Hardware Category - Page 673 of 1133 - CNX Software

October 4, 2017February 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Upgrading Sonoff Stock Firmware to Sonoff-Tasmota – USB to Serial, and OTA Update Methods

This post was initially supposed to be part 2 of Sonoff B1 light bulb review, where I would have explained how easy it was to use OTA mechanism to update to Sonoff-Tasmota open source firmware, and shortly show about its features and capabilities. However, it took me over 10 hours to make that work, mostly due to misunderstand in the documentation, and time spent to configure routers. I also failed the first time with Sonoff B1, so I used the serial console method, and instead managed to use SonOTA method with Sonoff POW switching from stock firmware to Sonoff-Tasmota without having to solder or tear down anything. Updating software with a USB to Serial Board Using a USB to serial board is the most common method to switch from stock firmware to open source firmware such as ESPurna or Sonoff-Tasmota in Sonoff devices or other ESP8266 based devices. It’s quite […]

October 4, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

NVIDIA Unveils Open Source Hardware NVDLA Deep Learning Accelerator

NVIDIA is not exactly known for their commitment to open source projects, but to be fair things have improved since Linus Torvalds gave them the finger a few years ago, although they don’t seem to help much with Nouveau drivers, I’ve usually read positive feedback for Linux for their Nvidia Jetson boards. So this morning I was quite surprised to read the company had launched NVDLA (NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerator), “free and open architecture that promotes a standard way to design deep learning inference accelerators” The project is based on Xavier hardware architecture designed for automotive products, is scalable from small to large systems, and is said to be a complete solution with Verilog and C-model for the chip, Linux drivers, test suites, kernel- and user-mode software, and software development tools all available on Github’s NVDLA account. The project is not released under a standard open source license like MIT, […]

October 4, 2017October 4, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

U-Blox announces NINA-B3 Bluetooth 5 Wireless MCU Modules

Bluetooth 5 promises to quadrupling the range and double the bandwidth of Bluetooth LE connection. However, we’ve seen not all Bluetooth 5 solutions will provide all features in a comparison between Nordic Semi nRF52840 vs nRF52832 vs nRF52810 Bluetooth 5 ready SoCs, as while all three platforms will handle the higher bandwidth just fine, only the nRF52840 will extend the range up to 4 times. That’s why you want want to make sure you get recent hardware capable of fully handling Bluetooth 5, and U-blox has just announced NINA-B3 Bluetooth 5 module series, based on nRF52840 SoC, that will both provide longer range and higher bandwidth. U-blox NINA-B3 module comes in two family flavors: NINA‑B31, comes pre‑flashed with u‑blox’s Connectivity Software, eliminating the need for embedded programming. Support for AT command set, and u-Blox low energy serial port service NINA‑B30 using nRF52840’s ARM Cortex-M4F as an “Open CPU” that allows […]

October 3, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$99 101Hero PYLON is a Poor 3D Printer, But Could Prove Useful to Learning 3D Printing Technology

Anet A8 was one of the first sub $200 3D printer I found last last year, reviews were surprisingly positive. It is now sold for around $150 shipped (with A8PRINT coupon), and experienced reviewers often recommend it to people wanting to get started with 3D printing on a budget. But last week, as I browsed products on Banggood, I found something even cheaper with 101Hero PYLON 3D printer going for $107.99 shipped with coupon 349da5, and further research lead me to the official website where they sell it for $99 excluding shipping, and provide documentation and video tutorials. 101Hero PYLON 3D printer specifications: Printing technology – FDM (Fused deposition modeling) Host Material – Steel + ABS XYZ Bearings – Steel Print Size – 100 x 100mm Layer thickness – 0.1mm Nozzle diameter – 0.4mm Printing material – PLA Material Diameter – 1.75mm Power Supply – 20W Dimensions – 260 x […]

October 3, 2017July 26, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

MACCHIATOBin based DIY ARM Desktop, DragonBoard 820c based DIY ARM Laptop (Video)

2017 may be the year of the (ARM based) Linux desktop, sort of. We’ve already seen GIGABYTE ARM development PC powered by a Socionext SC2A11 Synquacer 24-core ARM Cortex A53 processor that will be available in December, and apparently working fairly well already. But there are even more options, as Bernhard Rosenkränzer (Bero) from the Linaro Mobile Group, and unofficial Linaro superstar, has decided to create his own ARM based desktop and laptop, based on respectively MACCHIATOBin board with a Marvell ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor, and DragonBoard 820c board with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad core Krait processor. Since MACCHIATOBin board complies with mini-ITX form factor, he could simply use off the shelf parts with a standard desktop case with power supply, NVIDIA or AMD Radeon graphics card, 16GB memory modules, and a 2 TB SSD drive. The AMD Radeon card fried due to overheating, so the […]

October 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HeartyPatch is an Open Source Wireless ECG Patch Powered by ESP32 WiSoC (Crowdfunding)

Smart health gadgets will soon have a bigger part to play in our lives, especially for health monitoring. It mainly started with fitness trackers, but now we are starting to see connected devices such as blood pressure monitors, including the upcoming watch like Omron HeartVue, thermometer, scales, vital sign monitoring systems, certified medical SBC‘s to allow engineers to developer their own medical applications, and even open source surgical robots. HeartPatch is one of those medical board that specifically aims at measuring ECG data, and sent it over Bluetooth or WiFi thanks to Espressif ESP32 WiSoC. HeartPatch specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual core Tensilica LX6 processor with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth ECG Chip – Maxim MAX30003 analog front-end USB – 1x micro USB connector for programming, data, power, and battery charging Debugging – USB-UART bridge based on CP2104 Misc – Onboard Snap-on Buttons for disposable electrode pads, RGB LED, Battery – 450 […]

October 2, 2017October 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Popcorn Hour RockBox Basic TV Box To Leverage ROCK64 Board Firmware Images

Pine64 launched ROCK64 development board powered by Rockchip RK3328 processor a few months ago. The board exposes fast interfaces like Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0, and support 4K video playback, and runs Android 7.1 or various Linux distributions such as Ubuntu 16.04 and others. Pine64 and Cloud Media companies share some of the same owners, and RK3328 being a TV box processor, it should not come as a surprise that Cloud Media has introduced Popcorn Hour Rockbox Basic TV box based on the processor. While the box is running Android 7.1 by default, it will also be support alternative operating systems such as LibreELEC, Android TV OS, Ubuntu, etc… thanks to the work of Pine64/Rock64 community. Popcorn Hour RockBox Basic specifications are quite standard: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB LPDDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC […]

October 1, 2017October 5, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Sonoff B1 Smart Light Bulb Review – Part 1 : eWeLink Android App and Teardown

ITEAD Studio has a popular family of home automation devices call Sonoff with WiFi switches, smart sockets, RF to WiFi bridges and so on. All WiFi devices are based on Espressif ESP8266 or ESP8285, and while the company provide a stock firmware working with eWelink app, at least two communities have formed around Sonoff and other similar devices providing two open source firmware alternatives: ESPurna and Sonoff-Tasmota. The company has sent me Sonoff B1 smart RGB light bulb for review. Today, I’ll check out the light with eWelink app for Android, and do a teardown, before trying one of the open source firmware in the second part of the review. Sonoff B1 Unboxing Some Chinese products come in a blank cardboard boxes, but Sonoff’s light bulb comes with in a nice looking retail package that would look good on store’s shelves. One of the side lists the specifications with an […]