ELM11-Feather Is a Feather-Compatible Board That Speaks Lua Natively
Most microcontroller boards on the market today rely on Python, usually in the form of MicroPython or CircuitPython. If you’ve ever wanted something leaner without giving up that no-compile, REPL-driven workflow, Lua is the option worth considering.
But then most microcontroller boards are not built for Lua even if you can run Lua on them.
That’s the gap BrisbaneSilicon, a small Brisbane-based semiconductor outfit, is trying to fill with ELM11-Feather. It is a Feather-compatible board that runs Lua natively.
Actually, it’s Feather-form-factor follow-up to the company’s original ELM11, and the crowdfunding campaign for it is now live on Crowd Supply.
Key Specifications
- Native languages: Lua (application), C (driver), SystemVerilog/VHDL (hardware), all on one board
- Chip: GOWIN FPGA (no separate CPU core, the FPGA runs everything)
- I/O: 23 pins, each configurable as GPIO, PWM, UART, SPI, or I²C
- RAM: 1 MB
- Dimensions: 22.86 x 64.65 x 4.85 mm (0.9 x 2.54 x 0.191 in)
- Weight: 5.2 g
- Form factor: Feather-compatible, works with existing FeatherWings
ELM11-Feather is priced at $29.
More than the specs, the architecture choice is the highlight here. There’s no traditional microcontroller on this board. Instead, a GOWIN FPGA does the work, running a dual-core setup with an independent Lua REPL on each core. That’s the “clever bit”. Because Lua is running on an FPGA rather than a fixed MCU, BrisbaneSilicon can expose the entire stack, hardware included, to the user for modification.
Each of the 23 I/O pins can be configured as GPIO, PWM, UART, SPI, or I²C, which is a lot of flexibility per pin compared to boards that hardwire a fixed number of each. The board also carries 1 MB of RAM, a hardware watchdog, 5 user-programmable LEDs, and a built-in 500 mA LiPoly charger with a status LED, all inside Feather’s compact footprint (22.86 x 64.65 x 4.85 mm) at 5.2 g. Being Feather-compatible means it slots into the existing ecosystem of FeatherWing add-on boards without any adaptation.
Full-Stack Programmability
BrisbaneSilicon calls this “Full-Stack Programmability,” and that is main selling point of the board. The idea is that the same product can be extended at three separate layers at once: the Application Layer runs Lua, the Driver Layer runs C, and the Hardware Layer runs VHDL/SystemVerilog through a swappable “Hardware Overlay.”
In practice, this means a user could design a custom hardware module (say, a quadrature encoder), write the C driver for it, and then expose it to their Lua scripts as a plain function like quadrature_encoder_speed(). Nothing about that workflow requires touching a separate toolchain for each layer either, since BrisbaneSilicon’s own IDE, called Arvore, is built to unify all three.
Arvore handles project creation, uploading, and extending the Lua API from one interface, and a beta is already available to download. For anyone who doesn’t want to install a custom hardware overlay by hand, the IDE has a config screen for that too. Purists who’d rather do everything from the command line aren’t locked out either, that path still works.
BrisbaneSilicon says the hardware schematics and firmware API will both be released under the MIT license once the campaign wraps and production begins.
Compared to a few other boards in the same rough space:
- pico2-ice (RP2350 + ICE40UP5K): more GPIO and RAM, but no native scripting language and a higher price
- Adafruit Feather STM32F405: cheaper, but no FPGA and no hardware-layer extensibility
- Adafruit HUZZAH32 (ESP32): better battery life, but far fewer I/O options and no scripting-to-hardware pipeline
🛒 Pricing and Availability
The ELM11-Feather crowdfunding campaign launches this week on Crowd Supply.
The board is priced at $29. Shipping cost isn’t listed yet, and BrisbaneSilicon hasn’t given a firm ship date either. The company does say it has already manufactured and tested a small batch of 5 boards ahead of the main production run, which is a bit more reassurance than most campaigns start with, though the only risk it flags is component availability for the GOWIN FPGA and the BL702 chip.
Suggested Read: If you’re curious about other Feather-family and Arduino-alternative boards, check out our roundup of Arduino alternative microcontroller boards.
Source: It's FOSS