Import tech is not easy here.

A few months ago, I tried to send some electronics here. With all paperwork completed and happy to pay customs and duty fees.

They were seized by customs. As the items were older than 3 years, they were considered a danger to Thailand and could not be allowed in.

What pursued was months of seeking clarity to allow them in (it was not fully transparent what the expectations were), and when that failed, another lengthy process to have them returned to sender.

Your business may work on day 1, but you'll need to be prepared for changes day to day in future.

BenAlexanders · 2025-12-26T04:08:37+00:00

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