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AAEON RICO-3568 is a Pico-ITX Plus board powered by a Rockchip RK3568 SoC

AAEON RICO-3568 Pico-ITX Plus board

AAEON RICO-3568 is a Pico-ITX Plus single board computer powered by a Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 AI SoC, up to 8GB LPDDR4, 16GB eMMC flash, four display interfaces (HDMI, LVDS, eDP, MIPI DSI), gigabit Ethernet, and various expansion headers for industrial applications.

Most have already heard about the Pico-ITX form factor, But it’s the first time I’ve ever come across a Pico-ITX Plus board. It looks like it’s an AAEON-specific “standard” right now, with the Pico-ITX Plus boards (100x80mm) being slightly wider than Pico-ITX SBCs (100x72mm).

AAEON RICO-3568 Pico-ITX Plus board

AAEON RICO-3568 specifications:

  • SoC – Rockchip RK3568
    • CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor at up to 2.0 GHz
    • GPU – Mali G52 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1
    • VPU
      • 4Kp60 H.264/H.265/VP9/AV1/AVS2, 1080p60 MPEG-1/VP8 video decoder
      • 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder
    • AI accelerator – 0.8 TOPS NPU
  • System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB LPDDR4
  • Storage
    • 16GB eMMC flash
    • MicroSD card socket
    • mSATA SSD via mini-PCIe slot (see Expansion section)
  • Display interfaces
    • HDMI 2.0, up to 4K x 2K @ 60Hz
    • eDP 1.3, up to 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz
    • 18/24-bit LVDS, up to 1280 x 800 @ 60Hz; JP2, 3.3V/5V: LVDS Power Selection;n
    • LCD Backlight connector; JP3, 5V/12V: Backlight Power Selection
    • MIPI DSI up to 2048 x 1536 @ 60Hz for dual-MIPI mode
  • Camera – Not support (USB only)
  • Audio – 3.5mm microphone/ earphone jack
  • Networking
    • 1x Gigabit Ethenret RJ45 port
    • Optional Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port via T650 daughter board or T650 Wide-Voltage board for dual GbE and PoE support
    • WiFi 5 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 5.0 + EDR with u.FL antenna connector
    • Optional WiFi 6 or 4G LTE via mini PCIe socket and NanoSIM push-push type slot
  • USB
    • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 OTG Type-C port
    • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port
    • 1x USB 2.0 Type-A port
    • 1x USB 2.0 interface via pin Header with integrated USB, I2C, 5V
  • Serial
    • RS-232/422/485 DB9 connector; JP1, 5V/12V: RS-232/422/485 Voltage Output Selection
    • 7-pin RS-232 Debug wafer
    • CN3: UART (Tx/Rx only), I2C, USB, Others
  • Expansion
    • Full-size mini-PCIe slot (mSATA / USB)
    • 8x GPIO via 2×6-pin Wafer
    • 40-pin FPC connector for daughter board with CAN Bus, 2x I2C, GMAC (Ethernet), etc…
  • Misc – Watchdog Timer
  • Power Supply
    • +12V DC input; AT: Default, ATX: Optional
    • Optional PoE via daughter board
    • RK809-5 PMIC
  • Dimensions – 100 x 80mm (Pico-ITX Plus form factor)
  • Weight – About 200 grams
  • Temperature Range
    • Operating  – Standard: 0°C to 60°C); optional: -20°C to 60°C
    • Storage – -40°C to 80°C
  • Operating Humidity – 0% ~ 90% relative humidity, non-condensing
  • MTBF (hours) – TBD
  • Certifications – CE/FCC

Rockchip RK3568 Pico-ITX Plus SBC

 

The T650 daughter board – also referred to as the PER-T650 – looks interesting, but I was unable to find any specifics at the time of writing. AAEON provides Android 12 and Debian 10 support for the board, and currently available documentation includes a datasheet and user manual mostly focusing on the hardware.

The company says the board is a robust, fanless industrial-grade solution for applications such as automation, digital signage, and edge computing.

Rockchip RK3568 industrial SBC block diagram
Block Diagram

The only other “PICO-ITX Plus” SBC I could find is the upcoming RICO-MX8M (see PDF brief) with an NXP i.MX 8M Mini SoC, many of the same features, and a 40-pin Raspberry Pi header. It’s unclear why the company decided to create a new form factor unless the required features would not fit in the standard 100x72mm Pico-ITX form factor, and the extra 8mm made all the difference. I’ve asked, but I’ll update this post if I receive a reply. Having said that, it’s not the first company to mess with the Pico-ITX form factor, as Radxa designed a “PI-CO ITX SBC” that combines the benefits of Pico-ITX and Raspberry Pi form factors.

AAEON did not provide price and availability information. More details, including the aforementioned user manual and datasheet, can be found on the product page, and you may also get additional tidbits of information in the press release.

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Seeed Studio reComputer R1025-10 industrial IoT gateway supports Ethernet, RS485, 4G LTE, LoRa, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, BLE

Seeed Studio reComputer R1000

The reComputer R1025-10 is a Raspberry Pi CM4-based DIN Rail industrial gateway and edge IoT controller designed by Seeed Studio. The company mentions that the R1025-10 is the first module in the reComputer R1000 series and it’s equipped with 4GB RAM and 32GB of eMMC version of the CM4 module. That simply means the company will launch Edge IoT controllers in the series which will host different variants of the CM4 module.

The R1025-10 gateway is features rich and includes two Ethernet interfaces, three isolated RS485 interfaces, and a variety of optional wireless modules including 4G, LoRa, Zigbee, or Wi-Fi/BLE. Other features include an HDMI port, two USB Type-A ports, and a USB Type-C 2.0 port.

Previously we have covered many Din Rail IoT gateways like the IOT-DIN-IMX8PLUSCytron IRIV PiControl, the Robustel EG5101 and EG5200 and many others feel free to check those out if you are looking for similar products.

Seeed Studio reComputer R1025 industrial IoT gateway

reComputer R1025-10 IoT gateway specifications:

  • SoM  Raspberry Pi CM4
    • SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz
    • Memory – 4GB DDR4 (1GB/2GB/4GB/8GB options for R1000 series)
    • Storage  – 32GB eMMC storage (8GB/16GB/32GB options for the R1000 series)
    • Optional wireless module
  • Storage – M.2 slot for M.2 NVMe SSD
  • Video Output – 1 x HDMI 2.0 4Kp60
  •  Networking
    • Wired
      • Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port with optional PoE
      • 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port (IEEE802.3/802.3u)
    • Wi-Fi 2.4/5.0 GHz on-chip Wi-Fi (optional)
    • BLE 5.0 on-chip BLE (optional)
    • LoRa: USB LoRa/SPI LoRa (optional)
    • Cellular: 4G LTE (optional)
    • Zigbee: USB Zigbee (optional)
  • USB
    • 2 x USB-A 2.0 host
    • 1 x USB-C 2.0 for flashing OS
  • Encryption – TPM 2.0 via ATECC608A chip (optional)
  • Additional Features
    • Hardware Watchdog – 1~255s
    • High Accuracy RTC
    • 1 x Buzzer
    • 6 x LED indicators
    • Reset Button
    • SuperCAP UPS LTC3350 Module (optional)
  • Powering options
    • Input – 2-pin Terminal Block
    • Supply Voltage: 12 – 24V AC / 9 – 36V DC
    • PoE (as powered device): IEEE 802.3af Standard 12.95W PoE
    • Power Consumption: Idle: 2.88W; Full Load: 5.52W
  • EMC Standards
    • ESD – EN61000-4-2, Level 3
    • EFT – EN61000-4-4, Level 2
    • Surge – EN61000-4-5, Level 2
  • Environmental specifications
    • Ingress Protection – IP40
    • Operating Temperature: -30~70°C
    • Operating Humidity – 10~95% RH
    • Storage Temperature: -40~80°C
  • Certifications – CE, FCC, TELEC, RoHS
  • Production Lifetime – Until December 2030
  • Dimensions – 130 x 93 x 45 mm

reComputer R1000 Top and Bottom View with Specifications

The company mentions that the body of the module is made up of high-impact resistant materials of 6061 aluminum alloy casing with transparent PC side panels to withstand harsh conditions. the device also has vibration and shock resistance standards and exceeds Electrostatic Discharge (ESD), Electrical Fast Transient (EFT), and Surge immunity levels.

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The R1025-10 is a ready-to-deploy Industrial IoT (IIoT) controller with pre-configured firmware, simplifying setup and reducing time to deployment. Additionally, it offers flexible installation options with both wall mount and DIN rail mount compatibility.

The module has support for Modbus UDP/TCP and BACnet protocols, making it suitable for controlling HVAC systems and other subsystems like lighting, sensors, and access control in smart buildings. It also supports Yocto and Buildroot meaning you can customize Linux distribution to run on your device and provide a convenient solution for managing software updates. There is also support for Fleet management tools like Mender for easy device management and deployment. But at the time of writing, the GitHub page does not provide any specific OS image software for this specific gateway.

For more information about the reComputer R1025-10 IoT gateway, please visit the Getting Started guide with a hardware overview, project examples, additional module information, and other helpful resources. The reComputer R1025-10 Edge IoT Controller is currently available for backorder for $209.00 and is expected to ship on May 31, 2024.

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FLIP_C3 ESP32-C3 board takes up to 60V DC input, ships with ESPHome firmware

flip c3 board front

Voidbox FLIP_C3 is an open-source hardware board powered by an ESP32-C3 WiFi & BLE microcontroller that takes up to 60V DC power input feeding a 5V/2A DC-DC step-down converter and flashed with ESPHome firmware by default for Home Assistant support.

flip c3 board front

The board incorporates a push-in spring release connector which means stranded (ferrules or tinning are suggested) and solid wires can be used in deploying the device in off-grid/battery-powered systems with up to 16s LiFePO4 delivering 48V through the 6-60V input port on the ESP32-C3 board. The onboard WS2812B LED can be used as a null pixel/level shifter for longer strings of addressable pixels.

The ESP32-C3 – due to its support for Wi-Fi and BLE connectivity – is a popular SoC for IoT solutions and powers home and industrial automation devices such as NanoCell v2.1, Spark Analyzer, LOLIN C3 Pico, and the LILYGO T-RSC3.

It is built for home automation applications and comes with ESPHome preloaded for easy integration with Home Assistant. However, it is easy to install other firmware such as Tasmota and WLED on the device via USB-C and over-the-air updates.

FLIP_C3 specifications:

  • Microcontroller – ESP32-C3 RISC-V MCU @ 160 MHz, with Wi-Fi and BLE 5 connectivity pre-loaded with ESPHome for Home Assistant
  • USB – USB-C for alternative power and programming; reverse current protection from DC input via diode
  • Expansion
    • I2C and UART on JST SH1.0 4-pin connectors compatible with Stemma QT and Qwiic modules
    • 9-pin + 10-pin headers with GPIO, I2C, UART, 5V,. 3.3V, and GND
  • Onboard LEDs
    • WS2812B RGB LED with D-Out sent to L8 on pin header
    • Status LED
  • Buttons – Boot, Reset
  • Onboard 5V/2A buck converter
    • Power – Up to 10W (with cooling)
    • Tolerant up to 50V DC for direct connection
    • 60V absolute max (with pre-charge resistor)
  • Push-in, spring terminal for DC input
    • Solid: 24 – 16 AWG
    • Stranded: 22 – 18 AWG
    • 2x2P 2/54 pass-through power header for stacking

flip c3 pinoutTypical applications of the FLIP_C3 board include:

  • Deploying short runs of addressable LEDs using level-shifted output from WS2182B, and
  • Reading Daly BMS data via UART and using the onboard buck converter to supply power from a 14s Li-ion or 16s LiFePo4 pack.

The board is open-source and hardware files are hosted on OSHWLab. A 3D DIN rail mount can be downloaded from printables.

The FLIP_C3 is available on Amazon and Tindie for $20. More information about the product and other VoidBox projects is available on the Voidbox wiki page.

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Radxa ROCK 5C (Lite) SBC features Rockchip RK3588S2 or RK3582 SoC, WiFi 6, Raspberry Pi PCIe FFC connector

Radxa Rock 5C

First came the ROCK 5B pico-ITX SBC, then the Raspberry Pi 4-sized ROCK 5A board, and now Radxa has launched the Radxa ROCK 5C and 5C Lite single board computers powered by respectively Rockchip RK3588S2 octa-core and RK3582 hexa/octa-core “Lottery” processors.

The ROCK 5C (Lite) design is very similar to the ROCK 5A, but there are some notable differences. First, it replaces the two micro HDMI ports with a single HDMI port, then it removes the Key M socket for M.2 wireless modules to make place for a built-in WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 module plus a Raspberry Pi PCIe FFC connector, and finally, the ROCK 5C does not support an SPI flash module anymore.

Radxa Rock 5C

The specifications of the ROCK 5C and ROCK 5 Lite SBC can be found in the table below.

Model
ROCK 5C
ROCK 5C Lite
SoC
Rockchip RK3588S2
Rockchip RK3582
CPU
Quad-core Cortex-A76 with up to 2.4 GHz
Quad-core Cortex-A55 at up to 1.8GHz
Dual-core Cortex-A76 with up to 2.4 GHz
Quad-core Cortex-A55 at up to 1.8GHz
GPU
Arm Mali‑G610MC4
N/A
NPU
6 TOPS NPU
5 TOPS NPU
RAM
2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB 64-bit LPDDR4x
1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB 64-bit LPDDR4x
Storage
eMMC module connector
microSD Card
No SPI flash
Video Output
HDMI 2.1 up to 8K
MIPI DSI up to 2K
Multimedia
H.265 and VP9 decoder up to 8Kp60
H.264 decoder up to 8Kp30
AV1 decoder up to 4Kp60
H.264 and H.265 encoder up to 8Kp30
H.264 and H.265 encoder up to 4Kp60
Camera
1x4 lane MIPI CSI
Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet with optional PoE
Wireless
WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 with antenna connector
USB
2x USB 2.0 ports
1x USB 3.0 host port
1x USB 3.0 OTG port
Expansion
Raspberry Pi FFC PCIe 2.1 x1 connector
40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header
Power Supply
5V via USB-C port
Dimensions
86 x 56 mm
Radxa ROCK 5C with RK3588S2 SBC
Radxa ROCK 5C with RK3588S2 SBC

Both processors are new, so let’s have a look. First, how does RK3588S2 differ from RK3588S? They are basically the same except the RK3588S2 comes with an additional MIPI CSI interface which is not used in the ROCK 5C. The Rockchip RK3582 is also an RK3588S SoC but with some missing and cut-down features. Why do I call it a “lottery” processor? First, when chips are manufactured they have different capabilities on the wafer, and that’s why Intel has processors with the same die and features but different CPU and GPU frequencies. Some processors that mostly work but miss some features may be discarded impacting the yield. As I understand it that’s what Rockchip did with the RK3582, those are just RK3588S parts that would be previously discarded. That also explains why Radxa says that in some cases RK3582 may get four Cortex-A76 cores and/or a GPU. That’s the RK3582 lottery 🙂

Having said that, all advertised features of the RK3582 will work, and people will get at least a hexa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor, no GPU, a 5 TOP NPU, and a 4K video encoder.  We previously received the Rockchip RK3582 datasheet and the 4K video decoders are listed there. Maybe it was a preliminary datasheet, and those are not guaranteed to work anymore on the RK3582.

RK3582 SBC Raspberry Pi PCIe HAT
Radxa ROCK 5C accessories

The presence of a 40-pin Raspberry Pi header and Raspberry Pi PCIe FFC connector means the ROCK 5C/5C Lite will also work with Raspberry Pi HAT+ including the ones made for the Raspberry Pi 5 such as the Waveshare PCIe to M.2 HAT or the official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+. It’s the second non-Pi single board computer with the 16-pin PCIe connector we’ve seen after the Kaki Pi, but the ROCK 5C will offer better compatibility since the connector is in the same position as the Pi 5. Radxa also made its own accessories with the heatsink 6540B active cooler, a PoE HAT, a few eMMC modules, and 8-inch and 10-inch displays.

Software-wise, Radxa provides the Debian-based Radxa OS and detailed documentation to get started, for low-level development, and for application development. You can also directly access the build script for Radxa OS on GitHub. Android is also being worked on but not available just yet, and I’m sure community-supported images will also be released.

Radxa OS screenshot
Radxa OS

Radxa ROCK 5C Lite sells for $51.53 on Aliexpress with 4GB RAM(Note: the 1GB model would go for $34.35, but it’s out of stock), and the Raxa ROCK 5C starts at $57.11 (2GB) or $68.56 (4GB) on the same page, meaning variants with RK3582 are about $17 cheaper than the ones based on RK3588S. Accessories such as the heatsink, displays, and eMMC modules can also be purchased from the relevant section on the company’s Aliexpress store. Additional information may be found on the product page.

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/e/OS v2 privacy-focused, Google-free Android mobile OS released with improved UI, Android Auto support, etc..

/e/os v2 release

The e Foundation has just announced the release of the /e/OS v2 Android-based Google-free open-source mobile operating system with an improved launcher, support for Android Auto, a “Wall of Shame” to identify the most leaking apps and tracker, QR Code scanning support in the camera app, and more.

Most Android smartphones come with Google services which may be convenient (and help keep Android free), but come at the loss of the users’ privacy. That’s why the e Foundation started offering e/OS over five years ago to offer a privacy-focused version of Android without Google services on specific phones. The project has evolved over the years, over 200 mobile devices are supported officially and unofficially, and Murena, a for-profit company, has also been established to sell e/OS smartphones and cloud services.

/e/os v2 release
/e/os v1 screenshots (could not find any for /e/os v2)

/e/OS v2 highlights and changes:

  • Based on LineageOS 20 with the latest bug fixes and security updates (itself based on Android 13)
  • Upgraded Launcher with live wallpaper support, notifications improvements, and various bug fixes. It also comes with new icons and wallpapers
  • Support for Android Auto. See documentation for details (Note it’s relying on Google Maps)
  • QR code scanning is now available in Camera app
  • Advanced Privacy setting –  Wall of Shame added to the homepage to identify the most leaking apps and trackers; UI improvements
  • Updated to version 1.5 of eDrive for more stability of file synchronization
  • Browser updated to version 123.0.6312.122 from upstream and sensor exposure is reenabled

You’ll find more changes and bug fixes in the release notes. You may also watch the launch video below for more information and some Q&A from viewers.

https://t.co/sCTaxJzJLF

— /e/OS (@e_mydata) May 16, 2024

/e/OS v2 is apparently still using Google Maps (at least for Android Auto) and users can still log in to services with their Google/Gmail account, so here’s what “deGoogled OS” means:

/e/OS is a “deGoogled” version of Android OS. It has an open-source Android OS core, with no Google apps or Google services accessing your personal data.

  • Google default search engine has been removed from the OS everywhere and replaced with our meta-search engine
  • Google Services have been replaced by microG
  • Connectivity checks do not use Google servers
  • We do not use Google’s Network Time Protocol servers
  • We do not use Google’s Domain Name System servers
  • Geo-location uses Mozilla Location Services in addition to GPS.
Murena Fairphone 5 with /e/os v2
Murena Fairphone 5

There are 250 devices currently supported /e/os mobile OS either by the community or with official support (22 devices). So the level of support may differ, and it’s unclear whether all are upgradable to /e/os v2. In most cases, you’ll need to install the mobile OS by ourself, but you can also purchase a Murena smartphone preinstalled with /e/os starting with the Murena One going for 199.99 Euros, and there are other higher-end devices such as the Murena Fairphone 5 available on the same shop. As mentioned in the introduction, Murena also offers a cloud service called “Murena Cloud” that acts as your personal email account, agenda and contacts, cloud drive, and office suite based on NextCloud and OnlyOffice.

Via Liliputing

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ESP32-S3 1.69-inch touch display features 6-axis IMU, RTC, UART, and more

ESP32 S3 1.69 inch Touch Display Development Board with Wi FiBluetooth 5, Accelerometer & Gyroscope

The Waveshare ESP32-S3 1.69-inch touch display is a development board that uses an ESP32-S3 as the main controller. The board features a 240×280 touchscreen LCD that supports 262K colors and is equipped with an accelerometer, gyroscope, RTC, battery management IC, and a USB-C port for programming and power.

Previously we wrote about the Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-1.28 1.28-inch fully rounded LCD screen that is also built around an ESP32-S3 MCU, and we have also recently written about the similar-looking Waveshare 1.69-inch IPS touch LCD with no onboard MCU that is meant to connect to Raspberry Pi, ESP32-S3, Raspberry Pi Pico, Arduino, STM32, and other boards with I2C or SPI interfaces.

ESP32 S3 1.69 inch Touch Display Development Board with Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5, Accelerometer & Gyroscope

ESP32-S3 1.69-inch touch display board specifications:

  • Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8.
    • CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration.
    • Memory – 512KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM
    • ROM – 384KB
    • Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE with support for long-range, up to 2Mbps data rate, mesh network.
  • Storage – 16MB Flash memory (W25Q128JVSIQ).
  • Display
    • 1.69-inch semi-round IPS Touch LCD.
    • Resolution – 240×280 pixels
    • 262K color.
    • Display controller – ST7789V2 display driver and CST816T capacitive touch chip, using SPI and I2C.
  • IMU Parameters
    • Sensor – QMI8658 6-axis IMU.
    • Accelerometer resolution – 16-bit; Range (Optional): ±2, ±4, ±8, ±16g.
    • Gyroscope resolution – 16 bits; Range (Optional) – ±16, ±32, ±64, ±128, ±256, ±512, ±1024, ±2048°/sec.
  • GPIO – 4 x multi-function GPIO with I2C and UART.
  • Power
    • Onboard MX1.25 battery header with ETA6096 lithium battery recharge/discharge management chip.
    • USB Type-C connector for charging and data.
  • Other Features
    • PCF85063 RTC chip with reserved SH1.0 RTC battery header (supports charging)
    • Buzzer
    • Onboard solderable antenna
    • Solderable GPIO, I2C, and UART pads onboard.
    • Supports low power consumption modes.
    • BOOT and RESET buttons.
    • PWR Button with single-press, double-press, multi-press, and long-press operations.

ESP32 S3 1.69 inch Touch Display Development Board Specifications

The WaveshareESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-1.69 development board is compatible with CircuitPython and MicroPython, as well as C/C++ programming using Arduino and ESP-IDF. Users can easily download the MicroPython firmware and find additional resources on the Waveshare Wiki page to get started.

 

ESP32 S3 1.69 inch Touch Display Development Board Dimension

The Waveshare ESP32-S3 1.69-inch touch display development board is available on Amazon for $30.99 with shipping included, at least to the US. Alternatively, the development board can be purchased on Aliexpress for $26.50 excluding shipping, or directly on the Waveshare store for $21.99 plus shipping.

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SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra (ZBBridge-U) Zigbee 3.0 gateway and Matter Bridge supports up to 256 sub-devices

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra (ZBBridge-U)

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra, also known as ZBBridge-U, is a Zigbee 3.0 gateway and Matter Bridge powered by a 1.5 GHz Rockchip RV1109 dual-core processor and equipped with Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 multiprotocol SoC.

The gateway also offers WiFi and Ethernet connectivity and supports up to 256 Zigbee 3.0 sub-devices improving on the 128 sub-devices supported by the earlier SONOFF ZBBridge-P (ESP32+CC2652P) that also lacks Matter support. The new ZBBridge-U gateway further implements a Turbo mode increasing the line-of-sight range to up to 200 meters.

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra (ZBBridge-U)

SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra (ZBBridge-U) specifications:

  • SoC – Rockchip RV1109 dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz with RISC-V MCU @ 400 MHz, 2D graphics engine, 1.2 TOPS NPU, 5MP H.264 and H.265 hardware video decoder and encoder
  • System Memory – 1GB DDR4
  • Storage – 8GB eMMC flash for the OS
  • Connectivity
    • 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port
    • 2.4GHz WiFi 4
    • Zigbee 3.0 via Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 SoC with up to 200 meters range with Turbo mode
    • Acts as a Zigbee to Matter Bridge
  • Misc
    • Button
      • Press and hold for 3 seconds: enters pairing mode (for up to 30 minutes)
      • Press and hold for 10 seconds: Factory Reset
      • Single press button: Exit pairing mode or cancel alarm
    • Tri-color LED
  • Power Supply – 5V/1A via USB Type-C port
  • Dimensions – 82 x 82 x 28 mm (PC+ABS plastic enclosure)
  • Weight – 92.5 grams
  • Temperature Range – -10 to +40°C
  • Humidity – 5% to 95% RH, non-condensing
  • Certifications – CE/FCC/ISED/RoHS
  • Safety Standard – EN 62368-1

Based on the specifications alone, the ZBBridge-U looks like a cost-down SONOFF iHost hub without audio, a micro SD card, a USB Type-A port, and fancy RGB LEDs. The company confirmed with us the system primarily caters to users within the eWelink ecosystem and SONOFF products. It doesn’t support Zigbee devices from other manufacturers right now (I suppose except those that are Matter compatible) and there’s nothing about Home Assistant integration.

SONOFF ZBBridge-U supported devices

What users can do is keep the Zigbee Bridge Ultra and their Matter hub in the same LAN with SONOFF Zigbee sub-devices such as SNZB-06P human presence sensor, ZBMINIL2 Zigbee switch, S26R2ZB smart plug, SNZB-03P Zigbee motion sensor, etc… synchronizing with Matter-compatible hubs supporting Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, or SmartThings. SONOFF also explains the gateway can be used as an alarm where the user sets a scene triggered by an NFC tap, a wireless button, or an app remote control. When an event is triggered, you will hear a beep and receive a notification push. The user manual has more information.

Switching from an ESP32 device to a Linux-capable bridge (plus Matter certification) does add to the cost, as while the previous generation SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Pro now goes for $19.90, the new SONOFF Zigbee Bridge Ultra sells for $59.90. As usual, you can lower the price by using CNXSOFTSONOFF coupon to get a 10% discount on any order on the ITEAD website or use the Zigbee15 coupon code for a 15% discount on Zigbee products for a limited time.

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HackBat – DIY open-source hardware Flipper Zero alternative features Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, ESP8266 WiFi module, RF transceiver…

HackBat DIY open source pentesting device

HackBat is an open-source hardware pen-testing device designed for hackers and makers and equipped with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller, an ESP8266 WiFi module, a sub-GHz RF transceiver, NFC, an OLED display, and more… It’s basically a DIY alternative to the popular Flipper Zero wireless hacking tool, that you can produce and assemble yourself.

The Flipper Zero was the victim of its own success with the Canadian government (wrongly) claiming it could easily be used for car theft and planning to ban it (status still unclear right now),  so Flipper Zero alternatives such as the M1 multitool device got some traction as backup solutions with some extra features. But any closed-source device could eventually be banned, something that’s close to impossible for an open-source hardware device like the HackBat although policymakers could still decide to impose heavy fines if they wanted to make this type of device illegal…

HackBat DIY open source pentesting device

HackBat key features and specifications:

  • Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0 processor at 133MHz and 264kB RAM.
  • Storage
    • 4MB (32Mbit) flash by default
    • MicroSD card slot
  • Display – 0.96-inch OLED with 128×64 resolution connected (SH110X driver); note: OLED with SSD1306 are also supported but the VCC and GND pins are reversed and two 0 Ohm resistors need to be soldered
  • Wireless
    • Texas instruments CC1101 sub-1 GHz transceiver with coil antenna (and optional SMA antenna connector) supporting 315, 433, 868, and 915 MHz bands as well as the 300-348 MHz, 387-464 MHz and 779-928 MHz bands
    • ESP-12F ESP8266 module connected over UART to RP2040 and programmable through the RP2040 used as USB-UART bridge.
    • NXP PN532 NFC module at 13.56MHz
  • USB – 1x micro USB port for power, programming (RP2040 and ESP8266), and keyboard emulation
  • User control – 5-key D-Pad
  • Misc – 2x user LEDs, two extra system buttons
  • Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port
  • Dimensions – 100 x 42 mm
Hackbat NFC module micro SD card WiFi module
Bottom side of the HackBat board with an NFC module, a microSD card slot, and an ESP12-F module

You’ll find the KiCad hardware design files including schematics, PCB layout, BoM, and Gerbers along with some documentation on GitHub, and as well as on Hackster.io. Since the HackBat is not for sale, you’d have to manufacture the PCB and do some soldering, or order the PCBA directly. If you’ve never done that, we reported our experience ordering PCBAs for another open-source hardware board using NextPCB a few years ago. It’s feasible, but you’ve never done that it will require some effort, even though the PCB design part is already done…

The other part of this DIY project would be the firmware, because Pablo Trujillo, the maker of the board, has yet to share any firmware, so unless things change, you’d also have to write your own RP2040 firmware to play with the HackBat. Luckily, it’s mostly based on off-the-shelf parts with available Arduino libraries which should somewhat simply the programming part.

Via ZDNET

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Easily build a robot car with the Car Base Board for the STM32F411 “Black Pill” board

Car Base Board Mounted PCB chassis

The Car Base Board from Applying Microcontroller Solutions is a modular platform for building robot car projects powered by the WeAct Studio Black Pill development board. The Black Pill board is an upgrade to the “Blue Pill 2” board and features the STM32F411CEU6 microcontroller running at 100MHz with 512 KB of flash memory, 128 KB SRAM, and a USB Type-C port for power and programming.

Car Base Board

The Care Base Board printed circuit board is a base controller that takes hardware expansions such as wireless modules, servos, and sensors to monitor and control a robot car. The onboard headers provide a straightforward way to wire these connections and help prevent a tangled mess (rat’s nest) of wires.

The PCB’s design makes it easy to use widely-available, “generic” devices and boards in development and to power all of them with batteries. It also allows the developer to select their favorite wireless communication device. The Car Base Board adds another option to robotics development platforms we have previously covered such as M5Stack BugC2, EVN Alpha, and the Qualcomm RB5 platform.

Applying Microcontroller Solutions Car Base Board specifications:

  • Supported MCU board – Weact Black Pill board based on STM32F411 Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 100 MHz with 512KB on-chip flash, 128KB on-chip SRAM, and 8 MB or 16 MB Flash (important since the flash is not present on all versions of the Black Bill)
  • Motor Control
    • 6-pin connector for dual motor control
    • PCA9685 Servo Driver connector (6V servos)
    • 2x 3-pin Servo connector (5V servos)
  • Monitors/Sensor for obstacle avoidance
    • Ultrasonic (SR-HC04/05)
    • 2x infrared slotted optical speed sensor
    • 3x infrared obstacle sensor/tracker
  • Communication
    • Infrared Receiver (IR1838)
    • 6-pin UART port for connecting a Bluetooth module
    • NRF24 for 2.4GHz communication
  • Display – I2C port for OLED display
  • Power
    • 4.5 – 5.0V USB power from desktop computer via USB-C connector on Black Pill (3.3V power to Car Base Board)
    • Battery power from an external source via onboard Phoenix connector (5V to several headers via 5V regulator)

The Black Pill development can be programmed in STM32 C, Arduino, or MicroPython. Working MicroPython examples for different devices are available in the Base Board’s Github repository.

Car Base Board Mounted PCB chassis
Car Base board mounted on Ackermann robot car chassis ($69 on Amazon)

The Car Base Board is available for $14 on Tindie. Do note that the board is just the base controller, and you will need to acquire the STM32 BlackPill, vehicle chassis, modules, ribbon cables, battery, and other components yourself. The seller mentions that they may offer “an add-on product containing the devices, wiring, and chassis” if sufficient interest is indicated. More information is available in the GitHub repository.

Car base board power wiring diagram
Wiring diagram

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MemryX MX3 edge AI accelerator delivers up to 5 TOPS, is offered in die, package, and M.2 and mPCIe modules

MemryX MX3 EVB

Jean-Luc noted the MemryX MX3 edge AI accelerator module while covering the DeGirum ORCA M.2 and USB Edge AI accelerators last month, so today, we’ll have a look at this AI chip and corresponding modules that run computer vision neural networks using common frameworks such as TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, ONNX, PyTorch, and Keras.

MemryX MX3 Specifications

MemryX hasn’t disclosed much performance stats about this chip. All we know is it offers more than 5 TFLOPs. The listed specifications include:

  • Bfloat16 activations
  • Batch = 1
  • Weights: 4, 8, and 16-bit
  • ~10M parameters stored on-die
  • Host interfaces – PCIe Gen 3 I/O and/or USB 2.0/3.x
  • Power consumption – ~1.0W
  • 1-click compilation for the MX-SDK when mapping neural networks that have multiple layers

Under the hood, the MX3 features MemryX Compute Engines (MCE) which are tightly coupled with at-memory computing. This design creates a native, proprietary dataflow architecture that utilizes up to 70% of the chip with just one click compared to 15-30% on traditional CPUs, GPUs, and DSPs that use legacy instruction sets and control-flow architectures after software tuning.

 

MemryX MX3 internal design
MemryX MX3 internal design

Form Factor

Form-factor-wise, this edge AI processor is offered either as a bare die, a single-die package, or in modules (mini PCIe or M.2) with one or more MemryX MX3 chips.

MX3 Form Factors

MemryX MX3 quad chip M2 module
M.2 module with four MemryX MX3 chips – Source: Mark Hachman, PCWorld

MemryX MX3 EVB

The MX3 EVB (Evaluation Board) is a PCBA with four MX3 chips, and you can cascade multiple EVB boards using a single interface to provide the required inferencing power. Each of these four chips has a single-die package.

The MX3 EVB

MX3 SDK

The MX SDK helps in simulating and deploying the trained AI models. MemryX builds its products to:

  • Provide real-world performance per watt
  • Run models trained on any popular framework without requiring software changes or retraining
  • Provide high scalability and granularity
  • Run AI models equally as well on every host processor regardless of the system load
  • Provide the same 1-click SDK (compilation software)

This SDK’s developer hub consists of a compiler (for graph processing, mapping, and assembling), utility tools (a bit-accurate simulator, performance analyzer, profiler, chip helper tools, and template applications), and a runtime environment with APIs, OS drivers, and a dataflow runtime.

MX3 SDK Chart
MX3-SDK architecture

You can use the MX3 EVB with Edge Impulse deployments after installing dependencies like Python 3.8+, MemryX tools and drivers, and Edge Impulse (for Linux). Next, connect the board to Edge Impulse, then verify it is connected by going to your projects and clicking “devices”.

MemryX MX3 demo

While the company hasn’t provided much detail about the chip’s performance, they did upload a video demo using the virtual camera input of AirSim – a software that creates datasets for autonomous driving and flying – comparing a computer fitted to an MX3 M.2 module to one equipped with NVIDIA 4060 GPU.

Latency was very low while running on the MX3 module, but increased drastically when switching over to the NVIDIA 4060 GPU, and the loud noise from the cooling fans was clearly noticeable.

More details may be found on the company’s website.

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52Pi W01 U2500 HAT adds 2.5GbE and NVMe SSD support to Raspberry Pi 5 SBC

52Pi W01 U2500 USB 2.5G Ethernet+NVME HAT for Pi5

Designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC, the 52Pi W01 U2500 HAT offers support for M.2 M-key NVMe SSDs (2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280) along with a 2.5GbE (2.5 Gbps Ethernet port) using a Realtek RTL8156BG chipset.

The most interesting thing about this board is its connectivity – the M.2 SSD is driven directly by the Raspberry Pi’s PCIe port that supports Gen2 & Gen3 standards. However, the 2.5Gbps Ethernet port requires a connection to one of the Pi’s USB ports using a specialized USB-to-USB adapter included by 52Pi.

Previously, we have seen 52Pi come up with very innovative and interesting HATs for Raspberry Pi including 52Pi P02 PCIe expansion board, 52Pi NVdigi Expansion Board, 52Pi CM4 Router Board, and many other products. If you want to try something new with your Raspberry Pi, feel free to check those out.

52Pi W01 U2500 USB 2.5GbE + NVMe HAT for Raspberry Pi 5

52Pi W01 U2500 2.5Gbps Ethernet + NVMe HAT specifications:

  • Compatibility – Made for Raspberry Pi 5.
  • NVMe SSD support – Supports M-key NVMe SSDs in sizes 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280
  • Networking – 2.5Gbps Ethernet with Realtek RTL8156BG chipset (externally connects to the Pi via USB adapter)
  • Host interfaces – Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe FFC connector (30mm FFC cable provided) up to PCIe Gen2 or Gen3 x1 speeds and 40-pin GPIO header
  • Misc – LED indicator for M.2 disk activity.
  • Power Management
    • Voltage regulator 3A on the 3.3V rail, compliant with M.2 standard.
    • Requirements
      • USB 2.5Gbps Ethernet: +5V, 650mA
      • NVMe SSD – Power consumption depends on the SSD used.
  • Dimensions – 85 x 56 x 15.15mm

52Pi Ethernet+NVMe HAT EP-0228 Specifications

The device is plug-and-play, so you just need to connect the power and it’ll work as intended. 52Pi also mentions the hollow design enables excellent ventilation and cooling, ensuring optimal performance. You can check out their wiki page for further information about the HAT.

52Pi W01 U2500 Package Content
W01 U2500 kit content

The package includes everything you need to attach the HAT to your Raspberry Pi 5. Inside, you’ll find the W01 U2500 USB 2.5Gbps Ethernet + NVMe HAT, eight M2.5x4mm flat head screws, two 8.5x40mm PCIe FFC cables, a 40-pin PC104 pin header, four M2.5x17mm copper pillars, an M2 iron pillar for securing your SSD, and a handy screwdriver.

The 52Pi W01 U2500 2.5GbE + NVMe HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 is priced at $29.99 on Amazon under the GeekPi brand, as well as on Aliexpress ($27.45), and the 52Pi online store.

52Pi 2.5GbE+NVMe HAT installation steps
Installation steps

Via Hackster.io

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NXP i.MX 95 SMARC 2.1 system-on-modules – ADLINK LEC-IMX95 and iWave iW-RainboW-G61M

SMARC 2.1 development board NXP i.MX95

Several companies have unveiled SMARC 2.1 compliant system-on-modules powered by the NXP i.MX 95 AI SoC, and today we’ll look at the ADLINK LEC-IMX95 and iWave Systems iW-RainboW-G61M and related development/evaluation kits.

The NXP i.MX 95 SoC was first unveiled at CES 2023 with up to six Cortex-A55 application cores, a Cortex-M33 real-time core, and a low-power Cortex-M7 core, as well as an eIQ Neutron NPU for machine learning applications. Since then a few companies have unveiled evaluation kits and system-on-modules such as the Toradex Titan evaluation kit or the Variscite DART-MX95 SoM, but none of those were compliant with a SoM standard, but at least two SMARC 2.1 system-on-modules equipped with the NXP i.MX 95 processor have been introduced.

ADLINK LEC-IMX95

ADLINK LEC-IMX95 SMARC 2.1 i.MX 95 system-on-module

Specifications:

  • SoC – NXP i.MX 95
    • CPU
      • Up to 6x Arm Cortex-A55 application cores clocked at 2.0 GHz with 32K I-cache and D-cache, 64KB L2 cache, and 512KB L3 cache
      • 1x Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core clocked at 800 MHz
      • 1x Arm Cortex-M33 safety core clocked at 333 MHz
    • GPU – Arm Mali-G310 V2 GPU for 2D/3D acceleration with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, OpenCL 3.0
    • VPU
      • 4Kp30 H.265 and H.264 encode and decode
      • JPEG Encoder, JPEG Decoder
    • AI Accelerator – NXP eIQ Neutron 2 TOPS neural processing unit (NPU) with 750 inf/sec
  • System Memory – 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR5
  • Storage – 32GB, 64GB,128GB, or 256GB eMMC flash
  • Networking
    • 2x RealTek RTL8211 GbE transceivers
    • Wireless (BoM option)
      • Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac/a/b/g/n 2X2 MIMO
      • Bluetooth 5.0 compliant with Bluetooth 2.1+Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)
  • 314-pin MXM edge connector
    • Storage – SDIO (4-bit) compatible with SD/SDIO standard, up to version 3.0
    • Display interfaces
      • HDMI 2.0a (BoM option)
      • 4-lane MIPI DSI
      • 18/24 bit dual-channel LVDS
    • Camera – 4-lane MIPI CSI
    • Audio – 2x I2S or SWD audio codec located on carrier board; audio resolution from 16-bit to 32-bit and sample rate up to 192KHz
    • Networking
      • 2x Gigabit Ethernet with Time Sensitive Networking (TSN)
      • 10 Gbps Ethernet with TSN
    • USB – 2x USB 3.0, 3x USB 2.0, 1x USB 2.0 OTG
    • PCIe – 2x PCIe x1 Gen3
    • Other peripheral interfaces
      • 4x UART interfaces SER1,2 (CTS/RTS) / SER0,3 (TX/RX/CTS/RTS)
      • 2x CAN2.0B only or mixed CAN2.0B and CAN FD mode, data bit rate up to 8 Mbps
      • 2x SPI
      • 4x I2C interfaces up to 1 Mbit/s in Fast-mode Plus
      • 14x GPIO with interrupt, one GPIO with PWM
  • Security
    • Multiple key storage and user support
    • Key Type: AES-128/192/256, ECC 256/384
    • Key Import/Creation/Derivation/Update/Deletion
    • SCA-hardened Asymmetric Public Key Cryptography – RSA up to 4096; Elliptic Curve up to P-512 w/NIST curves; Brainpool P-512, P-384
    • SCA-hardened Symmetric Cryptography -AES-128/192/256 Modes: GCM, ECB, CBC, CTR, CCM, XCBC-MAC, KTS (256)
  • SEMA Board Controller – Voltage/Current monitoring, Power Sequencing, Logistics and Forensic Information, I²C Bus Control, GPIO Control, Watchdog Timer
  • Debug Header – 30-pin multipurpose flat cable connector for use with optional DB-30 debug module; provides JTAG, UART, power testpoints; diagnostic LEDs, Power, Reset, Boot configuration
  • Supply Voltage – 5VDC +/- 5%
  • PMIC – PF0900, PF5301, PF5302
  • Dimensions – 82 x 50 mm (SGET SMARC Specifications 2.1 form factor)
  • Temperature Range – Standard: 0°C to 60°C; rugged: -40°C to 85°C
  • Humidity
    • Operating – 5-90% RH, non-condensing
    • Storage – 5-95% RH (and operating with conformal coating)
  • Shock and Vibration
    • EC 60068-2-64 and IEC-60068-2-27
    • MIL-STD-202F, Method 213B, Table 213-I, Condition A and Method 214A, Table 214-I, Condition D
  • HALT – Thermal Stress, Vibration Stress, Thermal Shock and Combined Test

LEC-iMX95 SMARC 2.1 SoM block diagram

The company provides standard support for Yocto Linux and Android, but extended support is also available for VxWorks. ADLINK will also offer the i-Pi SMARC iMX95 evaluation board with an I-Pi SMARC Plus carrier, an LEC-IMX95 SMARC module with NXP i.M95 and 4GB soldered LPDDR5 memory and 32GB eMMC, a 19V DC USB-C power adapter, and a micro USB cable. We have limited details about it but it will look like the I-Pi SMARC 1200 we’ve previously reviewed, just with a different system-on-module.

I-Pi SMARC 1200
I-Pi SMARC 1200

All information is preliminary at this stage, and you can find more details on the product page for the NXP i.MX 95 SMARC 2.1 module as well as on the i-Pi website for the evaluation kit.

iWave iW-RainboW-G61M

iW-RainboW-G61M NXP i.MX 95 SMARC SOM

iW-RainboW-G61M key features and specifications:

  • SoC – NXP i.MX 95 as described above
  • System Memory – 16GB LPDDR5
  • Storage – 16GB eMMC Flash and 16Mbit QSPI Flash
  • Wireless – Wi-Fi 6 & Bluetooth  5.3 connectivity
  • 314-pin MXM edge connector
    • Storage – 4-bit SD
    • Display Interfaces – 2x LVDS, 1x HDMI
    • Camera – 4-lane MIPI CSI, 2-lane MIPI CSI
    • Audio – 2x I2S
    • Networking
      • 2x Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
      • 1x SerDes (10Gbps)
    • USB – 4x USB 2.0 Host, 1x USB 3.0 OTG
    • PCIe – 2x PCIe 3.0 x1
    • Other peripherals – 2x CAN, 3x I2C, 2x SPI, 2x UART with CTS & RTS, 1x UART without CTS & RTS, 14x GPIOs
    • Debug UART
  • Power Input – 5V/ 2.5A through SMARC Edge Connector
  • Dimensions – 82 x 50mm (SMARC v2.1.1 Standard)
  • Temperature Range – -40°C to +85°C
  • Environmental certifications – REACH & RoHS3 Compliant

Software support is somewhat confusing as iWave Systems lists both a Linux 6.6 BSP and support for Linux 6.1.55… The company also provides an evaluation kit with access to all features from the SMARC system-on-module

 

SMARC 2.1 development board NXP i.MX 95

Evaluation Kit main features:

  • Storage – SD card slot
  • Video Output – HDMI Type-A connector, 20-pin LVDS connector
  • Camera I/F – MIPI CSI camera connector
  • Audio – 2x Audio In & Out Jack through I2S codec
  • Networking – 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 jacks
  • USB
    • 2x USB 2.0 Host Type-A ports
    • 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type microAB port
    • 1x USB 3.0 Host Type-A port
    • 1x USB 3.0 Type-C OTG port
  • 2x CAN header
  • Expansion
    • 1x PCIe slot
    • M.2 KEY-B PCIe socket
    • GPIO headers
  • Power Supply – 12V/2A via DC jack
  • Dimensions – 120x120mm (Nano-ITX motherboard)
NXP i.MX 95 SMARC Development Kit Block Diagram
i.MX 95 SMARC Development Kit Block Diagram

iWave Systems provides various enclosure and cooling solutions for the evaluation kit. More details about the SoM and devkit can be found on the product page.

We haven’t talked about pricing and availability yet. That’s because while NXP likely started offering i.MX95 processor samples to customers at the end of last year, the company is now expecting mass production to start in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025. I also noticed two other upcoming NXP i.MX95 SMARC modules, namely the Advantech ROM-5820 and Avnet SM2S-IMX95, so there will be plenty of options in due time.

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Blaustahl USB storage device features 8KB FRAM with up to 200 years of data retention

Blaustahl USB FRAM drive

Machdyne’s Blaustahl is a USB storage device equipped with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU and 8KB of FRAM with a potential lifespan of over 200 years and designed for long-term storage of text up to about 8,000 characters.

FRAM (Ferroelectric RAM) has been around for years delivering ultra-low power consumption, faster writes, and ultra-long write endurance (one million billion read/write cycles) compared to EEPROM or NOR flash, but the cost is quite higher and it’s mostly used in applications that require ultra-low power consumption and non-volatile storage write capabilities such as data logging, sensor networks, batteryless applications. The Blaustahl storage device and USB text editor is one of those.

Blaustahl USB FRAM drive
Blaustahl bare board (top) and housed in an enclosure (bottom)

Blaustahl speciications:

  • Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0 processor at 133MHz and 264kB RAM.
  • Storage
    • 4MB (32Mbit) NOR flash for firmware
    • 8KB (64Kbit) FRAM (Fujitsu MB85RS64)
      • Lifespan – 95 years @ +55°C, over 200 years @ +35°C
      • Endurance – 10^12 read/write cycles @ +85°C
      • Supports FRAM write protection via solder jumper
  • USB – 1x USB Type-A male port; USB-CDC interface requires no additional drivers on most OSes
  • Misc – Blue LED
  • Security – Encryption coming soon in updated firmware
  • Dimensions – Board: 30 x 16mm
  • Blue 3D-printed PLA case
USB text editor
USB text editor

The Blaustahl USB FRAM device runs a built-in text editor accessible through a serial communication program with VT100 emulation support such as PuTTY, Tera Term, Minicom, screen, etc… You’ll find the RP2040 firmware (code and binary), schematics (PDF), and SCAD file for the enclosure on GitHub. Potential applications include password storage, cryptocurrency private key/ seed phrase storage, note/list storage, geocaching, and time capsules, or users could simply use it as a small FRAM development board.

I also wondered how FRAM would compare to other storage solutions. We’ve already seen the Futjisu FRAM can last up to 200 years (if we stay within the huge read/write cycle limit) at 35°C, while a NOR flash is limited to up to 20 years at 55°C according to Infineon, and NAND flash is supposed to last 16 to 20 years in the same conditions according to data from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. EEPROM looks better with a 100 to 200 years data retention at 55°C, but with longer write times and significantly fewer write cycles than FRAM. All those will also depend on read/cycle cycles and other conditions like humidity levels. We also have to consider the complete device as if the RP2040 stops working after 30 years or the USB port becomes rusty to the point of being unusable, it does not matter that much to have a long-lasting FRAM chip although physical recovering methods (e.g. unsoldering) might still be possible.

Machdyne sells the Blaustahl USB FRAM storage device for 29.95 Euros and ships from Germany.

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GEEKOM A8 (AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS) AI mini PC review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM A8 review Windows 11 Pro

GEEKOM A8 is an AI mini PC based on the powerful AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS (or Ryzen 7 8845HS) AI processor with AMD Radeon 780M Graphics, up to 64GB DDR5 memory, up to 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD support for up to four display up to 8K resolution, and comes preloaded with Windows 11 Pro operating system.

The mini PC is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, two USB-C ports with DisplayPort Alt mode, 4x USB 3.2 Type-A ports, 2.5GbE, a WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 module, and a stereo headset jack. GEEKOM sent us a sample of the A8 Mini PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS 8-core/16-thread processor, 32GB DDR5, and a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD with Windows 11 Pro for review this time. We’ll start by listing some specifications, doing an unboxing, going through a teardown, and booting Windows 11. In the second and third parts of the review, we will test the performance and features on Windows 11 and Ubuntu 24.04 respectively.

GEEKOM A8 AI mini PC review

GEEKOM A8 specifications

  • SoC (one or the other)
    • AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS
      • CPU – 8-core/16-thread processor up to 4.0GHz / 5.2 GHz (Turbo)
      • Cache – 16MB
      • GPU – AMD Radeon 780M Graphics
      • AI – NPU performance: 16 TOPS, total: 39 TOPS
      • TDP: 45W
    • AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS
      • CPU – 8-core/16-thread processor up to 3.8GHz / 5.1 (Turbo)
      • Cache – 16MB
      • GPU – AMD Radeon 780M Graphics
      • AI – NPU performance: 16 TOPS, total: 38 TOPS
      • TDP: 45W
  • System Memory – Dual-channel DDR5-5600 SODIMM, up to 64GB
  • Storage
    • M.2 2280 SSD socket (PCIe Gen4 x4 up to 2TB or SATA III up to 1TB)
    • Full-size SD card reader
  • Video Output
    • 2x HDMI 2.0 ports
    • USB4 and USB 3.2 Type-C ports with DisplayPort Alt mode
    • Up to 4x independent displays
  • Audio – 3.5mm stereo headset jack; digital audio output via HDMI and USB-C
  • Networking
    • 2.5GbE RJ45 port via RealTek RTL8125BG-CG controller
    • WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
  • USB
    • 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
    • 1x USB4 Type-C port with DisplayPort Alt mode, USB PD support
    • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with DisplayPort Alt mode, USB PD support
    • 1x USB 2.0 Type-A port
  • Misc – Power button
  • Power Supply – 19V power supply adapter (120W) with geo-specific AC cord (IEC C5)
  • Dimensions – 112 x 112 x 37 mm

The GEEKOM A8 is also one of the first mini PCs from the company to implement “IceFlow 1.5 Technology” which should deliver better cooling performance than in earlier models such as the GEEKOM A7 mini PC and consists of a CPU cooling fan, a large sink, dual heat pipes, and thermal grease. As with all other GEEKOM mini PCs so far, the A8 ships with Windows 11 Pro.

GEEKOM A8 unboxing

The GEEKOM A8 mini PC ships in a retail package with a new design (previous models used to ship in a mostly black box).

GEEKOM A8 package

You may want to double-check the basic specifications on the bottom of the package to make sure you received the model you ordered. In our case, we received an A8 mini PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory, and a 2TB M.2 SSD as expected.

GEEKOM package AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS mini PC specifications

The package includes the A8 mini PC itself, a 19V/6.32A (120W) power supply, a power cord, an HDMI Cable, a VESA mount with a screw set, a user guide, and a Thank You card.

GEEKOM A8 mini PC unboxing accessories power supply

The front panel features two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 ports including one with power deliver, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a power button.

GEEKOM A8 mini PC front panel

The rear panel includes a 19V DC jack, two HDMI 2.0 ports, a 40 Gbps USB4 port with DisplayPort Alt mode, another 10 Gbps USB-C port with DisplayPort Alt Mode, a 2.5GbE RJ45 port, another 10Gbps USB 3.2 Type-A port, and a USB 2.0 port. We’ll also find some ventilation holes at the top.

GEEKOM A8 mini PC rear panel

One side comes with a full-size SD card reader and more ventilation holes. There’s nothing on the remaining side, except for more ventilation holes.

mini PC ventilation holes full size SD card reader

Teardown

GEEKOM mini PCs used to be designed to be opened easily with large screws and easy access to the memory, M.2 SSD, and wireless module. Their new designs since the A7 can still be opened to change RAM, storage, or wireless, but it’s a little more cumbersome, and damage can potentially occur doing so…

GEEKOM A8 mini PC bottom

Opening the GEEKOM A8 requires used to remove four sticky rubber pads before accessing the screws, but the bottom cover would not come that easily. Finally, we found out that squeezing the sides would make a small opening and we could take out the bottom cover. Note you need to be extra careful here because one of the antennas is connected to the cover.

GEEKOM A8 mini PC teardown

But we can’t access the mainboard just yet, and we need to remove four more screws to lift a metal plate and get access to the top of the motherboard with the memory and SSD sockets.

AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS motherboard

Our GEEKOM A8 comes with two 16GB Crucial CT16G56C46S5 DDR5-5600 (1.2V) memory sticks, an ACER N7000CN-2TB SSD, and the same Azurewave AW-XB591NF WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 module found in the A7 and XT12 Pro that work fine in Windows 11, but sadly I can already claim with 99.99% certainty that Bluetooth won’t work in Linux.

GEEKOM A8 motherboard AW-XB591NF WiFi 6E module

We can also see unpopulated M.2 2242 socket and SATA connector, as well as GL3590 USB 3.1 Gen 2 hub controller on the mainboard. I previously mentioned you had to be cautious when opening the device, and we were not careful enough since you’ll notice the wire to the “MAIN” antenna is broken and we’ll have to have that fixed although WiFi is still working.

First boot to Windows 11

We’ve then connected the GEEKOM A8 mini PC to HUION Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) drawing tablet through a USB-C cable and an RF dongle for a wireless keyboard and mouse combo, before inserting the power supply cord and pressing the power button to boot the system.

GEEKOM A8 review Windows 11 Pro

We went through the usual Windows 11 setup wizard and soon reached the Windows desktop with a working WiFi connection despite missing one of the antennas.

GEEKOM A8 Ryzen 9 8945HS Windows 11 System About

Going to System->About we can confirm we have an A8 mini PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor @ 4.0 GHz (base frequency) with AMD Radeon 780M Graphics, and 32GB RAM running the latest version of Windows 11 Pro 23H2.

After installing a new WiFi antenna, we will be reviewing Windows 11 Pro in detail in the second part of the review, and then test Ubuntu 24.04 to see how the GEEKOM A8 performs in Linux in the third part.

We’d like to thank GEEKOM for sending us the A8 mini PC for review with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB DDR5, and a 2 TB SSD. The model reviewed here can be pre-ordered on the GEEKOM store for $899, and the Ryzen 7 8845HS model with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD goes for $749 on the same page with shipping scheduled to start by the end of the month. Unless you’re in a hurry, you may want to wait a few days or weeks, as Discount coupon codes are now available, see comments section. The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS and Ryzen 7 8845HS mini PCs are also listed GEEKOM’s Amazon store.

CNXSoft: This article is a translation – with some additional insights – of the original review on CNX Software Thailand by Suthinee Kerdkaew.

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ardEEG shield works with Arduino UNO R4 WiFi for biosignals measurement

ardEEG Shield Arduino UNO R4

PiEEG has launched the ardEEG shield specially designed for the Arduino UNO R4 WiFi and capable of measuring biosignals such as those used in electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and electrocardiography (ECG).

PiEEG, led by Ildar Rakhmatulin, Research Associate at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, launched the PiEEG shield for Raspberry Pi to enable brain-computer interfaces last year, and now the company has been working on the equivalent design for Arduino with the ardEEG shield equipped with eight channel taking input from wet or dry electrodes.

ardEEG Shield Arduino UNO R4
ardEEG Shield connected to Arduino UNO R4

ardEEG shield key features and specifications

  • ADC – Texas Instruments ADS1299 Analog-to-Digital Converter for biopotential measurements
  • Supported board – Arduino UNO R4 WiFi
  • 8 channels for connecting wet or dry electrodes (Electrodes are positioned according to the International 10-20 system)
  • Host interface – Arduino headers with SPI used for data transfer with a frequency from 250 SPS to 16 kSPS and a resolution of 24 bits per channel
  • Programmable signal gain – 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24
  • Ability to measure impedance
  • Power Supply + Safety – The device must operate only from a battery – 5 V. Complete isolation from the mains power is required.! The device MUST not be connected to any kind of mains power, via USB or otherwise.
  • Dimensions – Arduino UNO shield
Arduino ardEEG shield connected to electrodes and power bank
Arduino UNO R4 WiFi with ardEEG shield connected to electrodes and power bank

The ardEEG shield is not a medical device and, as such, has not been certified by any government regulatory agency, so it’s better suited to the education and research markets although users can still create their own brain-computer interface projects for example to control robotic arm manipulation or for health monitoring.

PiEEG provides an Arduino sketch to read data from the electrodes plus a Python program for signal processing and visualization. Some examples include chewing and blinking and EEG signals monitoring,  You’ll find everything to get started on GitHub. The video below also shows a short demo of the solution.

PiEEG sells the ardEEG shield on Elecrow for $240, but that does not include any electrodes so you’d have to bring your own or spend another $290 for the Cap EEG kit that you can place on the head of the subject. Additional details may also be found on the product page.

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Arduino Alvik is a 3-wheel robot designed for STEAM education

Arduino Alvik

Arduino Education’s Arduino Alvik is a 3-wheel educational robot that was initially unveiled at the Bett 2024 show in London and designed to teach robotics, programming, and other STEAM subjects.

The robot is based on an Arduino Nano ESP32 board and comes with a set of nineteen lessons designed by Arduino Education’s team in collaboration with teachers so that students can learn the basics of IoT, get started with MicroPython, and get themselves familiar with various physics and engineering concepts.

Arduino Alvik

The company has yet to provide the full specifications for the Alvik robot, but here’s what we know at this stage:

  • Mainboard – Arduino Nano ESP32
  • 2x wheels plus 1x ball wheel
  • Sensors – “High-quality sensors” that include a ToF ranging sensor, line-following sensors, a 6-axis accelerometer & gyroscope, a proximity sensor, and color sensors.
  • Expansion
    • 2x Grove I2C connectors
    • 2x Qwiic connectors
    • 6-pin servo motor header for up to 2x micro servos (as shown in the photo above)
  • Misc
    • Capacitive touch buttons (D-Pad, OK, cancel)
    • On/off switch
    • Compatible with LEGO Technic and M3 screws
    • 3D printing and laser cutting design-compatible
  • Power Supply – Rechargeable battery rechargeable through USB-C port on Arduino Nano ESP32

Arduino Nano ESP32 Robot

Arduino Education currently supports MicroPython programming, but work is being done to bring block-based programming and Arduino C lessons to the Arduino Alvik robot. The kit is suitable for primary school students up to advanced learners with lessons covering interactive game design, IoT, and AI projects. Besides the MicroPython lessons, more details may also be found on the documentation website.

Arduino Alvik 3-wheel robot

 

The Arduino Alvik can be purchased for $140 or 130 Euros on the Arduino store. More details may be found on the product page.

Update: This article was initially published on January 25 after the announcement at Bett 2024, and updated following the availability of the kit.

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Official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ launched for $12

Raspberry Pi M2 HAT+ on Raspberry Pi 5

The official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ is finally out for $12. The add-on board allows users to connect M.2 M-key peripherals, mainly NVMe SSDs, but also AI accelerators, to their Raspberry Pi 5 leveraging the PCIe connector on the(relatively) new SBC.

We have to stress “official” because it’s been possible to do the exact same thing with third-party boards from PineBerry (now PineBoards), Waveshare, Pimoroni, and Geekworm for about half a year. I also had the opportunity to review the GEEKWORM X1001 and Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+ with Cytron MAKERDISK SSDs last month. But let’s have a look at what the official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ has to offer.

Official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT Plus board M-Key

Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ M Key specifications:

  • M.2 M-key socket for 2230 or 2242 modules
    • Single-lane PCIe 2.0 interface (500 MB/s peak transfer rate) routed via Raspberry Pi PCIe FFC connector. (Note: PCIe 3.0 should also work fine on most Raspberry Pi 5 boards up to 800MB/s+, but this is not officially guaranteed).
    • Supplies up to 3A to connected M.2 devices
  • Expansion – 40-pin female/male header to extend the Raspberry Pi 5 GPIO header
  • Misc – Power and activity LEDs
  • Dimensions

The official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ (M Key) board ships with a ribbon cable a 16mm GPIO stacking header, four threaded spacers, eight screws, and a knurled double-flanged drive attachment screw to secure and support the M.2 peripheral. The installation is straightforward, and you should make sure you have the latest firmware.

Raspberry Pi M2 HAT+ on Raspberry Pi 5
Raspberry Pi M2 HAT+ with 256GB NVMe SSD mounted on Raspberry Pi 5

Those commands may not be necessary if you have purchased a Raspberry Pi 5 recently, but in any case, they won’t hurt:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo rpi-eeprom-update
sudo raspi-config
sudo rpi-eeprom-update -a

I had to run those on my “September 2023” Raspberry Pi 5 to enable booting from the NVMe SSD. You’ll find more details, instructions to get started, and the PDF schematics on the documentation website.

Great! But what took so long? Raspberry Pi explains they wanted to finalize the specifications of the 16-pin FFC connector and the new HAT+ form factor (preview for both released in December 2023), as there were still a few unresolved questions related to two “spare” pins initially carrying I2C signals, but finally used for power enable and board detect/wake signal. Some utilities (EEPROM utils) also had to be updated, and they tested a wide range of NVMe drives and other peripherals to investigate and solve various issues we found. They even got one SSD manufacturer to develop a fix for one of their SSDs (sadly and unsurprisingly they won’t say who).

Anyway, the good news is that the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ Key M is now available from resellers for $12 plus taxes and shipping. Another somewhat related good news is that booting is now supported by the firmware on some HAT+ boards with a PCIe switch. This does not apply to the new M.2 HAT+ we’ve covered today, but several HAT with multiple drives or multiple functions such as the Geekworm X1004 with two M.2 sockets based on ASMedia ASM1182e switch, should now be able to boot Raspberry Pi OS or any other compatible operating system provided the specific PCIe switch is supported by the firmware.

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SparkFun M7E Hecto is a simultaneous RFID Reader with USB-C connectivity and a range of up to 5m

SparkFun M7E Hecto Simultaneous RFID Reader

SparkFun has announced the M7E Hecto, a ‘simultaneous’ RFID reader in a compact form factor and high-performance capabilities. The RFID reader is powered by Jadak’s Hecto module (M7E-HECTO) from the ThingMagic series which offers a wide RF output range from 0 dBm to +27 dBm and reads up to 300 tags/second.

SparkFun M7E Hecto Simultaneous RFID Reader

SparkFun M7E Hecto builds on the much older M6E Nano RFID reader, adding a USB-C port, increasing the read rate from 150 tags/second, and reducing power consumption. It supports an external antenna (sold separately) which extends the scanning distance up to 16 ft (4.8m) from the 1 to 2 ft (0.3m – 0.6m) range supported by the onboard antenna.

It does come with a warning to ensure that personnel are not directly in the radiation beam of the antenna while they are within 21cm of the antenna (to adhere to FCC limits for long-term exposure to RF emissions).

The high read/write rates and extended range offered by the M7E Hecto can improve processing speed in applications such as asset tracking, inventory management, authentication, access control, and retail checkout.

SparkFun Simultaneous RFID Reader M7E Module
ThingMagic M7E-HECTO

SparkFun M7E Hecto specifications:

  • RFID module – JADAK ThingMagic Hecto RAIN RFID module, supports EPCglobal Gen 2 (ISO 18000-6C) with a nominal backscatter rate of 250kbps
  • Separate read and write power levels, command adjustable from 0dBm to 27dBm in 0.01 dB steps
  • Read Rate – Up to 300 tags/sec to read 96-bit EPC format
  • Write Rate – 80ms for standard write of 96-bit EPC format
  • Power via USB-C
    • Supply Voltage – 3.3V to 5V
    • Supply Current – 1A max
    • Consumption @ 5V
      • Full: 0.665W
      • Minsave: 0.140W
      • Sleep: 0.080W
  • Operating Temperature Range – -40°C to 60°C (built-in thermal management)
  • Serial Interfaces – USB-C connector and 0.1”-spaced PTH header (3.3V logic), 2-way switch for interface selection
  • Enable and GPIO PTH pins
  • Antenna
    • Integrated PCB trace antenna (Default)
    • u.FL connector for external antenna connection
  • Dimensions – 60.96 mm x 35.56 mm

The M7E is supported by Jadak’s Universal Reader Assistant (only available on Windows) and the SparkFun Simultaneous RFID Tag Reader Arduino library which handles serial communication, byte manipulations, and CRC verifications. You can download the library through the Arduino library manager or SparkFun’s documentation website. The M7E Hecto is completely open-source and hardware schematics, production files, and documentation are hosted on GitHub.

You can get one from SparkFun for about $300 (with quantity discounts available).

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Rockchip RK2118G/RK2118M dual-core Star-SE Armv8-M microcontrollers target smart audio applications

Rockchip RK2118G microcontroller block diagram

Rockchip RK2118G and RK2118M smart audio microcontrollers based on a dual-core Star-SE Armv8-M processor, an NPU for smart AI audio processor, three DSPs, 1024KB SRAM, optional DDR memory in package, and a range of peripherals.

I first noticed the RK2118M in slides from the Rockchip Developer Conference 2024 last March, but I did not have enough information for an article at the time. Things have now changed since I’ve just received a bunch of datasheets including the one for the RK2118G and RK2118G microcontrollers, which look identical except for the DDR interface and optional built-in 64MB RAM for the RK2118G.

Rockchip Audio Roadmap 2023 2025
Rockchip Audio Roadmap 2023-2025 – Image source: BG5USN on X

The datasheets have only one reference to Arm with the string “Arm-V8M” and nothing else, and Cortex is not mentioned at all. But the slide above reveals the STAR-SE core looks to be an Arm Cortex-M33 core. We also learn the top frequencies for the “STAR-M33″/”STAR-SE” core  (300MHz) and the DSPs (800MHz) neither are listed in the datasheet. The “STAR-SE” comes from Arm China, and while I could not find any detailed information about it, it’s also mentioned on Arm’s developer website for a vulnerability that also impacts Cortex-M33/M35/M55 cores which implies Arm is fine with it.

 

Rockchip RK2118G microcontroller block diagram

Rockchip RK2118G and RK2118M specifications:

  • CPU – Dual-core Star-SE (Cortex-M33) processor @ 300 MHzbased on Armv8M architecture with Thumb-2 support, FPU, MPU, Arm TrustZone, 16KB I-Cache and 16KB D-Cache
  • DSP – Tri-core HiFi4 DSP processor @ 800 MHz
    • DSP0 – 256KB ITCM, 768KB DTCM, 64KB I-Cache, 64KB D-Cache
    • DSP1, DSP2 -64KB ITCM, 256KB DTCM, 64KB I-Cache, 64KB D-Cache
  • Neural Process Unit – 32x float point 16-bit MAC operations per cycle, 80KB internal buffer; supports TensorFlow, Caffe, Tflite, Pytorch, Onnx NN, Android NN, etc.
  • FIR/IIR Accelerator
  • Internal memory and storage
    • BootROM
    • 1024KB System SRAM
    • 16KB PMU SRAM
    • Optional integrated DDR memory, for example, 512 Mbit (64MB) DDR in RK2118G only
  • External memory and storage
    • 16-bit DDR2/DDR3/DDR3L up to 1024MB (RK2118G only)
    • SPI NOR/NAND flash
    • eMMC 4.51 flash
    • SD Card (SD 3.0, MMC ver 4.51, SDIO 3.0 protocol)
  • Display Interface
    • RGB888/RGB565 source data format
    • RGB888/RGB565/RGB666 display data format
    • i8080 MCU serial interface up to 480×480 resolution
  • Audio
    • 8x SAI components (I2S, PCM, TDM)
    • 5-wire PDM interface for up to 8x mono microphones with 16 to 24-bit sample resolution
    • SPDIF – 1x Tx, 2x Rx
    • 8x ASRC components (Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter)
  • Networking – 10/100M Ethernet Controller
  • USB – USB 2.0 OTG port up to 480 Mbps
  • Other peripherals
    • Multiple groups of GPIOs
    • 4x UART
    • 6x I2C interfaces
    • 3x SPI controllers (SPI0: serial-slave; SPI1/2: seria-master+serial-slave)
    • 8-channels PWM with interrupt-based operation
    • 1x CAN Bus with CAN 2.0B protocol support
    • Multi-channel touch key controller
    • FLEXBUS interface
      • Support transfer data from internal memory to GPIO by DMA
      • Support transfer data from GPIO to internal memory by DMA
    • Analog
      • 10-bit SARADC with 1MB/s sampling rate
    • Temperature sensor (-40 to 125°C range)
    • 5x embedded DMA controllers
    • Timers
      • 20x 64-bit timers with interrupt-based operation
      • 1x 64-bit timer for low-power mode application
    • Watchdog
  • Security
    • Cipher engine
      • Support SHA-1, SHA-256/224, MD5 with hardware padding
      • Support HMAC of SHA-1, SHA-256, MD5 with hardware padding
      • Support AES-128, AES-192, AES-256 encrypt & decrypt cipher
      • Support AES ECB/CBC/OFB/CFB/CTR/CTS/XTS/CCM/GCM/CBC-MAC/CMAC mode
      • Support up to 4096 bits PKA mathematical operations for RSA
    • 2x  256 bits RNG output
    • Secure boot, secure debug, secure OTP (8K bits size), secure OS, bus firewall
  • Package
    • RK2118G – QFP128L (14 x 14mm; lead pitch: 0.4mm)
    • RK2118M – QFP128L (14 x 14mm; lead pitch: 0.4mm)
  • Temperature Range (Tj) – -40 to +125°C (in RK2118G datasheet, shown as TBD in RK2118M datasheet, and 0 to 80 for RK2118 in the slide above…)
  • Certifications – AEQ-100 Grade 3 expected in Q4 2024

 

Rockchip RK2118M
Rockchip RK2118M block diagram

As one would expect, there’s nothing about software in the datasheet, but the slide lists an unnamed RTOS and RK_Studio support. It’s unclear what the latter is, but I would suspect it might be an IDE developed by Rockchip. I could also find the RK2118 mentioned in the same rknn-toolkit2 framework used by AI SoCs from the company such as RK3568 or RK3588.

It’s not Rockchip’s first venture into microcontrollers, but the company has not exactly been successful in this specific market in the past, as for instance, the Rockchip RKi6000 low-power WiFi microcontroller does not seem to have even come to market, and I’ve seldom seen the company’s RKNano microcontrollers in products or boards. We’ll see how it goes with the new RK2118 series.

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Radxa Zero 3E SBC offers gigabit Ethernet and PoE in Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W form factor

Radxa Zero 3E

Last December, we wrote about the Rockchip RK3566-powered Radxa Zero 3W WiFi 6 SBC and noted that the Radxa Zero 3E with gigabit Ethernet and optional PoE supports would be coming soon with about the same dimensions as the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. “Soon” is now as the Radxa Zero 3E is now available on Aliexpress or Amazon with RAM capacities from 1GB to 8GB LPDDR4.

The small SBC also comes with optional eMMC flash up to 64GB, a microSD card slot for storage, a micro HDMI video output port, a MIPI CSI connector compatible with Raspberry Pi Camera V1 and V2, two USB-C ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header for expansion.

Radxa Zero 3E

Radxa Zero 3E specifications:

  • SoC – Rockchip RK3566
    • CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.6 GHz
    • GPU – Arm Mali G52-2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 2.0
    • NPU – 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator
    • VPU – 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoding, 1080p100f H.265/H.264 video encoding
  • System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4
  • Storage
    • Optional 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash (Note: flash module is only available on the Radxa Zero 3W board, not the 3E variant)
    • MicroSD card slot (SDR104 capable)
  • Video Output – Micro HDMI port up to 1080p60 (Not sure why 4Kp60 is not listed since the processor supports it)
  • Camera – 4-lane MIPI CSI connector with support for Raspberry Pi Camera V1.3 (OV5647) and Raspberry Pi Camera V2 (IMX219).
  • Networking – Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port via RTL8211F-CG transceiver; optional PoE support through HAT expansion board
  • USB – 1x USB 3.0 Type-C host port, 1x USB 2.0 Type-C OTG port
  • Expansion – Optional 40-pin color-coded GPIO header with up to 28x GPIO, 5x UART, 1x SPI, 2x I2C, PCM/I2S, 6x PWM, 5V, 3.3V, and GND
  • Misc – MaskROM button
  • Power Supply
    • 5V/2A (recommended) via USB-C OTG port
    • Optional PoE support
  • Dimensions – 65 x 30mm (72 x 30mm when taking the RJ45 jack into account)
Radxa Zero 3E
Radxa Zero 3E ports description
ROCK Zero 3E Block Diagram
ROCK Zero 3E Block Diagram

Radxa officially supports an image with Debian 11 using XFCE desktop environment, but Ubuntu XFCE and Ubuntu CLI images are also available and “provided as-is except for critical issues”. You’ll find schematics, OS images, and other resources to get started on the documentation website.

Radxa just launched its Aliexpress store and the Radxa Zero 3E is in stock with either 2GB or 4GB RAM there for respectively $20.97 and $30.97 plus shipping, while the 1GB RAM version is in stock on Amazon for $16. Sadly the Radxa 3E PoE HAT is not sold on either platform, but you can still get it from Arace for $9.99, or wait a few more weeks…

Raspberry Pi Zero SBC PoE
Radxa Zero 3E with PoE module

Thanks to Willy for the reminder.

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Waveshare Thermal Imaging Camera Module – Raspberry Pi HAT or USB-C model, 80×62 resolution, dual FOV options (45°/90°)

Waveshare Thermal-90 USB and Thermal-90 Camera HAT

The Waveshare Thermal Imaging Camera module comes in two variants, namely the Thermal-45/90 Camera Raspberry Pi HAT and Thermal-45/90 USB Camera. The main difference between the two is that the HAT is designed to be attached to a Raspberry Pi, Pi Zero, or any other SBC that features a Pi-compatible pin layout like the Sipeed Longan Pi3H, Banana Pi BPI-M4, Radxa Zero 3W SBC, and others. On the other hand, the USB module can be connected to any PC, Android, or other device with a USB connection.

The camera features a shutterless design, which is why it can produce a thermal imaging video stream output of up to 25 frames per second (FPS). Additionally, Waveshare offers options for different fields of view (FOV) – a basic version with a 45° FOV and a wide-angle version with a 90° FOV, making it suitable for applications like IR thermometers, industrial temperature control, security & safety, intruder/motion detection, and more.

Waveshare Thermal 90 USB and Thermal 90 Camera HAT

Waveshare Thermal Imaging Camera specifications:

  • Thermal image processor – MI48x3 with SenXor Bus, I2C, SPI, and USB Interface
  • Thermal camera module – MI0801 with Radiometric output, and Screw-type mount
  • FOV
    • Basic version – 45°(H)×45°(V)
    • Wide angle version – 90°(H)×68°(V)
  • Refresh rate – 25 FPS
  • Wavelength detection range – 8 – 14 μm
  • Noise equivalent temperature difference – 150mK RMS @ 1Hz refresh rate
  • Video stream – Up to 25FPS (Max) thermal imaging video stream output
  • Measuring accuracy – ±2°C (ambient temp. 10~70°C)
  • Operating voltage – 5V
  • Operating current –  61mA @ 5V
  • Temperature specs
    • Operating temperature: -20 to 85°C
    • Target temperature: -20 to 400°C
  • Dimensions
    • Thermal Camera HAT / Thermal-90 Camera HAT – 65.0×30.5mm
    • Thermal USB Camera / Thermal-90 USB Camera –  62.0×13.0mm

The camera HAT communicates with the Raspberry Pi using both I2C and SPI connections. I2C is utilized to configure the camera’s settings and registers, while SPI efficiently transfers the captured thermal data to the Raspberry Pi for processing and display.

Waveshare Thermal Imaging Camera Hat is Connected to RPi and USB Connects to PC and Android
HAT module connected to Raspberry Pi 4 (left) and USB module connected to PC (center) and Android (left)

Waveshare provides software packages for its Thermal Camera HAT and Thermal USB Camera modules for Windows, Android, Raspberry Pi (including Pi 5), and other Linux systems to capture, visualize, and analyze thermal data. The software packages along with the camera schematics, demo code, and datasheets for the MI48x3 Thermal image processor and Thermal camera module MI0801 can all be found on the Waveshare’s wiki.

Previously we have reviewed and written about some similar thermal cameras like Xtherm II TS2 (Review with Android), HT-102 Thermal Camera, M5Stack Thermal Camera and more feel free to check those out if you are looking for a thermal camera.

The Waveshare Thermal Camera HAT and Thermal USB Camera modules are available on Amazon for $149.99 and $139.99 respectively with shipping included, at least to the US. Alternatively, the Thermal Camera HAT and USB module can be purchased on Aliexpress for $126.29 with free shipping, or directly on the Waveshare store for $119.99 plus shipping.

Thermal Camera HAT Dimension

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Convert your tablet or smartphone into a touchscreen display for your PC, motherboard, etc… with the AURGA Viewer

AURGA Viewer Raspberry Pi 3

The AURGA viewer is an HDMI and USB dongle with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity that plugs into any system with HDMI output and can convert any smartphone, tablet, or laptop with a touchscreen display into a KVM solution by sending video data, as well as keyboard and mouse events wirelessly.

We’ve recently written about Openterface Mini-KVM KVM-over-USB device that allows users to use their laptop to control another device with HDMI output locally without any additional display, keyboard, and mouse. But I’ve just been informed the AURGA Viewer, launched in 2022 on Kickstarter, can do something similar wirelessly.

AURGA Viewer Raspberry Pi 3 control with tablet display

AURGA Viewer specifications and features:

  • SoC – Allwinner S3 Cortex-A7 processor with 128MB DDR3
  • HDMI input – Male HDMI port with Toshiba TC35874x HDMI to MIPI CSI-2 bridge internally (See comments section); Works with VGA, mini HDMI, micro HDMI, etc… using adapters
  • Wireless – Broadcom BCM4345C5 SDIO 802.11AC WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 chip.
  • USB – USB port for power and data
  • Supported features
    • Wireless video streaming (1920x1080p 60Hz/48K Audio)
    • Mouse
    • Keyboard
    • Touch screen
    • Digitizer pen on phone/tablet
    • Stream wirelessly or through USB
  • Compatible devices (basically anything hardware with video output and USB)
    • Computer/Laptop
    • SBCs such as Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano, Orange Pi, Banana Pi, Rock Pi
    • Gaming consoles such as PS3/PS4/PS5/Xbox Series/Wii U/Nintendo Switch
    • Mini PCs
    • Camera/DSLR
    • TV boxes etc..
  • Dimensions – 79.4 x 26 x 11mm
  • Weight – 14.5 grams

AURGA Wireless KVM solution

The company provides software for the host device running on Windows 64-bit, iOS, macOS, and Linux 64-bit Arm/x86 which you’ll find on the Download page. Note that most versions were updated last month (April 2024), but the Linux version is older (July 2023) and may not work as well.

The product may have been introduced about two years ago, but the company does a poor job of explaining how it all works… But the way I understand it, the target device views the AURGA Viewer as an HDMI display and USB mouse and keyboard, while the host runs the software to receive video and HID events over WiFi (and maybe Bluetooth), so the touchscreen display of the device is used as a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.  The best is to watch one of the videos such as the one embedded below with an x86 motherboard with the AURGA Viewer controlled wirelessly from an iPad to install Windows. No need for an extra display, a mouse, and a keyboard, since everything is handled on the iPad.

It can also fully work with a laptop (without touchscreen) taking into account the trackpad and keyboard instead of the the touchscreen of a smartphone or tablet.

The AURGA Viewer can be purchased for $79 on the company’s online store.

Thanks to Rogan for the tip.

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New NXP i.MX 93-based system-on-modules launched by MYiR, Variscite, and Compulab

MYIR MYD-LMX9X development board

We have covered announcements about early NXP i.MX 93-based system-on-modules such as the ADLINK OSM-IMX93 and Ka-Ro Electronics’ QS93, as well as products integrating the higher-end NXP i.MX 95 processor such as the Toradex Titan Evaluation kit. Three additional NXP i.MX 93 SoMs from Variscite, Dart, and Compulab are now available.

Targeted at industrial, IoT, and automotive applications, the NXP i.MX 93 features a 64-bit dual-core Arm Cortex-A55 application processor running at up to 1.7GHz and a Cortex-M33 co-processor running at up to 250MHz. It integrates an Arm Ethos-U65 microNPU, providing up to 0.5TOPS of computing power, and supports EdgeLock secure enclave, NXP’s hardware-based security subsystem. The heterogeneous multicore processing architecture allows the device to run Linux on the main core and a real-time operating system on the Cortex-M33 core.

The processor is designed for cost-effective and energy-efficient machine learning applications. It supports LVDS, MIPI-DS, and parallel RGB display protocols for industrial and non-industrial uses. It is also compatible with Linux, FreeRTOS, Greenhills, QNX, and VxWorks.

MYC-LMX9X System-on-Module

MYIR MYD-LMX9X development board (NXP i.MX 93 system-on-module)
MYIR MYD-LMX9X development board

MYIR Tech’s MYC-LMX9X system-on-module is one of the most compact NXP i.MX 93 modules, at only 37mm by 39mm. It comes with 1 or 2GB LPDDR4 RAM, 8GB of eMMC storage, 32Kbit EEPROM, and an onboard power management IC (PMIC). The 218-pin expansion interface offers several connectivity options, including 2x USB 2.0, 3x SD/SDIO 3.01, 2x Gigabit Ethernet, and 2x CAN-FD interfaces.

MYIR myc-lmx9x system-on-module block diagram
MYIR MYD-LMX9X block diagram

The MYC-LMX9X is bound for applications in sectors such as healthcare equipment, human-machine interfaces, motion control, EV charging stations, and engineering machinery. It supports the Linux 6.1 operating system. The system-on-module is currently available in two SKUs on MYIR’s website, priced at $43 and $49 respectively. The development board comes with a USB to TTL cable, a 12V/2A Power adapter, and a quick start guide, and is available for $105 and $115.

DART-MX93 “DART Pin2Pin” System-on-Module

DART MX93
DART-MX93 SoM

Variscite’s DART-MX93 is the newest addition to its DART Pin2Pin family. It is described as a “rugged, cost-optimized solution for machine learning on edge devices for markets like industrial, IoT, smart devices, and wearables.” Carrier boards can be reused for all members of the DART Pin2Pin family, offering future-proofing and seamless scalability.

It measures 55 x 30mm – about half the size of a bank card –  and integrates 2x camera interfaces (CSI2, ISI), 2x CAN bus, 2x GbE, audio in/out, 2x USB, Wi-Fi 6 dual-band 802.11 ax/ac/a/b/g/n with optional 802.15.4 and BT/BLE 5.3, in the industrial temperature grade of -40 to 85𝆩C. It supports Linux, Android, and FreeRTOS operating systems.

DART MX93 (i. MX 93 module) starter kit
DART MX93 development board

The DART-MX93 is currently only available to Variscite’s alpha customers in production quantities at $39 per unit and the public release is said to be “coming soon.” Evaluation kits are also available, including the scalable VAR-DT8MCustomBoard and an optional LVDS display with a touch panel. More information is available on the product page.

MCM-iMX93 System-on-Module

Compulab MCM-IMX93 carrier board (NXP i.MX 93-based system-on-module)
Compulab MCM-IMX93 carrier board

Compulab’s MCM-iMX93 system-on-module comes in a solderable QFN form factor and is the smallest module in this list, measuring only 30 x 30 x 3 mm and weighing 5g. The SoM’s compact form factor makes it suitable for portable and space-tight applications. It is also designed to be resistant to shocks and vibrations.

It offers up to 2GB LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB eMMC flash. It features 2x GbE ports, three display interfaces (DSI, LVDS, and RGB), an externally powered real-time clock, 2x SD/SDIO, 2x CAN, 2x USB 2.0, 8x UART, 4x ADC, 6x PWM, and up to 80x GPIO. It runs Yocto Linux, Debian Linux, and RTOS, and supports over-the-air updates via Mender.

MCM iMX93 System on Module block diagram (i.MX 93 system-on-modules)
MCM-iMX93 System on Module Block Diagram

The module is available from $32 for bulk orders and the evaluation kit is priced at a base price of $245. You can find more details and ordering information on the company’s website.

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Linux 6.9 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.9 on LKML:

So Thorsten is still reporting a few regression fixes that haven’t made it to me yet, but none of them look big or worrisome enough to delay the release for another week. We’ll have to backport them when they get resolved and hit upstream.

So 6.9 is now out, and last week has looked quite stable (and the whole release has felt pretty normal). Below is the shortlog for the last week, with the changes mostly being dominated by some driver updates (gpu and networking being the big ones, but “big” is still pretty small, and there’s various other driver noise in there too).

Outside of drivers, it’s some filesystem fixes (bcachefs still stands out, but ksmbd shows up too), some late selftest fixes, and some core networking fixes.

And I now have a more powerful arm64 machine (thanks to Ampere), so the last week I’ve been doing almost as many arm64 builds as I have x86-64, and that should obviously continue during the upcoming merge window too. The M2 laptop I have has been more of a “test builds weekly” rather than “continuously”.

Not that I really expect that to really show any issues – the laptop builds never did – but I feel happier having a bit more coverage.

Anyway, please keep testing, and obviously this means that tomorrow the merge window for 6.10 opens. I already have a few dozen pull requests pending, I appreciate the early birds,

Linus

Released about two months ago, Linux 6.8 brought us a new experimental Intel Xe drm driver that aims to replace the legacy i915 driver for new Intel GPUs, the ability for the zswap subsystem to force cold pages out to (real) swap when memory gets tight, rust support for the creation of network PHY drivers, better cache efficiency for networking thanks to the reorganization of data structures, and many more changes. Linux 6.8 also happens to be the default kernel in the just-released Ubuntu 24.04 OS.

Main changes in Linux 6.9

Some notable changes for the new Linux 6.9 kernel include:

  • Added support for Intel Flexible Return and Event Delivery (FRED) which aims to improve low-level event delivery and allows for simpler and more reliable code; See documentation commit for additional details
  • Added support for running AMD Secure Nested Paging (SNP) guests (see PDF documentation), part of AMD’s confidential-computing solution. However, full support requires KVM changes which have been deferred until Linux 6.10.
  • Mitigations for the latest x86 hardware vulnerability “Register File Data Sampling” (RFDS) impacting Intel Atom CPUs have been merged. More details may be found in this documentation commit.
  • Linux 6.9 can make use of GCC’s named address spaces feature to optimize access to per-CPU data.
  • Initial support for FUSE passthrough has been merged. This feature allows I/O to files served by a user-space FUSE server to be handled directly by the kernel resluting in significant performance increases under some conditions. The passthrough mode only supports privileged servers in Linux 6.9.

Linux 6.9 changelog for the Arm architecture

  • The Rust language is now supported on 64-bit Arm processors.
  • It is now possible to run 64-bit Arm CPUs in LPA2 mode, which sets up a 52-bit virtual address space.
  • Allwinner
    • Allwinner H616 – Added SPDIF, DMA, and Thermal drivers
    • New Devices
  • Rockchip
    • Audio – Added internal audio codec driver for RK3308
    • PHY driver – Rockchip HDMI/eDP Combo PHY driver
    • Clock
      • New PLL-rate for Rockchip RK3568
      • I2S rate improvements for Rockchip RK3399
      • Rockchip RK3588 syscon clock fixes and removal of overall clock-number from the RK3588 binding header
      • A prerequisite for later improvements to the Rockchip RK3588 linked clocks
    • Arm64 device tree updates
    • New devices
      • Theobroma Systems RK3588-Q7 Qseven SoM
      • Toybrick TB-RK3588X board
      • Powkiddy RGB10MAX3 game console (RK3566)
      • Pine64 PineTab2 tablet (RK3566)
      • Anbernic RG-ARC S and RG-ARC D handheld game consoles (RK3566)
      • QNAP TS433 quad-bay NAS (RK3566)
  • Amlogic
    • Clock driver –  Fix clock listing Oops on Amlogic axg
    • Amlogic T7 – GPIO and IRQ drivers
    • Amlogic ARM64 DT changes for Linux 6.9:
      • Add reset controller for Amlogic C3
      • Set initial rate for the NPU on Amlogic G12 SoCs
      • Set initial clocks for USB on Amlogic A1
      • Initialize Amlogic AXG SoC capacitance
      • Drop unstable remark on Amlogic Bindings
      • Add all Amlogic maintainers/reviewers on Amlogic SoCs bindings
      • Cleanups – T7 whitespaces, underscore in names
    • New device – Freebox Pop Player (IPTV Set-To-Box from Free French internet provider based on Amlogic Meson G12A S905X2)
  • Samsung
    • Extend Exynos PMU (Power Management Unit) driver being also the syscon to main system controller registers block, to support Google GS101. The Google GS101 has PMU registers protected and writing is available only via SMC. The Exynos PMU will register its own custom regmap for such case of mixed MMIO+SMC.
    • Rework Samsung watchdog driver to get the regmap to PMU block not via syscon API, but from the Exynos PMU driver. This is necessary for the watchdog driver to work on Google GS101.
    • DTS Arm changes for Linux 6.9
      • Disable thermal polling by Linux in Eynos5422 Odroid XU3 boards, because drivers implement proper dynamic trip points management.
      • Mark crosc-ec-spi in Peach Pi and Peach Pit as wake-up source, to reflect the hardware capabilities.
      • Samsung P4 Note (Exynos4412): add accelerometer.
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab (Exynos5420)
        • Reduce available RAM to avoid conflict with TrustZone.
        • Add WiFi on MMC.
    • Samsung DTS ARM64 changes
      • Mostly work around Google GS101 SoC and Pixel phone (Oriole) adding support for:
        1. Multi Core Timer (MCT) clocksource.
        2. Several clock controllers (DTS and DT bindings) and use new clocks in several other device nodes.
        3. More serial-interface instances: USI8 and USI12 with I2C.
      • Exynos850 – SPI and DMA controllers (PL330).
    • Defconfig changes – N/A
    • New Devices – N/A
  • Qualcomm
    • PHY driver – Qualcomm X1E80100 PCIe phy support, SM8550 PCIe1 PHY, SC7180 UFS PHY and SDM630 USB-C support
    • WiFi
      • Qualcomm (ath11k):
        • Support 6 GHz station power modes: Low Power Indoor (LPI), Standard Power) SP and Very Low Power (VLP)
        • QCA6390 & WCN6855: support 2 concurrent station interfaces
        • QCA2066 support
      • Qualcomm (ath12k):
        • Refactoring in preparation for Multi-Link Operation (MLO) support
        • 1024 Block Ack window size support
        • firmware-2.bin support
        • support having multiple identical PCI devices (firmware needs to have ATH12K_FW_FEATURE_MULTI_QRTR_ID)
        • QCN9274: support split-PHY devices
        • WCN7850: enable Power Save Mode in station mode
        • WCN7850: P2P support
    • ARM32 DTS updates
      • MSM8226  – SAW and ACC nodes are introduced to enable SMP support. Watchdog definition is also added, and all nodes are sorted and cleaned
        up. rmtfs memory is defined on HTC One Mini 2, vibrator support is added to LG G Watch R, touch keycodes are defined for Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 DeviceTree is refactored to allow more variants to be introduced easily.
      • The SAW nodes across APQ8064, IPQ8064, MSM8960 and MSM8974 are updated based on recent work on the binding and driver.
      • IPQ8064 – SAW nodes are cleaned up, and unused reset-names is dropped from DWC3.
      • MSM8960 – GSBI3 and the I2C bus therein is introduced, in order to introduce touchscreen support on the Samsung Galaxy Express SGH-I437. gpio-keys are introduced on the same.
      • MSM8974 – The QFPROM register size is corrected. The order of the clocks in the SDX65 DWC3 node is corrected to match the binding.
      • The mach-qcom Kconfig options are cleaned up, to avoid unnecessary per-platform options.
    • Arm64 DTS updates for Linux 6.9
      • Snapdragon X Elite – Audio and compute remoteprocs, IPCC, PCIe, AOSS QMP, SMP2P, TCSR, USB, display, audio, and soundwire support is introduced, and enabled across the CRD and QCP devices.
      • SM8650 – PCIe controllers are moved to GIC-ITS and msi-map-mask is defined. Missing qlink-logging reserved-memory region is added for the modem remoteproc. FastRPC compute contexts are marked dma-coherent. Audio, USB Type-C and PM8010 support is introduced across MTP and QRD devices.
      • GPU cooling devices are hooked up across MSM8916, MSM8939, SC8180X, SDM630, SDM845, SM6115, SM8150, SM8250, SM8350, and SM8550.
      • UFS PHY clocks are corrected across MSM8996, MSM8998, SC8180X, SC8280XP, SDM845, SM6115, SM6125, SM8150, SM8250, SM8350, SM8550, and SM8650.
      • PCI MSI interrupts are wired up across SM8150, SM8250, SM8350, SM8450, SM8550, SM8650, SC7280, and SC8180X
      • IPQ6018 – QUP5 I2C, tsens sand thermal zones are defined.
      • The Inline Crypto Engine (ICE) is enabled for IPQ9574.
      • MSM8953 – The GPU and its IOMMU is introduced, the reset for the display subsystem is also wired up.
      • VLS CLAMP registers are specified for USB3 PHYs on MSM8998, QCM2290, and SM6115.
      • QRB4210 RB2 – USB Type-C port management is enabled.
      • SA8295P ADP – The MAX20411 regulator powering the GPU rails is introduced and the GPU is enabled. The first PCI instance on SA8540P Ride is disabled for now, as a fix for the interrupt storm produced here has not been presented.
      • SA8775P – The firmware memory map has changed and is updated. Safety IRQ is added to the Ethernet controller.
      • SC7180 – UFS support is introduced and the cros-ec-spi is marked as wakeup source.
      • SC7280 – Capacity and DPC properties are added, cryptobam definition is improved to work in more firmware environments, more Chrome-specific properties are moved out from main dtsi, and cros-ec-spi is maked as a wakeup source. Slimbus definition is added to the platform.
      • A missing reserved-memory range is added to Fairphone FP5, PMIC GLINK and Venus are enabled. LEDs are introduced and voltage settings corrected on the QCM6490 IDP, and RB3gen2 sees the same voltage changes and GCC protected clocks are introduced to make the board boot properly.
      • RPMh sleep stats and a variety of cleanups and fixes are introduced for SC8180X.
      • SC8280XP – The additional tsens instances are introduced. Camera Subsystem and Camera Control Interface (CCI) are added. PMIC die-temp vadc channels are introduced on the CRD, to allow ADC channels to be tied to the shared PMIC temp-alarms, to actually report temperature.
      • SDM630 – USB QMP PHY support is introduced and enabled on the Inforce IFC6560 board. On the various Sony Xperia XA2 variants WLED is enabled and configured.
      • SM6350 – Display subsystem interconnects and tsens-based thermal zones are added.
      • SM7125 – UFS support is added.
      • Fairphone FP4 (SM7225) – Display and GPU are enabled, and firmware paths are corrected.
      • SM8150 – PCIe controller definitions are corrected.
      • SM8550 – As with SM8650, the SM8550 the fastrpc compute contexts are marked dm-coherent, and PCIe controllers are moved to use GIC-ITS. The UFS controller frequency definition is moved to the generic opp-table. Touchscreen is enabled on the QRD device.
      • Variety of smaller cleanups and corrections to match DeviceTree bindings and style guidelines are introduced across the various files.
    • Arm64 defconfig updates
      • Enable the Qualcomm PBS driver to resolve the dependency from the Light Pulse Generator (LED-driver) on modern Qualcomm platforms. Enable the X1E multimedia clock controllers, to provide clocks for the various multimedia blocks. Enable Global clock controller and interconnect drivers for the QDU1000/QRU1000 platforms.
      • Enable the audio drivers and the Goodi Berlin touchscreen driver, used on SM8650 QRD.
      • Enable the MAX20411 regulator driver drive the GPU rail on SA8295P.
      • Mark the Qualcomm interconnect providers that feeds UART instances as builtin, to ensure the console exists when userspace is launched.
    • New devices and boards
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 LTE
      • Four variants of Samsung Galaxy Core Prime and Grand Prime, built on MSM8916
      • SM8550 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) Hardware Development Kit (HDK)
  • MediaTek
    • Added support for Mediatek MT7981B (Filogic 820) and MT7988A (Filogic 880) networking SoCs designed to be used in wireless routers, and similar to the already supported MT7986A (Filogic 830).
    • PHY driver – Mediatek MT8365 CSI phy driver
    • DMA engine – Yaml conversion for MediaTek High-Speed controller binding
    • Add support for Sound to MediaTek MT6357 CODEC
    • mt76 wifi driver:
      • mt7915: newer ADIE version support
      • mt7925: radio temperature sensor support
    • Defconfig updates
    • Arm Devicetree updates for Linux 6.9
      • Adds more support for the MediaTek MT8186 SoC’s Video and JPEG encoders
      • Adds MT7988 clocks
      • Enables wakeup support for the CrOS EC on SPI in all MediaTek Chromebooks
      • Performs some cleanups and includes some spare fixes.
    • New devices
      • Xiaomi AX3000T (MT7981B)
      • Acelink EW-7886CAX (MT7986A)
      • Banana Pi BPI-R4 (MT7988A)
      • MT8186 Chromebooks: Tentacruel, Tentacool, Steelix, Rusty, Magneton
      • Radxa NIO 12L based on MediaTek Genio 1200 (MT8395)
  • Other new Arm hardware platforms and SoCs
    • NVIDIA – Two Android phones based on the old Tegra30 chip
    • NXP
      • Added support for i.MX8DXP is a variant of i.MX8QXP, with two CPU cores less.
      • Eight embedded board using NXP i.MX6/8/9
    • Renesas
      • Added support for R8A779G2 (R-Car V4H ES2.0) and R8A779H0 (R-Car V4M) automotive SoCs.
      • Three variants of the “White Hawk” board for Renesas automotive SoCs
    • Texas Instruments
      • J722S is another automotive variant of its K3 family, related to the AM62 series.
      • Added PowerVR SGX GPU nodes
      • Three evaluation boards for TI K3-based SoCs
  • Raspberry Pi-related changes – Wifi – Fix boot crash on Raspberry Pi 4 introduced with “allow per-vendor event handling” commit last January.

RISC-V updates in Linux 6.9

RISC-V had its fair share of changes in Linux 6.9 :

  • Support for various vector-accelerated crypto routines
  • Hibernation is now enabled for portable kernel builds
  • mmap_rnd_bits_max is larger on systems with larger VAs
  • Support for fast GUP
  • Support for membarrier-based instruction cache synchronization
  • Support for the Andes hart-level interrupt controller and PMU
  • Some cleanups around unaligned access speed probing and Kconfig settings
  • Support for ACPI LPI and CPPC
  • Various cleanups related to barriers
  • A handful of fixes
  • Microchip
    • Missing bus clocks for the CAN controllers spotted during the creation of a driver for the controllers
    • Specific compatible for the SiFive PDMA block on PolarFire SoC.
  • SiFive – Rework the SiFive PLIC driver to prepare for MSI support
  • Sophgo
    • SG2042 – Add reset controller, reset generator support
    • CV1800B and SG2002 – MMC and SD controllers
  • StarFive
    • Added StarFive StarLink PMU (Performance Monitoring Unit) with support for monitoring L3 memory system PMU events
    • JH8100 SoC – IRQ driver, Watchdog support, StartLink PMU, (OpenCores) PWM,
    • JH7110 SoC – Add camera subsystem nodes (dphy-rx, csi2rx, camss nodes), DWMAC, PWM
    • VisionFive V1 SBC – Setup Ethernet PHY
  • Alibaba T-head
    • TH1520
      • Increase tuning loop count to 128 for SD card driver
      • Enable mmc and dma drivers; needed to boot boards like the LicheePi 4A and BeagleV-Ahead from eMMC flash

MIPS changes

The summary of changes to the MIPS architecture was one of the shortest ever:

  • Added support for Mobileye SoCs
  • Unified GPR/CP0 regs handling for uasm
  • Cleanups and fixes

Here’s the longer form:

  • mips: cm: Convert __mips_cm_phys_base() to weak function
  • mips: cm: Convert __mips_cm_l2sync_phys_base() to weak function
  • mips: dts: ralink: mt7621: add cell count properties to usb
  • mips: dts: ralink: mt7621: add serial1 and serial2 nodes
  • mips: dts: ralink: mt7621: reorder serial0 properties
  • mips: dts: ralink: mt7621: associate uart1_pins with serial0
  • MIPS: ralink: Don’t use “proxy” headers
  • mips: sibyte: make tb_class constant
  • mips: mt: make mt_class constant
  • MIPS: ralink: Remove unused of_gpio.h
  • bus: bt1-apb: Remove duplicate include
  • MAINTAINERS: remove entry to non-existing file in MOBILEYE MIPS SOCS
  • MIPS: mipsregs: Parse fp and sp register by name in parse_r
  • tty: mips_ejtag_fdc: Fix passing incompatible pointer type warning
  • mips: zboot: Fix “no previous prototype” build warning
  • MIPS: mipsregs: Set proper ISA level for virt extensions
  • MIPS: Implement microMIPS MT ASE helpers
  • MIPS: Limit MIPS_MT_SMP support by ISA reversion
  • MIPS: Loongson64: test for -march=loongson3a cflag
  • MIPS: BMIPS: Drop unnecessary assembler flag

I’ve also generated the complete Linux 6.9 changelog with commit messages only, using the command git log v6.8..v6.9-rc7 --stat. Further details may only be found on the relevant LWN articles and Kernelnewbies’ changelog should soon be updated.

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ESP32-S3-Matrix board features 64 LEDs, GPIO pins, 9-axis “attitude” sensor for robotics and motion control applications

Waveshare ESP32 S3 Matrix board

The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Matrix is a microcontroller development board designed for AIoT applications, featuring a larger 8×8 RGB LED matrix (64 LEDs) compared to the 5×5 RGB LED matrix (25 LEDs) on the ESP32-C3/ESP32 based “C3FH4 RGB” / “PICO D4 RGB” board. In addition to that the Waveshare board features two 10-headers for GPIOs, UART, and power signals, along with an integrated QMI8658C attitude sensor (9-axis IMU sensor), making it ideal for robotics and motion control projects.

Recently we have seen Waveshare introduce affordable products that are perfect for embedded development like the $15 1.69-inch IPS touch LCD module, the $6.99 ESP32-C6-Pico Board, the $4.99 ESP32-S3-Tiny board and much more feel free to check those out if you are interested in those.

Waveshare ESP32 S3 Matrix board

Waveshare ESP32-S3-Matrix dev board specifications:

  • MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FH4R2
    • CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration
    • Memory – 512KB RAM, 2MB PSRAM
    • Storage – 4MB QSPI flash
    • Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE with support for long-range, up to 2Mbps data rate, mesh network
  • LED Matrix – 8 x 8 Addressable RGB LEDs
  • Sensor – QMI8658C 6D MEMS IMU with 9-axis sensor (3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis magnetometer)
  • Connectivity and Interfaces
    • Up to 15x multi-function GPIO pins via 2x 10-pin headers with 2.54mm pitch
    • Peripheral interfaces include SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, PWM
  • Antenna – 3D PCB Antenna
  • Power Management – ME6217C33M5G low dropout LDO capable of delivering 800mA (Max)
  • Additional Features
    • Additional onboard Dout pin (for connecting External LEDs)
    • RESET button, and BOOT button
  • Dimensions – 25 x 25 mm
ESP32-S3-Matrix Dev Board Specifications
ESP32-S3-Matrix Dev Board Specifications

Like other waveshare boards, the company provides a detailed specification diagram, making it easy to identify every major component of the board. This diagram also works as a troubleshooting guide, as you can now quickly pinpoint any faulty components using the diagram as a reference.ESP32-S3-Matrix Dev Board Pinout

The company also provides a pinout diagram making it easy for you to get started with the board or add other peripherals to the board.

ESP32 S3 Matrix Dev Board working 2

Regarding software support, the board can be programmed with ESP-IDF, Arduino IDE, and MicroPython, which are available from their respective websites. Additional documentation, such as the pinout diagram, installation guide, live example images, and links for all the resources can be found on their wiki page.

You can purchase the Waveshare ESP32-S3-Matrix board on Amazon for $15.99 (including shipping) and on Aliexpress for $10.26 plus shipping. Alternatively, it can also be directly bought from the Waveshare store with a price tag of $8.99 (not including shipping).

The post ESP32-S3-Matrix board features 64 LEDs, GPIO pins, 9-axis “attitude” sensor for robotics and motion control applications appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

Lattice FeatherWing – An iCE40-powered add-on FPGA board for Adafruit Feather

Lattice FeatherWing An iCE40 Powered Add On Board for Adafruit Feather

Oak Development Technologies has recently announced Lattice FeatherWing – An iCE40-based development board designed to be controlled by Adafruit Feather. Previously we wrote about the IcyBlue Feather V2, a standalone development built around a Lattice Semi iCE5LP4K FPGA. But this FeatherWing board is designed to add functionality to your existing Adafruit Feather board.

The Lattice FeatherWing expands your Adafruit Feather with a Lattice iCE5LP4K FPGA. It connects and gets programmed over SPI so you can use all the FPGA’s GPIO pins through the header blocks. There’s also a built-in RGB LED directly connected to the FPGA’s open-drain pins, for visual feedback.

Previously, we have written about many Lattice Semi FPGA-based development boards, such as the tinyVision.ai Pico-Ice boardSilicon Witchery S1, and ULX3S Education Board. Feel free to check those out if you want a standalone FPGA board.

Lattice FeatherWing An iCE40 Powered Add On Board for Adafruit Feather

  • FPGA – Lattice Semi iCE40 Family ICE5LP4K-SG48ITR
    • Logic Cells – Approximately 3520 logic cells
    • Memory – 80 Kbits of embedded Block RAM (EBR)
    • Integrates two hardware I2C and SPI blocks for enhanced functionality
  • Supported I/O Standards – LVCMOS33, LVCMOS25, and LVCMOS18
  • Communication Blocks
    • 2x I2C hard blocks
    • 2x SPI hard blocks
  • Indicators – RGB LED as status indication (24 mA Current Drive)
  • Clock Management
    • One Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) for advanced clock management
    • Multiple on-chip oscillators for standalone operation
  • GPIO – 47 Accessible GPIOs
  • Form Factor – Adafruit Feather form factor

Lattice FeatherWing Top and Bottom

Like the previous IcyBlue Feather V2 board, this board is also compatible with open-source tools like IceStorm and proprietary software from Lattice Semiconductor, such as the Diamond Programmer.

Other than that not much information is available, but the company says all the previous examples on their GitHub repos will be compatible with this board. At the time of writing no such schematics or design files for the board are available, but they should be available in the future. you can get your hands on this unique development board at Oak Development Technologies Tindie store priced at $24.95.

The post Lattice FeatherWing – An iCE40-powered add-on FPGA board for Adafruit Feather appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

Maker Uno RP2040 review with Arduino IDE using micro servo, soil moisture sensor, ultrasonic sensor, and I2C OLED modules

Maker Uno RP2040 review Arduino IDE

Today, We will review the Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 development board combining the Arduino UNO form factor with the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that makes it programmable with the Arduino IDE (C/C++), Micropython, or CircuitPython.

The board is suitable for both beginners and advanced users with a convenient port layout that includes a “Maker” connector plus six Grove connectors for sensor modules and a header for four servos besides the Arduino UNO headers. The board offers two power options: USB (5V) via the USB-C connector or a single-cell LiPo/Li-Ion battery via the LiPo connector.

Maker Uno RP2040 review Arduino IDE

Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 specifications

  • SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ processor @ up to 133 MHz with 264 KB SRAM
  • Storage – 2MB flash
  • USB – USB-C port for power and programming
  • Expansion
    • Arduino UNO headers for shields
    • 6x Grove Ports (Digital I/O, PWM Output, UART, I2C, Analog Input)
    • 1x Maker port compatible with Qwiic, STEMMA/QT, and Grove module (the latter via conversion cable)
    • 12-pin header for 4x servos
  • Misc
    • 16x Status LEDs for GPIO
    • 1x Piezo Buzzer with mute switch
    • User programmable keypad
    • Reset button
    • Boot button
    • 2x RGB LEDs (WS2812)
  • Power Supply
    • 5V via USB-C port
    • Single-cell LiPo connector with built-in overcharge/discharge protection circuitry
  • Dimensions – 60.96 x 9.40 cm (Arduino UNO form factor)
Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 PINOUT DIAGRAM
Pinout diagram

Unboxing of the Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 kit

The Maker Uno RP2040 can be purchased as a standalone board, but we requested a few modules to make the review more interesting and received everything in a single package.

Cytron package CNX Software

Our kit includes the Maker Uno RP2040 itself, four Grove to jumper cables, a USB-A to USB-C cable, a soil moisture sensor with one Grove cable, an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor with a Grove cable, a SG90 micro servo with accessories, a 0.96-inch I2C OLED display (128×64 resolution), and four silicon rubber feet.

Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 kit unboxing
Here’s a closer look at the top of the board…

Maker Uno RP2040 front

… and the bottom side with the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and a white area to let students write their names.

Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 bottom

All modules are well-known off-the-shelf parts so we won’t go into details this time.

Getting started with the Maker Uno RP2040 board using the Arduino IDE

As mentioned in the introduction, the Maker Uno RP2040 can be powered with either a USB Type-C cable (5V) or a single-cell Li-Po/Li-Ion battery (3.7V). In this review, we will use a USB Type-C cable for power and to program the board with a laptop running Windows 11.

Power USB Type-C 5V laptop

The Maker Uno RP2040 supports Arduino, Micropython, and CircuitPython programming, but in this review, we will be focusing on the former. So the first step is to download and install the Arduino IDE for your operating system. We used the latest version available at the time of the review, namely Arduino IDE 2.3.2 for Windows.

Arduino IDE configuration

We’ll be mostly following Cytron’s tutorial to work with the Cytron Maker UNO RP2040 using the Arduino IDE. Three steps are needed for the initial configuration.

  1. Add Maker Uno RP2040 to the Arduino IDE.
      • Go to File->Preferences menu, and add the URL “https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json” in the “Additional Boards Manager URLs”
      • Select OK and search for “Uno RP2040” to install the board package.
      • Once installed, you will find the Maker Uno RP2040 board in the Arduino IDE. Just select it from Tools > Board > Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040 > Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 or in the drop-down menu.

    Cytron Maker UNO RP2040 Arduino IDE

  2. Enter Bootloader mode by connecting the Maker Uno RP2040 to your laptop. Press and hold the BOOT button and press RESET (just one press!) and a new drive named RPI-RP2 will appear in the File Manager.
    RPI-RP2 Bootloader mode
  3. Select the board and COM port
    • Select the Maker Uno RP2040 board from Tools > Board > Raspberry Pi Pico/RP2040 > Cytron Maker Uno RP2040
    • Select the COM port by going to Tools > Port (the first time the COM port will be “UF2_Board”). After uploading the sketch, the board will reset and the COM port will appear under a name such as “COM12”. Now we are ready to start coding.

Arduino IDE Cytron Maker UNO RP2040 port

Blinking some LEDs

Make sure the correct board and COM port are selected in the Arduino and copy the following code to blink two LEDs every 500ms:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will use Maker Uno RP2040 to light up any of two onboard GPIOs LEDs alternately. 
For this code, GPIOs LED for GPO and GP1 pin are selected.
Each LED will be blinking every each 0.5 second alternately.  

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io
*/

 // Pin assignments for LEDs
const int ledPin1 = 0;
const int ledPin2 = 1;

void setup() {
  // initialize leds on GP0 and GP1 pins as output.
  pinMode(ledPin1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ledPin2, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  // led GP0 is light up for 0.5s then turned off.
  digitalWrite(ledPin1, HIGH);   
  delay(500);                      
  digitalWrite(ledPin1, LOW);  
  delay(500);                    

  // led GP1 is light up for 0.5s then turned off.
  digitalWrite(ledPin2, HIGH);  
  delay(500);      
  digitalWrite(ledPin2, LOW);  
  delay(500);                  
}

Select Verify to check the code compiles and then Upload the sketch to your Maker Uno RP2040 board.

Maker Uno RP2040 blink LED

Two LEDs should now be blinking on the board (connected to GP0 and GP1) alternating every 0.5 seconds. (Note GP2 is always on, and we can’t see GP1 clearly in the animated WebP file above but it’s blinking too).

Controlling the RGB LEDs

Here’s an Arduino sketch to cycle the colors of the two RGB LEDs on the board going to Red, Green, Blue, and off:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will use Maker Uno RP2040 to light up the on-board RGB leds.
The RGB LEDs will sequentially changing their colors individually. 

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io

REFERENCE:
Adafruit_NeoPixel library link:
https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_NeoPixel/tree/master

*/

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

// Declare pin number of the Neopixel LED and the number of the LED
const int neoPin = 25;
const int numPixels = 2;

// Initialize the NeoPixel RGB LEDs on pin GP25
Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels(numPixels, neoPin, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

void setup() {
  
  pixels.begin(); // Initialize NeoPixel library
  pixels.clear(); // Set all pixel colors to 'off'
  pixels.show();  // Send the updated pixel colors to the hardware.
}

void loop() {

  // pixels.Color() takes RGB values, from 0,0,0 up to 255,255,255
  // NeoPixels are numbered from 0 to (number of pixels - 1).

  pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(200, 0, 0)); // Red
  pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(200, 0, 200)); // Magenta
  pixels.show();   // Send the updated pixel colors to the hardware.
  delay(1000);

  pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(0, 200, 0)); // Green
  pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(200, 200, 0)); // Yellow
  pixels.show();   // Send the updated pixel colors to the hardware.
  delay(1000);

  pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(0, 0, 200)); // Blue
  pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(0, 200, 200)); // Cyan
  pixels.show();   // Send the updated pixel colors to the hardware.
  delay(1000);

  pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(0, 0, 0)); // Black (turn off the LED)
  pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(0, 0, 0)); // Black (turn off the LED)
  pixels.show();   // Send the updated pixel colors to the hardware.
  delay(1000);
}

Let’s now Upload the sketch to the maker Uno RP2040 board…

Maker Uno RP2040 RGB LEDs

The RGB LEDs will change color and turn off in a loop as expected.

Controlling an LED with the user button

The Arduino sketch below turns on or off the LED connected to the GP1 pin when pressing the user button (GP2) on the Maker Uno RP2040 board:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will show how to use the User button on the Maker Uno RP2040 as an Input.
In this code, the button will be used to control an on-board LED. 
If the button is pressed, the LED will light up for 0.5 second then turned off

AUTHOR  : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io
*/

  // Declare pin assignments for LED and button. 
const int ledPin1 = 8;
const int btn1 = 2; 


void setup() {
  // initialize leds GP8 pins as output and the user button GP2 as input
  pinMode(ledPin1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(btn1, INPUT_PULLUP);
  
}

void loop() {
  // check button 1 (GP2) is pressed
  if (!digitalRead(btn1)) {
    // led GP0 is light up for 0.5s then turned off.
    digitalWrite(ledPin1, HIGH);
    delay(500);
    digitalWrite(ledPin1, LOW);
  }

}

 

 

Cytron Maker Uno RP2040 Button Test

Buzzer testing

We’ll play some sound through the buzzer when pressing the user button (GP2) using this code:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will use the the buzzzer on the Maker Uno RP2040 to play the tones. 
The User button also used in this code. Upon startup, a short melody will be played 
and then the code will wait for the button press to play another set of short tones.

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io
*/

// Declare pin assigment for buzzer and button
const int buzzerPin = 8;
const int btn1 = 2;

// Create an array of the melody note frequency with its corresponding duration for each note
int melody_note[10] = {659, 659, 0, 659, 0, 523, 659, 0, 784, 0}; // [E5, E5, REST, E5, REST, C5, E5, REST, G5]
int melody_duration[10] = {150, 150, 150, 150, 150, 150, 150, 150, 200, 150};

void setup(){
  // Initialize buzzer pin as output
  pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);

  // Initialize buttons
  pinMode(btn1, INPUT_PULLUP);

  // Play melody during start up
  play_melody(buzzerPin);
}

void loop(){
  // Check button 1 (GP2) is pressed
  if (!digitalRead(btn1)) {
    // Play tones
    tone(buzzerPin,262,100);
    delay(100);
    tone(buzzerPin,659,100);
    delay(100);
    tone(buzzerPin,784,100);
    delay(100);
    noTone(buzzerPin);
  }
}

void play_melody(int pin){
  for(int i=0; i<10; i++){
    if(melody_note[i] == 0){
      noTone(pin);
    } 
    else{
     tone(pin, melody_note[i], 100);
    }
    delay(int(melody_duration[i]));
  }
}

After uploading the sketch, we should hear a short snippet of Mario Bros theme melody each time we press the user button

Arduino sketch to control a micro servo from the Maker Uno RP2040

We’ve only tested hardware built-in on the Maker Uno RP2040 board so far, but we’ll now start testing expansion capabilities by connecting an S90 micro servo to the GP14, +, and – pins of the SERVO header.

Maker Uno RP2040 with four Servo ports

The Arduino sketch below will rotate the four servos from 0 degrees to 180 degrees and back in an infinite loop:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will use Maker UNO RP2040 to control four servo motors connected to the onboard servo ports.
The servo motor will sweep from 0° to 180° with an increment of 1° every 10 milliseconds. 
Then  the servos moves back from 180 degrees to 0 degrees with a decrement of 1 degree every each 10 milliseconds.

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io
*/

  // Include the servo library
#include <Servo.h>

  // Create servo objects for each servos
Servo servo1;  
Servo servo2;
Servo servo3;
Servo servo4;

void setup() {

  // Attach each servo object to their corresponding pins
  servo1.attach(14);  
  servo2.attach(15);
  servo3.attach(16);
  servo4.attach(17);
}

void loop() {
  
   // Move the servos from 0 degress to 180 degrees with with an increment of 1 degree per step
  for (int pos = 0; pos <= 180; pos += 1) { 
  servo1.write(pos);     // Set Servo 1 position to 'pos' degrees
  servo2.write(pos);     // Set Servo 2 position to 'pos' degrees
  servo3.write(pos);     // Set Servo 3 position to 'pos' degrees
  servo4.write(pos);     // Set Servo 4 position to 'pos' degrees
  delay(10);  // Pause for 15 milliseconds to control the speed of servo movement
  }
   
   // Move the servos from 180 degress to 0 degrees with with a decrement of 1 degree per step
  for (int pos = 200; pos >= 0; pos -= 1) { 
  servo1.write(pos);     // Set Servo 1 position to 'pos' degrees
  servo2.write(pos);     // Set Servo 2 position to 'pos' degrees
  servo3.write(pos);     // Set Servo 3 position to 'pos' degrees
  servo4.write(pos);     // Set Servo 4 position to 'pos' degrees
  delay(10);   // Pause for 15 milliseconds to control the speed of servo movement
  }
}

/*
NOTE:
This code is written for standard servo motors. If you are using  360 degree continous rotation servo, 
the servo.write (pos) function behave differently than standard servo. It controls speed rather than position.
A value near 90 means no movement, 0 is full speed in one direction and  180 is full speed in other direction
 
*/

We only have one micro servo which we connected to GP14 (S1) and added a small flag for dramatic effect 🙂

Maker Uno RP2040 Micro Servo Motor

The servo motor rotates smoothly from 0° to 180° in increments of 1° every 10 ms. When it reaches 180°, it reverses direction and moves back to 0° in increments of 1° every 10 ms.

Reading analog values from a soil moisture sensor

The Maker Uno RP2040 board comes with various Grove connectors with digital, analog, or I2C interfaces.

Grove ports

We’ll first test an analog connector (Grove 5) using a Maker soil moisture sensor to measure humidity in a glass of water.

Maker Uno RP2040 Soil Sensor

There are dry, moist, and wet LEDS on the sensor module, but the following code will report the raw and voltage values from the A3 (GP29) pin in the serial monitor:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will use Maker Uno RP2040 to read the analog input from Maker Soil Module
and then show the result on serial monitor. This code also applicable to any analog sensor.

CONNECTION:

Grove 5 of Maker Uno RP2040 : Maker Soil Module
GP29 - OUT pin of the Maker Soil Module

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io
*/

int sensorPin = 29;    // select the input pin for the potentiometer
int raw_value = 0; 
float voltage_value = 0; 

void setup() {
  // declare the sensorPin as an OUTPUT:
  pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  // enable adc resolution to 12-bit (default 10-bit)
  analogReadResolution(12);
}

void loop() {

  // read the value from the sensor:
  raw_value = analogRead(sensorPin);
  // Convert the raw ADC value to voltage (3.3V is the board's voltage reference)
  voltage_value = (raw_value * 3.3) / 4095;
  
  Serial.print("Raw Value : ");
  Serial.println(raw_value);
  Serial.print("Voltage Value : ");
  Serial.println(voltage_value);
  Serial.println("---------------------------");
  
  delay(1000);
}

Once the sketch is running, we can open the Serial Monitor to check out the values updates in a loop every 1 seconds.

Arduino IDE Serial Monitor Sensor Values

Reading digital values from an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor

While only two of the Grove connectors support analog, any of the 6 Grove connectors and the Maker port can be configured to take a digital sensor. In this review, we will be using an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor module connected to pins 20 (ECHO signal), 21 (TRIG signal), and 3.3V and GND of the Grove 6 connector on the Maker Uno RP2040 board in order to measure the distance to the Cytron retail box.

Maker Uno RP2040 with Ultrasonic HC SR04 sensor

Here’s the Arduino sketch to measure the distance and output the value in the serial monitor:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will use Maker UNO RP2040 with Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04P
to measure distance and then display the readings on serial monitor. 

CONNECTION:

HC-SR04P - Grove 6 of Maker UNO RP2040
           or 
GP20 - Echo pin of HC-SR04P
GP21 - Trig pin of HC-SR04P

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io

REFERENCE:
Code adapted from www.HowToMechatronics.com:
https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/ultrasonic-sensor-hc-sr04/

*/

// defines pins numbers
const int echoPin = 20;
const int trigPin = 21;

// defines variables
long duration;
int distance;

void setup() {
  pinMode(trigPin, OUTPUT); // Sets the trigPin as an Output
  pinMode(echoPin, INPUT); // Sets the echoPin as an Input
  Serial.begin(9600); // Starts the serial communication
}
void loop() {
  // Clears the trigPin
  digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(2);

  // Sets the trigPin on HIGH state for 10 micro seconds
  digitalWrite(trigPin, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(10);
  digitalWrite(trigPin, LOW);

  // Measure the response from the echoPin
  duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);

  // Calculate the distance from duration value
  // Use 343 metres per second as the speed of sound

  distance = duration * 0.034 / 2;

  // Prints the distance on the Serial Monitor
  Serial.print("Distance : ");
  Serial.print(distance);
  Serial.println(" cm");
  delay(100);
}

Let’s upload the code to the board and move the box at different distances from the package.

Ultrasonic HC SR04 Arduino sensor demo

The distance will be shown in the serial monitor in centimeters.

Arduino IDE Serial Monitor HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensor

Connecting an I2C OLED module to the Maker Uno RP2040.

We’ve already tested analog input and digital I/O interface, and we’ll now switch to I2C using the small SSD1315 OLED display provided in our kit connected to the Grove 6 I2C connector.

Grove port SSD1315 OLED I2C module

Here’s a simple Arduino sketch to write some messages on the OLED module:

/*
DESCRIPTION:
This example code will demonstrate how to use Maker UNO RP2040 with OLED Display SSD1315 to display text.

CONNECTION:
Grove 6 of Maker UNO RP2040 - OLED Display SSD1315 Grove

GP20 - SDA
GP21 - SCL

AUTHOR   : Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd
WEBSITE  : www.cytron.io
EMAIL    : support@cytron.io

REFERENCE:
Code adapted from:
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Grove-OLED-Display-0.96-SSD1315/
*/
#include <Arduino.h>
#include <U8g2lib.h>
#ifdef U8X8_HAVE_HW_SPI
#include <SPI.h>
#endif
#ifdef U8X8_HAVE_HW_I2C
#include <Wire.h>
#endif

U8G2_SSD1306_128X64_NONAME_F_SW_I2C u8g2(U8G2_R0, /* clock(SCL)*/ SCL, /*data(SDA)*/ SDA, /* reset=*/ U8X8_PIN_NONE);

void setup(void) {
  u8g2.begin();
}

void loop(void) {
  u8g2.clearBuffer();
  u8g2.setFont(u8g2_font_ncenB08_tr);

  // Adjusted coordinates for better positioning
  u8g2.drawStr(5, 15, "Hello");
  u8g2.drawStr(5, 30, "Cnx-Software");

  u8g2.sendBuffer();
  delay(1000);
}

The first time we tried to compile the code it ended up in failure due to u8g2lib.h file missing.

error u8g2lib.h Arduino IDE

That’s because we’ve yet to install the U8g2 graphics library. It can be installed by going to Tools->Manage Libraries and searching for u8g2.

Arduino U8g2 library

After loading the code to the board, the display would still stay dark. We eventually tried another similar display OLED module (also 0x7B I2C address) and the text was shown properly.

Maker Uno RP2040 Displaying Text on OLED module

In this review of the Maker Uno RP2040 board with the Arduino IDE we could blink LEDs, control RGB LED lights, press the user button to turn on one LED or make the buzzer output some melody, control a micro servo, read sensor values from a soil moisture sensor (analog) and an ultrasonic sensor (digital I/O), as well as display text to an I2C OLED module.

All that could be done relatively easily thanks to tutorials by Cytron that are fairly easy to follow even for a beginner. The board is suitable for STEM education with built-in LEDs, RGB LEDs, a buzzer, and expansion capabilities through Arduino headers and Grove and Maker connectors.

We’d like to thank Cytron for sending us the Maker Uno RP2040 kit for review. The Maker Uno RP2040 board can be purchased for $14.90 with some local distributors in Europe, India, Japan, and Egypt.  They don’t sell the kit we’ve received directly, but you’ll find the Maker soil moisture sensor, HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor, SG90 micro Servo, and 0.96-inch I2C OLED display on the company’s online store.

CNXSoft: This review is a translation of the original tutorial on CNX Software Thailand by Suthinee Kerdkaew. Note that Suthinee has limited experience with this type of hardware, having only reviewed the Cytron Maker Nano RP2040 kit with CircuitPython two years ago and no formal IT education. I just gave her the kit and link to Cytron tutorial, and said “Good luck”. I ended up providing some very limited support (maybe 5 to 10 minutes of my time) for some blocking issues, but as a relative beginner, she mostly managed to complete the review on her own.

The post Maker Uno RP2040 review with Arduino IDE using micro servo, soil moisture sensor, ultrasonic sensor, and I2C OLED modules appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

ODROID-H4+ kit review – Part 1: Unboxing, H4 Type 3 case assembly, and first boot

ODROID-H4 + Review with Type 3 Case

I’ve just received a kit comprised of an ODROID-H4+ SBC along with a Type 3 enclosure taking up to four 2.5-inch SATA drives and related accessories for review. I’ll start with an unboxing, followed by an assembly guide, and a quick first boot in the first part of the review, before testing performance, features such as IBECC memory, power consumption, and more in the second part of the review.

ODROID-H4+ kit unboxing

The package I received included small packages for the “H4 Type 3” enclosure and the ODROID-H4 PLUS SBC, a 15V/4A (60W) power supply with US plug adapter, a large fan with screws, as well as four sets of SATA data and power cables.

ODROID-H4+ kit with Type 3 case, 12V power adapter

We’ve already provided the ODROID-H4, H4+, and H4 Ultra specifications in the announcement post, but let’s have another quick look at the Intel Processor N97 fanless SBC. The rear panel comes with a DC jack, two 2.5GbE RJ45 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, three video outputs (1x HDMI and 2x DisplayPort), and an audio combo hack with audio input, audio output, and optical S/PDIF.

ODROID-H4+ SBC review

The other side of the board comes with four SATA data ports, four SATA power connectors, the power and reset buttons, and an RTC backup battery (not included by default).

ODROID-H4+ with four SATA ports

ODROID-H4 top

The ODROID-H4+ SBC will not come with RAM by default, but since I don’t have any spare one, I asked Hardkernel to send the review sample with memory, and they told me they added a “32GB Samsung DDR5” memory… The bottom side also features an M.2 NVMe socket and I’ll add my own SSD during the assembly.

ODROID-H4 SO-DIMM memory

The H4 Type 3 enclosure comes as a kit with PCB-like parts, plastic standoffs, a few screws, and four rubber feet.

ODROID-H4 Type 3 Case 2.5-inch SATA drives

ODROID-H4 Type 3 case assembly instructions

The only assembly instructions I could find were a YouTube video… If like me, you’re not a big fan of video instructions with having to pause and rewind the video frequently, I’ll go through the main assembly steps below.

Type 3 Case Assembly Fan

We’ll start by attaching the fan to the top cover with four of the five screws that ship with the fan. Make sure the fan is orientated as shown in the photo above. Hardkernel recommends the use of an electric screwdriver. I didn’t have any on hand, so I did that manually

2.5-inch SATA drive mounting

The next step is to mount the SATA drives to the two brackets. I only have three 2.5-inch drives (2x HDD and 1x SSD), but there’s room for four. The main point is to pay attention to the orientation of the drives. Somehow I struggled to fully tighten the two screws at the front part of the SSD, maybe the threads are damaged on my drive after being used in so many reviews…

ODROID-H4+ Assembly M.2 NVMe SSD

We can now work on the ODROID-H4+ SBC. I started by installing a 128GB MAKERDISK NVMe SSD, as once the kit is assembled, it will be a pain to install or replace the memory or storage (See photo below). I also mounted four long standoffs with female threads to four short standoffs with female and male threads through the four mounting holes of the board.

ODROID-H4 Type 3 Case Assembly Instructions

Time to install the middle plate and secure it with long female/make standoffs before clipping the SATA drive brackets on top.

Bottom cover installation

At this stage, we can install the bottom plate and secure it with four screws. It might also be a good time to stick the four rubber feet on the white circles, although I did not do it at this step of the assembly myself.

SATA data power cable installation H4 Type 3 enclosure

Now place the kit on its side, and connect the power and data cables between the drives and the ODROID-H4+ board making sure to pass the cables through the large opening of the middle plate, and not around it (one mistake I made the first time).

ODROID-H4 Plus Type 3 Case NAS Kit

The H4 Type 3 enclosure is designed to work with all ODROID-H4 boards including the variant with only one RJ45 port, so we’ll need to cut off the bit covering one of the RJ45 ports on the rear plate to access the two Ethernet ports on the ODROID-H4+. We can now insert all sides in the small opening of the bottom plate, and connect the fan to the connector on the SBC as shown in the photo above.

ODROID-H4 vs ODROID-H2 Type 3 Case
ODROID-H4+ vs ODROID-H2 Type 3 Case

The final step is to push all side panels and insert the top cover on top before securing it with four more screws. The results can be seen above with the ODROID-H4+ with Type 3 case on the left, and the ODROID-H2+ with Type 3 Case on the right. The new design is sturdier but also bigger because it’s designed to take the Net Card with four 2.5 GbE ports. You’ll see another detachable panel under the USB and HDMI ports for this purpose.

Type 3 Case LED Reset Power buttons

Another improvement over the Type 3 case for the ODROID-H2 is much easier access to the Reset and Power buttons thanks to an opening. A round opening is still there for people wanting to add a large power button. It took me about one hour to complete the assembly including taking photos for the review. I estimate it would have taken around 45 minutes otherwise.

ODROID-H4+ first boot

Time to give it a try. I’ve connected the ODROID-H4+ to an HDMI display (CrowView laptop monitor), two RF dongles for a wireless mouse and a wireless keyboard, and an Ethernet cable to one of the 2.5GbE ports. I finally connected the 60W power supply and pressed the power button.

ODROID-H4 + Review with Type 3 Case

I could immediately see the Hardkernel logo on the monitor, and the boot quickly ended up in Grub which should not be surprising since the system did not ship with storage (except for the 128Mbit SPI flash). I’ll have to install Ubuntu 24.04 on the M.2 NVMe SSD I installed in the kit. Important note: according to the Wiki, the first boot may take 3 minutes after you install the RAM, but mine already came equipped with RAM so the “RAM timing check” part was already done.

ODROID-H4+ GNU Grub

The power consumption is around 16.1 Watts at this stage, so I might have to take the ODROID-H4+ SBC out of its enclosure for further power consumption tests and fanless benchmarks parts of the review.

That will be all for today. I’d like to thank Hardkernel for sending the ODROID-H4+ kit for review. Readers can reproduce this exact setup with the following items:

  • ODROID-H4+ SBC – $139
  • H4 Type 3 case – $17
  • 15V/4A power adapter – $9.40 as an option when ordering the board. Note a 19V~20V laptop power supply would also work. Just make sure to check the polarity.
  • SATA data and power cables –  $3 per set, or $12 in total
  • RTC backup battery – $2.50
  • 92x92x15mm PWM cooling fan – $4
  • Samsung 32GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM – $95 on Hardkernel. Not a bad deal when we compare the price to the Samsung 32GB DDR5-5600 memory sticks sold on Amazon.  CRUCIAL ones are a little cheaper

That would be $278.90 plus shipping in total to which you’d have to add an M.2 SSD for the OS (unless you’re fine running the OS from one of the SATA drives) and a few SATA drives.

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Banana Pi BPI-F3 SBC features SpacemIT K1 octa-core RISC-V AI SoC

Banana Pi BPI-F3 SBC

Banana Pi BPI-F3 single board computer (SBC) is powered by the same SpacemiIT K1 octa-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC with 2TOP AI accelerator found in the upcoming Muse Book RISC-V laptop.

The board comes with up to 4GB RAM and 16GB eMMC flash, supports NVMe or SATA storage via its M.2 socket, is equipped with HDMI and MIPI DSI display interfaces, two MPI CSI camera interfaces, two gigabit Ethernet ports, a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 module, and can also take a PCIe module for 4G LTE cellular connectivity. Other features include four USB 3.0 Type-C ports, a microSD card slot, a 26-pin GPIO header, and optional support for PoE.

Banana Pi BPI-F3 SBC

Banana Pi BPI-F3 specifications:

  • SoC – SpacemiT K1
    • CPU – 8-core X60 RISC-V processor with single-core performance equivalent to about 1.3x the performance of an Arm Cortex-A55
    • GPU – Imagination IMG BXE-2-32 with support for OpenCL 3.0, OpenGL ES3.2, Vulkan 1.2
    • VPU – H.265, H.264, VP9, VP8 4K encoding/encoding
    • NPU – 2.0 TOPS AI accelerator
  • System Memory – 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 (Note: The K1 SoC supports up to 16GB)
  • Storage
    • 8GB or 16GB eMMC flash
    • MicroSD card slot
    • Optional 32M SPI NAND flash
    • Optional 4M SPI NOR flash
    • Optional SATA port (via M.2 module)
  • Display Interfaces
    • HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p60
    • 4-lane MIPI DSI connector
  • Audio –  Speaker header, onboard stereo microphone, 3.5mm headphone jack, digital audio via HDMI
  • Camera – 2x 4-lane MIPI-CSI connectors
  • Networking
    • 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports via Realtek RTL8211F transceivers;  support for PoE via RT5400 expansion board
    • Dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 via Realtek RTL8852BS module
    • Optional 4G LTE via mPCIe socket and SIM card slot
  • USB
    • 4x USB 3.0 Type-A ports via VL817 USB 3.0 hub (so bandwidth is shared, also see block diagram below)
    • 1x USB 2.0 Type-C OTG port
  • Expansion
    • M.2 Key-M socket (PCIe 2.1 x2); supports JMB582 SATA expansion card
    • mPCIe socket (PCIE 2.1 x1)
    • 26-pin header GPIO  header
  • Debugging – 3-pin UART connector
  • Misc
    • Reset, Power, and Burn buttons
    • IR receiver
    • Power LED
    • DIP switch for boot selection
    • Fan header
  • Power Supply – 12V/3A via DC jack or USB Type-C port (strangely placed at opposite corners of the board)
  • Dimensions – 148×100 mm
  • Weight – 200 grams

SpacemIT K1 SBC RISC-V SBC with SIM Card, M.2 Key-M socket, microphoneBanana Pi provides a Linux BSP with pi-opensbi RISC-V Open Source Supervisor Binary Interface, U-boot 2022.10, Linux 6.1.15, and an Armbian 24.04 build script. “Bianbu” NAS/Desktop images based on the Debian distribution and optimized to run on the SpacemiT K1 SoC can also be downloaded directly as well as unofficial Armbian images based on Ubuntu 24.04 Noble, Ubuntu 24.11 Mantic, or Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy.

You’ll find all these resources, PDF schematics, and DXF files on the documentation website which looks better than before (aesthetically speaking), but don’t worry, it still has a few errors here and there as per the long-established tradition for Banana Pi boards. Banana Pi says the BPI-F3 SBC – and the SpacemiT K1 SoC in general – can be used for NAS, laptops, smart robotics, industrial control, edge AI computing, and more.

Banana Pi BPI-F3 block diagram
Banana Pi BPI-F3 block diagram

Banana Pi sells the 4GB/16GB variants of the BPI-F3 single board computer on Aliexpress for $73.69 plus shipping, and the 2GB/8GB model is listed for $63.16 but is currently out of stock. The RISC-V SBC can also be found on Amazon for $89 (4GB/16GB model). The BPI-F3 will be a cheaper platform for evaluation than the complete Muse Book laptop since the software maturity of the RISC-V ecosystem is still something to consider although it has progressed a lot in recent years.

Banana Pi uploaded a few videos on YouTube showing the SBC in action, including the one below with nine Full HD videos playing simultaneously while drawing about 12 Watts of power.

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XGO-Rider is a 2-wheel self-balancing robot with an ESP32 controller plus either a Raspberry Pi CM4 or BBC Micro:bit (Crowdfunding)

XGO-Rider

XGO-Rider is a two-wheel self-balancing robot with an ESP32 controller for motor and servo control, USB-C charging, etc… and a choice between a Raspberry Pi CM4 module or a BBC Micro:bit board for display, audio, and camera (CM4-only).

It’s not the first robot from Luwu Intelligence, since the company launched the XGO-Mini robot dog in 2021, followed by the XGO 2 Raspberry Pi CM4-powered desktop robotic dog with an arm which we reviewed last year. The new XGO-Rider builds on these earlier models but in a different form factor moving from four-legged robots to a 2-wheel self-balancing robot design with many of the same features including AI vision running on the Raspberry Pi CM4.

XGO-Rider self-balancing ESP32 robot with BBC micro:bit or Raspberry Pi CM4 module

XGO-Rider specifications:

  • Host controller (one or the other)
    • Raspberry Pi CM4 with 2GB RAM + ESP32 for main control, USB-C charging port, DIP switch
    • BBC Micro:bit V2 + ESP32 for main control, USB-C charging port, DIP switch
  • Raspberry Pi CM4 model (XGO-Rider)
    • Display – 2-inch color TFT screen
    • Camera – 5MP camera based on OV5647 sensor
    • Audio
      • Dual MEMS digital microphone
      • 8 Ohm/3W chambered speaker
  • micro:bit XGO-Rider
    • Display – 5×5 LED matrix
    • Capacitive touch logo
    • Audio
      • Onboard MEMS microphone
      • 8 Ohm/3W chambered speaker
  • Hub motor – 8.4V magnetic encoded outer rotor brushless motor; rated torque: 0.1N.m
  • Servo motor – 6V 4.5Kg.cm metal shell steel gear with 360˜ magnetic encoded dual-axis serial servo motor
  • Battery – 1200mAh 18500 2S battery good for up to 2 hours under mixed conditions
  • Dimensions – 135 x 118 x 116 to 158mm
  • Weight – About 600 grams
  • Materials – 1mm aluminum alloy, PC, carbon fiber

XGO-Rider block programming

The Raspberry Pi CM4 version of the robot supports programming with Python, Blockly, and ROS, and can run various AI computer vision workloads such as Gesture Recognition, Face Detection, Skeleton Recognition, and more, as well as ChatGPT. The micro:bit XGO-Rider was developed in collaboration with ELECFREAKS to support MakeCode/MicroBlocks visual programming IDE which is especially suited to children’s STEM education.

The company points to its GitHub account for more details, but I don’t see anything specific to the new XGO-Rider at this time. Backers and users will also be able to get supported through a dedicated Facebook group. Watch the video below to better understand some of the capabilities of the self-balancing “AI” robot.

Luwu Intelligence has launched the XGO-Rider self-balancing robot on Kickstarter with an 80,000 HKD ($10850 US) funding goal that has already been reached. “Super Early Bird” rewards start at about $250 US for the micro:bit XGO-Rider, and around $300 for the CM4-powered XGO-Rider. Shipping adds from $10 to China up to $40 to most of the world, and backers should expect their perks to ship in August if everything goes according to plans.

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SONOFF ZBMicro Zigbee USB smart adapter adds any USB device to your Smart Home setup

SONOFF ZBMicro

SONOFF Micro Zibgee USB Smart adapter, or SONOFF ZBMicro for shorts, is a Zigbee 3.0 USB adaptor to remotely control USB devices via your smartphone app or home automation solution based on Home Assistant or other solution to turn on/off the device, set timers to control charging times, configure smart scenes, or control with voice commands.

The new home automation device from ITEAD is based on a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 multiprotocol SoC, works with the usual eWelink app, as well as Home Assitant and OpenHAB open-source solutions when the server is fitted with a compatible Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle

SONOFF ZBMicro

SONOFF ZBMicro specifications:

  • Wireless MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21
    • MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 80 MHz
    • Memory – 96KB SRAM
    • Storage – 352KB flash, 1024KB ROM for protocols and library functions
  • Wireless –  Zigbee 3.0
  • USB – USB 2.0 Type-A port
  • Misc
    • User Button – single press: Turn on/off the smart device; Press and hold for 5 seconds: the device enters the pairing mode.
    • Network LED indicator (Green) – Steady on: Normal connection with the gateway; slow flash: the device is in pairing mode; fast flash: abnormal connection with the gateway
    • Power LED indicator (Red)
  • Power Supply
    • Rating – 5 to 22V up to 4.6A
    • Rated Power – 36W MAX (with QC 3.0 Adaptor)
    • Support for QC 3.0, FCP, SCP, PE, AFC, Apple 2.4A
  • Dimensions – 33 x 31 x 26.5mm
  • Weight – 17.6 grams
  • Casing Material – PC
  • Temperature Range – -10°C to 40°C
  • Humidity – 5-95%RH, non-condensing
  • Compliance – CE, FCC, ISED, RoHS
  • Safety – EN IEC 62368-1
WiFi USB adapter prevents overcharging
The SONFFOFF ZBMicro is supposed to prevent overcharging although it’s unclear whether that’s an issue with the latest smartphones

The SONOFF ZBMicro requires a Zigbee 3.0 hub such as the SONOFF iHost, SONOFF NSPanel Pro, Echo Plus 2nd, Philips Hue, or SmartThings hub V3… It works with the eWelink mobile app, but it is also compatible with open-source automation platforms such as Home Assistant with Zigbee2MQTT integration and openHAB as long as those are fitted with a compatible Zigbee Dongle such as the SONOFF ZBDongle-E or the SkyConnect USB stick. ITEAD also explains the ZBMicro can work as a Zigbee router to extend the range of your Smart Home Zigbee network. A user manual is available but with limited information.

ITEAD sells the SONOFF ZBMicro for $12.99 plus shipping, but as usual, you can get a 10% discount when using the coupon code CNXSOFTSONOFF, and orders over $89 get free shipping. Paisit will soon get a sample along with the upcoming ZBbridge-U “Zigbee Bridge Ultra and Matter Bridge” supporting up to 256 Zigbee sub-devices, so you can expect a review within the next few weeks on CNX Software.

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Sipeed MaixCAM is a RISC-V AI camera devkit with up to 5MP camera, 2.3-inch color touchscreen display, GPIOs

Sipeed MaixCAM

Sipeed MaixCAM is an AI camera based on SOPHGO SG2002 RISC-V (and Arm, and 8051) SoC with a 1 TOPS NPU that takes up to 5MP camera modules and comes with a 2.3-inch color touchscreen display.

The development kit also comes with WiFi 6 and BLE 5.4 connectivity, optional Ethernet, audio input and output ports, a USB Type-C port, and two 14-pin GPIO headers for expansion that makes it suitable for a range of computer vision, Smart audio, and AIoT applications.

Sipeed MaixCAM RISC-V AI camera

Sipeed MaixCAM specifications:

  • SoC – SOPHGO SG2002
    • CPU
      • 1 GHz RISC-V C906 processor or Arm Cortex-A53 core (selectable at boot) running Linux
      • 700 MHz RISC-V C906 core running an RTOS
      • 25 to 300 MHz low-power 8051 processor
    • NPU – 1 TOPS @ INT8 with support for models such as Mobilenetv2, YOLOv5, YOLOv8, etc…
    • Video Codec – H.264, H.265, MJPEG hardware encoding and decoding up to 2K @ 30fps
    • Memory – 256MB DDR3
  • Storage
    • MicroSD card slot (bootable)
    • SD NAND flash (bootable)
  • Display – 2.3-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display with  552×368 resolution; connected through a 31-pin, 2-lane MIPI DSI connector and a 6-pin capacitive touch connector
  • Camera I/F – 4-lane MIPI CSI input via 22-pin connector for up to 5MP cameras. Supports 4MP GC4653 and OS04A10 cameras out of the box
  • Audio Output – On-board power amplifier for 1W speakers via headers
  • Audio Input – Onboard analog silicon microphone
  • Networking
    • WiFi 6 and BLE 5.4 module
    • Customizable Ethernet version
  • USB – USB 2.0 Type-C port
  • Expansion – 2x 14-pin 2.54mm pitch GPIO headers with I2C, SPI, UART, ADC, PWM, WDT
  • Misc –
    • RST button, USER button
    • Power indicator, user LED
  • Power Supply
  • Mechanical – 3D printed enclosure, two threaded holes

Sipeed MaixCAM board pinout diagram

The MaixCAM builds on the company’s board based in LicheeRV-Nano board powered by the SG2002 SoC and all software for the board can run on the camera including the Debian and Qt-based Linux images. Willy – a regular CNX Software reader and commenter – tried one of those two months ago, but was rather unimpressed with usability (e.g. no SSH) and the delta compared to the latest Linux 5.10, and ended up rebasing the code to Linux 5.10.251. There’s a very large number of changes (about 25,000), and the git pull request has yet to be processed by SOPHGO.

There’s also software specific to the Sipeed MaixCAM which we are told won’t work on the LicheeRV-Nano or other SG2002 boards which are better suited for Linux development:

  • MaixPy – Python development package with an API optimized for MaixCAM that supports hardware acceleration
  • MaixVision – AI Vision IDE for programming, running code, real-time image preview, and even block-based programming
  • MaixCDK – C++ version of MaixPy
MaixVision IDE screenshot
MaixVision IDE (it’s also possible to switch to English)

You’ll find all three along with other technical details in the wiki. To make things even easier, Sipeed provides the MaixHub with a list of pre-trained AI models that can be directly uploaded to the MaixCAM hardware. Example apps include a simple HTTP streamer, face detection, fire detection, and a few others, as the list is not super long right now. You can also access those by tapping on the “App Store” button in the user interface on the 2.3-inch display.

Sipeed has started selling the MaxiCAM RISC-V AI camera on Aliexpress for about $40 for a kit with a 4MP camera and accessories.

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