Hardware Category - Page 21 of 1184 - CNX Software

February 20, 2025February 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

STMicro expands the STM32C0 Cortex-M0+ MCU family with STM32C051, STM32C091, and STM32C092 (with CAN FD)

STMicro Nucleo-64 board with STM32C092RC MCU

STMicro first introduced the STM32C0 32-bit Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU family as an 8-bit MCU killer in 2023, followed by the STM32C071 adding USB FS and designed for appliances with graphical user interfaces (GUI). The company has now added three new parts with the STM32C051, STM32C091, and STM32C092. The STM32C051 is similar to the original STM32C031 but adds more storage (64KB vs 32KB) and is offered in packages with up to 48 pins, while the STM32C09x parts offer flash densities up to 256 KB in packages up to 64 pins, and the STM32C092 also gains a CAN FD interface. The STM32C09x parts can be seen as an update to the STM32C071 where more flash memory is needed. That’s 30 new SKUs bringing the total to 55 when different packages and flash memory size/RAM size options are taken into account. The STM32C051 offers the same maximal amount of SRAM as the STM32C031 […]

February 20, 2025February 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Solar-powered LLM over Meshtastic solution may provide live-saving instructions during disasters and emergencies

People are trying to run LLMs on all sorts of low-end hardware with often limited usefulness, and when I saw a solar LLM over Meshtastic demo on X, I first laughed. I did not see the reason for it and LoRa hardware is usually really low-end with Meshtastic open-source firmware typically used for off-grid messaging and GPS location sharing. But after thinking more about it, it could prove useful to receive information through mobile devices during disasters where power and internet connectivity can not be taken for granted. Let’s check Colonel Panic’s solution first. The short post only mentions it’s a solar LLM over Meshtastic using M5Stack hardware. On the left, we must have a power bank charge over USB (through a USB solar panel?) with two USB outputs powering a controller and a board on the right. The main controller with a small display and enclosure is an ESP32-powered […]

February 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Raspberry Pi Pico SDK 2.1.1 release adds 200MHz clock option for RP2040, various Waveshare boards, new code samples

The Raspberry Pi Pico SDK 2.1.1 has just been released with official 200 MHz clock support for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, several new boards mostly from Waveshare, but also one from Sparkfun, as well as new code samples, and other small changes. Raspberry Pi RP2040 gets official 200 MHz clock support When the Raspberry Pi RP2040 was first released along with Raspberry Pi Pico in 2021, we were told the default frequency was 48 MHz, but the microcontroller could also run up to 133 MHz. Eventually, I think the Cortex-M0+ cores were clocked at 125 MHz by default, although some projects (e.g. PicoDVI) would boost the frequency up to 252 MHz. Frequencies higher than 133 Mhz were not officially supported so far, but the Pico SDK 2.1.1 changes that since the Raspberry Pi RP2040 has now been certified to run at a system clock of 200MHz when using a […]

February 20, 2025February 20, 2025 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

LLMStick – An AI and LLM USB device based on Raspberry Pi Zero W and optimized llama.cpp

Youtuber and tech enthusiast Binh Pham has recently built a portable plug-and-play AI and LLM device housed in a USB stick called the LLMStick and built around a Raspberry Pi Zero W. This device portrays the concept of a local plug-and-play LLM which you can use without the internet. After DeepSeek shook the world with its performance and open-source accessibility, we have seen tools like Exo that allow you to run large language models (LLMs) on a cluster of devices, like computers, smartphones, and single-board computers, effectively distributing the processing load. We have also seen Radxa release instructions to run DeepSeek R1 (Qwen2 1.5B) on a Rockchip RK3588-based SBC with 6 TOPS NPU. Pham thought of using the llama.cpp project as it’s specifically designed for devices with limited resources. However, running llama.cpp on the Raspberry Pi Zero W wasn’t straightforward and he had to face architecture incompatibility as the old […]

February 20, 2025February 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Kontron 3.5″-SBC-AML/ADN 3.5-inch Amston Lake/Alder Lake-N single board computer offers three DisplayPort video outputs

Kontron 3.5"-SBC-AML/ADN single board computer

Kontron 3.5″-SBC-AML/ADN is a 3.5-inch single board computer powered by either Intel Amston Lake (Industrial grade) or Alder Lake-N (commercial grade) processor and designed for applications such as automation, healthcare, smart city, and smart retail. It builds upon the smaller Kontron 2.5”-SBC-AML/ADN Pico-ITX SBC with many of the same features, but replaces eMMC flash storage with an M.2 SATA/NVMe socket and a SATA connector, features DDR5 SO-DIMM memory instead of soldered-on LPDDR5, and the larger PCB size allows it to gain an extra DisplayPort connector, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, additional serial ports, and a board-to-board (B2B) connector for expansion. It also supports a wider 9 to 36V DC range. Kontron 3.5″-SBC-AML/ADN specifications: SoC Standard Intel Atom x7211RE dual-core processor up to 3.2GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Atom x7433RE quad-core processor up to 3.4GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 9W Intel […]

February 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Xcrhom T4S WiFi outdoor smart socket features power meter function, Tasmota open-source firmware

Xcrhom T4S Tasmota outdoor wifi smart socket

ESPHome is the favorite open-source firmware of Smart Home devices, but Tasmota is another option that’s been available for many years. We’ve just seen fewer products based on Tasmota (previously Sonoff-Tasmota) in recent years, but it recently showed up on a credit card-sized quad relay board, and I’ve just come across Maker Go’s Xcrhom T4S WiFi Outdoor Smart Socket that also ships with Tasmota firmware and sells on AliExpress for $24.88 shipped. The Xcrhom T4S exposes two sockets with dust and rainproof covers to be used safely outdoors, integrates a power meter, and the Tasmota firmware enables MQTT support, Home Assistant compatibility, and support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Xcrhom T4S specifications: Two EU sockets Max load – 3680W in total (16A x 230V) Rated Current – Up to 16A in total Power Input – 100 to 240V AC 50Hz Wireless – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4; Tx power […]

February 19, 2025February 22, 2025 by Sponsored Post - 1 Comment

Check out this 24-layer HDI PCB made with PCBWay’s high-layer, high-order interposer PCB manufacturing services (Sponsored)

Connections between chips have become increasingly complex, and applications with higher frequency and speed requirements may not make use of traditional PCB technology. That’s where the interposer PCB, a new type of PCB comes into play. PCBWay has the capability to manufacture high-layer, high-order PCBs, and even successfully developed a 24-layer, 6-order arbitrary interconnection HDI PCB. The interposer PCB is a highly precise, high-density interconnect (HDI) PCB that allows for a higher wiring density per unit area compared to traditional PCBs. HDI PCBs are characterized by features such as micro vias, finer lines and spaces, higher connection pad density, and the use of blind and buried vias. These features enable the miniaturization of electronic devices by allowing more functionality to be packed into a smaller space. The design characteristics of this PCB include inner layers connected to the outer layers through laser microvias and dense routing, resulting in a multi-structure […]

February 19, 2025February 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Bapaco is a mechanical keyboard PC with an ultra-wide 12.3-inch touchscreen display (Crowdfunding)

Bapaco mechanical keyboard PC with integrated touchscreen display

Made by Shenzhen SIDIQIAO Technology, the Bapaco is a mechanical keyboard PC powered by an Intel Core i5-1235U 10-core Alder Lake SoC and equipped with a 12.3-inch ultra-wide touchscreen display with 1920×720 resolution. The keyboard PC is offered as a barebone model without memory or storage but supports up to 32GB RAM, an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD, and/or an M.2 2242 SATA 3.0 SSD. It also features an HDMI output to connect an extra display, WiFi 6 connectivity, a few USB ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack and stereo speakers. Bapaco specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-1235U CPU – 10-core/12-thread hybrid Alder Lake U-Series processor with 2x Performance cores @ 1.3/4.4GHz, 8x Efficient cores @ 0.9/3.3GHz Cache – 12 MB Intel Smart Cache GPU – 80EU Iris Xe Graphics @ 1.2 GHz BPB: 15W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4 3200MT/s SO-DIMM single-channel memory Storage M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe […]