SBC News

Sony ALT1350 is a new ultra-low-power 5G LPWA LTE-M/NB-IoT chip that supports Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) for satellite connectivity and also integrates sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz radios for short-range communication and improved efficiency. The chip is comprised of an Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller core as well as an Arm Cortex-M0+ always-on core for sensors and will be upgradable to 3GPP Release 17 to support higher bitrates for Cat-M1 (eMTC) and Cat-NB2 (NB-IoT). It also implements GNSS, cellular and wifi-based location, supports AI acceleration, and embeds a secure element for secure communication. Sony ALT1350 specifications: MCU cores Arm cortex-M4 with 1MB NVRAM and 752…

Raspberry Pi recently received a strategic investment from Sony (Semiconductor Solutions Corporation) in order to provide a development platform for the company’s edge AI devices leveraging the AITRIOS platform. We don’t have many details about the upcoming Raspberry Pi / Sony device, so instead, I decided to look into the AITRIOS platform, and currently, there’s a single hardware platform, LUCID Vision Labs SENSAiZ SZP123S-001 smart camera based on Sony IMX500 intelligent vision sensor, designed to work with Sony AITRIOS software. LUCID SENSAiZ Smart camera SENSAiZ SZP123S-001 specifications: Imaging sensor – 12.33MP Sony IMX500 progressive scan CMOS sensor with rolling…

Firefly EC-A1684JD4 FD and EC-A1684XJD4 FD are nearly identical Edge AI embedded computers based on respectively SOPHON BM1684 and BM1684X Arm AI SoC delivering up to 32 TOPS of AI inference, and capable of decoding up to 32 H.265/H.264 Full HD videos simultaneously for video analytics applications. The BM1684(X) SoCs are equipped with eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.3 GHz to run Linux, and the systems come with up to 16GB RAM, 128GB flash, two Gigabit Ethernet ports to receive the video streams, one HDMI output up to 1080p30 for monitoring, as well as RS232 and RS485 DB9 connectors, and a few USB ports. Firefly EC-A1684JD4 FD and EC-A1684XJD4 FD specifications: SoC …

Sparkfun NanoBeacon is a module equipped with InPlay IN100 NanoBeacon Bluetooth 5.3 beacon SoC, a Qwicc connector, and a few GPIOs designed to work with Bosch Sensortec BME280 3-in-1 humidity sensor, measuring humidity, air pressure, and ambient temperature, and the BMA400 ultra-low power accelerometer sensor. The IN100 NanoBeacon SoC consumes less than 650nA in sleep mode, supports proprietary, Bluetooth, Google Eddystone, and Apple iBeacon beacon modules, and offers a long range of up to several hundred meters. Sparkfun NanoBoard specifications: Bluetooth Beacon SoC – IN100 NanoBeacon SoC (See datasheet for details) Memory – 4 KB SRAM + 4 Kbit OTP memory Bluetooth 5.3 …

SparkFun Thing Plus Matter – MGM240P board targets the development of applications using the Matter IoT protocol and features the MGM240P module based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 Arm Cortex-M33 wireless microcontroller with an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee and OpenThread plus a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.3 radio. The board also offers two rows of I/Os for upto 21 GPIOs and a Qwiic connector for expansion, another EFRM32 MCU acting as a J-link debugger, a microSD card, and can be powered via USB-C or a LiPo battery. SparkFun Thing Plus Matter – MGM240P specifications: MGM240P wireless module SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 microcontroller CPU – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 @ 39 MHz (MC…

Blues Wireless Sparrow is a LoRaWAN solution designed to connect a group of low-cost, low-power device sensors for shared data backhaul to the cloud. It is comprised of STMicro STM32WLE5 LoRa-based sensors whose data is then routed through the company’s Notecard-powered WiFi or cellular gateway and ultimately a cloud app hosted on AWS, Microsoft Azure, or other IoT cloud platforms. The company claims the Notecard and Sparrow solutions ease the development of IoT networks in a way that was previously only available “to sophisticated engineering firms”, and now Blues Wireless supports cellular, WiFi, and LPWAN technologies. Let’s have a look at the “Sparrow Essentials” boar…

Quantum computing promise a leap in the performance of applications relying upon parallelism using the properties of quantum physics like superposition, interference, and entanglement to perform computation instead of flipping “0” and “1” like traditional transistors. It will be used in scientific simulations, cryptography, machine learning, computational biology, and more. So far, I had seen massive quantum computers in research labs, but companies like Intel and IBM are working on providing quantum processors with hundreds and thousands of qubits that should eventually be found in supercomputers. It’s unclear to me whether we’ll ever see “quantum accelerators” in embedd…

STMicro ST87M01 is a compact, low-power, programmable LTE Cat NB2 (NB-IoT) industrial cellular module with GNSS geo-location capability for “massive IoT” deployments and asset tracking applications. STMicro already had several LPWAN solutions such as the STM32WL LoRa SoC, a Wi-SUN transceiver, a few SigFox chips, and a bunch of proprietary sub-GHz chips, but no cellular IoT solutions of their own although the STM32 microcontroller can be found in many third-party solutions. The ST87M01 NB-IoT and GNSS module changes that, so let’s have a closer look. ST87M01 NB-IoT module specifications: Cellular LTE, Category NB2, Release 15 Worldwide regional bands coverage Single-tone …

We’ve already seen the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU in a 3D printer controller board, so it should come as no surprise that the dual-core microcontroller also found its way into a Pick-and-Place (PnP) machine control board. Designed by Thea Flowers, the Starfish board leverages the RP2040 MCU capabilities to control three Trinamic TMC2209 motor drivers, MOSFET drivers to control DC vacuum pumps, two vacuum sensors, and offer RS485 and I2C connectivity for feeders and peripherals respectively. Starfish specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller at up to 133 MHz with 264 kB of embedded SRAM Storage – QSPI flash Motor drivers – 3x TMC2209 drive…

With the Star64 and VisionFive 2 single board computers, we’ve already got two hardware platforms based on the StarFive JH7110 quad-core RISC-V processor, but somehow we did not get the detailed specifications of the new processor, and some details such as the presence of AI accelerators or exact PCIe specifications were lacking. Some documentation for the StarFive JH7100 processor has been released and answers some of those questions. It’s actually an SoC with six RISC-V cores, of which four 64-bit RISC-V cores run the main OS, plus a 64-bit RISC-V monitoring core, and a 32-bit RISC-V real-time core. The AI accelerators found in the JH7100 (Neural Network Engine and NVDL…

As expected, StarFive has officially unveiled the JH7110 quad-core RISC-V processor with 3D GPU and the VisionFive 2 SBC. I just did not expect the company to also launch a Kickstarter campaign for the board, and the version with 2GB RAM can be had for just about $46 for “early birds”. The VisionFive 2 ships with up to 8GB RAM, HDMI 2.0 and MIPI DSI display interfaces, dual Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a QSPI flash for the bootloader, as well as support for eMMC flash module, M.2 NVMe SSD, and microSD card storage. VisionFive 2 specifications: SoC – StarFive JH7110 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V (SiFive U74 – RV64GC) processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with Imagination BXE-4-…

Canonical has been working on RISC-V support for Ubuntu for a while and released Ubuntu 20.04/21.04 64-bit RISC-V images for QEMU and HiFive boards last year. Now the company has released an Ubuntu 22.04.1 Server image for the StarFive VisionFive V1 RISC-V single board computer. While that’s a good development, The VisionFive V1, and other RISC-V platforms, are nowhere close to being Ubuntu-certified hardware, and Canonical posted a note reading “It is an early RISC-V developer access through Ubuntu 22.04.1.” The VisionFive V1 SBC is a pretty good platform for development with a StarFive JH7100 dual-core RISC-V processor, 8GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, H…

STEPFPGA MXO2Core miniature FPGA development board is based on Lattice MXO2-4000 FPGA, and designed for education with an easy-to-use Web IDE, instead of the more traditional tools that can be frustrating to use, and detailed tutorials. The board also comes with a 2-digit segment display, some LEDs, push buttons, and a 4-way DIP switch, as well as two rows of twenty pins for I/O expansion, and a USB Type-C port used for power, programming, or mass storage. STEPFPGA MXO2Core specifications: FPGA – Lattice Semi MachXO2 X02-4000 FPGA with 4320 LUTs Display – 2-digit segment display USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power, programming (UART), and mass storage Expansion – 2x 20-pin…

STMicroelectronics has just announced the STM32Cube.AI Developer Cloud opening access to a suite of online AI development tools for the STM32 microcontrollers (MCUs) allowing developers to generate, optimize, and benchmark AI working on the company’s 32-bit Arm microcontrollers. The company sus the STM32Cube.AI Developer Cloud is based on the existing STM32Cube.AI ecosystem of desktop tools with the added benefit of being able to remotely benchmark models on STM32 hardware through the cloud in order to save on workload and cost. Some of the highlights of the online tools include: An online interface to generate optimized C-code for STM32 microcontrollers without requiring…

STMicro has added three new families to its STM32U5 Cortex-M33 microcontroller series with the entry-level STM32U535/545 with as little as 128KB flash, the STM32U595/5A5 with up to 4MB of Flash and 2,514KB of RAM, and the STM32U599/5A9 with similar features as the STM32U595/5A5 by adding the new NeoChrom 2.5D GPU plus TFT-LCD and DSI display interfaces. STMicro also announced that STM32U5 series MCUs were the first general-purpose MCUs to receive NIST-embedded random-number entropy source certification. As of now, along with the STM32U575/585 introduced in February 2021 with an optional Chrom-ART 2D GPU, STMicro offers eight product lines as part of the STM32U5 MCU series…

STMicroelectronics’ STM32MP13 1 GHz single-core Arm Cortex-A7 microprocessor series is the latest addition to the Linux-capable STM32MP1 family, with a cost-optimized design that does without the Cortex-M4 real-time core found in the original STM32MP15 series, while still offering Ethernet, CAN FD, camera and display depending on the specific SKU: STM32MP131, STTM32MP133, or STM32MP135. STM32MP131 The STM32MP131 is a single-core Cortex-A7 core clocked at 650 MHz or 1GHz with Ethernet connectivity and is the most cost-effective part of the new STM32MP13 series. Four parts are available in three different packet sizes (TGBGA 289, TFBGA 320, and LFBGA 289) as well as some p…

STMicro STLINK-V3PWR is a new in-circuit debugging and programming probe made for STM32 microcontrollers and that is said to provide accurate power measurement. The probe is especially useful for battery power IoT and wireless applications and is able to measure current values from nanoamps up to ~500mA with up to ±0.5% accuracy. The STLINK-V3PWR can also power the target over a single USB cable up to 2A. STMicro STLINK-V3PWR key features and specifications: 1‑Quadrant source measurement unit: Programmable voltage source from 1.6 to 3.6 V Output current rating 500 mA with over-current protection (OCP) at 550 mA Programmable sampling rate from 1 SPS to 100 kSPS Dynamic mea…

STMicroelectronics has announced the STM32H5 Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at up to 250 MHz and supporting STM32Trust TEE Secure Manager to boost both performance and security in “next generation smart applications”. The STM32H5 family has three product types with the higher-end STM32H563/573 with up to 2MB flash, 640KB SRAM, Ethernet and hardware security, the STM32H562 with a similar design but less interfaces, and the entry-level STM32H502 with 128KB flash, 32KB SRAM. STM32H5 key features and specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 core with TrustZone technology, digital signal processing (DSP) and floating-point unit (FPU) running up to 250 MHz; Up to 375 DMIPS and a 1023…

STMicro introduced the VL53L8 multi-zone direct Time-of-Flight (dToF) sensor last month, but here’s another ToF sensor with VL53L5CP specifically designed for the PC market with the enablement of features such as user detection, gesture recognition, and intruder alert. STMicro says the ranging sensor continuously scans its field of view to map the scene and gather intelligence without using a camera or recording images. With 64 (8×8) zones within a wide 61-degree field, the VL53L5CP can detect and track multiple targets, calculating at their X/Y/Z coordinates and motion at high speed. VL53L5CP features: 940 nm invisible Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) and i…

STMicro VL53L8 multi-zone direct Time-of-Flight (dToF) sensor doubles the ranging performance of VL53L5 sensor – up to 4 meters – or reduces the power consumption by half when operating in common conditions. STMicro ToF sensors are some of the most popular devices to accurately measure distance in real-time, and the earlier VL53L0X and VL53L1X sensors integrated a single photon avalanche diode. STMicro VL53L5 changed that with multi-zone support (up to 64 zones), and VL53L8 FlightSense sensor builds on the solution with improvements in terms of range and efficiency. STMicro VL53L8 ToF sensor specifications: Low-power 32-bit microcontroller running the firmware 940 nm invi…

The Storaxa is a multi-purpose device powered by an Intel Celeron N6005 Jasper Lake processor which works as a 5-bay SATA NAS, which also happens to take up to four NVMe SSDs, a 4K media center with HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, and a WiFi 6 router equipped with four 2.5GbE ports. The solution is fitted with 16GB RAM, comes with four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 ports and two USB 2.0 ports, and runs Proxmox VE to handle both TrueNAS SCALE and OpenWrt for the NAS and router functions respectively. Storaxa specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N6005 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 450 / 900 MHz (Turbo); 10W TDP System Memory – 16…

Qualcomm QCX216 LTE IoT modem was announced at the end of last year as one of the first solutions supporting the new CAT1.bis standard enabling smaller, simpler, and cheaper modules with a single antenna design. This chip also integrates a WiFi scanner exclusively used for indoor positioning. Cavli Wireless C16QS CAT1.bis is one of the first cellular IoT modules based on the Qualcomm QCX216, and we now have a clearer idea of what “cheaper” means since the company says it will sell those for less than $5 to OEMs, although that price is likely in very high quantities, possibly 100k+ or one million pieces. Cavli C16QS specifications: Wireless IC – Qualcomm QCX216 with dual-c…

Synaptics SYN4382 is a triple combo SoC with Wi-Fi 5/6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread/Matter) radios, and manufactured with a 16nm process to lower power consumption for IoT and multimedia applications. The chip can deliver up to 1,200 Mbps WiFi throughput, supports dual-band (RSDB) 2.4 and 5 or 6/6E GHz operation to combine the links at different frequencies, as well as features such as LE Audio for multiple concurrent audio streams in a multi-device environment. Synaptics SYN4382 key features: Wireless Triband 2×2 Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) with 1200 Mbps throughput, RSDB, and support for legacy 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio, Channel Sou…

Syncbotic Syncbot is a four-wheel autonomous mobile robot (AMR) platform for research and education that can be fitted with an NVIDIA Xavier NX or an Intel Apollo Lake/Tiger Lake-based controller running Ubuntu 20.04 operating system with ROS 2 framework, and comes with an motion control MCU board with an EtherCat master and running Zephyr OS. The robot comes with four 400W TECO servo motors, can handle up to 80kg payloads for sensors and a robotic arm, features 12V and 24V power output for sensors, four USB 3.0 ports, and can also be equipped with an eight-camera kit with Intel RealSense and ToF cameras. Syncbot AMR specifications: Robot Controller Platform (one or the o…

MYIR Tech has launched the MYC-JX8MMA7 system-on-module combining an NXP i.MX 8M Mini quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with an AMD Xilinx XC7A25T Artix-7 FPGA. The 82 x 45mm CPU module comes with 2GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC flash, and 32MB QSPI Flash for the Arm processor and 256MB DDR3 and 32MB QSPI Flash for FPGA. It exposes I/Os through an MXM 3.0 edge connector and can operate in the industrial temperature range (-40 to 85°C). MYC-JX8MMA7 CPU module specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Mini with quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.6 (industrial) or 1.8 GHz, Cortex-M4F real-time core @ 400 MHz, Vivante GC320 and Vivante GCNanoUltra 3D/2D GPUs, 1080p60 H.265, H.264, VP8, V…

Most mini PCs ship with Windows, or no OS at all for barebone models, but Linux-hardware specialist System76 offers the Meerkat mini PC with either Pop!_OS 22.04 or Ubuntu 22.04 with a choice of processors from the 12th Gen Alder Lake, 11th Gen Tiger Lake, or 10th Gen Comet Lake families. All models support up to 64GB RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, and are equipped with four HDMI/DisplayPort video outputs, Ethernet, and USB ports. There’s also a Tall version of the Meerkat that adds a 2.5-inch SATA bat, and the Alder Lake models, called Meer7, specifically supports the more recent USB4 and 2.5GbE interfaces. System76 Meerkat “Meer7” (Alder Lake) specifications: Alder Lake P-S…

LilyGO has launched a new ESP32-S3 WiFi & BLE camera board with the T-Camera S3 also featuring a small display, a PIR motion sensor, and a microphone, as well as an optional plastic shell. The T-Camera S3 is an evolution of the TTGO T-Camera ESP32 board introduced in 2019 with many of the same features, but the ESP32 microcontroller has been replaced with an ESP32-S3 microcontroller with vector extensions that makes it suitable for machine learning and computer vision applications. The new board also comes with a larger 16 MB SPI flash, more I/Os, and a few other small changes. T-Camera S3 specifications: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 wireless module SoC – ESP32-S3FN16R8 dual-cor…

There are plenty of ESP32 series boards with display usually TFT or E-Ink, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with an AMOLED display and that’s what Lilygo is offering with the “T-Display-S3 AMOLED” board equipped with an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller and a 1.9-inch AMOLED display. The new board is almost the same as the T-Display-S3 board introduced last year, except for a display with higher resolution, more vibrant colors, and a wider viewing angle, plus a 3D antenna, and a few extra I/Os. T-Display-S3 AMOLED specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, …

LilyGO T-Display-S3 is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth LE IoT development board with a 1.9-inch color LCD and support for LiPo batteries that follows the company’s T-QT ESP32-S3 board with a tiny 0.85-inch display introduced earlier this month. The new board offers the same layout as the previous T-Display RP2040 or ES32 boards, but the 1.14-inch display has been replaced with a larger 1.9-inch display that covers most of the board, and thanks to the ESP32-S3 microcontroller, gains proper Bluetooth 5.0 support, as well as vector instructions for AI acceleration. T-Display-S3 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz…

T-Display-S3 Touch is an update to the T-Display-S3 “Basic” ESP32-S3 board that adds a 320×170 touchscreen using a CST816 I2C touchscreen sensor. The rest of the specifications remains the same with an ESP32-S3R8 dual-core WiFi and Bluetooth LE microcontroller, 16MB flash, a 1.9-inch 320×170 color display, a USB Type-C port, a few I/Os, and support for a LiPo battery. T-Display-S3 Touch specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, 512KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM, wireless connectivity Storage – 16MB flash Connectivity via ESP32-S3 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 with 40 MHz bandwidth …

LilyGO has been very busy in recent weeks, and their latest product is the “T-Dongle ESP32-S2” development board that looks very much like Espressif ESP32-S3-USB-OTG board development board but is equipped with the single-core WiFi-only ESP32-S2 processor instead of the dual-core ESP32-S3 SoC with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0. The T-Dongle ESP32-S2 board is designed for the development of USB applications and comes with USB OTG female and male ports, as well as the same 1.14-inch color display found on T-Display RP2040/ESP32 and T-PicoC3 boards. T-Dongle ESP32-S2 development board specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S2 single-core Xtensa LX7 processor @ up …

LilyGO T-Dongle-S3 is a USB dongle based on ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, a microSD card slot, as well as an optional 0.96-inch color display. You may remember the company launched the T-Dongle ESP32-S2 last spring, and I first thought it was an update to ESP32-S3, but the new T-Dongle-S3 has quite more compact design and a smaller set of features that makes it suitable for data logging and displaying basic information over a wireless connection. T-Dongle ESP32-S2 development board specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 with Dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller up to 240MHz RISC-V ULP Co-processor …

LilyGo has launched yet another product based on the ESP32 family of microcontrollers with the T-Embed WiFi IoT controller powered by an ESP32-S3 dual-core processor, equipped with a color display and a rotary encoder, and powered by a battery. The device is programmable and can be used to control Smart Home and IoT devices connected over WiFi or Bluetooth. It also integrates a microphone and speaker, a microSD card for data logging, as well as a Grove connector and an 8-pin GPIO header for expansion. T-Embed specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module with an ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4 to 16MB QSP…

We’ve seen two announcements of high-end RISC-V cores this week with the SiFive P670 and Andes AX65 processors each with a 4-way out-of-order people, but Alibaba’s T-Head Semiconductor Xuantie C908 is a little different with a dual-issued, 9-stage in-order pipeline and support for the RISC-V Vector extension acceleration targeting mid-range AIoT applications. The C908 64-bit RISC-V core adopts the RV64GCB[V] instruction and complies with the RVA22 profile for better compatibility with Android and other “rich” operating systems. The company says its performance is between the C906 and C910 cores introduced in 2020 and 2019 respectively. XuanTie C908 highlights: RV32GCB[V] …

Lilygo has launched yet another ESP32-S3 board with an integrated display, but the T-HMI has a larger 2.8-inch color display and a resistive touch panel suitable for HMI (Human Machine Interfaces). It is also equipped with three Grove connectors for expansion with sensors or actuators. Like all the recent ESP32-S3 boards from Lilygo, the T-HMI features the ESP32-S3NR8 WiFi 4 and Bluetooth MCU with 8MB PSRAM, as well as a 16MB SPI flash, a microSD card slot, a few buttons, and power from USB or a LiPo battery. Lilygo T-HMI board specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, …

LilyGo T-Relay-8 is an ESP32 WiFi & BLE board equipped with eight 5V relays supporting up to 250V AC or 28V DC, as well as 16-pin GPIO header for expansion. The board offers a more compact solution than the usual two-board setups with an ESP32 board and a separate 8-relay “Arduino” module, and also integrates optocouplers for improved safety. LilyGo T-Relay-8 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER-E module with ESP32 dual-core processor with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, 4MB flash, 8MB PSRAM Relays – 8x HRS4H-S-DC5V 5V relays up to 250VAC/10A or 28VDC/10A with octocoupler isolation, blue LEDs for status Expansion – 16-pin header (unpopulated) …

T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 is a device that looks like a miniature PC replica comprised of an ESP32-C3 powered keyboard, and the TTGO T-Watch ESP32 programmable device with a 1.54-inch touchscreen display. The LilyGo TTGO T-Watch ESP32 programmable touchscreen display has been around for a while, and the company used to provide an accessory keyboard based on Microchip ATSAM20 Cortex-M0+ microcontroller that has now been replaced with ESP32-C3 WiFi and Bluetooth RISC-V microcontroller to create the T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 devices pictured below. T-Watch-Keyboard-C3 specifications: TTGO T-Watch MCU – ESP32-D0WDQ6 dual-core microcontroller @ 240 MHz with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x with…

T8-Pro is a low-cost mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake processor that offers features such as triple 4K HDMI output and dual Gigabit Ethernet usually found in more expensive models for the industrial/embedded market. The actively-cooled mini PC is equipped with 8GB RAM and an M.2 2242 SSD of 128GB to 1TB capacity. It also comes with a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 module, three USB 3.0 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. T8-Pro mini PC 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 LPDDR4X (Up to 16GB, but not offered for sale) Storage – 128…

Teledyne e2v Hydra3D+ is a high-resolution Time-of-Flight (ToF) CMOS image sensor with 832 x 600 resolution, designed for 3D detection and measurement, and that can operate in real-time without motion artifacts. The first ToF sensor I used was an STMicro VL53L0X ranging sensor that could measure distances accurately and quickly up to 2 meters away, then the company started to launch multi-zone ToF ranging sensors such as the VL53 that enabled new features such as touch-to-focus, multiple-target identification, flash dimming, or video tracking assistance, and one variant used for human detection. But the 832×600 resolution of Hyrdra3D+ brings even more interesting use case…

Telink TLSR8273-M-EH is a multi-protocol wireless connectivity module with energy harvesting capabilities implemented through Nowi’s PMIC, and designed for batteryless devices (or ones with “forever batteries”) such as TV remote controls, but also wearables, and electronic shelf labels among others. The solution is based on a 48MHz RISC microcontroller that supports Bluetooth 5.1 LE, 802.15.4 (Zigbee/RF4CE/6LoWPAN/Thread), and 2.4GHz proprietary protocols. With a single module integrating all main components required for batteryless operation, Telit says its solutions reduce BOM and size, as well as supply chain complexity, and improves user-friendliness by removing the n…

Hey Karl here. The timing couldn’t have been more opportune when I was asked to review the TerraMaster F4-423 4-bay NAS. Let me explain why. I run Unraid as my OS of choice for my home lab. I have found it easy to maintain and hard to break. My old rig had a 3900X with 3 cores, 6 threads dedicated to docker containers, and the remaining cores running VM’s. It has been a fun and learning experience. I have run it with several different VM configurations over the past few years. The majority of the time I ran 2 VM’s. One personal and one work and I would RDP over to the work VM. If I wanted to game I had a third gaming VM and allocated all resources to it. It’s not super co…

Texas Instruments Sitara AM623 and AM625 Arm Cortex-A53 AIoT processors were just introduced last month, but Forlinx has already introduced the OK6254-C SBC powered by the Sitara AM6254 quad-core processor with up to 2GB DDR4, and an 8GB eMMC flash. The board features two Gigabit Ethernet ports, CAN FD and RS485 interfaces, plus plenty of I/O headers, support for up to three displays via LVDS and parallel RGB interfaces, as well as optional support for 4G/5G cellular connectivity that makes it suitable for all sorts of industrial applications. Forlinx OK6254-C specifications: FET625x-C SoM SoC – Texas Instruments AM6254 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.4GHz with Corte…

Texas Instruments has just introduced its low-cost MSPM0 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller portfolio comprised of the MSPM0L series with a 32 MHz CPU, up to 64 kB of flash, and 4 kB SRAM, and the MSPM0G series with an 80 MHz CPU, up to 128 kB of flash and 32 kB SRAM. Texas Instruments MSPM0L MSPM0L1306 key features: CPU – Arm 32-bit Cortex-M0+ core @ up to 32 MHz Memory – Up to 4KB SRAM Storage – Up to 64KB flash Digital peripherals 3-channel DMA controller 4x 16-bit general-purpose timers, each with two capture/compare registers supporting low-power operation in STANDBY mode, supporting a total of 8 PWM channels Windowed watchdog timer Analog peripherals 12-bit 1.45-Msps an…

Texas Instruments AM62A, AM8, and AM69A Arm Cortex-A53 or Cortex-A72 Vision processors come with 2 to 8 CPU cores and deep learning accelerators delivering from 1 TOPS to 32 TOPS for low-power vision and artificial intelligence (AI) processing in applications such as video doorbells, machine vision, and autonomous mobile robots. Three families and a total of 6 parts are available: AM62A3, AM62A3-Q1, AM62A7, and AM62A7-Q1 single to quad-core Cortex-A53 processors support one to two cameras at less than 2W in applications such as video doorbells and smart retail systems. Equipped with a 1TOPS vision processor, the AM62A3 is the cheapest model of the family going for US$12 …

There are already Python editors such as Thonny, but the BBC thought those were not good enough and released a new web-based Python editor specifically designed for the micro:bit education board targeting 11 to 14 years old pupils. The micro:bit Python editor includes drag and drop code examples, code structure & error highlighting, auto-complete feature, a simulator to test the code before uploading it to the micro:bit board, and a Quick ideas section to help pupils get started with projects. The BBC’s micro:bit Python editor works with both the micro:bit V1 and V2, but note the simulator shows a micro:bit V2, so if you are using the previous generation micro:bit, so…

The Wi-R protocol is a non-radiative near-field communication technology that uses Electro-Quasistatic (EQS) fields for communication enabling the body to be used as a conductor and that consumes up to 100x less energy per bit compared to Bluetooth. In a sense, Wi-R combines wireless and wired communication. Wi-R itself only has a wireless range of 5 to 10cm, but since it also uses the body to which the Wi-R device is attached, the range on the conductor is up to 5 meters. While traditional wireless solutions like Bluetooth create a 5 to 10-meter field around a person, the Wi-R protocol creates a body area network (BAN) that could be used to connect a smartphone to a pace…

InPlay has just announced a Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) for its NanoBeacon SoC IN100, making it the world’s smallest Bluetooth System-on-a-Chip (SoC) at just 2.0 x 1.1 x 0.35mm. The NanoBeacon IN100 is not new per se, and we covered the still tiny Bluetooth SoC when writing about Sparkfun NanoBeacon Bluetooth 5.3 module based on the DFN8 package measuring 2.5×2.5mm. The highlights include its low-code/no-code interface and an ultra-low power consumption of below 1 uW. InPlay NanoBeacon SoC IN100 specifications: Memory – 4 KB SRAM + 4 Kbit OTP memory Bluetooth 5.3 compliant Beacon Modes: Proprietary, BT, Google Eddystone, and Apple iBeacon compliant 2.4GHz RF f…

Theengs is a manufacturer agnostic open-source set of tools to decode BLE sensors and integrate those into smart home and IoT solutions such as Home Assistant with notably support for autodiscovery to automatically create the sensor. Theengs can be installed on various hardware from ESP32 to an Android phone or a Raspberry Pi SBC, and the solution currently supports close to forty BLE sensors from various companies including Xiaomi, Honeywell, and RuuviTag. There are six components: The Theengs Decoder library developed in C++ for portability and translating data from sensors into human-readable data using the JSON format. The Python-based Theengs Gateway acting as a BL…

Powered by an Intel Celeron J6412 quad-core Elkhart Lake processor, the Jetway MI05-0XK thin mini-ITX networking board is equipped with six 2.5GbE ports, up to 16GB RAM via a single SO-DIMM socket, as well as M.2 sockets for storage, WiFi and/or cellular connectivity, some serial ports, and an optional HDMI port for video output. Four variants are offered: the standard MI05-00K model without eMMC flash nor TPM, the MI05-02K with a TPM 2.0 chip, the MI05-03K with a 32GB eMMC flash, and finally the MI05-07K with both the TPM 2.0 security chip and 32GB eMMC flash. Jetway MI05-0XK specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J6412 quad-core Elkhart Lake processor @ 1.2 GHz / 2.6GHz (B…

Think Silicon NEOX GPU family with models optimized for graphics (NEOX|G) or artificial intelligence (NEOX|A) is based on the RISC-V RV64C ISA instruction set with adaptive NoC, and offers up to 64 cores delivering up to 409.6 GFLOPS at 800MHz with support for FP16, FP32 and optionally FP64 and SIMD instructions. The NEOX GPUs can be integrated into microcontrollers, crossover processors, and even more powerful application processors, and target AI, IoT/Edge, and media processing in consumer and industrial devices. Each shader of the GPU is a programmable 64-bit RISC-V (RV64GC) core running a real-time operating system (RTOS) and the GPU is supported by lightweight graphi…

Electronic components have shrunk a lot over the year, but batteries are usually one of the larger items in a design. ITEN changes that with solid state lithium-ion micro-batteries in the shape of SMD components with up to 100 µAh capacity. This is clearly not going to power your next smartphone, but ITEM micro-batteries could be found in ultra-low-power sensors potentially replacing non-rechargeable coin cell batteries with much higher capacities (e,g. 100 mAh). ITEN says their solid-state micro-batteries are superior to coin cell batteries because those are polluting, difficult to assemble on PCB, costly to recycle and require periodic maintenance once a battery is de…

Texas Instruments has unveiled the SimpleLink CC33xx family of Wi-Fi 6 companion IC with optional Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy designed to be connected to a microcontroller (MCU) or a microprocessor (MPU) for secure and power-efficient IoT devices, The SimpleLink CC3000 supports 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, and interfaces over SDIO, SPI, and/or UART to the host system, while the SimpleLink CC3301 also adds support for Bluetooth 5.3 LE. Both chips can operate in high-temperature environments up to 105ºC. Texas Instruments CC3300/CC3301 specifications: Wireless 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 (802.11ax) up to 50 Mbps; Support for TWT and OFDMA, multirole (Access Point and Station) CC3301 only – Bluetooth 5.…

Texas Instruments has just launched the new Sitara AM62 family with AM623 and AM625 single to quad-core Cortex-A53 processors designed to provide IoT gateways and HMI applications with AI processing at low power, in some cases with up to 50% reduction in power consumption. The AM623 processor specifically targets Internet of Things (IoT) applications and gateways that may benefit from object and gesture recognition, while the AM625, equipped with a 3D GPU, should power HMI applications with edge AI and up to two full-HD displays. Sitara AM623 and AM625 processors Sitara AM623/AM625 key features and specifications: CPU – Single, dual, or quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor …

Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced the ULC1001 digital signal processor (DSP) ultrasonic lens cleaning (ULC) technology designed – when combined with DRV2901 piezo transducer driver – for self-cleaning camera systems to quickly detect and remove dirt, ice, and water using microscopic vibrations. Cameras used in the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart farming industries may require cleaning from time to time and that usually means manual cleaning leading to potential downtime, higher maintenance cost, and so on. It could also be done through mechanical parts but that adds further complexity to the system, so instead, Texas Instruments ULC1001 and DRV2901 combo e…

Distec BoxPC Pro NPA-2009 is an embedded Box PC powered by a Celeron 6305E, Intel Core-i3 1115G4E, Core i5-1145G7E, or Core-i7-1185G7E Tiger Lake processor that offers both V-by-One and eDP interfaces to connect to high-resolution displays. The system supports up to 64GB RAM, NVMe stoage, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and optional WiFi and cellular connectivity, and is suitable for info terminals, medical equipment, and transportation applications. Distec BoxPC Pro NPA-2009 specifications: Tiger Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i5-1145G7E (default) quad-core/8-thread processor @ 1.50 GHz / 4.10 GHz (Turbo) with 80 EU Intel Iris Xe Graphics; TDP: 12W to 28W Intel Core i7-…

ASUS Tinker Board S R2.0 is a revision of the original Tinker Board S board launched in 2018 with a 16GB eMMC flash. The R2.0 model relies on Rockchip RK3288-CG W quad-core Cortex-A17 processor and gets an upgrade to Bluetooth 4.2 from Bluetooth 4.0. The rest of the specifications remain the same with 2GB DDR3, HDMI 2.0 and MIPI DSI video interface, a MIPI CSI camera interface, a 3.5mm audio jack, Gigabit Ethernet, a WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x module, four USB 2.0 host ports, and a 40-pin color-coded Raspberry Pi compatible header. Tinker Board S R2.0 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288-CG.W quad-core ARM Cortex A17 processor up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU @ up to 600 M…

01Space has designed a tiny ESP32-C6 IoT board with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 connectivity built around the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 wireless module, and exposing I/Os through two 10-pin headers. Espressif launched their ESP32-C6 modules and development kits last January, and the 01Space is the first third-party ESP32-C6 board we’ve covered. It’s a minimal board with a wireless module, a USB Type-C port for power and programming, and Reset and Boot buttons. 01Space ESP32-C6 board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N4 module with Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 single core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ 160 MHz with 2.4 Ghz WiFi 6 1T1T, Bluetooth LE 5.0, and 802.15.4 radio…

Avnet RASynBoard is a tiny board that packs a lot of features in a 30x25mm form factor with a Renesas RA6M4 Cortex-M33 microcontroller, a Syntiant NDP120 Neural Decision Processor, a Renesas (Previously Dialog Semi) DA16600 Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.1 combo module, and a 6-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) and digital microphone from TDK. The RASynBoard is offered as part of an EVK with the Core Board described above plus an IO board with headers, a Pmod connector, a MikroE Shuttle Click header, a microSD card slot for storage, and a built-in debugger, plus two buttons and an RGB LED. RASynBoard specifications: Main microcontroller – Renesas RA6M4 Arm Cortex-M33 micr…

The TinyLlama x86 retro computer board is designed to run DOS games on a DM&P Vortex86EX 32-bit x86 processor and integrates a MIDI synthesizer based on Raspberry Pi Zero 2 running MT32-Pi firmware. Growing up playing games on 386/486-era computers, Eivind Bohler looked for similar recent hardware to play DOS games and after discovering the 86Duino x86 Arduino-compatible board, he decided to use the SOM-128-EX module powering the board to create the TinyLlama board with a Sound Blaster Pro-compatible Crystal CS4237B sound chip and a MIDI synthesizer. TinyLlama specifications: D&MP SOM-128-EX system-on-module with Processor – DM&P Vortex86EX 32-bit x86 processo…

Sipeed TinyMaix open-source machine learning library is designed for microcontrollers, and lightweight enough to run on a Microchip ATmega328 MCU found in the Arduino UNO board and its many clones. Developed during a weekend hackathon, the core code of TinyMax is about 400 lines long, with a binary size of about 3KB, and low RAM usage, enabling it to run the MNIST handwritten digit classification on an ATmega320 MCU with just 2KB SRAM and 32KB flash. TinyMax highlights Small footprint Core code is less than 400 lines (tm_layers.c+tm_model.c+arch_O0.h), code .text section less than 3KB Low RAM consumption, with the MNIST classification running on less than 1KB RAM Support …

The challenge with TinyML is to extract the maximum performance/efficiency at the lowest footprint for AI workloads on microcontroller-class hardware. The TinyML-CAM pipeline, developed by a team of machine learning researchers in Europe, demonstrates what’s possible to achieve on relatively low-end hardware with a camera. Most specifically, they managed to reach over 80 FPS image recognition on the sub-$10 ESP32-CAM board with the open-source TinyML-CAM pipeline taking just about 1KB of RAM. It should work on other MCU boards with a camera, and training does not seem complex since we are told it takes around 30 minutes to implement a customized task. The researchers note…

There are already several serial terminal programs such as Putty and minicom, and in recent times, I’ve been using Bootterm myself. But that does not mean there’s room for more and Martin Lund has developed tio serial device I/O tool for Linux. Martin found out many of the existing tools are very modem focused or a bit cumbersome to use, so he developed tio as the simpler alternative which puts less focus on classic terminal/modem features and more focus on the needs of embedded developers and hackers. While it’s possible to build tio from source… [crayon-62bd521173c5e569300188/] it’s much easier to install as a snap (and you should get updates automatically): [crayon-62b…

ELECFREAKS’ TOOCA Laser L1 is an affordable 5W laser engraver with a sturdy yet lightweight structure and that can engrave various materials including metals. It’s easy to use with a one-button press and suitable for education in schools. TOOCA Laser L1 laser engraver unboxing The laser engraver comes as a kit with components that can be easily assembled. It was well-packed with little risk of being damaged during transport. It also includes tools and instructions for assembly, and you don’t need any extra tools to complete the assembly. TOOCA Laser L1 specifications The machine measures 568x632x198 mm, weighs 3.2 kg only so it can easily be carried around, and offers a 4…

Powered by an AMD Athlon Silver 3050e dual-core processor, Topton N1 (aka TP-N1) NAS comes with two SATA bays for 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives, as well as four gigabit Ethernet ports. The system can support up to 32GB RAM, relies on M.2 SSD storage for the OS, and can provide up to 40TB of data storage through the two SATA bays. It is also equipped with an HDMI output port, several USB 3.x/2.0 ports, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack. Topton N1 specifications: SoC – AMD Athlon Silver 3050e dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 1.4 / 2.8 GHz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 3 graphics @ 1 GHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4-2400 RAM via two SO-DIMM slots Storage M.2 2280 socket fo…

TopTon TP-X4F is a mini PC and network appliance equipped with four 2.5GbE ports and powered by a choice of processors from the AMD Ryzen 5000U series up to the Ryzen 7 5825U octa-core-16-thread processor. The system supports up to 64GB RAM and up to five high-speed internal SATA or NVMe storage devices through M.2 sockets and SATA connectors and comes with three 4K display interfaces: HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C, as well as four USB ports. TopTon TP-X4F specifications: SoC (one or the other) Ryzen 5 5600U hexa-core/12-thread processor @ 2.3 GHz / 4.2 GHz with Radeon Vega 7 graphics @ 1.8 GHz; TDP: 10-25W (default: 15W) Ryzen 7 5800U octa-core/16-thread processor @ 1.9 …

Toradex Verdin AM62 is a system-on-module based on Texas Instruments AM62 Cortex-A53/M4 processor with up to 1GB LPDDR4 RAM and 8GB eMMC flash that is the most affordable system-on-module from the company’s Verdin family. The module also comes with a Gigabit Ethernet PHY and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 module and exposes various interfaces through its edge connector such as dual Gigabit Ethernet, MIPI DSI and LVDS display interfaces, a MIPi CSI-2 camera interface, and CAN FD, and more. Toradex Verdin AM62 specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM623/AM625 with up to 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.4GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4F @ 400MHz, optional 3D GPU with support f…

Allwinner H700 is a “new” processor that has found its way into Transpeed P10 Full HD “portable” projector running Android 10. It is sold on Aliexpress for $125 including shipping. Allwinner H700 happens to be yet another derivative of Allwinner H616/H618 quad-core Corex-A53 processor, but adds an RGB LCD interface up to 1080p60 and video input interfaces that make it suitable for projector and smart displays. The processor also has two Ethernet interfaces (1x Gigabit and 1x 10/100M) like the H616, but no built-in PHY, so an additional Ethernet transceiver is needed on the board. Let’s first have a look a the Transpeed P10 projector specifications: SoC – Allwinner H700 qu…

Trigkey Speed S3 is a compact mini PC powered by AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core/eight-thread processor with 16GB DDR4 and a 500GB M.2 SSD with Windows 11 Pro operating systems, as well as two HDMI ports. Trigkey sent CNX Software a sample of the Speed ​​S3 mini PC for review. In this post, we’ll check out the specifications of the device, before doing an unboxing and teardown of the device, and testing Windows 11 and Ubuntu in subsequent parts of the review. Trigkey Speed S3 specifications SoC – AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 2.1 / 3.7Ghz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics @ 1200 MHz; TDP: 12-35W System Memory – 16 GB (2x 8GB) DDR4-3200MHz via two SO…

After checking out Trigkey Speed S3 mini PC hardware in the first part of the review, it’s now time to power up Trigkey Speed S3 Mini PC and test it with the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro operating systems. Booting up is fast, and the system runs smoothly while visiting various websites while listening to music, and watching YouTube videos. But in this second part of the review, let’s test the performance of the Trigkey Speed S3 mini PC on Windows 11 Pro in detail. Trigkey Speed S3 memory We can see the two 8GB Crucial memory sticks detected in Windows 11 Pro with a 2,400 MHz speed, while the sticks are rated up to 3,200 MHz. But a quick check on AMD’s website reveals this …

iXsystems’ TrueNAS Mini R rack-mountable system powered by an Intel Atom C3758 processor running TrueNAS CORE or the new TrueNAS SCALE and equipped with up to 64GB RAM and twelve lockable and hot-swappable 3.5-inch drive bays for more than 200TB of capacity when populated with 18TB drives and 2.5-inch SSD adapters can be provided as well. The TrueNAS Mini R also offers two 10GbE RJ45 interfaces and an optional dual 10GbE SFP+ card can also be added to the system., an IPMI out-of-band management interface, and the company says it’s mostly suitable for small and home offices, as well as enterprise deployments for remote sites, backup, labs, and non-critical departmental app…

I had seen the Edge Impulse development platform for machine learning on edge devices being used by several boards, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to try it out so far. So when Seeed Studio asked me whether I’d be interested to test the nRF52840-powered XIAO BLE Sense board, I thought it might be a good idea to review it with Edge Impulse as I had seen a motion/gesture recognition demo on the board. It was quite a challenge as it took me four months to complete the review from the time Seeed Studio first contacted me, mostly due to poor communications from DHL causing the first boards to go to customs’ heaven, then wasting time with some of the worse instructions I had s…

LilyGO has launched yet another ESP32 board with an integrated color display. The TTGO T4 offers a 2.2-inch or 2.4-inch color display, LiPo battery support, but in contrast to many other boards from the company, features a battery charging circuitry based on Injonic IP5306 “fully-integrated power bank system-on-chip with 2.1A charger, 2.4A discharger”. The WiFi and Bluetooth IoT board is also equipped with 4MB flash, a MicroSD card socket, 8MB PSRAM, a 20-pin GPIO header and a 5-pin I2C connector for expansion, and a few buttons for programming and user control. TTGO T4 v1.3 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 microcontroller @ u…

We first covered the Turing Pi V2 mini-ITX cluster board supporting up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 or NVIDIA Jetson SO-DIMM system-on-module in August 2021. The company has now launched the Turing Pi 2 on Kickstarter with a little surprise: the Turing RK1 module with Rockchip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55 processor and up to 32GB RAM. The board allows you to mix and match modules (e.g. 3x RPi CM4 + 1x Jetson module as on the photo below), and with SATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet networking, USB 3.0 ports, mPCIe socket, you could build a fairly powerful homelab, learn Kubernetes, or self-host your own apps. Turing Pi 2 specifications: SoM interface – 4x 260-pin SO-DIMM slots for up to f…

“Turing Smart Screen” is a low-cost 3.5-inch USB-C display that connects to systems with a USB port, and works with Windows, Linux (including Raspberry Pi), MacOS, and other operating systems that support Python3. But contrary to my initial assumptions, it does not exactly act as a second monitor, and instead, it is an information display, originally designed to show resource utilization, e.g. CPU and memory usage, in Windows, and controlled through commands send to the USB port. Turing Smart Screen specifications: 3.5-inch IPS display with 480×320 resolution, portrait and landscape support MCU – WCH CH552T 8-bit E8051 core MCU for USB devices Host interface – USB Type-C …

Tuya T6E is a 4-inch control panel with a touchscreen running Android 8.1 on Rockchip PX30, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee, and designed to be wall-mounted for home automation and other HMI applications. It looks fairly similar to the ITEAD NSPanel Pro introduced last month, for Tuya’s “Central Control System” (CSS) appears to be mostly designed for OEMs who want to roll their own products with custom firmware. Tuya T6E specifications (details vary depending on OEM requirements): SoC – Rockchip PX30 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 4GB to 8GB eMMC flash Display – 4-inch 480×480 IPS screen with 5-point…

TwoTrees TS2 is a laser engraver with a 10W laser, and the company sent us a sample for review. I usually let Karl review this type of hardware as he’s done previously with the Ortur Laser Master 2 Pro laser engraver, but he happens to be busy with another 10W laser engraver from a different company, so I decided to try it out myself this time around. I’ll write a two-part review, with the first part checking out the specifications, unboxing the package, and reporting my experience assembling my very first laser engraver, before engraving and cutting various materials in the second part of the review. TwooTrees TS2 laser engraver specifications Basic TS2 specifications pr…

I’ve now had time to play with TwoTrees TS2 laser engraver after doing an unboxing and providing assembly instructions last month, so I can report my experience in this review using LaserGRBL program and MKSLaser mobile app. Note that this is my first laser engraver, and I’ll detail the many issues and mistakes I’ve come across so it might be useful to other beginners. Testing TS2 laser engraver assembly Before doing some engravings and cuts, we’ll have to test the TS2 to make sure it was properly assembled and we can operate it normally. The company is recommending the open-source and free LaserGRBL or the paid Lightburn program to control the TS2. I went with the former…

u-blox MAYA-W2 is a tri-radio IoT module supporting dual-band WiFi 6, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2, and IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread and Zigbee) connectivity based on the NXP IW612 or IW611 chipset introduced last January. The module is offered with a PCB antenna, u.FL connectors, and/or antenna pins, supports up to 600 Mbps link speed, and targets industrial and consumer mass-market applications in industrial automation, smart building & energy management, healthcare, smart home, and more. u-blox MAYA-W2 highlights: Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax dual-band 2.4 and 5 GHz Up to 600 Mbit/s throughput Output power EIRP – 18 dBm Operation modes: Access point (up to 16 stations), station, Wi-Fi di…

u-blox has introduced what could be the world’s smallest GNSS module with the 4.5×4.5mm u-blox MIA-M10 miniature module supporting GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, and GLONASS satellite navigation systems. The MIA-M10 is said to be about half the size of competing products and has been specially designed for size-constrained battery-powered asset tracking devices, as well as space-constrained industrial sensors and consumer goods. The company also claims its power-save modes can double the battery life by balancing position accuracy and power consumption. u-blox MIA-M10 GNSS module specifications: GNSS – BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS / QZSS Number of concurrent GNSS – 4 Oscillators …

u-blox XPLR-IOT-1 explorer kit is an all-in-one IoT evaluation platform with cellular IoT, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and GNSS, plus some sensors to evaluate various IoT products and enable proofs of concepts such as logistics container trackers, industrial automation, sensor-to-cloud applications, and fleet management solutions. The device’s main module is the u-blox NORA-B106 with a dual-core Arm Cortex M33 microcontroller and Bluetooth LE 5.2 radio that host the application software and control the other modules, namely the SARA-R510S module for LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular connectivity, NINA-W156 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi module, and the MAX-M10S GNNS module. The XPLR-IOT-1 platfo…

Up until now, U-boot would only support the User datagram protocol (UDP) allowing for TFTP and NFS boot, but Linaro has now added support for TCP and HTTP in U-boot in order to boot Linux from common web servers. TFTP boot from U-boot has been supported for years, as around the year 2006 I remember implementing TFTP Linux boot for a Karaoke system in order to lower the BoM cost by selecting a smaller flash device, and I also explained how to boot Linux on a TV box with TFTP back in 2014. This requires installing a TFTP server on your server, which is quite a trivial task, but HTTP servers are omnipresent, so it’s a welcome addition to U-boot. If you want to use HTTP to bo…

Canonical has just released Ubuntu 22.10 “Kinetic Kudu” with improved desktop usability and performance, upgrade enterprise management tooling, and tools to optimize developer workflows, but highlights most relevant to CNX Software readers are the inclusion of MicroPython and improved embedded display support for Raspberry Pi. It feels like Ubuntu 22.04 LTS was just recently outed, but six months have already passed and Ubuntu 22.10 interim release is out. Some of the generic changes include: Toolchain updates to Ruby, Go, GCC and Rust OpenSSH server (sshd) is only activated when an incoming connection request is received to lower the memory footprint on resource-constrai…

Canonical has just released Ubuntu Core 22, a containerized variant of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, optimized for IoT devices and embedded systems and supporting Ubuntu’s new real-time kernel. In Ubuntu Core, everything is a snap, including the kernel, OS, and applications both to improve security to sandbox each package and to enable updates of specific packages from the IoT App Store over-the-air (OTA). If something goes wrong during the update, the system will automatically roll back to the previous version, so the device cannot be bricked. The Snap system also minimizes network traffic through delta updates. Ubuntu Core 22 also provides advanced security features with secure bo…

China-developed Ubuntu Kylin 20.04 is now supporting RISC-V architecture with an image for HiFive Unmatched mini-ITX motherboard, and work will be done on an unnamed Starfive SBC that should be the VisionFive board with a GPUless JH7100 dual-core RISC-V SoC or an upgraded version with JH7110 SoC featuring an Imagination IMG BXE-4-32 GPU. You may have read recent reports about China asking government entities, including state-owned enterprises (SOE), to replace foreign hardware and software within a two-year period. So that means avoiding systems based on Intel and AMD processors, so working on RISC-V open architecture makes perfect sense, since over time, Chinese manufact…

Canonical has launched free Ubuntu Pro subscriptions for individuals and small companies for up to five machines, enabling anybody to get longer-term support and features that were only reserved to paying enterprise customers so far. Canonical provides Ubuntu for free with LTS versions released every two years and supported for 5 years. The latest Ubuntu 22.04 LTS was released in April 2022, meaning it will be supported until April 2027. But if you’d like to get 10-year support and extra security features you can now do it for free through an Ubuntu Pro subscription for up to 5 machines. Let’s compare the key differences between Ubuntu LTS and Ubuntu Pro first. You’ll get…

Clockwork’s uConsole is a modular handheld computer with a 5-inch display, a built-in keyboard, and based on a carrier board supporting various Arm or RISC-V modules compatible with the Raspberry Pi CM3 or CM4 form factors. The device is offered with a system-on-module with up to 4GB RAM, a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module, features micro HDMI video output, USB ports, and an audio jack, plus expansion connectors for more advanced users, and takes two 18650 batteries for power. The company also offers a 4G LTE module for cellular connectivity. The mainboard, called ClockworkPi v3.14 revision 5, offers the following: System-on-module socket – 200-pin DDR2 SODIMM soc…

Ultenic T10 is a 2-in-1 smart vacuum cleaner and mopping system with a self-emptying base that’s quite similar to the Cybovac S31 robot I reviewed a little over a year ago. The Cybovac vacuum cleaner still works fine, but it has some shortcomings, so when Ultenic asked me whether I would be interested in reviewing their T10 unit, I accepted, and here I am with a new smart robot vacuum cleaner that I’ll review with the Android app in a larger house. Ultenic T10 unboxing The package and hardware are very similar to what I got with the Cybovac model. The robot comes with a charging base that’s pretty large since it includes its own dust bag for the self-emptying function. Ke…

To me, an ATX power supply is one of those big boxes delivering 500W+ inside a PC tower, but since it’s not possible to create hardware with much lower power consumption, HDPLEX has designed an ultra-compact 250W passive ATX power supply using the same GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology as found in some tiny USB-C power supplies. With a 170x50x25mm footprint, the company claims it is the world’s smallest ATX PSU, and it is especially well suited to SFF PC enclosures, but it should also work pretty well in other space-constraints applications with a board equipped with an ATX connector, or through an adapter board, or even some RGB LED projects. GaN ATX power supply specific…

Elephant Robotics ultraArm P340 is a robot arm with an Arduino-compatible ATMega2560 control board with a 340mm working radius whose arm can be attached with different accessories for drawing, laser engraving, and grabbing objects. We’ve previously written and reviewed the myCobot 280 Pi robotic arm with a built-in Raspberry Pi 4 SBC, but the lower-cost ultraArm P340 works a little differently since it only contains the electronics for controlling the servos and attachments, and needs to be connected to a host computer running Windows or a Raspberry Pi over USB. ultraArm P340 specifications: Control board based on Microchip ATMega2560 8-bit AVR microcontroller @ 16MHz wit…

Seon Rozenblum, better known as Unexpected Maker, has launched upgrades to its ESP32-S2 boards such as the TinyS2 with ESP32-S3 variants, namely TinyS3, FeatherS3, and ProS3 boards. The new boards share the same form factors as the TinyS2, FeatherS2, and ProS2, but they get a more powerful dual-core microcontroller with AI instructions and 512kB SRAM. The microcontroller also adds Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (BLE) connectivity with Bluetooth Mesh support, instead of just WiFi 4 connectivity found in the earlier boards. TinyS3, FeatherS3, and ProS3 boards share the following features: SoC – Espressif Systems’ ESP32-S3 with Dual-core 32bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller up to 240M…

DFRobot UniHiker is a STEM education platform with a 2.8-inch touchscreen display, a Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor, a GD32V RISC-V microcontroller, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as various headers for expansion, and a BBC Micro:bit compatible edge connector. The UniHiker runs Debian 10 Linux and can be used to teach programming using Mind+ visual programming IDE or Jupyter open-source interface, as well as IoT and AI basics thanks to tutorials and lessons available in Chinese only as the platform clearly targets the education market in mainland China at this point in time. Unihiker specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3308 Quad-core Arm Cortex-A3…

AAEON has unveiled the UP 4000 single board computer with a form factor and ports arrangement similar to Raspberry Pi 2/3, but powered by a choice of x86 processors, namely the Intel Atom E3900 series, Celeron N3350, or Pentium N4200 all parts of the Apollo Lake family. The first UP Board was introduced in 2015 as a device offering an x86 alternative to the Raspberry Pi 2 with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300/Z8350 “Cherry Trail” processor, but later “UP bridge the gap” boards from the company used larger “Squared” (85.6 x 90 mm) or “Xtreme” (122 x 120 mm) form factors. The UP 4000 SBC brings us back to the original business card form factor but with a boost in performance and vari…

AAEON UP 4000 is a compact Apollo Lake single board computer that’s about the size of a business card or a Raspberry Pi designed for automation, robotics, digital signage, and other space-constrained applications that may benefit from an x86 processor. The company already published some Phoronix benchmarks comparing the UP 4000 SBC against Raspberry Pi 4, NVIDIA Jetson Nano, and the original UP board, but since nothing beats third-party evaluation, AAEON sent a review sample to CNX Software for additional testing. UP 4000 SBC unboxing There are several variants of the board, and I received the UP-APL03X7F-A10-0464 SKU with 4GB RAM, 64Gb eMMC flash, and an Intel Atom x7-E3…

The UP 4000 is a credit-card / Raspberry Pi-sized single board computer based on an Intel Apollo Lake processor. AAEON sent me the model with an Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, and a 64GB eMMC flash, and in the first part of the review, I installed Ubuntu 22.04 since the board would initially only boot to the UEFI shell out of the box. I’ve now spent more time with the board, and in this article, I will report my experience with the UP 4000 SBC running Ubuntu 22.04 checking out features, performance, video playback, power consumption, and so on. Ubuntu 22.04 System info Let’s check out some information after I’ve upgraded the system to the latest package…

AAEON’s UP Bridge the Gap has announced the UP Element i12 Edge fanless embedded computer based on the Intel NUC 12 Compute Element and designed for the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) and industrial automation markets. The computer is fitted with NUC 12 Compute Element equipped with 12th generation Alder Lake hybrid processor from Celeron 7350 to Intel Core i7-1255U hybrid processor, supports up to 32GB LPDDR5 memory, NVMe support, offers three Ethernet ports including one 2.5GbE, several USB ports, two RS232/422/485 interfaces, a DIO header, and more. UP Element i12 Edge specifications: System-on-module – Intel NUC 12 Compute Element with: Alder Lake SoC (one or the oth…

UP Squared 2 is a compact single board computer powered by either an Intel Celeron N6210 or Pentium J6426 “Elkhart Lake” processor with up to 16GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, 4K capable HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and more. Slightly smaller than two business cards, the UP Squared 2 is an upgrade of the UP Squared SBC introduced in 2016 with Intel Celeron N3350 or Pentium N4200 “Apollo Lake” processor. The new board offers virtually the same features, except the two HDMI ports, have been replaced by one HDMI port, and one DisplayPort connector, the mini PCIe slot is gone in favor of an M.2 NVMe socket, the Altera FPGA has been removed, and the…

AAEON UP Squared Pro 7000 is an upcoming single board computer (SBC) based on a choice of Alder Lake-N SoCs up to the Core i3-N305 octa-core processor, up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 64GB eMMC flash. The board supports up to three displays and comes with a MIPI CSI port, dual 2.5GbE networking, three USB 3.2 ports, two RS232/RS422/RS485 interfaces, as well as several M.2 sockets for storage and wireless expansion that makes it suitable for machine vision solutions for smart factories and robotics applications. UP Squared Pro 7000 specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor up to 3.8 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen…

AAEON has just introduced the UP Xtreme i12 single board computer (SBC) with Intel 12th generation Alder Lake-P hybrid SoC with up to 12 cores/16 threads, up to 32GB LPDDR5 memory, support for four 4Kp60 displays, and equipped with high-speed interfaces such as USB 4.0 and 2.5 GbE. The board also features four M.2 sockets for NVMe storage, Wi-Fi 6 and 5G cellular connectivity, a SATA III port, several USB 3.2/2.0 Type-A ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header and mounting thread for Raspberry Pi HATs, which should make it especially suitable for IoT, robotics, and smart retail applications, as well as smart manufacturing with a 12 to 36V wide supply voltage range. UP Xtreme i12 s…

AAEON has just launched the UP Xtreme i12 Edge mini PC based on the company’s UP Xtreme i12 SBC equipped with an Intel Core i7-1280PE and other Alder Lake processors, up to 32GB LPDDR5 memory, and support for two M.2 NVMe SSD as well as SATA storage The Xtreme i12 Edge is the successor of the Xtreme i11 Edge Compute Enabling Kit powered by a choice of Intel Tiger Lake processors. It also comes with 2.5GbE and GbE networking, one USB4 port, several USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, plus some COM ports and a terminal block for GPIOs. UP Xtreme i12 Edge mini PC specifications: Alder Lake-P SoC (One or the other) Intel Core i7-1270PE 12-core/16-thread pr…

AAEON has introduced a new version of its UP Xtreme PTL Edge Panther Lake mini PC with the “Air” variant featuring Frore Systems AirJet solid-state active cooling solution. The company says the AirJet passive cooling technology makes the Panther Lake mini PC 35% thinner, 43% lighter, and capable of operating silently at under 21 dBA. This is mostly achieved by removing the thick (and heavy) heatsink found on the original design. The mini PC still benefits from up to an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H with 180 TOPS of AI performance, a 40-pin GPIO header, two RS-232/422/485 COM ports, and a wide 19 to 36V DC input range. UP Xtreme PTL Edge Air specifications: Intel Core Ultra Ser…