I got a prototype for my project working, now working on a pcb and hoping to develop it into a full product. Original prototype used the Adafruit RGB Matrix library and was on an AtMega2560, which is kinda just a waste of pins. So I’m looking to use SmartMatrix and a new microcontroller, but struggling to find the “optimal” microcontroller to work with. Basically all I’m looking for is something that’s relatively cheap, works with SmartMatrix, and has other SPI pins. I was looking at ESP modules but there were so many and I frankly am a bit out of my depth here. Hoping someone can recommend some options.
I’d need more details to make a full recommendation, but if you don’t need WiFi, esp32-pico kit and then migrate to ESP32-pico-d4 on a custom board. You can search for the pixelvation engine for how I used the pico for a custom board. If you need WiFi you’ll probably want to use a module and not the pico.