Hardware Category - Page 528 of 1132 - CNX Software

May 20, 2019May 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Top 5 Raspberry Pi Alternatives in 2019

The Raspberry Pi boards are great little Arm Linux SBC’s with a low price and great community support. But the Broadcom processors used in the boards are also fairly old so they may not be suitable for some projects. If your application needs or would benefit from modern features such as memory over 1GB RAM, an actual Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 port(s), 4K video output, or H.265 hardware video decoding you’ll have to find Raspberry Pi alternatives. I’ll point out 5 alternative single board computers in this post from the point of view of existing Raspberry Pi users, who will want good software support and a board with the same or similar form factor as Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ in order to reuse their add-on boards and/or enclosures. Price has to be competitive as well, so nothing above $80 will be mentioned. The boards are not listed in […]

May 20, 2019May 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

E-ALE is a Free & Open Source Linux Training Program for Embedded Engineers

As I wrote about the Embedded Linux Conference 2019 schedule a few days ago, I found out one of talk planned to use E-ALE hardware kit for the session. I had never heard about this kit, but a quick search led me to e-ale.org website which explains E-ALE stands for Embedded Apprentice Linux Engineer. The training program is made for embedded engineers with experience designing firmware for microcontrollers, but now need to transition to embedded Linux. Training only happens in-person (no webinar) at existing Embedded Linux conferences and is comprised of 8 to 9 seminars over 2 to 3 days. It usually starts with a presentation on one subject, followed by lab time to practice the relevant learned skills. The training takes place on the E-ALE kit at each conference, but it does not refer to a specific hardware platform. In most conferences, the PocketBeagle and BaconBits add-on board are […]

May 19, 2019February 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Arduino Introduces Four New Nano Boards with WiFi, BLE, Sensors, and/or HW Crypto

The Maker Faire 2019 is now taking place in San Mateo, California, United States, and Arduino has made an habit of announcing new products during the events. This year is no different as the company has announced a new Nano Family with four boards: Arduino Nano Every powered by a Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller Arduino Nano 33 IoT with secure internet connectivity thanks to a U-blox ESP32 WiFi module and ATECC608A HW crypto chip Arduino Nano 33 BLE with Bluetooth connectivity via U-blox NINA B306 module based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.0 chip Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense with a design similar to Nano 33 BLE but some extra on-board sensors. Arduino Nano Every Specifications: MCU – Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller @ 20 MHz with 48KB flash, 6KB SRAM, 256 Bytes EEPROM USB to Serial via Microchip ATSAMD11D14A Arm Cortex-M0+ USB MCU 2x 15-pin expansion headers with GPIO, SPI, […]

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MBCFET Process Technology to Enable 3nm Chips in 2021

We often read new processor are manufactured with a FinFET process. The new process was created due to short channel effects in traditional planar transistors, and FinFET (Fin Field-effect transistor) was introduced to enable further voltage scaling but with the process node becoming smaller and smaller, electrostatics effects started to cause problem. A solution was to use GAA (Gate All Around) nanowires to limit those effects, but those are apparently really hard to integrate into silicon, so Samsung ended up using thin layers (nanosheets) instead of nanowires enabling greater current per track in their GAA implementation called MBCFET (Multi-Bridge Channel Field-Effect Transistor). While FinFET starts to encounter limitations under 4-5nm, MBCFET will enable manufacturing of chips using a 3nm process. Silicon designers can get started straight away as Samsung Foundry has recently announced the release of their 3GAE PDK (Process Design) version 0.1. Compared to 7nm FinFET technology, Samsung’s 3GAE […]

May 17, 2019June 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Programmable-Air is an Arduino Nano Powered Pneumatics Kit (Crowdfunding)

Programmable-Air Arduino Nano Pneumatics Kit

Programmable-Air is a hardware toolkit that allows you to inflate and deflate objects. Powered by an Arduino Nano board, the kit comes with high pressure and vacuum pumps, valves, and a pressure sensor that enables users to experiement and learn about pneumatics and inflatables. Some of the potential applications include vacuum pick and place machines, soft robots able to walk, soft robotics hands, using a syringe as a linear actuator, inflatable bras, arts projects and more. Programmable-Air specifications: MCU Board – Arduino Nano board based on Microchip ATMega328P microcontroller Pneumatics – Full channel control, i.e. high pressure through atmospheric pressure to vacuum output in the same tube. Max pressure – 0.5 atmosphere (7.5 PSI / 50 kPa) Min Pressure – -0.5 atmosphere (-7.5 PSI / -50 kPa) Flow rate: 2 liters per minute per motor Expansion Grove I²C connector to easily add sensors (Not shown in prototype photo above) Expandable […]

May 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Raspberry Pi based Hyper Keyboard Pi & hgTerm Handheld PCs, and RasPi Arcade Stick

hgterm DIY Raspberry Pi Handheld Computer

There are so many products and projects based on Raspberry Pi that it’s difficult to keep track, and many are often not that interesting, not because they are not useful, but instead because it just feels we’ve seen those before. But this week I’ve come accross three projects that looks to be newsworthy including two handheld computers with a 4″ display, and one retro-gaming console with standard arcade buttons and controls similar to what is found in Pandora’s Box/Key 5S. hgTerm DIY Raspberry Pi Handheld Computer hgterm is a portable computer based on a stripped down Raspberry Pi 3 where the Ethernet port, HDMI port, and most of the USB ports have been removed. It features a 4″ touchscreen display, a Bluetooth keyboard all housed in a 3D printed case. It’s not actually a product that you can buy (yet), but a project made by Igor Brkić which you can […]

May 16, 2019May 16, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Fusion for TIVA v8 Development Board Enables Debugging & Programming over WiFi

Texas Instruments TIVA Arm Cortex-M4 MCU family was first introduced in 2013, I tested a TIVA Launchpad the following years, and since microcontrollers have usually a long life span they are still in use today, and should still be available for many years. I’m writing about this TI MCU family today because MikroElektronika has just announced Fusion for TIVA V8 development board for TI TIVA, Stellaris and MSP432 microcontrollers with plenty of I/Os including some MikroBus expansion slots, as well as support for debugging and programming over WiFi in addition to the usual USB-UART interface. Fusion for TIVA v8 board specifications: MCU – Socket for MikroElektronika MCU CARD Display Interfaces 2x 20-pin TFT display connector 1x 16-pin LCD connector for 2×16 characters LCD displays in 4-bit mode, optional PWM backlight driving feature Programming – On-board CODEGRIP programmer/debugger, JTAG connector for connecting an external programmer/debugger Connectivity – Ethernet port, WiFI in […]

May 16, 2019May 16, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

One Mix 3 Yoga 8.4″ Mini Laptop is up for Pre-order for $760

In recent years we’ve seen several companies launch “mini laptops” with small 6″ to 7″ displays. They have the advantages of being really compact and lightweight, and thanks to Intel Gemini Lake & Amber Lake processors can be fairly powerful. The problem is that with small displays come small keyboards, and people have had a hard type typing text on those. So we’ve started seeing announcements for mini laptops with 8″ to 8.9″ displays such as GPD Pocket 2 Max and CHUWI minibook that should make like easier at the cost of a slightly larger and heavier devices. One Mix 3 Yoga appears to be one the first of those ultra mobile PCs for sale, or more exactly pre-order. You’ll find the pocket laptop on GeekBuying for $759.99 with shipping scheduled for next month. One Netbook One Mix 3 Yoga specifications: SoC – Intel Core m3-8100Y dual-core/quad-thread Amber Lake processor […]