Android-based TV sticks should be in more projects. They are readily available and inexpensive. They have a lot of horsepower for the price, and they can even boot a mainline Linux kernel, unlike some single-board computers we know. They’re smaller than the Pi Zero, so they’ll fit almost anywhere.
The one thing they don’t have, though, is I/O. Sure, it’s got a USB port, but that’s just about it. [Necromant] considered these problems and created a carrier board that fixes all that.
- On-board 3A DC-DC. You can power the whole thing with anything from 7 to 24 volts DC
- A 4-Port USB hub
- An ATtiny 2313, connected to the hub via the V-USB stack
- 2 USB ports on the back, with power control via GPIO lines
- One USB port on the front (with power always on)
- 3 relays
- Fits a common anodized aluminum enclosure
The ATtiny code is on GitHub and allows for full I/O control, saving the state of the pins in EEPROM, and providing up to eight channels of servo control. The device connects through the USB port (consuming one port on the hub).
Repurposing consumer gear for embedded service is nothing new. We’ve seen it with phones. We’ve even seen remotes used as a mouse. But this is such a nice template for adding cheap and easy computing power to your projects that we’re surprised we don’t see it more often. Why aren’t you hacking a TV stick into your projects?
