1.54inch E-Paper Display Development Board

Jargon buster

Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.

ADC

An analogue-to-digital converter reads a changing voltage and turns it into a number the microcontroller can use. It matters when connecting analogue sensors such as light, sound, or variable-resistor sensors.

Arm Cortex-M33

A 32-bit, low-power Arm microcontroller core designed for real-time, timing-sensitive control tasks such as reading sensors or driving motors. It can act as a chip's main controller, or in some systems-on-chip run alongside larger application cores that handle an operating system like Linux.

GPIO

General-purpose input/output pins are microcontroller pins you can set in software to read signals, switch devices on and off, or connect to peripherals. The number of GPIO pins matters because it limits how many buttons, LEDs, sensors, and other parts you can wire directly to the board.

I2C

I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.

IoT

Short for Internet of Things, meaning physical devices that connect to networks or the internet to send data or be controlled remotely. It matters if you want projects such as connected sensors, remote controls or classroom data-logging activities.

LED

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a small electronic component that emits light when current flows through it in the correct direction. Because it only conducts one way, its polarity matters, and a through-hole LED must be soldered the correct way around to light up.

microcontroller

A microcontroller is a small computer on a single chip that runs a stored program and controls connected inputs and outputs such as buttons, sensors, displays and communication interfaces. In a device built around one, it is the part that executes the code and coordinates the device's behaviour.

MicroPython

A version of the Python programming language made to run on microcontrollers. It matters because it lets beginners write readable code to control LEDs, sensors, motors and displays without needing to start with lower-level languages.

PWM

Pulse Width Modulation is a way for a digital pin to simulate variable output power by switching on and off very quickly. It matters for controlling things like LED brightness, motor speed, or servo-style signals from a microcontroller pin.

RAM

RAM (random-access memory) is fast, temporary memory a device uses for working data while it is running; in its common volatile form, its contents are lost when power is removed. Some devices offer a mode that applies settings to RAM only, which is handy for testing changes temporarily because they are not stored permanently and disappear at power-off.

RISC-V

RISC-V is an open, royalty-free processor instruction-set architecture used in chips ranging from tiny microcontrollers to Linux-capable application processors. The choice of RISC-V determines which compilers, software tools, and performance or low-power features are available, separate from the more common Arm or x86 architectures.

RP2350

A microcontroller chip from Raspberry Pi used as the main processor on some development boards. Knowing the board is built around an RP2350 helps you check software support, pin capabilities and whether it suits MicroPython projects.

RTC

A Real-Time Clock keeps track of time even when the main processor is asleep or powered down, usually with a small backup battery. It matters for data logging and tracking projects that need accurate timestamps.

SPI

A fast serial communication bus often used for displays, memory cards, and sensors. It matters because SPI devices need specific pins for clock and data, plus a separate chip-select line for each device.

Type-C

USB Type-C (USB-C) is a small, reversible USB connector used for charging, power, and data transfer on many modern devices. A Type-C port or plug indicates the cable and charger connection needed to power, charge, or communicate with a device.

UART

UART is a simple asynchronous serial interface that sends data over separate transmit and receive wires, usually labelled TX and RX, with both ends set to the same baud rate. It is a common way for microcontrollers and other serial devices to exchange data.

USB 1.1

USB 1.1 is an older USB standard with much slower data transfer than USB 2.0 and later versions. Compatibility with it allows connection to very old computers, though data-heavy tasks such as video may be limited at that speed.

USB Type-C

USB Type-C is a small, reversible USB connector used for power, data and sometimes video on many modern devices. The connector itself does not guarantee a particular speed or voltage, so check the supported USB version, data rate and whether it carries more than 5V via USB Power Delivery.