TinyS3 - ESP32-S3

by Unexpected Maker

Introducing the TinyS3 - The Tiny Mighty ESP32-S3 development board in the TinyPICO format!

TinyS3 is the latest in the super popular range of "Tiny" development boards. It's packed with amazing features and peripherals, wireless connectivity and stacks of Flash and PSRAM, all in the same tiny package size as the original TinyPICO!

Features

  • Dual 32bit Xtensa LX7 cores @ up to 240Mhz
  • RISC-V Ultra Low Power Co-processor
  • 2.4GHz Wifi - 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 5, BLE + Mesh
  • 8MB QSPI Flash
  • 8MB of extra QSPI PSRAM
  • 700mA 3.3V LDO Regulator
  • Low power RGB LED
  • ULTRA LOW Deep Sleep Current
  • USB-C Connector with back-feed protection
  • Native USB + USB Serial JTAG
  • LiPo Battery Charging
  • JST pads on the back supports PH connector
  • VBAT and 5V Sense Pins
  • 3D High Gain Antenna
  • 17 GPIO
  • Only 35 x 18mm in size
  • Compatible with TinyPICO & TinyS2
  • Board Dimensions: 35mm x 17.8mm
  • Max Thickness: 4.3mm at the USB-C end

Board Comparison Matrix

TinyS3 TinyS2 TinyPICO
Cores 2x Xtensa LX7 1x Xtensa LX7 2x Xtensa LX6
Speed Up to 240Mhz Up to 240Mhz Up to 240Mhz
ULP CoProc 1x RISC-V, 1x FSM 1x RISC-V, 1x FSM 1x FSM
SRAM 512K 320K 520K
FLASH 8MB 4MB 4MB
PSRAM 8MB 2MB 4MB
GPIO 17 17 14
Native USB CDC, OTG & USB Serial JTag CDC & OTG -
USB Conn USB-C USB-C USB-C & Micro-B
WiFi 2.4Ghz b/g/n 2.4Ghz b/g/n 2.4Ghz b/g/n
Bluetooth BT Classic, BLE 5 & Mesh - BT Classic & BLE 4.2
DAC - 2x 8bit 2x 8bit
ADC 2x 12-bit SAR /20 chan 2x 12-bit SAR /20 chan 1x 12-bit SAR /18 chan
UARTs 3 2 3
ETH MAC - Yes Yes
DMA Cont 5x TX chan, 5x RX chan - -
SDIO Yes - Yes
Release Date Feb 2022 July 2021 May 2019

Getting Started

Unexpected Maker ESP32-S3 boards can be used with CircuitPython, MicroPython, ESP-IDF or Arduino.

CircuitPython

Your board ships with the latest version of CircuitPython with ESP32-S3 support.

It also ships with the UF2 bootloader, so you can easily update your board with the latest CircuitPython firmware, whenever you desire.

Just plug your board into your computer and it will appear in your filesystem as a USB flash drive! Just copy your code over, or edit your code directly on the drive. Coding a microcontroller has never been easier!

As newer versions of CircuitPython are released, you are able to update as you require from circuitpython.org

If you need to grab the shipping CircuitPython code that comes with your board, you can grab the latest here

MicroPython

MicroPython has excellent support for the ESP32, and that includes the ESP32-S3.

If you would like to put MicroPython on your new board, please follow the flashing guide for your board from this firmware link and don't forget to erase your flash first!

For more information about developing projects on your new board, using MicroPython, check out the MicroPython documentation.

ESP-IDF

ESP32-S3 support in the IDF is part of the v4.4 release. The latest IDF is v5.0, but it's in early development, so I recommend you stick to the v4.4 release branch for the time being as there are some low level breaking changes in v5.

Check out the ESP32-S3 IDF docs for information on how to install it and develop for the ESP32-S3

Arduino

If you have not already setup your Arduino IDE environment to work with ESP32, please follow the official Espressif ESP32 Arduino Core instructions to install it.

Arduino support for the ESP32-S3 is available in 2.0.3 and later. Please install the latest version to be able to select ESP32-S3 boards with the latest fixes and features.

Downloads

github

The Unexpected Maker ESP32-S3 github Repo includes the following items:

  • 3D STEP file for the TinyS3
  • KiCAD 6 symbol file for the TinyS3 that you can use when integrating one of them into one of your PCB designs
  • KiCAD 6 footprint file for the TinyS3
  • PDF Schematic for the TinyS3
  • Hi-res pinout reference card for the TinyS3
  • Fritzing parts (soon)