how to supply power for acorn (core of Oak)

[thanhnguyen]

Hi all!
i am a software dev, so i am not understand in electric.
i am going to buy acorn - a core on Oak,
but i did not meet any document to connect it to arduino IDE
and how to supply power to it,
or i want to buy a power supplier (a part of micro usb on Oak) for acorn

[PeterF]

So firstly, the pinout should be the pinout indicated at the below url (ESP12 form factor).

http://digistump.com/wiki/_media/oak/oak-prod-v1.pdf

To program it (ie. via the Arduino IDE), you'll need a USB to serial adaptor (3.3v) to connect to the serial TX and RX pins, as well as being able to toggle GPIO0 (pin12) in order to enter serial programming mode.

To power the Acorn, you'll need a 3.3v power supply. You may be able to power it via a 3.3v serial adapter, but it is likely it will start behaving intermittently / erratically due to voltage drop when the Acorn / ESP8266 radio starts to transmit (i.e. handshake with access point, etc).

Hard to say more without knowing more detail.

[thanhnguyen]

thank you very much!
do you know somewhere i can buy an USB to serial adaptor for Acorn

[PeterF]

A quick search for "usb serial 3.3V" turns up this for US$2.30 on eBay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-3V-5V-USB-to-TTL-Converter-CH340G-UART-Serial-Adapter-Module-Golden-DIY/391897716559) and this for US$2.64 on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Qingsun-Module-Serial-Converter-Adapter/dp/B01BBGR8V0/). Adafruit also has this for US$9.95 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/954).

I use the first type all the type, they work just fine for the Oak, or any other microcontroller board or even SBC board I work/tinker with. Then, of course, you need to connect it to the Acorn. There are modules around like this (http://www.duckncat.com/doc/product/esp-socket-programmerV3/index.html) which let you work with a bare ESP12, but I've not looked at the pinout to see if the ACORN is the same, or a compatible enough pinout