Description
The Blaustahl USB dongle provides long-term storage for four pages of text (about 8000 characters). Simply plug the device into your computer and open any serial communications program that supports VT100 emulation (PuTTY, Tera Term, Minicom, screen, etc.) in order to access the built-in text editor.
Blaustahl doesn’t ship with encryption but there is a firmware branch with experimental encryption support.
Features
- USB-CDC interface requires no additional drivers on most OSes
- Built-in text editor
- RP2040 MCU 32-bit MCU (Dual Cortex M0+, 264KB SRAM)
- 4MB (32Mbit) NOR Flash
- 8KB (64Kbit) Ferroelectric RAM
- Lifespan: 95 years @ +55C, over 200 years @ +35C
- Endurance: 10^12 read/write cycles @ +85C
- Blue LED
- Supports FRAM write protection via solder jumper
- Includes blue 3D-printed PLA plastic case (color/appearance may differ from photo)
- Board dimensions: 30mm x 16mm
Use Cases
- Password storage
- Cryptocurrency private key storage
- Note/list storage
- Geocaching
- Time capsules
- FRAM development board
Usage (Linux)
$ screen /dev/ttyACM0
Editor Commands
CTRL-G Help CTRL-L Refresh screen CTRL-W Toggle write mode CTRL-S Toggle status bar CTRL-Y Enter firmware update mode PGUP/DN Navigate between pages $ Move to end of line ^ Move to beginning of line
Resources
- Schematics, firmware, documentation and 3D-printable case are available on GitHub
Future data recovery
In the event that the USB interface were to become obsolete or the RP2040 were to become non-functional, it should still be possible to recover the FRAM data using a SOP-8 test clip. The FRAM IC is marked “RS64”.
Origin
- Designed in Germany
- PCB manufactured and assembled in China
- PLA enclosure manufactured and assembled in Germany
- Tested, packaged and shipped from Germany
