J
JeeLabs
jeelabs.org · Personal blog · on HN since 2011
Jean-Claude Wippler writes about low-power microcontrollers, embedded Linux, Forth, and emulation, including JeeNode boards and a PDP-8 emulator.
What HN saysCommenters praise his work on JeeNode Arduino-style boards and link him for Forth, a Black Magic Probe on a blue pill, and low-power projects.
21HN people shared it
15linked it in comments
11stories submitted
74story points
1 year agolast shared
2011people per year2026
Most-shared posts
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- 5Destructive Testing EEPROM1 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 6PDP-8 Emulation in 256 Lines of C1 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
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- 10TFoC – A Minimal Computer (2017)1 people · 1 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 11It’s all about dialogue1 people · 1 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 12Serial hookup jeenode to raspberry pi1 people · first shared 2012
- 13Jeelib1 people · first shared 2025
- 143 years on one set of batteries1 people · first shared 2015
- 15Bmp1 people · first shared 2023
What HN people wrote when they linked it
jstsch · 2014-05-17
Nice post. For a slightly more comfortable setup the Arduino based JeeNode's (http://jeelabs.org) are worth mentioning. Super low power and quite a nice library.
ngcc_hk · 2020-01-16
I try to find a better way to try this and after reading hackaday on Forth 2017 which highlight the latest (2017) update on Forth development:
https://hackaday.com/tag/forth/ (mainly this: https://hackaday.com/2017/08/04/take-the-blue-pill-and-go-forth/#more-… )
I find this and you can run the whole thing on my MacBook in 5 minutes. It is great:
https://jeelabs.org/article/1720b/
ls6 · 2012-05-14
Jean-Claude Wippler is doing awsome work at http://jeelabs.org/
He is doing his own Arduino form factor and I guess is he doesn't need a sponsor but maybe you two will have an interesting conversation anyway :) BTW: JCW is supporting a super-cheap radio on his platform you might be interested in :)
brokenmachine · 2023-02-20
You can turn a $3 stm32 blue pill board into a blackmagic probe.
https://jeelabs.org/202x/bmp/
wmeitzler · 2023-01-16
I first ran across Forth here https://jeelabs.org/article/1651c/ early in my career. Fascinating language.
ranma42 · 2021-02-20
In that context, mecrisp forth on a small micro[1] for doing simple embedded/sensor programming sounds like something I should try sometime...
[1] https://jeelabs.org/article/1705c/
xzm · 2017-02-04
Very timely remark :) Take a look at what jcw (of tclkit fame) is doing:
http://jeelabs.org/2017/02/various-shades-of-forth/
jlewallen · 2017-01-04
JeeLabs has some stuff on Forth in the uC world: http://jeelabs.org/2016/02/dive-into-forth/
wycx · 2016-09-10
This may be of interest:
http://jeelabs.org/2013/09/08/3-years-on-one-set-of-batteries/index.ht…
petra · 2015-11-30
In general the mbed has the better options for low power , but if you prefer the arduino, this would be a good starting point:
http://jeelabs.org/tag/lowpower/
And if you want a long-range, low-power wireless connection - use LoRa , There's a driver here:
http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/RadioHead/classRH__RF95.html#aa…
swah · 2013-08-09
JeeNode's creator has lots of posts on alternative powering to the JeeNode - which is also based on ATMEGA and Arduino compatible, and has a RF module. See http://jeelabs.org/tag/lowpower/
ul5255 · 2012-09-25
not Arduino but close ...
http://jeelabs.org/2012/09/20/serial-hookup-jeenode-to-raspberry-pi/
JdeBP · 2025-07-20
The root page that you want is https://jeelabs.org/w/ .
jepler · 2015-10-03
Freevolt's "RF Energy Harvesting Whitepaper" figure 1 shows the energy harvested from RF as .1µW/cm² to 2000µW/cm², but the text gives energy densities .01µW/cm² to 100µW/cm². This density estimate may be per transmitter(?) so the harvesting estimates only make sense if you assume multiple transmitters each contributing to the total harvested energy.
In Figure 3 they have a chart which shows ~30µW harvested from an unspecified, un-sized "Patch array 1x2" antenna".
Your optimistic estimate is 16µW/cm², so it is in the range of their power harvesting claims. (though I doubt their unspecified antenna is 100cm²)
What is feasible with an energy budget of 30µW? Well, using off the shelf microcontrollers and RF modules, you can send a packet every two minutes using the least optimistic estimates from http://jeelabs.org/2013/09/08/3-years-on-one-set-of-batteries/ . The power consumption of the radio is the biggest element of the power budget, so you can add sensors without hurting your power budget too much. And probably you can do better than this with a better transmitter than the old RFM12B.
I don't think their claims are impossible for sensors that operate in the µW range of average power consumption, though though the top end estimate of 2mW/cm² in table 1 seems way too optimistic. But as you point out even a task as simple as blinking an LED a few times a minute is pushing it. You'll never power a mobile phone this way.
The whitepaper is…
lioeters · 2025-07-20
> JeeLib is an Arduino IDE library for JeeNodes (made by JeeLabs)
Source code: https://github.com/jeelabs/jeelib
Website: https://jeelabs.org/202x/sw/jeelib/
The latter redirects to a page that shows Git commits, but it's a hidden page in a Dutch site about online casinos. It does look a bit shady. In the GitHub org of jeelabs, there are only two authors and neither seem to be based in the Netherlands.
Here's an archived website that documents the jeelib library.
https://archive.ph/nmF5Q
Relevant line:
> a Sleepy class for ultra low-power sleeping of ATmega and ATtiny µC’s
From a quick skimming of the codebase, I couldn't find this class. If I were the author, I would have forked the Sleepy class for my own use.
Edit: Here's the definition of the Sleepy class.
https://github.com/jeelabs/jeelib/blob/6df2d8da785aca77790e94121de7908…
It uses avr-libc's sleep functions.
> <avr/sleep.h>: Power Management and Sleep Modes
https://www.nongnu.org/avr-libc/user-manual/group__avr__sleep.html