Hackerbox #0010 review

Hackerbox #0010 review

Hello again,

I have been putting off writing this review, I have been having so much fun with last month’s Hackerbox that I have been waiting to get finished with that before opeing this one. Time is not slowing down any time soon, so I guess this is as good a time as any to get this complete.

The first thing I noticed is that the shipping box is much smaller this month. Let’s open it up to see what we got.

It was nicely packed when it arrived, but I have been re-packing it a few times.

Things

Hackerboxes ref card, this one has pin for HD44780

A good ref card for the Orange Pi Lite GPIO interface. As you can see, each pin has a different set of capabilities. Of course, you could just Google the info, but these cards are a handy physical component for your physical computing device.

The first item is the Orange Pi Lite. This comes with a safety information, static bag, and packaging from Shenzhen China.

I have a few other Raspberry Pi boards, none have built in WiFi. This is very compact for the capabilities on board. 2 vertical USB ports, Micro USB-B, HDMI, Micro SD storage, and GPIO pins. Power is supplied by a barrel plug connector.

Here is a picture of the back of the board, and some links for the Orange Pi Lite.
Homepage
http://orangepi.com/orange-pi-lite

AliExpress price with shipping and power cable $23.71 Cad
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orange-Pi-Lite-SET-1-Orange-Pi-Lite-USB-to-DC-4-0MM-1-7MM-Power/32662449579.html?spm=2114.13010208.99999999.263.mcQ01e

I liked the packaging for this one. The plastic clamshell slides out, so I don’t have to destroy the packaging to open the gift.

A bag of bits, including some resistors, a pin header, and a good 16GB micro SD card for the Orange Pi.

HD44780 is a 2x16 character back lit display. These modules are always handy.

Decent quality Super Nintendo clone controller, with USB connector. Buttons have some wiggle, but the plastic is a good quality, and no L+R shoulder buttons. Nice to see a familiar face though. 

Keypad was perfect when I got it, but after re-packing the box a few times, it easily became damaged. It still works fine, but there is an indentation in the “5” and the ribbon. This is a very cheap part, easy to replace at C$0.77

Cables

Here is the ribbon cable that works with the GPIO pins on the Orange Pi Lite and the GPIO expansion board. The colors are nice to help differentiate the individual conductors, in case you want to tap into one without disconnecting the other side.

This GPIO Expansion board, also known as a Pi Cobbler is perfect for adding an extension cable from the Raspberry Pi to a breadboard for rapid experimentation.

The back side of the GPIO expansion shows a bent pin. To bend back, put a credit card between the bent pin and the straight pin, on the bent side. Push the card against the pin until it is straight.

A 30 row bread board. This should be plenty of room for a few devices to connect to the GPIO.

Standard HDMI cable. The Dollaramas around where I am all seem to have lots of these short HDMI cables.

These are decent jumper cables. There is a good plastic tip to grab onto and push into the breadboard socket. Lots of short ones, and a few long ones, some medium length, all different colors.

I am glad they included one of these for the Orange Pi, because sometimes finding a match for that plug can be difficult. Power up your board using a backup battery phone charger or any other USB power device.

Conclusion

I really like what this box gives, the theme is great. If this helps someone learn programming, it is worth much more than the physical value. However, the price drop on the Orange Pi Lite, the value is a little low for this month’s box.

I rate this box 3.5/5 SNES clone controllers