SBC News

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…

TOOCAA NOVA is a desktop laser cutter and engraver that combines creative functions in a compact body. It comes with a translucent orange cover and an A4 work area of 297 × 210 mm, suitable for making signs, decorations, personalized gifts, and DIY projects. The reviewed model uses a 20W diode laser module for cutting and engraving, and supports materials such as wood, paper, leather, and coated aluminum. The machine’s highlight is its 5MP AI camera, which displays an image of the material inside the machine in the software, making it easier to align designs with the desired position. It also has an autofocus system that automatically adjusts focus distance and a material…

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…

URVE Board Pi is a single board computer (SBC) powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, 2GB RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, plus the same interfaces as the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as well as an RTC with a coin-cell battery and an M.2 SSD socket. More specifically, the Rockchip RK3566 board comes with a 4Kp60 capable HDMI 2.0 port, a MIPI DSI/LVDS display interface, a MIPI CSI camera connector, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a dual-band WiFi 5.0 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless module, and the usual 40-pin GPIO header. URVE Board Pi specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 Quad Core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU System Memory…

0xDA LLC’s USB Cereal is an open-source hardware development tool with three USB-C ports designed to simplify the testing, development, debugging, and manufacturing of devices with USB Type-C ports. Initially originated at Google, the USB Cereal project has gone through multiple revisions to optimize its quality and lower the BoM cost, and the device can be used for all sorts of USB Type-C debugging using a UART serial communication with the host device through the USB-C sideband use (SBU) pins typically reserved for device-specific applications. USB Cereal specifications: USB Type-C ports 2x USB-C ports for passthrough between the host and device under test (DUT) Note: t…

The USB Promoter Group has just pushed a press release about the “pending release” of the USB4 Version 2.0 specification that promises up to 80 Gbps of data performance over the USB Type-C cable and connector. The group also explains both the USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB PD) specifications will also be updated, and everything will be published right before the USB DevDays developer events planned for November 2022 in the US and South Korea. So that’s basically an announcement about a future announcement, but we were still provided with some highlights of the upcoming USB4 v2 specification: Up to 80 Gbps operation based on a new physical layer architecture, using…

The ISC DHCP server (dhcpd) was traditionally used to set up a DHCP server in Linux, but the software is reaching end-of-life, and the Internet Systems Consortium is now recommending their own Kea DHCP server or alternatives such as Dnsmasq or udhcpd (as found in Busybox) as a replacement. I was unaware of this having just used the isc-dhcp-server package to set up a DHCP server in NanoPi R6C router/mini PC earlier this month. But a blog post on Ubuntu informed us dhcpd was going away, and Canonical plans to switch over the Kea DHCP server instead. The main difference from the user perspective is that Kea relies on JSON configuration files so all your dhcpd files will hav…

We’ve received a sample of the Pico:ed V2 board developed by ELECFREAKS and will show how to use it as a replacement for the BBC micro:bit in a project using CircuitPython. We’ve already covered the board in detail with specifications, block diagram, and pinout diagram before, and it’s basically a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 board with BBC Micro:bit form factor including a 17×7 Dot Matrix LED display, some buttons, a buzzer, but no wireless connectivity, relying only on USB instead. CircuitPython firmware installation on the Pico:ed V2 board The board supports C/C++, MicroPython, and CircuitPython programming languages, and for this review, we’ve decided to download the Circ…

MCU boards, including the $1.5 BluePill board, have been used as cheap logic analyzers for years, notably with Sigrok open-source software. So it should come as no surprise the $4 Raspberry Pi Pico board can also be used as a logic analyzer, with one developer claiming it can deliver 100 Msps, or the performance obtained with a 1.6 GHz CPU, thanks to the PIOs from the Raspberry Pi RP2040. Hackaday reported about a Sigrok driver for the Pico last March, but the topic was brought to our attention via a post on Hackster.io about an open-source Windows program developed from scratch to transform the Raspberry Pi Pico board into a logic analyzer capable of 100 Msps. Agustín Gi…

In the conclusion of our SenseCAP K1100 Sensor Prototype kit review with LoRaWAN and Vision AI, the author suggested that it would be great if SeeedStudio could develop a new firmware that can connect without coding instead of using Arduino programming: I had to rely on my knowledge and experience with LoRaWAN to transmit data wirelessly over long distances. That’s because LoRaWAN has a more complicated connection process than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It would be great if Seeed Studio could develop a new firmware that can connect without any coding It did not take long, as SeeedStudio very recently released the first version of SenseCraft open source smart sensor software for …

V600 mini PC is equipped with an Alder Lake processor from Core i5-1240P up to a Core i9-12900H, up to 64GB RAM, and high-speed interfaces such as Thunderbolt 4 and dual 2.5GbE networking. The mini PC also comes with two M.2 NVMe sockets, one PCIe Gen 4, one Gen 3, and support for SATA drives up to 7mm thick, offers three 4K-capable video outputs with HDMI and DisplayPort video interfaces, and several other USB 3.2/2.0 ports. V600 specifications: Alder Lake-P/H SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i7-1260P 4P+8E (16 threads) processor @ 3.40/4.70GHz with Intel Xe graphics; 28W PBP Intel Core i5-1240P 4P+8E (16 threads) processor @ 3.30/4.40GHz with Intel Xe graphics; 28W PBP…

Vantron has introduced the VT-SBC-SMARC-IMX952, an 82 × 50 mm SMARC 2.1 system-on-module (SoM) built around NXP’s i.MX 952 processor with two or four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, a Mali-G310 GPU, and a 2 TOPS eIQ Neutron NPU. The module is designed for industrial HMIs, edge AI vision, factory automation, in-cabin sensing, and other embedded applications. The module comes with 8GB LPDDR4x memory, 64GB eMMC storage, two Ethernet interfaces (GbE + 2.5 GbE) with TSN support, and an optional Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module. It exposes all I/Os through a standard 314-pin MXM 3.0 connector VT-SBC-SMARC-IMX952 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 952 CPU Dual- or quad-core Arm Corte…

Variscite VAR-SOM-AM62 is a System-on-Module (SoM) powered by a Texas Instruments Ti AM625x quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.4 GHz with a 400MHz Cortex-M4F cores and 333MHz PRU real-time co-processors to control I/Os. The module also supports up to 4GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, features a single or dual-band WiFi + BT/BLE5.2 module, and offers up to 3x CAN Bus, dual GbE, audio, camera in, and dual USB, among other interfaces. It is designed for industrial applications with a -40 to 85°C operating temperature range. VAR-SOM-AM62 specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM62x (AM6252 or AM6254) with Up to 4x Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.4 GHz 1x Ar, Cortex M4F up to @ 4…

Variscite VAR-SOM-MX93 is a 200-pin SO-DIMM system-on-module based on NXP i.MX 93 dual-core Cortex-A55/M33 AI processor with up to 2 GB LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and onboard WiFi & Bluetooth module and audio driver. The Variscite module follows the announcement of two other NXP i.MX 93 system-on-modules, namely the Forlinx FET-MX9352-C with board-to-board connectors and the iWave Systems iW-RainboW-G50M LGA module compliant with OSM Size L form factor to be soldered directly on the carrier board. VAR-SOM-MX93 specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 93 with up to 2x Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.7GHz, 1x Cortex-M33 real-time co-processor @ 250 MHz, 0.5 TOPS NPU, 2D PxP graphics engin…

Vecow ECX-3200 is an expandable, fanless embedded system powered by Intel 13th generation Core i9/i7/i5/i3 Raptor Lake-S processor or 12th generation Alder Lake-S processor designed for rugged Machine Vision, AMR, Rolling Stock, Smart Retail and Edge AI applications. The ECX-3200 supports up to 64GB DDR5, SATA & NVMe storage, offers four 2.5GbE RJ45 or M12 ports with PoE+ on the rear panel, plus one additional Gigabit Ethernet port and a 2.5GbE port on the front panel, four video outputs up to 8Kp60 resolution, several USB 3.2 ports up to 20 Gbps, some serial ports, as well as isolated I/Os. Vecow ECX-3200 specifications: SoC Up to 24-core 13th Gen Intel Core i9/i7/i5…

Vecow EAC-5000 is a rugged AI computing system powered by NVIDIA’s Jetson AGX Orin 32GB or 64GB system-on-module designed for advanced edge AI applications such as in-vehicle computing, robotic control, machine vision, intelligent video analytics, and mobile robots. The embedded computer delivers up to 275 TOPS of AI performance thanks to the NVIDIA module, supports up to eight GMSL2 cameras, various wireless connectivity options with 6 antennas, 9V to 50V wide range DC power input, and operates in the -20°C to 70°C temperature range. Vecow EAC-5000 specifications: System-on-Module EAC-5000-R32 – NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 32GB with CPU – 8-core Arm Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit p…

Vecow has announced a series of new system-on-modules and development kits based on Mediatek Genio 350, Genio 500, or Genio 1200 processors for AIoT applications ranging from smart security, smart retail, and traffic vision to digital signage. This follows last week’s news about ADLINK LEC-MTK-I12000 SMARC module and devkit powered by MediaTek Genio 1200 Cortex-A78/A55 AIoT processor, but Vecow also offers solutions based on the entry-level Genio 350 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, and the mid-range Genio 500 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor. ESOM-MT-350 Genio 350 system-on-module and devkit Specifications: SoC – MediaTek Genio 350 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 2.0GH…

Videostrong HC1 Home Care Hub is a Smart Home/IoT gateway designed for the elderly that also serves as a smart speaker with 10-meter far-field voice recognition, a video phone with a video built-in camera and speaker, and a 4K Android TV box. The system is based on an Amlogic S905Y4 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor coupled with up to 4GB RAM and 64GB RAM, supports Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and LoRa, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity, and offers both HDMI 2.1 video output, and HDMI 2.0 video input. HC1 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905Y4 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 @ 2.0GHz with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2 support System Memory – 2GB or 4GB RAM Storage – 8G…

VVenC and VVdeC are open-source software H.266/VCC video encoder and decoder respectively that are optimized to use SIMD instructions on x86 (SSE42/SIMDe and AVX2) and Arm, and the decoder runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android. H.266, aka VCC (Versatile Video Coding) video compression standard was adopted in 2020 promising to reduce data requirements by around 50% compared to the previous H.265/HEVC standard at the same visual quality. H.266 should also outperform the royalty-free AV1 video codec. We hadn’t seen news since the announcement, but this may be changing with the Realtek RTD1319D processor unveiled with support for both 4K H.266 and AV1 video decoding last…

VZMORE sent us a review sample of the iX9 Max mini PC powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H 16-core/22-thread Meteor Lake processor clocked at up to 5.1 GHz, paired with 24 GB of LPDDR5-5600 memory and a 1 TB NVMe SSD. It supports up to four simultaneous displays via HDMI 2.0 and USB4 ports, offers six USB Type-A ports, two 40 Gbps USB4 ports, and two 2.5 GbE ports, as well as Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity. In this article, we will list the specifications, go through an unboxing and a teardown to check out the hardware, and boot the system to the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro operating system. A more detailed review with feature testing and benchmarks on …

Just a few days ago, we wrote about the ESP-SDR project, which turned an ESP32 into an SDR receiver (and now SDR transmitter), but the data was streamed over UART, which couldn’t keep up with the sample rate. Now, developer h0m3us3r has released w1700k-sdr, also an open-source project that turns a Gemtek W1700K Wi-Fi 7 router into a wideband SDR receiver. The project uses the router’s built-in MediaTek MT7996 radio to capture raw 14-bit I/Q samples at up to 320 MSps across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. The captured data is then streamed over a 10 GbE connection using the router’s Airoha AN7581 SoC to a Linux computer, where you can view the live spectrum and waterf…

IEI’s WAFER-TGL-U is a 3.5-inch SBC based on a choice of Intel Tiger Lake UP3 processors with up to 32GB RAM, SATA storage, three 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, four display interfaces including HDMI, DisplayPort, and the company’s custom iDPM 3040 slot for eDP/LVDS/VGA, as well as four USB 3.2 ports. The board also comes with M.2 sockets to add 4G LTE or 5G cellular connectivity, a few RS232/RS422/RS485 ports, and IEI says it is ideal for space-constrained applications such as AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle), AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot), and small cabinets in factories. WAFER-TGL-U specifications: Tiger Lake UP3 SoC (One or the other) Intel Core i7-1185G7E quad-core processor…

QuickSpot Walter is an ESP32-S3 development board with built-in WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE/Mesh connectivity, as well as NB-IoT, LTE-M, and GNSS support through a Sequans GM02SP 5G IoT modem that appears to be a variant of the Sequans Monarch 2 GM02S with GNSS support. Walter specifications: Wireless modules ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R2 module ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 microcontroller 2MB QSPI PSRAM 16MB QSPI flash 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps with on-board antenna Bluetooth 5 LE up to 2Mbps, Bluetooth Mesh Sequans GM02SP modem LTE Cat M1 (LTE-M) and NB1/NB2 (NB-IoT) GNSS and assisted GNSS using GPS and Galileo constellations NanoSIM for cellular connectivity I/Os 2x 14-pin he…

Waveshare ESP32-S31-Zero is a small ESP32-S31 development board that follows the form factor of the earlier Waveshare “Zero” boards, such as the ESP32-C6-Zero-B, RA4M1-Zero, and ESP32-S3-Zero, among others. The new tiny board still features a USB-C port for power and programming, as well as eighteen through and castellated holes for GPIO and power signals, but it boasts a more powerful ESP32-S31 dual-core RISC-V MCU clocked at up to 320 MHz, featuring 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and 802.15.4 connectivity, as well as up to 32MB on-chip PSRAM and a 16MB or 32MB SPI flash chip. Since the ESP32-S31 has quite a few extra I/Os, Waveshare also added a 40-pin high-density con…

Microchip WBZ451 Curiosity Board features the company’s Microchip’s WBZ451PE Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2 and Zigbee 3.0 RF module based on the new Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F wireless microcontroller. WBZ451 Curiosity Board (EV96B94A) specifications: Wireless module – WBZ451PE Bluetooth Low Energy and Zigbee RF Module with Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F wireless microcontroller @ up to 64 MHz, 128KB RAM, 1MB flash, 2.4 GHz radio for Bluetooth LE 5.2 and 802.15.4 (Zigbee 3.0) Tx output power – Up +12 dBm Rx sensitivity – Up to -103 dBm PCB antenna 29x I/O pins Storage – 64Mbit QSPI flash Expansion – mikroBUS socket for MikroElectronika Click adapt…

WeAct Studio Logic Analyzer V2 is a low-cost, small WCH CH32H417 board designed to be used as a 16-channel USB 3.0 logic analyzer with up to 200 MHz bandwidth. The company says the board runs three different “apps”: logic analyzer, USB-serial + DAP, or custom firmware developed by the user, all located at different addresses on the flash and selected by simply pressing the button on the board. WeAct Logic Analyzer V2 board specifications: MCU – WCH CH32H417 CPU cores QingKe RISC-V5F up to 400 MHz QingKe RISC-V3F up to 144 MHz GPU – Graphics Processing Hardware Accelerator GPHA Memory – 896KB SRAM Storage – 960KB flash; 304 KB slot for “user app”/custom firmware (slot 2 @ …

If the Raspberry Pi Pico’s 2MB of QSPI flash is not quite sufficient for your needs, and you’d not quite a fan of micro USB ports, the WeAct RP2040 clone comes with up to 16MB flash and a USB Type-C port for power and programming. Another improvement is the addition of a reset button, which can be convenient for flashing UF2 firmware, and the pinout remains the mostly the same. The price is not quite as low as the original Raspberry Pi Pico, but the clone sells for an affordable $5.99 with 2MB flash, while the 16MB flash variant goes for $8.99 with shipping included in both cases. WeAct RP2040 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller …

I’ve previously reviewed Weibu’s N10 mini PC, however, they have now extended the range of CPUs available to the N10 through the addition of Alder Lake processors. As a reminder, Weibu is a B2B company that offers total solutions and OEM/ODM services and they don’t sell directly to end users as their target clients are computer manufacturers like Acer and Hisense. Weibu have sent a pre-production sample of their latest N10 based on a Core i3-N305 Alder Lake N-Series processor to showcase its capabilities in this review. I will revisit the specification of the N10 and briefly look at the performance running both Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04. Weibu N10 product specificat…

Weibu is a B2B company offering total solutions and OEM/ODM services. Their target clients are computer manufacturers like Acer and Hisense as they don’t sell directly to end users. With their products both the specifications and accessories can be customized according to their customer’s requirements. One of their product lines is mini PCs and they have sent a pre-production sample of their N10 design to showcase their capabilities. In this review, I will look at the various options available for the N10 and briefly look at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Weibu N10 hardware overview The key selling feature of this mini PC is the wide range of ports suitable …

While the Rockchip RK3588 processor is advertised as reaching 2.4 GHz, not all RK3588 chips may achieve this frequency. The keyword is PVTM (Process-Voltage-Temperature Monitor), and we’ll try to explain why it does, and why some of the RK3588 processors may only be clocked at about 2.3 GHz, while others will run fine at 2.4 GHz. This all started with Rock 5B SBC debug party, where we noticed our boards did not reach the same frequency. Willy Tarreau noted the “pvtm” value was different between our boards: Willy’s board: (Cortex-A76 cluster 1 @ 2,304 MHz, cluster 2 @ 2,352 MHz) [crayon-62d3b98029e47968049721/] CNXSoft board (Cortex-A76 cluster 1 @ 2,304 MHz, cluster 2 @ 2…

Raspberry Pi has announced yet another price increase, this time for most models with 16GB of RAM. The Raspberry Pi 5 16GB now sells for $385, an $80 increase compared to the last price hike in April, and the Raspberry Pi CM5 system-on-module gets a $40 increase, starting at $375 for the Lite model without wireless. The “good news” is that the Raspberry Pi 500+ mechanical keyboard PC stays at the same price, starting at $410. I suppose they can afford it on that model, because it’s already richly priced and the demand must be lower than for single board computers and compute modules. Here’s the updated price list for the Compute Module 5 16GB variants. Interestingly, the …

Wi-SUN is a standard (IEEE 802.15.4g) managed by the Wi-SUN Alliance and designed for Smart Cities, Smart Agriculture, and other large scale IoT deployments with a large number of devices thanks to the use of IPv6 mesh networking. The organization was founded in 2011 to “support the worldwide development of Wireless Communications Networks for Utilities, Smart Cities and IoT”, but due to the niche nature of target applications, it does not get that much press coverage and was only recently brought to my attention. Wi-SUN stands for “Wireless Smart Utility Networks”or “Wireless Smart Ubiquitous Networks”, and the standard aims to connect streetlights, cameras, weather stat…

WiCAN is an ESP32-C3 CAN bus adapter that works over USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth LE, and designed for car hacking and general CAN bus development. The device is available in USB-CAN and OBD-II form factors and comes with firmware that works with RealDash to create nice-looking dashboards with the data. RealDash can be installed on Android, iOS, and Windows 10 operating systems. WiCAN specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C3-MINI-1 with ESP32-C3 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4GHz WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4 MB flash, PCB antenna CAN 2.0 A/B interface up to 1 Mbps Host interface WiCAN-OBD – OBD-II connector WiCAN-USB – Mini USB port for USB-to-UART up to 6 Mbps…

Most WiFi HaLow hardware platforms we’ve seen so far are based on Newracom chips, but AsiaRF AP7688-WHM WiFi HaLow IoT gateway features a module based on Morse Micro MM6108 802.11ah SoC instead. The gateway is powered by a 580 MHz MediaTek MT7688 MIPS processor providing 802.11n WiFi 4 and dual Ethernet networking, and features a USB port as well as an RS232 console for industrial control. WiFi HaLow (802.11ah) enables video and data transmission at a range of up to one kilometer and data rates of up to 32.5 Mbps. AP7688-WHM WiFi HaLow gateway specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7688 MIPS SoC @ 580 MHz with built-in WiFi 4 System Memory – TBD Storage – TBD Connectivity 2x E…

Most people will probably want to run Linux on their Arm SBC, but Windows 11 could also be an option with the Rock 5B and other single board computers based on Rockchip RK3588 and other powerful Arm SoCs thanks to the Windows on Raspberry project. The project, also known as “Windows on R” is maintained by Mario Bălănică who recently tweeted a screenshot showing Windows 11 running on the Radxa ROCK 5B SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3588 Arm Cortex-A76A/A55 clocked at 1.2 GHz (instead of the usual 2.2/2.4 GHz), but with USB 2.0/3.0 and display interface apparently working just fine. PCIe appears to be detected, but not working. He also noted that virtualization worked out of t…

Winlink E850-96Board is a 96Boards CE Extended-compliant single board computer (SBC) based on a Samsung Exynos 850 octa-core Cortex-A55 processor plus 64GB flash and 4GB RAM found in a single eMCP (embedded Multi-Chip Package) chip. While the Samsung Exynos 5422 based ODROID-XU4/XU4Q was one of the most popular SBCs when it launched in 2015 thanks to its features set and affordable pricing, we haven’t really seen other interesting Samsung Exynos SBCs in recent years. I did notice a Winlink E850-96Board based on Exynos 850 in the Linux 5.17 release last March, but there was not enough information then. The good news is that the board has now launched so let’s have a closer…

Geniatech SCB32IM is a sensor board based on Silicon Labs EFR32FG14 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller with a sub-GHz radio enabling wireless M-Bus (Wireless Meter Bus) designed for remote reading of smart meters, and also equipped with a Quectel EC200S “IoT/M2M-optimized” LTE Cat 1 module. The sensor module does not actually come with any sensor on board, but provides a terminal block to connect any sensor you may need for your product. It’s also possible to extend wireless connectivity options with Zigbee 3.0, Z-Wave, Bluetooth LE 5.0, LoRa, and more through the GT-IoT interface with UART, SPI, and one GPIO. Geniatech SBC32IM specifications: Microcontroller – Silicon Labs EF…

Energous WattUp wireless power technology delivers power at various ranges (up to a few meters), and so far, we’ve seen it in wearables like garments, as well as smart glasses and earbuds development kits. The company has now launched a wirelessly powered sensor evaluation kit for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) based on the 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter with Bluetooth LE 5.0, plus two battery-free sensor nodes based on Atmosic ATM3202 Bluetooth LE 5.0 Cortex-M0 microcontroller with energy-harvesting capabilities. Wirelessly powered sensor evaluation kit content & features: 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter Bluetooth LE microcontroller Energous EN4100 transmitter IC …

RAKwireless WisDuo RAK11720 is a LoRaWAN and Bluetooth LE (module) equipped with Ambiq Apollo3 ultra-low-power BLE 5.0 microcontroller and a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver. The Wisduo RAK11720 is pin-to-pin compatible with the STM32WL-based Wisduo RAK3172 LoRaWAN module, and provides an easy upgrade path for IoT applications that require Bluetooth LE connectivity and more memory. WisDuo RAK11720 specifications: MCU – Ambiq Apollo3 Blue AMA3B1KK-KBR-B0 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller locked at up to 96 MHz with 1MB flash, 348 SRAM, Bluetooth LE 5.0, and an active power consumption of less than < 6 μA/ MHz LoRa Semtech SX1262 sub-GHz radio transceivers LoRaWAN 1.0.3 spec…

RAKwireless has just introduced the WisGate Connect gateway based on Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-module with support for Gigabit and 2.5Gbps Ethernet plus various optional wireless connectivity option that can be added through Mini PCIe or M.2 sockets as well as expansion through WisBlock IO connectors. Wireless options include LoRaWAN, 4G LTE, 5G, WiFi 6, Zigbee, WiFi HaLoW, and more, while WisBlock modules enable features such as methane sensor, motor current sensor, temperature sensor, pressure control, and valve control among many others. WisGate Connect (RAK7394) specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz, 1 to…

Wokwi is an online simulator for Arduino, Raspberry Pi Pico, and ESP32 boards, or even your own custom microcontroller board designed to learn programming without the actual hardware. My girlfriend’s daughter has just attended a free 5-day online course about AI, IoT, ESP32, MicroPython, and more organized by King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) and IMAKE Innovation, a STEM education company in Thailand. I was told they had some homework for ESP32 as part of the course, so I asked her whether she wanted an ESP32 board. But she said no need. So then I asked how to program the ESP32 without the board, or do they have a simulator? And indeed I was sent t…

We’ve just written about the Notkia phone repurposing Nokia 168x phones with a new PCB featuring an Ingenic X1000E MIPS processor running mainline Linux, but it turns out the developer (Reimu NotMoe, CTO of SudoMaker) has also designed the X1501 Pico SoM, a tiny 16×16 system-on-module equipped with Ingenic X1501 MIPS system-in-package (SiP). The module can be that small because the single-core 1GHz Ingenic 1501 SiP embeds 8MB LPDDR, as well as apparently a 16Mbit NOR flash that stores stripped-down versions of U-boot and the Linux kernel, plus a minimal, busybox-based rootfs. X1501 Pico system-on-module specifications: SoC – Ingenic X1501 MIPS32r2 processor @ 1GHz, a MIPS…

DM&P Vortex86DX3 is an x86 embedded processor launched in 2015 that we’ve previously found in single board computers and mini PCs, but I’ve just noticed ICOP was offering the SOM304D3 system-on-module based on the single and dual-core versions of the Vortex86DX3 SoC. The SOM304D3 is available with 1 or 2GB DDR3 RAM, works in a wide temperature range (up to -40°C to +85°C), and is designed for space-constrained industrial applications, especially those requiring legacy interfaces like ISA, IDE, and/or a parallel port (aka printer port). SOM304D3 specifications: SoC – DM&P Vortex86DX3 single or dual-core x86 processor @ 1 GHz, 2D GPU System Memory – 1GB or 2GB DDR3 …

Rockchip demonstrated the Rockchip RK3528 TV box SoC at Mobile World Congress 2023, and the first Android 13 TV boxes based on the processors are now showing up for sale starting with the LEMFO X88Pro 13 TV box. The device comes with up to 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, supports up to 8Kp25 video decoding, features Fast Ethernet and WiFi 6 networking, as well as a few USB ports, and possibly optical S/PDIF audio output. LEMFO X88Pro 13 (preliminary) specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3528 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor GPU – Arm Mali-450 GPU VPU H.265/HEVC up to 8Kp25 H.264/AVC, VP9 up to 4Kp60 VP8, MPEG-1 MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC1 up to 1080p60 System Memory / Storage conf…

Semtech Corporation and “Connected Development” engineering firm have launched the XCVR development board and reference design based on Sentech SX1261, SX1262, or LLCC68 transceivers with the last one targeting Smart Home applications. The XCVR development board is actually an Arduino shield that’s been tested with Nordic nRF52840-DK board, but should work with most boards equipped with Arduino Uno headers. It can be used for the design of LPWAN IoT applications using SX1262x transceivers such as smart meters, industrial controllers, asset tracking, building automation, smart agriculture, etc… while the LLCC68 model is more useful for Smart Home applications and consumer …

XCY-X66 is a tiny (75 x 75 x 52mm) mini PC based on Intel Celeron N5105 Jasper Lake and equipped with four 2.5GbE ports using Intel i225V controllers that should make it suitable for a range of networking applications. The small actively-cooled computer also comes with 8GB LPDDR4X, an M.2 2242 socket suitable for NVMe or SATA storage, one 4K-capable HDMI 2.0 port, and a few USB ports. XCY-X66 mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 10W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4X Storage 1x M.2 M-key 2242 socket for NVMe PCIe 3.0 or SATA 3.0 SSD MicroSD card slot Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0…

After a successful campaign for Xerxes Pi back in 2025, Rapid Analysis has returned with a Xerxes Home Lab ecosystem that includes the Xerxes Pi 2026 and Xerxes Nano carrier board. The upgrade includes M.2 NVMe storage support on the bottom of the board, an I2S Qwiic connector for digital audio, and added debug and boot jumper pins for easier headless deployment. Designed for home labs, edge AI developers, and small businesses, the Xerxes Pi 2026 supports Raspberry Pi CM4/CM5 and other CM modules, Gigabit Ethernet, optional PoE+, and CSI/HDMI expansion. The larger Xerxes Nano supports NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano and Turing RK1 modules, adding M.2 PCIe, OCuLink, and SPI/UART c…

XGO 2 is a desktop robot dog using the Raspberry Pi CM4 as its brain, the ESP32 as the motor controller for the four legs and an additional robotic arm that allows the quadruped robot to grab objects. An evolution of the XGO mini robot dog with a Kendryte K210 RISC-V AI processor, the XGO 2 robot offers 12 degrees of freedom and the more powerful Raspberry CM4 model enables faster AI edge computing applications, as well as features such as omnidirectional movement, six-dimensional posture control, posture stability, and multiple motion gaits. The XGO 2 robot dog is offered in two variants – the XGO-Lite 2 and the XGO-Mini 2 – with the following key features and specificat…

Last week, we wrote about the new XIAO ESP32S3, a tiny ESP32-S3 board from Seeed Studio. The company has now launched the XIAO ESP32S3 Sense adding a camera and microphone module connected through a board-to-board connector, as well as the Round Display for XIAO that can help people easily create wearable devices with a touchscreen based on any board from the XIAO family. XIAO ESP32S3 Sense XIAO ESP32S2 Sense specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM, Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0 dual-mode (Classic + BLE) connectivity Storage – 8MB SPI flash, microSD card slot Antenna – External …

Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 is the new member of the company XIAO family with an ESP32-S3 dual-core wireless microcontroller with WiFi 4 and BLE 5.0 designed for Smart Home, IoT, wearables, and Robotics applications. It succeeds the single-core ESP32-C3-based XIAO ESP32C3 board with the same form factor, but the new XIAO ESP32S3 offers more performance, vector extension for machine learning, more flash, and improved power consumption in deep sleep mode. Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3 specifications: Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM, Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0 dual-mode (Classic + BLE) conne…

We’ve written about Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs that combine Arm Cortex-A53/R5 cores and Mali-400 GPU with Ultrascale FPGA fabric several times over the course of a few years. But AMD-Xilinx also offers the Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC single-chip adaptable radio platforms that support up to 7.125GHz analog bandwidth. The topic came to my attention because of an upcoming ZU49DR SoM from iWave Systems that seems to be under development but also noticed Avnet had launched a solution last year with the XRF16 Gen3 SoM featuring the same third-generation Zynq Ultrascale+ ZU49DR RFSoC with 16 RF-ADC, 16 RF-DAC channels, and 6GHz RF bandwidth. Avnet XRF16 specifications: Main chip …

Everspin has unveiled EMxxLX xSPI MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) non-volatile memory solution for industrial IoT and embedded systems providing an alternative to SPI NOR/NAND flash with much faster R/W data rates of up to 400MB/s and densities between 8Mbit and 64Mbit. The higher speed is made possible by the new JEDEC expanded Serial Peripheral Interface (xSPI) standard interface and a clock frequency of up to 200 MHz, the maximum supported by the xSPI standard. All chips operate at 1.8V, and the family is offered in 24-ball BGA and 8-pin DFN packages. EMxxLX xSPI MRAM key features and specifications: Density – 8Mb, 16Mb, 32Mb, 64Mb 400MBps sustained throug…

Hey Karl here. I am going to be sharing my experience with the xTool D1 Pro 20W. It is a 20W laser cutter/engraver with a 340x390mm working area. It has been heavily reviewed and I will comment on a few points I have not seen spoken about. I join a lot of Facebook groups for these reviews to get real-world feedback and ideas to write about. With nearly all forms of digital fabrication, I regularly read about misconceptions and frustration that stem from unknowingly purchasing a machine that requires a substantial amount of time and patience to learn. For this review, I kept a daily log and will summarize the time it took me to complete one project. I did get sidetracked o…

At the beginning of the year, we wrote about WCH CH32V307 RISC-V microcontroller and a development board with 8 UART ports controlled over Ethernet. I’ve now been informed of a similar, but much more compact by VCC-GND Studio named “YD-CH32V307VCT6”. Besides the 144 MHz RISC-V microcontroller, the board features a 10Mbps Ethernet port, two USB Type-C ports, SPI flash, EEPROM, a microSD card socket, and four rows of 24 pins each for a total of 96 pins exposing all pins out of the LQFP100 package. YD-CH32V307VCT6 board specifications: MCU – WCH CH32V307VCT6 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ 144 MHz with 256K Flash, 64K SRAM Storage – 32Mbit SPI NOR flash (W25Q32), 64kbit EEPR…

It’s the last day of the year and the time to look at some of the highlights of 2022, some traffic statistics from CNX Software website, and speculate on what 2023 may bring us. The semiconductors shortage continued in 2022, but things are looking brighter in 2023 with the full reopening of the world mixed with forecasts of difficult economic times that should keep the demand/supply equation in check. On the Arm processor front the biggest news of the year, at least in this corner of the Internet, was the launch of the Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A78 processor together with interesting single board computers that we’ll discuss below. Announced last year, the Amlo…

Khadas VIM4 single board computer was first unveiled last October with Amlogic A311D2 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor, 8GB LPDDR4X, but it’s only been launched today, and you can now buy the Khadas VIM4 board for right under $200. It is an upgrade to Khadas VIM3 Pro launched with Amlogiv A311D hexa-core processor a few years ago, and our testing in Android 11 revealed the main benefit may be the upgrade GPU that delivered a 67% boost in 3DMark, but CPU multi-core performance and memory bandwidth will also see some benefits over Amlogic A311D, even against in overclocked systems like ODROID N2+. Here’s a reminder of Khadas VIM4 specifications: SoC – Amlogic A311D2 octa-…