SBC News

When PricelessToolkit failed to find an affordable (indoor) irrigation system that works with Home Assistant and ESPHome, he built the DROPLET board based on ESP32 wireless SoC and supporting up to five micro-pumps and soil moisture sensors. The board also comes with switches to manually control the pump, a built-in DS18B20 temperature sensor, a buzzer, and a I/O header to connect an expansion header for relay control, I2C, GPIOs, and an external DS18B20 temperature sensor. DROPLET specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S with ESP32 dual-core 32-bit microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, 4MB SPI flash Display – I2C header for 5V/3.3V OLED…

DSPi is a full-featured audio DSP firmware for the Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico 2, and other Raspberry Pi RP2040/RP2350 boards, which turns them into a USB sound card with an integrated DSP. It allows users to make use of essential tools like room correction, active crossovers, parametric EQ, time alignment, and more, and essentially works as a regular sound card on your computer. DSPi firmware’s capabilities: Dual-Core DSP – EQ processing is split across both cores on both RP2040 and RP2350. USB Audio Interface – Supports 16-bit and 24-bit PCM input at 44.1, 48, and 96 kHz, working on macOS, Windows, Linux, and iOS. S/PDIF Input – 24-bit PCM stereo audio at 44.1 or 48kHz. 24-…

It’s now much easier to AI features to your project thanks to better tools, but as we’ve experienced when trying out Edge Impulse machine learning platform on the XIAO BLE Sense board, it still requires some effort and the learning curve may be higher than some expect. But for common tasks like face detection, there’s no reason for the solution to be hard-to-use or expensive, and Pete Warden (Useful Sensors) has designed the $10 Person Sensor fitted with a camera module pre-programmed with algorithms that detect nearby faces and reports the results over an I2C interface. Person Sensor specifications: ASIC – Himax HX6537-A ultra-low-power AI accelerator @ 400 MHz with 2M…

EDATEC CM4 Industrial is both a Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board and a computer for industrial IoT, control, and automation that expands on the company’s CM4 Sensing and CM4 Nano solutions with more features and interfaces. The system notably offers two RS485, one RS232, three analog inputs, two digital inputs, and one relay output through terminal blocks, as well as optional WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE + GPS connectivity, and a wide DC voltage range of 8V to 36V. EDATEC CM4 Industrial specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 module with SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Arm Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz with VideoCore Vi GPU supporting OpenGLES 3.1, Vulkan 1.x, H.265 (HEVC) (…

Edatec CM4 Sensing is a compact industrial computer based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) with multiple RS485, RS232, and CAN bus interfaces, an HDMI port, two USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and optional WiFi, Bluetooth, and/or 4G LTE connectivity. The industrial mini PC can operate in the -25 to 70°C temperature range, supports 8 to 28V DC wide voltage input, includes an RTC, and the single board computer also features a MIPI DSI interface to connect the official Raspberry Pi 7-inch display as well as an FPC interface with HDMI and USB touch. Edatec CM4 Sensing specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 module with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 SoC, 1GB to…

We’ve previously covered the EdgeBox-RPi4 industrial controller powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and plenty of I/Os such as RS485, RS232, digital inputs and outputs, and connectivity options such as Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5, and 4G LTE. But if you don’t quite need the power of a Linux controller, the EdgeBox-ESP-100 industrial edge controller based on an ESP32-S3 dual-core WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller and offering a similar set of features, albeit with twists, may be an interesting option. EdgeBox-ESP-100 specifications: Microcontroller – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with AI vector instructions, …

Eduponics Mini v2.0 is a Smart Agriculture IoT kit based on the ESP32 wireless microcontroller with built-in sensors to measure temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and ambient light, and interfaces to connect water level and soil moisture sensors. The new board builds upon the Eduponics Mini introduced two years ago, but based on the 8MB flash version of the ESP32-WROVER-B module, a different mix of sensors, a BM8563 RTC module replacing the DS1307 RTC chip, and the addition of Grove connectors for external sensors from companies such Elecrow. Eduponics Mini v2.0 specifications with highlights in bold or strikethrough showing the differences with the first revisio…

Efinix has introduced the Sapphire RV64 SoC, a configurable 64-bit RISC-V soft-core processor designed for its Titanium and Trion FPGAs. It is based on the VexiiRiscv core and can be configured with one to four RISC-V cores running at up to 400 MHz. The Sapphire RV64 has a seven-stage pipeline, configurable L1 caches, optional 64–512 KB L2 cache, and 4–512 KB of on-chip RAM. It supports DDR3, LPDDR4x, and HyperRAM with up to 512-bit AXI interfaces and external memory from 4 MB to 8 GB. Other features include an optional FPU, branch predictor, prefetchers, SV39 MMU, up to 32 GPIOs, five I²C, three SPI, three UARTs, timers, watchdog, and up to eight user interrupts. Efinix …

We’ve just reviewed the Raspberry Pi 4-powered CrowPi L laptop and Crowtail Starter kit used to teach programming and electronics, but Elecrow has now launched the “Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit” with 32 electronics modules, a smart kit car, and 32 tutorials that should be a more affordable way of teaching electronics and programming. However, it does so in a different way, as instead of using visual programming and Python, the Raspberry Pi Pico Advanced Kit’s lessons rely on MicroPython, and the projects are different with for example parts to build an obstacle avoidance, line tracking, or remote controlled car. Package content: Optional Raspberry Pi Pico board with R…

Here is the detail information about the Black Friday big sales in our official stores. Our sale will start from 17th to 25th Nov 2022 For Shopify, our sale promotion is: Save $50 On Orders Over $400 Save $100 On Orders Over $800 Save $200 On Orders Over $1500 Save $250 On Orders Over $2500 And the price of metaCat is $129 (Original price is $219), the MarsCat is $999 (Original price is $1399) The link of our Shopify is: https://elephantrobotics.myshopify.com/pages/black-friday-super-sales-cyber-monday-deals For Amazon, our sale promotion is: myCobot 280 will be in 10% off metaCat will be in 30% off with free shipping The link of our Amazon is: https://www.amazon.com/stor…

Elfin EW11/EW11A is a small WiFi to RS485 unit with Modbus TCP/IP support that works either in the 5 to 18V DC (EW11) or the 5 to 36V DC (EW11A) input range. The WiFi to RS485 adapter is offered with either an internal or external WiFi antenna, the RS485 interface is exposed through an RJ45 port, and an RJ45 to terminal block cable is usually included, as well as a DIN Rail mount. Elfin EW11/EW11A specifications: MCU (I’m not sure which one is used, and the specs depend on where you look..) Unnamed Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller @ 96 MHz with 2MB flash, 128KB SRAM (on the product page) OR Unnamed microcontroller @ up to 160MHz with 2MB flash, 352KB SRAM (on Aliexpress) Net…

We often write about business card or credit card-sized boards, but it’s only true for 2D dimensions, as most boards are over a centimeter thick, with possibly the thinnest we’ve covered being the Khadas Edge2 SBC that’s just 7mm thick. So Kn/vD took it upon himself to build a DIY computer that was really about the size of a credit card, and came up with the ELLO LC1 based on a Microchip PIC18 8-bit microcontroller, featuring an integrated display and keyboard, and powered by a coin-cell battery. It’s just 2mm thin. ELLO LC1 specifications: MCU – Microchip PIC18 (PIC18F47Q83-I/PT) 8-bit microcontroller with 13KB RAM and 128KB flash, out of which 64KB are reserved as user …

E.E.P.D. EM PRO mini “eNUC-BoxPC” is a mini PC powered by a 6-watt AMD Ryzen Embedded R1102G dual-core processor and designed for a variety of applications such as thin client, network monitoring, production data acquisition, digital signage, point-of-sale, building management systems, and so on. The embedded fanless mini PC ships with up to 16 GB DDR4 RAM, supports M.2 SATA or NVMe storage, and offers two mini DisplayPort video outputs, three USB 3.1 ports, and two Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as serial ports. The mini PC offers 8V to 32V input voltage suitable for automotive applications and can operate in the 0°C to 50°C temperature range, although a wider range c…

The Linux Foundation has just announced the full schedule for the Embedded Open Source Summit, which will take place on June 27-30, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as virtually starting on June 26. Over 175 sessions, birds of a feather (BoF) tracks, and workshops related to embedded and open-source innovation will be presented at the event itself comprised of six micro conferences: Automotive Linux Summit Europe, Embedded IoT Summit, Embedded Linux Conference, LF Energy Embedded Summit, Safety-Critical Software Summit, and Zephyr Project Developer Summit. Even though I’m not going to attend personally, I’ve gone through the schedule to create my own little virtual…

Embedded World 2020 was a lonely affair with many companies canceling attendance due to COVID-19, and Embedded World 2021 took place online only. But Embedded World is back to Nuremberg, Germany in 2022 albeit with the event moved from the traditional month of February to June 21-23. Embedded systems companies and those that service them will showcase their latest solution at their respective booths, and there will be a conference with talks and classes during the three-day event. The programme is up, so I made my own little Embedded World 2022 virtual schedule as there may be a few things to learn, even though I won’t be attending. Tuesday, June 21, 2022 10:00 – 13:00 – …

As I checked out Linux 6.3 changelog earlier this morning, I noticed the EmbedFire LubanCat 2 SBC in the Rockchip section, and having never heard of the EmbedFire company or LubanCat single board computers, I decided to have a closer look. EmbedFire is a company based in China, more exactly in DongGuan, that makes a range of LubanCat single board computers based on Rockchip RK3566 or RK3568 processors, some of which partially follow Raspberry Pi Zero or Raspberry Pi 3/4 Model B form factors, while others come with custom designs. LubanCat 2 SBC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 2.0 GHz with ARM Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL …

Embit EMB-LR1280-mPCIe-4x is an mPCIe (mini PCIe) module based on four Semtech SX1280 2.4 GHz LoRa transceivers and designed for OEM gateways that can work worldwide thanks to the use of the 2.4GHz ISM band and supports ranging. We first covered 2.4GHz LoRa and the SX1280 transceiver two years ago as a solution to design region-independent products specially suited to maritime and intercontinental logistics applications. We haven’t seen it used that much although we covered an ESP32 board with SX1280 last year, and it turns out that Italian company Embit has also made a mPCIe module based on the SX1280 chipset. Embit EMB-LR1280-mPCIe-4x specifications: LoRa connectivity C…

SB Components’ EncroPi is a USB key based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that can be used to log data, encrypt data, or as a secure key, and it also features a DS3231 real-time clock with a backup battery to store the data and time. The USB key also comes with a small 1.14-inch color display to display information such as time and date, and should be programmable like the Raspberry Pi Pico with MicroPython or C/C++. All photo shows a USB Type-A port, but based on user feedback the company will also make a USB Type-C version. EncroPi specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – QSPI flash, Mi…

Eoxys Xeno+ Nano ML is a wireless machine learning (ML) board with either Nuvoton NuMicro M2354 or STMicro STM32L4 microcontroller, InnoPhase IoT’s Talaria TWO ultra-low power Wi-Fi and BLE 5.0 module, and the Syntiant Core 2 NDP120 neural decision processor we first noticed in the Arduino Nicla Voice module a few weeks ago. The boards/modules are designed for intelligent and secure IoT devices for smart home, industrial, and medical automation applications, and the company claims it can be used in Wi-Fi IoT sensors with up to 10+ years thanks to the low-power chips and circuitry used in the design. Eoxys Xeno+ Nano ML specifications: General purpose MCU (one or the other…

AAEON EPIC-ADS7-PUC is an embedded system based on an up to 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700E Alder Lake-S processor and designed for robotics, automation, and healthcare imaging applications. The embedded computer supports up to 32GB DDR5 and two SATA III storage devices, offers three 4K video outputs via HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, one 2.5GbE and three Gigabit Ethernet ports, along with Intel TCC support, up to six USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two RS232/422/4485 COM ports, and some SKUs support Intel Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) for real-time control. Key Features: SoC – Intel Core Alder Lake-S processor, up to the 12-core (8P+4E) Core i7-12700E processor clocked at up to…

Thingpulse ePulse Feather is an ESP32 development board following Adafruit’s Feather form factor and optimized for low power with 12 to 27 uA deep sleep power consumption. The board is based on the ESP32-WROVER with 8MB Flash and 8MB SPRAM and comes with a USB-C connector for charging the battery and programming through a CH9102F UART chip, as well as the I/Os headers provided by the Feather form factor. The board can be especially useful in battery-operated WiFi remote controls for home automation or other purposes that sleep most of the time until the user presses one of the buttons. ThingPulse ePulse Feather specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WRO…

ECS LIVA Q3H is a pocket-sized mini PC with a Jasper Lake mini PC and the company says it is especially suited to video conferencing applications thanks to HDMI output and input ports enabling users to connect it with a guest PC and easily add it to a meeting. The mini PC is equipped with an Intel Pentium Silver N6000, Celeron N5100, or Celeron N4500 processor, comes with up to 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, supports Ethernet and WiFi 5 networking and offers a few USB 3.2/2.0 ports for peripheral expansion. LIVA Q3H mini PC specifications: Jasper Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron N4500 dual-core processor @ 1.1GHz / 2.8GHz (Burst frequency) with Intel UHD graphics; 6W…

Most of the ESP8266 and ESP32 projects and products we cover here use the Espressif microcontroller as the main chip, but ESP8266 started as a WiFi module meant to be controlled with AT commands from a host device. But there are still “legacy” products that may benefit from connecting to the cloud, and Espressif introduced the ESP-Hosted for that purpose in 2020, and recently released a next-generation ESP-Hosted solution (ESP-Hosted-NG) specifically for Linux hosts. The solution is available in two variants: ESP-Hosted-FG (First generation) exposing an Ethernet interface to the host and suitable for microcontrollers and Linux hosts, and the ESP-Hosted-NG presenting an 80…

We have seen ESP32s used for everything from simple IoT devices to AI, audio, and vision projects. But while looking for a new project, I found out about ESP-SDR firmware, which turns the ESP32 into a native Software-Defined Radio (SDR) without additional hardware. This open-source firmware bypasses the ESP32’s fixed-function Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modems and taps directly into the internal ADC signal chain to capture raw I/Q baseband samples. It then sends these samples to a computer over USB or UART, where they can be processed and viewed as a radio spectrum or waterfall display, turning supported ESP32 chips into low-cost software-defined radio receivers without requiring…

Espressif ESP-WIFI-CSI software relies on the disturbance in the force WiFi signals between one or more ESP32 boards and a router to detect whether humans are present in a room, or even indoor positioning, providing a cost-effective solution since no sensors are needed. Channel state information (CSI) leverages carrier signal strength, amplitude, phase, and signal delay indicators to reveal the signal scattering, reflection, and power attenuation phenomena that occur with the carrier as the transmission distance changes. This is typically used to measure the channel status of the wireless network in Wi-Fi communication, but it’s also possible to analyze and study the chan…

We’ve seen plenty of ESP32 LoRa boards with the traditional 433 MHz, 868 MHz, or 915MHz frequencies, but I think LilyGO LoRa V1.8 (aka T3 V1.8) is the first ESP32 board that integrates a Semtech SX1280 transceiver for the 2.4GHz LoRa standard used for global coverage, notably maritime applications, and ranging. The ESP32 & SX1280 board also offers 26 pins for expansion, a microSD card for data storage, a 2-pin connector for batteries, a 0.96-inch OLED for information display, and comes with a 3D antenna and u.FL connector for WiFi and Bluetooth, and an SMA antenna for LoRa connectivity. LilyGO LoRa/T3 V1.8 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core Xtensa LX6 pro…

LILYGO has designed another ESP32 board with a 4G LTE modem with the LILYGO T-A7608E-H & T-A7608SA-H variants equipped with respectively SIMCom A7608SA-H for South America, New Zealand, and Australia, and SIMCom A7608E-H for the EMEA, South Korean, and Thai markets, both delivering up to 150 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload speeds. The board also supports GPS, includes a 18650 battery holder, and features I/O expansion headers that support an add-on board with RS485 and CAN bus interfaces, in a way similar to the company’s earlier TTGO T-CAN485 board with ESP32, but no cellular connectivity. LILYGO T-A7068E-H/T-A7608SA-H board specifications: Wireless Connectivity WiF…

LILYGO TTGO T-Encoder, a round-shaped ESP32 board with a built-in rotary encoder, has gotten a shield with a 2-key keypad based on WCH CH552 8-bit microcontroller. Launched several months ago, the TTGO T-Encoder is a USB-powered rotary encoder with ESP32 microcontroller offering WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and now, you can build a keypad with rotary encoder thanks to T-Encoder shield that features two mechanical switches and keycaps with RGB LED backlight. Since we missed it at launch, let’s check out the tiny TTGO T-Encoder board specifications first: System-in-Package (SiP) – Espressif ESP32-PICO-V3-02 with MCU – ESP32 Xtensa dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX6 microcont…

The ESP32 DevKitC V4 is now selling with the ESP-WROOM-DA module with two PCB antennas that was introduced last year in order to offer a longer WiFi range and better reliability. The development kit is exactly the same as for the other ESP32 DevKitC V4 module, and the only difference is the dual antenna design. When running a recent version of the Arduino Core for the ESP32 (2.0.3 or greater), the ESP32 will automatically switch to the antenna with the strongest signal in order to deliver the best connectivity possible. ESP32 DevKitC V4 specifications: Wireless module – ESP-WROOM-DA (PDF datasheet) with SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-D0WD-V3 dual-core LX6 microprocessor wi…

ESP32 MPY-Jama is a cross-platform MicroPython IDE specifically designed for ESP32 boards with a file manager, a REPL terminal, real-time dashboards, and various ESP32-specific features. The IDE is an open-source Python program using pyWebView and pySerial plus some JavaScript for the user interface, and the developer of the program, Jean-Christophe Bos, provides binaries for Windows 64-bit and macOS 64-bit Arm or x86. It’s also possible to use it in Linux but needs to be built from source. Some of the key features of the ESP32 MPY-Jama IDE include: MicroPython code editor with syntax highlighting REPL interface Access to information dashboards with real-time data about …

The Theengs Plug ESP32 smart plug runs OpenMQTTGateway firmware to serve as a BLE MQTT gateway and power meter compatible with Home Assistant, Homebridge, OpenHAB, DomoticZ, FHEM, Jeedom, NodeRed, AWS, and any MQTT-compatible IoT or Smart Home system. While the Matter standard should improve interoperability between Smart Home frameworks over time, there are still millions of devices already produced that are not Matter compatible, and the Theengs Plug aims to at least partially address this issue by helping users reduce the number of hubs required and have only one that supports different ecosystems. Theengs Plug hardware specifications: Microcontroller – ESP32 dual-core…

Espressif Systems ESP32-C5 is an upcoming wireless RISC-V microcontroller for IoT applications that supports dual-band (2.4 & 5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 connectivity as well as Bluetooth 5.0 LE. It is the first dual-band processor from Espressif, as while the Shanghai-based company previously announced the ESP32-C6 WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 LE RISC-V SoC last year, it only supports 2.4 GHz frequency. Note it’s not the first dual-band WiFi 6 IoT chip on the market as NXP introduced the IW612 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 802.15.4 tri-radio solution last January, but ESP32-C5 should target different use cases. ESP32-C5 preliminary specifications: CPU – Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @…

Espressif Systems has finally launched the ESP32-W6 WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and 802.15.4 IoT microcontroller by making the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 module available on Aliexpress for $14.25 as well as the ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board that’s out of stock on the official store at the time of writing. but somehow listed in another store for $16.22 plus shipping. Besides the availability announcement, another surprise is the 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee and Thread that was not part of the original ESP32-C6 announcement in April 2021. The ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 development board comes with a module with 8MB flash, exposes most of the I/O’s from the ESP32-C3, and comes with two USB-…

Espressif Systems unveiled the ESP32-H2 Bluetooth 5.2 LE & 802.15.4 RISC-V microcontroller in August 2021, but the ESP32-H2-DevKitM-1 development board based on the ESP32-H2-MINI-1 module has only been selling on the official Espressif’s Aliexpress store for $9.90 for a few weeks. The ESP32-H2-DevKitM-1 development board allows the development of applications with Bluetooth 5.2 LE, Zigbee, Thread, and/or Matter connectivity, features two USB Type-C ports, Boot & Reset buttons, and RGB LED, and two rows of 15 pins exposing all I/Os from the ESP32-H2-MINI-1 module. ESP32-H2-DevKitM-1 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-H2-MINI-1 MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-H2 …

Makerfabs “ESP32-S3 Round SPI TFT with Touch 1.28″” is a small ESP32-S3 with a 1.28-inch round color touchscreen display, a microSD card, support for USB and battery power, and two “Mabee” extension connectors. The board joins other ESP32-S3 round display boards such as the Lilygo T-RGB board or Seeed Studio’s Round Display for XIAO, but with a thinner device, and a square PCB with trimmed corners instead of a round PCB like the other two. ESP32-S3 Round SPI TFT with Touch 1.28″ (E32S3128GC) specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with vector extension, 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM, Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0…

EasySensors “6Gang30AmpsLatchRelayEspHomeReady” (now that’s a product name!) is a DIN Rail mountable, ESP32-S2-based automation device featuring six 32A latch relays and supporting ESPHome open-source framework. The system also comes with two inputs for Dallas temperature sensors, two buttons for manual control of relays, a USB-C port for programming, as well as an external SMA antenna for WiFi connectivity. 6Gang30AmpsLatchRelayEspHomeReady specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif ESP32-S2 Xtensa single-core 32-bit LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz with 320 kB SRAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 (Matter-ready) Antenna – Embedded IPX to SMA adapter, 3dBi antenna I/Os 6x 32A latch rela…

SB Components’ ESPi is a WiFi-enabled Ethernet board with a 1.14-inch information color display either coming with an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth module or designed as a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Pico W board. I have no idea who needs this, but the ESPi board looks cute and can be used as a 10/100Mbps Ethernet to WiFi (or BLE) gateway with a small TFT display, and there’s also a small joystick on the board to control a potential menu or user interface rendered in the display. ESPi board specifications: Module/Board (one or the other) ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module with ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 microprocessor @ up to 240 MHz with Vector extension for machine learning, up …

The EsPiFF board may look like a Raspberry Pi 4 Linux SBC but it is equipped with an ESP32-WROVER WiFi and Bluetooth module together with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that acts as a co-processor. The goal here is to provide a Raspberry Pi 4 replacement for applications that require higher reliability and even 24/7 operation without necessarily needing the processing power and multimedia capabilities of the Broadcom BCM2711 Arm processor found in the Pi or the versatility of a Linux operating system. EsPiFF board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER module with dual-core ESP32-D0WDQ6 microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth, 8 MB PSRAM and 16 MB…

Espressif ESP32-P4 is a general-purpose dual-core RISC-V microcontroller clocked at up to 400 MHz with AI instructions extension, numerous I/Os, and security features. It also happens to be the first microcontroller from Espressif Systems without wireless connectivity, and as such, it should probably be seen as an alternative to STM32F7/H7 or NXP i.RT Arm Cortex-M7 microcontrollers/crossover processors, and likely offered at a significantly lower cost. It should also offer lower power consumption than other ESP32 chips thanks in part to a third RISC-V core clocked at 40 MHz that can keep the system running while the other two high-performance cores are down. ESP32-P4 key …

Espressif Systems ESP8684 is a single-core RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE (BLE) connectivity that also integrates 1, 2, or 4MB flash into a tiny 4x4mm QFN package. The SoC is listed under the ESP32-C2 product family on the Espressif website and can be found in MINI and WROOM modules, as well as the ESP8684-DevKitM-1 development kit. All three parts, namely ESP8684H1, ESP8684H2, and ESP8684H4, are designed to work in the -40 to 105°C temperature range, ESP8684 specifications: CPU – 32-bit RISC-V processor up to 120 MHz; 305.42 CoreMark; 2.55 CoreMark/MHz Memory – 272 KB SRAM (16 KB for cache) Storage – 576 KB ROM, 1 to 4MB flash (SiP) Wi…

Espressif Systems have announced their one-stop Matter solution that features their ESP32, ESP32-C, and ESP32-S series wireless microcontrollers with WiFi and/or Bluetooth LE connectivity, as well as the ESP32-H series with an 802.15.4 radio for Thread and Zigbee connectivity. Matter, which was first introduced in 2019 as Project CHIP, aims to improve interoperability among Smart Home products, has a focus on security, and the protocol is supposed to work on top of the most popular communication standards like Ethernet, Thread, 802.15.4, WiFI, Bluetooth, and so on, but more on that later. The first commercial products with support for Matter are scheduled for the end of t…

Everactive has launched a batteryless IoT devkit to let engineers evaluate its ultra-low-power energy harvesting solution and the Evernet wireless protocol for the “Hyperscale” Internet of Things. The kit is comprised of two environment sensors (ENV+ Eversensor) with a low-light photovoltaic harvester, one USB Evergateway, and an unlimited number of accounts to the Everactive developer console for data visualization. The ENV+ Eversensor features temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors, as well as a 3-axis accelerometer, supports the Evernet IoT protocol, and instead of using a battery for power, the device relies on a photovoltaic cell that provides enough energy for …

EVerest is a software project initiated by PIONIX GmbH, but now part of the Linux Foundation’s LFEnergy initiative, whose primary goal is to develop and maintain an open-source software stack for EV charging infrastructure. EVerest supports multiple standards and it will run on any device from AC home chargers to public DC charging stations. I noticed the EVerest project in an upcoming talk at the Embedded Open Source Summit 2023 entitled ” EVerest: Electric Vehicle Chargers With Open Hardware and Software” and whose abstract reads in part: You will learn how to build your own electric vehicle charger using open hardware designs in combination with the EVerest open-source…

Sfera Labs Exo Sense RP is a multi-sensor module with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and various sensors to report temperature, humidity, air quality (VOC), light intensity, audio, and motion. The module can work as a standalone unit but can also communicate with a host through RS485 and USB interfaces, and supports expansion via surge-protected digital inputs and outputs. The Exo Sense RP is designed for indoor residential and commercial applications such as environmental monitoring and data logging, people and assets tracking, room management, access control, and more. Exo Sense RP specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ @ 133 MHz with …

An OEM fanless network appliance has shown up online with a choice of 15-watt Intel Core i3-1215U, Core i5-1235U, and Core i7-1265U Alder Lake processors, and six 2.5GbE interfaces, as well as HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, and support for M.2 NVMe SSD and 2.5-inch SATA drives. The design looks very similar to another white brand fanless network appliance with six 2.5GbE ports and an Intel Gemini Lake processor that we covered last year. Besides the faster processor, the new system replaces i225-V controllers with i226-V controllers, some of the USB ports have been upgraded to “USB 3.2”, and DisplayPort output was added for dual display setups. Specifications: Alder …

AAEON’s UP Squared Pro 7000 Edge fanless mini PC is powered by a choice of Alder Lake-N SoCs from the Processor N50 up to the Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor and designed for IoT, automation, robotics, and industrial applications. The system is based on the UP Squared Pro 7000 4-inch SBC and ships up to 16GB LPDDR5, up to 64GB eMMC flash, and supports triple display setups with HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C ports. Network connectivity includes two 2.5GbE ports and optional WiFi/Bluetooth and/or 5G/4G cellular modules M.2 expansion slots. UP Squared Pro 7000 Edge mini PC specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor up to …

ARBOR ARES-1980 is a fanless rugged industrial controller powered by an Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake Core processor with 9-36V wide power input, 2.5GbE, optional 4G/5G cellular and/or WiFi connectivity, and designed for factory automation. The embedded computer also comes with two PoE-capable Gigabit Ethernet ports, support for NVMe and SATA storage, eight digital outputs, eight digital inputs, several serial ports compatible with RS232, RS422, and/or RS485, and more. ARES-1980 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i3-1115G4E, Core i5-1145G7E (default), or Core i7-1185G7E Tiger Lake processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics System Memory – Up to 64GB 3200MHz RAM via 2x 260-pin DDR4 …

Rockchip RK3568-powered NanoPi R5S router has gotten a direct competitor courtesy of FastRhino R68s with the same processor, but more memory up to 4GB RAM, two 2.5GbE ports, and two Gigabit Ethernet ports (or one extra compared to R5S), and two USB 3.0 ports. FastRhino R68s is purely a router in the traditional sense, and you don’t get an HDMI port acting as a display interface or an M.2 NVMe socket to add extra storage as found in NanoPi R5S. The plastic enclosure used with R68s will not be able to cool the Rockchip RK3568 as well as the metal enclosure of the FriendlyElec device, but there are plenty of ventilation holes so that may be sufficient. FastRhino R68s specifi…

Mirek Folejewski has designed the ridiculously tiny Femto module based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller with a size of just 12x12mm, and still including an SPI flash, a crystal, and a few passive components. We’ve previously covered some really tiny RP2040 boards with the Pimoroni Tiny 2040 and Adafruit QT Py RP2040 boards, as well as the RP2040 Stamp module, but the 12x12mm Femto module is about a quarter of the size of 25x25mm RP2040 Stamp. Femto specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM Storage – 4 to 64Mbit QSPI flash I/O – 30 GPIO pins, Reset and BOOTSEL signals, etc… exposed through a f…

Hackerboards.com single board computer database has been around for several years starting as Board-DB, but I noticed another one called FindBoard while browsing on Aliexpress with some more exotic boards. Hackerboards’ database currently features 467 SBCs and MCU boards, while FindBoard has 453 boards. There are some overlaps, but also boards that are not found in the first database. Many of the boards on FindBoard are Linux-capable, but they are also some microcontroller boards as we can see from the screenshot above. If Chinese is selected, the “Buy now” will redirect you to Taobao, and if it is English they will be a link to an Aliexpress page. There’s a parametric se…

When we first wrote about Fingerbot Bluetooth mechanical button pusher to add automation control to (dumb) home appliances over two years ago, I was not convinced about the solution. But it must have gained enough traction, as Adaprox has now launched a sensor version – the Fingerbot Sense – with either Zigbee or Bluetooth connectivity, plus a new touchless control function. It works just the same way as before, simply place the Fingerbot Sense on top of a physical button, and control it with your smartphone, a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Home, or with the new touchless control, simply wave your hand in front of the button without having to touch it. Finge…

Firefly AIO-3588SG is a compact, low-profile SBC with Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, and an 8K capable USB-C port with DisplayPort that is based on the company’s Core-3588SG module powered by a Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-75/A55 processor with up to 32GB RAM and 256GB eMMC flash. Apart from the Ethernet connector, which I assume could be removed upon request, the board appears to be designed to be as thin as possible which should make it suitable for projects and products that require high performance in a thin form factor such as robotics, digital signage, virtual reality headsets, etc… Firefly AIO-3588SG specifications: System-on-module – Firefly Core-3588SG with SoC –…

Firefly ITX3588J mini-ITX motherboard with Rockchip RK3588 SoC now has a little sister/brother based on Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor called ITX-3568JQ, and designed to power Arm PCs, cloud terminals, industrial controllers, edge computers, advanced NVR, NAS devices, and more. The motherboard supports up to 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash, offers SATA storage, dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, optional 4G or 5G cellular connectivity, can handle up to three independent displays, and offers plenty of I/O options including an RS232/RS485 DB9 connector and a PCIe slot. Firefly ITX-3568JQ specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568J quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ up to…

Firefly Station M3 is a mini PC powered by Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor, the cost-down version of the RK3588, and equipped with up to 16GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash storage, support for M.2 SATA and NVMe SSD, 8K capable HDMI and DisplayPort (USB-C) video outputs, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, and more. The new model follows the Station M1 and Station M2 mini PCs with Rockchip RK3328 and RK3566 respectively and will deliver 4 times the CPU performance and up to 8 times the 3D graphics performance compared to the M2 model, but in a slightly larger and about twice as thick enclosure – probably for active cooling – than the first two Station M fanless mini PCs.…

Powered by the Rockchip RK3588 processor, Firefly Station P3D modular AI mini PC comes with two swappable layers, namely the top one with the main board and default ports such as two HDMI output ports, one HDMI input, Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.1 ports, etc…, and the bottom layer that can be configured with various ports depending on your specific application. The top layer is basically the new Station P3 mini PC with RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor, up to 32B RAM, 256GB eMMC flash, an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD socket, and dual-band WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.0 plus all the ports mentioned above. Fire Station P3D specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor …

Once upon a time, people tried to avoid STM32 fakes and clones, but in a world where companies are allegedly purchasing washing machines to extract a few unavailable components, people have started to look for alternatives, and last week I wrote about the Geehy APM32 family of STM32 clones. But I had never heard about Flashchip Microelectronics FCM32 microcontrollers, and they are even not that easy to find in search engines, so they must be relatively new. The company appears to make both FCM32F clones and FCM32H derivatives with no direct equivalent STM32 part numbers, a higher clock frequency, and faster flash. For example, the FCMF030F4P6 will match the specifications…

Anne Barela’s Floppy Thumb Drive project houses the Adafruit PyPortal internet display in a 3D-printed enclosure that looks like a 3.5-inch floppy disk, just a bit thicker. The computer-in-a-floppy-disk project runs CircuitPython code to list the first 12 files stored in the flash and can display photos or animations, play audio, or execute scripts. The project consists of three main parts: The Adafruit PyPortal internet display with Microchip SAMD51 (ATSAMD51J20) Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ up to 120 MHz with 1 MB flash, 256 KB SRAM Display – 3.2-inch 320 x 240 color TFT display with resistive touchscreen Audio – Speaker Storage 8MB flash storage optional microSD ca…

The FNIRSI 1013D is a dual-channel flat-panel oscilloscope with a rich set of features. It is cost-effective and useful to people in the maintenance and R&D industries. Although it has been on the market for a few years, I purchased one, and I decided to introduce it and disassemble it to check out the hardware design. FNIRSI describes its oscilloscope as “small and portable”, so I assume it should include a lithium battery, a TFT LCD screen, a processor to handle the display, and another chip to process the digital signals. Let’s take it apart first to find out. FNIRSI 1013D oscilloscope unboxing FNIRSI 1013D package content: 1x FNIRSI 1013D oscilloscope 2x 100MHz ma…

Forlinx FET-MX9352-C is a system-on-module based on NXP i.MX 9352 dual Cortex-A55 processor with Cortex-M33 real-time core and a 0.5 TOPS AI accelerator that can be used for industrial control, IoT gateways, medical equipment, and various applications requiring machine learning acceleration. The FET-MX9352-C follows last week’s announcement of the iWave Systems iW-RainboW-G50M OSM module and SBC with a choice of NXP i.MX 93 processors. The Forlinx module comes with two board-to-board connectors instead of solderable pads and can be found in the OK-MX9352-C single board computer with dual GbE, various display and camera interfaces, RS485 and CAN Bus, etc… FET-MX9352-C i.MX…

Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L Cortex-A53/M33 processors have found their way into several system-on-modules and single board computers recently with the likes of Geniatech AHAURA board, Avnet RZBoard, or ARIES Embedded MSRZG2UL OSM module among others. Forlinx Embedded has joined the fray with the Renesas RZ/G2L-based FET-G2LD-C system-on-module, and a corresponding OK-G2LD-C development board with plenty of I/Os including dual Gigabit Ethernet, RS485 and CAN Bus interfaces, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, plus an optional EC20 4G mini PCIe module. FET-G2LD-C system-on-module Specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L (R9A07G044Lxx) dual or single-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @1.2GHz…

After two years of taking place exclusively online, FOSDEM 2023 is back in Brussels, Belgium with thousands expected to attend the 2023 version of the “Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting” both onsite and online. FOSDEM 2023 will take place on February 4-5 with 776 speakers, 762 events, and 63 tracks. As usual, I’ve made my own little virtual schedule below mostly with sessions from the Embedded, Mobile and Automotive devroom, but also other devrooms including “Open Media”, “FOSS Educational Programming Languages devroom”, “RISC-V”, and others. FOSDEM Day 1 – Saturday February 4, 2023 10:30 – 10:55 – GStreamer State of the Union 2023 by Olivier Crête GStream…

FOSSBot is an “open design” 3D printed educational robot comprised of a Raspberry Pi SBC and various off-the-shelf modules, as well as open-source software that can be used for education purposes. The FOSSBot DIY robot has been developed by the Harokopio University of Athens and the Greek Free and Open Source Software (GFOSS) community, and builds upon the “GSOC 2019 – A DIY robot kit for educators” with the main goal being to have a platform to “familiarize teachers with modern education models based on the S.T.E.A.M approach. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics)”. FOSSbot key components: SBC – Raspberry Pi Zero W, Raspberry Pi 3, or Raspberry Pi 4. Mech…

When we first covered the Framework modular laptop in 2021 it came with a choice of 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake Core processors, up to 64GB RAM, up to 4TB SSD storage, a 13.5-inch display, a Full HD webcam, and a 55Wh battery. Modular electronic devices have been worked on by several companies over the years, but such endeavors usually result in failure due to costs and other difficulties. Remember Google’s Project Ara? But Framework may have found something that works, as they’ve now launched 13th Generation Intel Raptor Lake motherboards, AMD Ryzen 7040-series motherboards, updated the 13.5-inch display with a Matte finish, and even unveiled the Framework Laptop 1…

Geehy APM32F103 is a clone of STMicro STM32F103 MCU that has been tested by at least one person who claims it was just a drop-in replacement and PCB, code, hex, testing, and production did not have to be changed at all. Most STM32 microcontrollers are in short supply with 52+ weeks lead times and prices going through the roof, so people may be looking into the long list STM32 clones and fakes including APM32F103. They all claim to be pin-to-pin and firmware compatible, but when theory meets reality, things may go wrong. For instance, last year I had a conversation with one person who switched to GD32 microcontroller and had all sorts of issues (translated from French): I …

GEEKOM MiniAir 11 is a mini PC powered by a Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake mini PC that ships with 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD selling for $199, and placing itself as a competitor of Beelink U59 mini PC. The mini PC offers HDMI 2.0 and mini DisplayPort video outputs, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, three USB 3.2 ports, and two USB-C ports for data only, as the device is powered by a 19V power adapter, and the USB-C ports do not support DisplayPort Alt Mode. GEEKOM MiniAir 11 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5095 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 15W TDP System MEmory – 8GB DDR4 upgradea…

The GEEKOM MiniAir 11 is not just another mini PC powered by an Intel Jasper Lake N5095 processor but one that distinguishes itself by having a comprehensive range of ports. GEEKOM kindly sent a MiniAir 11 for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04. MiniAir 11 hardware overview The GEEKOM MiniAir 11 physically consists of a 117 x 112 x 34.2mm (4.61 x 4.41 x 1.35 inches) square plastic case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s new 10 nm Jasper Lake N5095 processor which is a quad-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz Celeron processor boosting to 2.90 GHz with Intel’s UHD Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, a 3.5mm…

Geekworm, in collaboration with Mcuzone, has launched the UPS Scap 5V5A, a new supercapacitor UPS HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 designed to keep the Raspberry Pi running long enough (a few seconds to a few minutes) to save data and shut down safely, rather than provide hours of backup power. Available in 100F, 60F, and 22F versions, the HAT has a built-in PD chip that negotiates a true 5V/5A output. This gives the Raspberry Pi 5 enough power to run properly without triggering the low-voltage warnings that can happen with some power supplies. The module connects to the Raspberry Pi 5 through pogo pins to detect power loss and supports I2C for checking voltage and current in r…

AAEON GENE-ADP6 is a 3.5-inch SBC equipped with a choice of Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake-P (and Alder Lake-U) processors and the first from the company to support DDR5 memory, of which up to 64GB can be installed through two SO-DIMM sockets. The single board computer also supports SATA and NVMe storage, up to two 8K displays (and up to four independent displays), 2.5GbE networking, USB 3.2 ports, four RS232/RS422/RS485 interfaces, and further expansion through three M.2 sockets for wireless connectivity (WiFi, 5Gm, 4G LTE…) as well as the already mentioned NVMe SSD storage. GENE-ADP6 SBC specifications: Intel Alder Lake-P SoC (one or the other) Core i7-1270PE 12-core/16-thre…

Geniatech DB982 is a development board/motherboard powered by an Amlogic T982 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor designed for 8K televisions and equipped with an ATSC 3.0 TV tuner. The board ships with up to 4 GB RAM and up to 128 GB eMMC flash, and also includes three 4K HDMI inputs, LVDS and ultra-high-definition VX1 LCD screen interfaces, as well as Fast Ethernet and WiFI 5 connectivity. Geniatech DB982 specifications: SoC – Amlogic T982 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor up to 1.8GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MP2 (2EE) GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1 and OpenCL 2.0 APIs AI accelerators – 2x NNA accelerators with INT8 inference performance up to 2.6 TOPS Manufact…

Geniatech DS-3566 is a board based on Rockchip RK3566 designed for digital signage applications with a low-profile, multiple video interfaces such as HDMI, LVDS, eDP, and MIPI DSI, and plenty of headers and connectors for expansion. The single board computer ships with up to 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash, and supports Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.1, as well as cellular connectivity as an option. Some of the interfaces available through connectors include RS232, RS485, CAN Bus, I2C, SPI, etc… Geniatech DS-3566 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU System Memory – 2GB to 8GB LPDDR4 Stor…

Geniatech has introduced LGA system-on-modules compliant with the SGET OSM (Open Standard Module) Size-L standard and designed to be soldered directly on the carrier board. Two models have been launched with the SOM-G2L-OSM equipped with Renesas RZ/G2L Arm Cortex-A55/M33 processor, and the SoM-3566-OSM powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC. SOM-G2L-OSM module Specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L dual-core Cortex-A55 processor, Cortex-M33 real-time core, Arm Mali-G31 GPU, H.264 video encoder/decoder System Memory – 1GB RAM (2GB/4GB optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (16GB/32GB optional) 662 contacts with Display – 1x MIPI DSI, 1x RGB Camera – 1x MIPI CSI A…

We’ve seen Rockchip RK3568 system-on-modules before, but the Geniatech SOM-3568-SMARC core board is the first to comply with the SMARC 2.1 standard with a 314-pin MXM connector exposing the many I/Os from the quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. The module comes with up to 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash, integrates a WiFi and Bluetooth module as well as two Gigabit Ethernet transceivers, and is designed to be used in advanced NVRs, cloud terminals, industrial automation, IoT applications, digital signage, and more. Geniatech SOM-3568-SMARC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2,…

Geniatech has added a new member to its XPI SBC family with the business card-sized XPI-3566 board powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, and mostly following the Raspberry Pi 3 form factor like its predecessors. The single board computer comes with 1GB to 8GB RAM, up to 64GB eMMC flash, HDMI 2.0 video output, Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band WiFi, a few USB ports, and the 40-pin GPIO header. It is said to target retail, “interactive communication”, and education applications. Geniatech XPI-3566 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 2GB DDR (1…

CrowBot BOLT is a smart robot car based on an ESP32 wireless microcontroller and designed for the education market with the ability to program the robot with visual programming, Arduino, or MicroPython. Elecrow sent me a sample of the CrowBot BOLT kit for evaluation so I’ll have a look at the hardware, show how to assemble it, showcase the features of the built-in firmware, and demonstrate how to program the robot with visual programming, Arduino, and MicroPython using some of the provided code samples. CrowBot BOLT unboxing The package lists some of the highlights with 16 teaching courses, support for multiple programming platforms, scalability with Grove connectors, and…

e-con Systems e-CAM20_CURB is a 2.3 MP fixed focus color camera designed for the Raspberry Pi 4, and the company has sent us a sample for evaluation and review. We’ll start by providing specifications, before checking out the package content, connecting the camera to the Raspberry Pi 4 with a DIY LEGO mount, showing how to access the resources for the camera, and trying tools provided in the Raspberry Pi OS or Yocto Linux image. e-CAM20_CURB specifications The camera is comprised of two boards with the following specifications: eCAM217_CUMI0234_MOD full HD color camera with 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 interface ON Semiconductor AR0234CS CMOS sensor with 1/2.6″ optical form-factor G…

Last week we checked out the hardware for the GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit with three nRF52840 Thread Dev Boards, and I’ve now had time to work with the kit, so I’ll report my getting started experience in the second part of the review. GL-S200 Initial Set Up I connected the WAN port to my Ethernet Switch itself connected to my modem router and the LAN port to my laptop, so I could access the web interface using the default IP address (192.168.8.1). The GL-S200 uses the same Admin Panel as other GL.iNet routers such as the Beryl AX router we reviewed at the beginning of the year. You’ll be greeted by a wizard to let you select the language and set a new passwo…

CNXSoft: This getting started guide/review of the SenseCAP K1100 sensor prototype kit is a translation of the original post on CNX Software Thai. The first part of this tutorial describes the kit and shows how to program it with Arduino to get sensor data to a LoRAWAN gateway and display it on Wio Terminal, before processing the data in a private LoRaWAN network using open-source tools such as Grafana. The second part – to be published later – will demonstrate the AI capability of the kit. In the digital era where IoT and big data are more prevalent, a large amount of data is required to be collected through sensors. To enable the digital transformation, SeeedStudio’s Sen…

Raspberry Pi Trading announced the Raspberry Pi Pico W board basically based on the same design as the original Raspberry Pi Pico board with RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller but adding a wireless module with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5.2, although the latter is not enabled on the board at this time. The company sent me a sample for review/evaluation, and I’ll focus on the WiFi part since the Raspberry Pi Pico W supports the same MicroPython and C/C++ SDKs as for the Raspberry Pi Pico board plus additional APIs for wireless connectivity. Raspberry Pi Pico W unboxing The board I received was cut from a 480-unit reel, and I also got a one-meter long micro USB to USB…

I found this GHLBD calculator on a platform selling second-hand electronic products. Three labels of this product appeal to me: “Calculator”, “Android 9.0” and “Allwinner A50“. If you only look at the appearance, this calculator is not much different from that of ordinary calculators, but the Android operating system is running on it and the screen tells me that it is definitely not an ordinary calculator. When I bought it, I only spent 69 RMB ($10 US). I didn’t really have a use case for it, but curiosity drove me to buy one. I decided to introduce it and disassemble it to check out the hardware design. Function demonstration of GHLBD calculator Press and hold the ON and…

Today, we’re giving away the e-con Systems e-CAM20_CURB is a 2.3MP color camera with a global shutter that is designed to work with Raspberry Pi 4 SBC. The camera is based on ON Semiconductor AR0234CS CMOS sensor and supports uncompressed video at 1920 x 1200 (2.3MP) up to 60 fps, 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) up to 65 fps, and 1280 x 720 (HD) up to 120 fps. I just completed the e-CAM20_CURB camera review with Raspberry Pi 4 last weekend and found the video smoothness and quality to be much better than most cameras I’ve tried when there is motion, even in relatively dark scenes, since motion blur and artifacts are reduced. The company provides Yocto Linux and Raspbian/Raspberry …

The sixth prize of this year’s Giveaway Week will be GL.iNET GL-S10 BLE to MQTT gateway based on the ESP32 microcontroller and offering Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The gateway is used to gather data from Bluetooth LE devices such as beacons and can be used in warehouses, shopping malls, airports, exhibition halls, tourist attractions, etc… for personnel management, asset management, environmental monitoring, indoor navigation, and more. I reviewed the ESP32-based BLE to MQTT gateway with the provided BLE beacon at the end of last year using MQTT X open-source client and the GL-S10 Tool App for Android. It allowed me to send commands through MQTT topics,…

Let’s end Giveaway Week 2022 with a bang, and more exactly a rather powerful Rockchip RK3588 mini PC: Mekotronics R58 (mini). The device comes with 8GB RAM and 64GB flash storage, two 8K capable HDMI 2.0 output ports, one DisplayPort output, one HDMI input, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFI 6 connectivity, as well as a few USB 3.0/2.0 ports, plus support for a SATA drive. I reviewed the Rockchip RK3588 mini PC with Android 12 last July, and I was impressed by the CPU and GPU performance, 4K video playback capabilities, except for AV1 which was not stable at the time, and support for HDMI audio passthrough. Android 12 was quite stable at that early stage as well. Some downsides …

It’s that time of year… CNX Software giveaway week! For the 9th edition, we’ll have seven items to give away, five that I will send myself, and two that will be sent directly from two companies that accepted to add their own products to the giveaway. We’ll start the giveaway with NanoPi R5S router based on Rockchip RK3568 SoC with 2 GB DDR4 RAM, 8GB eMMC flash plus an M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as HDMI 2.0 video output and two USB 3.0 ports. I reviewed the NanoPi R5S router with OpenWrt and Ubuntu 20.04 “FriendlyCore”, but I had to call this a “preview” since 2.5GbE was far from optimal, sometimes only a little…

RAKwireless joined CNX Software’s Giveaway Week last year with the WisBlock Kit 2 LoRa-based GPS Tracker with Solar Panel, and the company is back for Giveaway Week 2022 with the RAK Developer Kit (Air Quality Kit) with LoRaWAN connectivity. The kit includes everything to get started to build an indoor air quality monitor and send the air quality information over LoRaWAN to the cloud/LoRaWAN server. It notably comes with a WisGate gateway and a Wisblock Node with an indoor enclosure. The kit contents and main specifications are as follows: RAK7246 WisGate Developer D0 with: Raspberry Pi Zero W board with Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor @ 1GHz, 512MB RAM Storage – 16GB Mi…

The third prize of this year’s giveaway week comes courtesy of ELECFREAKS which offers a Cutebot Pico:ed kit based on the Pico:ed board with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and following BBC Micro:bit form factor. The kit also includes two high-speed motors to drive two wheels, ultrasonic & distance sensors, two RGB LED lights and clearance lamps on the bottom, two line-tracking probes, and an active buzzer used as a horn. It is powered by three AAA batteries. The company initially me asked me if I wanted to review the board/robot, but since I may not have the time to do so, I asked whether they wanted to be included in our yearly giveaway week which they accept…

The fourth prize of Giveaway Week 2022 is the Sonoff NSPanel Pro control panel with four Zigbee modules including a temperature & humidity sensor, a door/window sensor, a switch, and a PIR motion sensor. The controller is based on a Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor running Android 8.1 and acts as a Zigbee 3.0 gateway allowing users to add all sorts of Zigbee modules. It also works with the eWelink app to add security cameras which can be some of your old smartphones. We reviewed the SONOFF NSPanel Pro control panel & Zigbee gateway last month together with Zigbee modules and the SONOFF Slim Cam indoor security camera and found it worked reasonably well…

CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2022 has just ended, and it’s time to announce the winners. Just like last year, some companies added to the review samples I offered with Rakwireless and ELECFREAKS offering a LoRaWAN devkit and an educational robot respectively. If you check out the photo of the items given away below you’ll find quite more than seven because the SONOFF NSPanel kit includes four Zigbee modules, and more importantly, we also organized a parallel giveaway week on CNX Software Thailand with small boards such as the Raspberry Pi Zero W or XIAO BLE. We had eight winners on CNX Software: NanoPi R5S gateway – Ingmar, GERMANY e-con Systems e-CAM20_CURB camera – John…

In the first part of the review of GL.iNet GL-MT3000 “Beryl AX” pocket-size WiFi 6 OpenWrt router we had a look at the specifications, the package content, and the hardware design with a teardown of the little. I’ve now had more time to play with the router focusing the review on WiFi 6 performance, and some of its functions such as repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot. The router also supports VPN client and server modes, the Tor network, and Adguard Home, but I’ll invite readers to check out the GL.iNet Brume 2 security gateway review since I went through all these, and the hardware is very similar minus wireless connectivity. Initial setup of the Beryl AX router If you connec…

The Brume 2 security gateway/router is powered by a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and is available as the GL-MT2500A with a metal enclosure or the GL-MT2500 with a plastic case. GL.iNet sent me the GL-MT2500A for review. In the first of the review, we’ll have a look at the device and accessories, and tear it down to check out the hardware design and main components. I’ll then need some time to test OpenWrt 21.02 and features such as WireGuard and OpenVPN, AdGuard Home, Tor Anonymity, and soon. GL.iNet GL-MT2500A (Brume 2) unboxing The router ships with a short Ethernet cable, a 5V/2A USB Type-C power supply with EU, US, and UK plug adapters,…

GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) is a pocket-sized Wi-Fi 6 router running OpenWrt on a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and equipped with a 2.5GbE port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB 3.0 port. The hardware is basically the same as the Brume 2 (GL-MT2500A) security gateway, except it adds support for WiFi 6 connectivity and as an AX3000 router more than doubles the bandwidth compared to the earlier Beryl (GL-MT1300) AC1300 router. The company has sent me a sample so I’ll start the two-part review by checking the specifications, doing an unboxing, and tearing it down to have a closer look at the hardware design, before trying out OpenWrt and tes…

GL.iNet Spitz AX, also known as GL-X3000NR, is a compact 5G NR WiFi 6 router running OpenWrt 21.02 on a MediaTek Filogic 820 (TM7981A) dual-core Cortex-A53 processor coupled with 512MB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC flash, as well 2.5GbE and GbE interfaces, and a USB 2.0 port. The company sent us a Spitz AX router for evaluation, and in the first part of the review, we’ll go through the specifications, and do an unboxing and a teardown, before connecting it for a first boot. GL.iNet Spitz AX router specifications SoC – MediaTek MT7981A (Filogic 820) dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up 1+ TB Networking …

HIGOLE introduced the GOLE1 mini PC with a touchscreen display in 2015 mostly to get a free and legal Windows 10 license, but over the years the company launched more Intel models inspired by the original design. However, their latest model, the GOLE 1 R, is based on Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Arm Cortex-A76/A55 SoC instead and running Android 12 by default. The GOLE 1 R is equipped with 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash, a 5.5-inch touchscreen display, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, a microphone, speaker, a gravity sensor, and a 2,500 mAh battery. The company also sells the GOLE 1 RN mini PC without a display, a microphone, a speaker, or a battery for power. GOLE 1 R/RN …

GOLE1 was quite a unique mini PC when it launched in 2016 as it included a 5-inch touchscreen display. HIGOLE is now back with the GOLE1 Pro based on a similar design, but a slightly larger 5.5-inch touchscreen display, and much better specs suitable for 2022’s software and entry-level use cases. The Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” processor found in the original device gives way to an Intel Celeron N4200 or J4125 Gemini Lake processor, and the GOLE1 Pro mini PC, which the company sometimes also calls “HIGOLE PC 2022”, comes with up to 8GB LPDDR4X, a 128GB SSD, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFI 6 or 5, four USB 3.0 ports, and more. GOLE1 Pro specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel…

Golioth have released an open-source “ESP-IDF SDK” to let ESP32 hardware connect to their Golioth Cloud, extending existing support from the existing Zephyr SDK. We previously covered the Golioth IoT development platform with a Zephyr SDK supporting nRF9160 and ESP32-C3 (officially), as well as over 100 other platforms, that aims to make it easier for hardware developers to connect things to the internet without needing to know how to use AWS IoT, Azure IoT, or the other cloud services. While in theory, it would be possible to keep using the Zephyr SDK on ESP32 hardware, the ESP-IDF framework is the main tool of Espressif Systems, and they will release new code to that ec…

Google is allegedly about to release the ADT-4 hybrid developer kit for Android TV based on Amlogic S905X4 processor with AV1 video support, as well as ATSC 3.0 and DVB-S2 tuner. Launched in January 2020, the Google ADT-3 developer box allows developers to test their app on the latest version of the Android TV OS as soon as it is released. But 9to5Google reports the devkit has been out of stock for several months, will be deprecated, and they’ve read some documentation about an ADT-4 Hybrid Developer Kit that should replace it by the end of the year or early next year with digital TV tuners. The documentation is private/confidential, but 9to5Google says the device looks t…

Google Research has been working on its own Rust-based operating system called KataOS and designed to secure embedded systems that run Machine Learning (ML) applications. There has been a lot of talk about the Rust programming language in recent times, since it offers about the same level of performance as C programming but helps programmers write more secure code with built-in prevention against buffer overflows for instance. It has gained a lot of traction over the years, and Linux 6.1 will be the first kernel release to include Rust code. Google Research noticed that system security is often treated as a feature that can be added to existing systems either by software …

Gowin R86S (aka GW-R86S) is an affordable Intel Celeron N5100 or Pentium N6005 Jasper Lake mini PC, router, and firewall appliance with 2.5GbE and 10GbE networking that sells for $310 and up on Aliexpress. 10GbE used to be reserved for the enterprise market due to the cost of hardware, but costs have gone down a lot as illustrated by the Gowin R86S system with up to three 2.5GbE ports, two 10GbE SFP+ cages, as well as ports that you would typically find a mini PC such as HDMI 2.0 video output, M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, two USB 3.0 ports, and a WiFi module. Gowin R86S specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GH…

The Green Metrics Tool (GMT) is an open-source framework that allows the measurement, comparison, and optimization of the energy consumption of software with the goal of empowering both software engineers and users to make educated decisions about libraries, code snippets, and software in order to save energy along with carbon emissions. While the firmware of battery-powered embedded devices and the OS running on your smartphone are typically optimized for low power consumption in order to extend the battery life, the same can not be said of most software running on SBCs, desktop computers, and servers. But there are still benefits of having power-optimized programs on th…

SB Components’ HackyPi is a Raspberry Pi RP2040-based USB dongle whose main purpose is to teach ethical hacking and coding programs, in other words, some sort of portable educational hacking tool. The small USB stick features a 1.14-inch color LCD, a MicroSD card to store data such as scripts and photos, and a button to enable programming like on other Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards. HackyPi specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – QSPI flash, MicroSD card slot Display – 1.14-inch color LCD with 240×240 resolution USB – 1x USB 1.1 Type-A port Misc – Boot “Initiate Program” button Power Supply – 5V via U…

Hailo-15 is a family of AI Vision processors for smart cameras that deliver up to 20 TOPS of AI inference and are able to process deep-learning AI applications such as video analytics. The Hailo-15 appears to build upon the earlier Hailo-8 AI processor with up to 26 TOPS and more limited computer vision capability. The new AI vision processor integrates a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU sub-system, can handle 4K video streams, and features “advanced computer vision engines”. So the main differences are that the Hailo-15 is a complete SoC / standalone processor and is specifically designed for AI cameras. Hailo-15 highlights: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.3 GHz…