That's a lot of displays!

I've started locking down components - we need to get ready to kick off production!

After a nice Christmas break, we’re back to working hard on the ESP32 Rainbow.

Just before Christmas, I ordered another set of boards from PCBWay. I needed them for conducting more advanced CE testing for intentional emitters. This is an optional "belt-and-braces" set of tests. We’re using a CE-certified module, so we should be compliant with all the rules, but I want to make sure that is indeed the case.

These boards have now arrived and I need some more displays and speakers to go with them. Since the campaign funds are on their way, I’ve placed some large orders to lock in supply.

The displays are on their way now and should be here in a couple of weeks. The speakers are also en route.

I’m working on some final tweaks to the PCB silkscreen. We’ve got quite a lot of space to play with on the back of the boards, so I thought it would be good to include a whole bunch of documentation there.

In terms of other components, I’m not hearing of any shortages, so we should still be on target for shipping in April. I’m planning to get the PCBWay order submitted before the end of the month. This should mean we get the boards back at the start of March, and then we just need to do the final assembly.

If there are any delays, you’ll be the first to know!

Things on my to-do list:

• Write the user manual

• Gather all the docs for CE certification

• Decide on the final packaging

• Continue working on the website

The website is coming along nicely. This will be where you can perform firmware updates and find games to download for the device.

The games part is working quite nicely: https://www.esp32rainbow.com/games. I just need to work on the firmware so we can download it directly to the device.

I’ve also made a nice little tool - something that I wanted for myself. It’s a ZX Spectrum SCR to PNG file converter.

Now that Christmas break is over, I’ll be providing regular updates, so stay tuned for more news!

And if you want your very own ESP32 Rainbow - you can preorder here.