Category: Broadcom BCMxxxx

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on CatsPi Industrial Lite RPi CM4 carrier board features GbE, RS485, Watchdog MCU

CatsPi Industrial Lite RPi CM4 carrier board features GbE, RS485, Watchdog MCU

CatsPi Industrial Lite

We’ve seen a fair deal of Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier boards, and here’s another one courtesy of QwaveSystems with CatsPi Industrial Lite board following Raspberry Pi SBC form factor/dimensions, and equipped with Gigabit Ethernet, RS485, USB ports, as well as a watchdog MCU among other interfaces and features. Contrary to what the name implies, CatsPi Industrial Lite only works with Raspberry Pi CM4 with eMMC flash, but not the CM4 Lite module since there’s no MicroSD card on the baseboard. It’s not the first Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 carrier board with RS485, however, as we previously covered CM Hunter also including CAN and 1-wire interfaces, but QwaveSystems’ solution is more compact and mostly mechanically compatible with Raspberry Pi model B SBC’s. CatsPi Industrial Lite board specifications: Compatible SoMs – Raspberry Pi CM4 with eMMC flash only Video Output – Micro HDMI port Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, optional 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on JTAG Hat for Raspberry Pi eases debugging with OpenOCD

JTAG Hat for Raspberry Pi eases debugging with OpenOCD

JTAG Hat for Raspberry Pi

Low-level debugging can be performed with a JTAG debugger and OpenOCD open-source software, but since not everybody may have a JTAG debugger at home, some have reverted to using the Raspberry Pi as a JTAG debugger, and you’ll find instructions for cabling and installing the software on the Internet. Matt Mets of BlinkinLabs have been using the Raspberry Pi SBC and OpenOCD to debug Arm-based microcontroller boards for a while, but found it to be a pain to find jumper wires and look up the pin-outs manually each time. So he designed a JTAG Hat with properly labeled 20-pin .1″ and 1.27mm Cortex debug connectors to speed up the process. The expansion board also adds level-shifting buffers to interface with targets running at 1.8-5V, transistor-based power reset pins, a power switch for optionally supplying 3.3V to the target, a voltage/current sensor for measuring the target power consumption, and a buffered […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Raspberry Pi CM4 based Exo Sense Pi multi-sensor device gets optional earthquake sensor

Raspberry Pi CM4 based Exo Sense Pi multi-sensor device gets optional earthquake sensor

Exo Sense Pi

Sfera Labs’ Exo Sense Pi is a device with multiple environmental sensors based on the 2GB version of the Raspberry Pi CM4 module designed for residential and commercial applications such as environmental monitoring and data gathering, BLE positioning, indoor people and assets tracking, rooms management and access control, voice control, and more. The Exo Sense Pi devices include optional WiFI 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity depending on the RPI CM4 module selected, and ships with temperature, humidity, air quality (VOC), light intensity, microphone, and PIR motion sensors by default, but there’s also an optional earthquake sensor. Exo Sense Pi specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 (16GB eMMC flash) or CM4 Lite module with 2GB RAM by default. But obviously compatible with other models. Storage – MicroSD card socket for CM4 Lite module Wireless connectivity – 2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac wireless; Bluetooth 5.0, BLE depending on installed […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Flashback: This is what the Raspberry Pi USB Computer looked like 10 years ago

Flashback: This is what the Raspberry Pi USB Computer looked like 10 years ago

raspberry pi prototype

The first Raspberry Pi single board computer was officially launched on February 29, 2012. Raspberry Pi Model B included a Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor with 256 RAM, an HDMI port, and the familiar form factor we know today. But the very first time I wrote about the board was on May 8, 2011, exactly ten years ago, with a post entitled “25 USD ARM11 Linux Computer” showing the prototype of Raspberry Pi USB Computer that looks nothing like what was launched the next year. This just looked like a stick with an HDMI port on one hand and a USB port at the other. We did not even know it was based on a Broadcom processor at the time. Those were the preliminary specifications: CPU – 700MHz ARM11 processor GPU – OpenGL ES 2.0 capable Memory – 128MB of SDRAM Storage – SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot Video & Audio Outputs […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on ClusBerry-2M Industrial IoT controller takes two Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4

ClusBerry-2M Industrial IoT controller takes two Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4

ClusBerry-2M Industrial IoT controller

Earlier this year, Techbase introduced the ClusBerry 9500-CM4 cluster system for industrial IoT that can take up to eight Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4 housed in a DIN rail enclosure. But for smaller projects and IoT prototyping, the company has now designed ClusBerry-2M, a smaller cluster device including two independent ModBerry I/O mainboards and two Compute Module 4’s that’s equivalent to two ModBerry 500-CM4, but with support for software cluster management tools such as Docker and K3s Lightweight Kubernetes. The company did not share the full ClusBerry-2M specifications, but we can derive most of the features from the photos, previous products features, and the announcement: SoM – 2x Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1 to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash. Storage – 2x M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0 ports Connectivity 4x Gigabit Ethernet […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on AIO-CM4-101 “All-in-One Pi” is a Raspberry Pi CM4 based 10.1-inch industrial PC

AIO-CM4-101 “All-in-One Pi” is a Raspberry Pi CM4 based 10.1-inch industrial PC

AIO-CM4-101 All-in-One Pi industrial PC

We’ve previously written about Chipsee CM4-70 Industrial Pi  7-inch Panel PC based on Raspberry Pi CM4 module that is offered either as an embedded model to be integrated into the customer enclosure or as a fully integrated panel ready to be mounted into a wall or machine. The company has now launched another model with AIO-CM4-101 “All-in-One Pi” industrial PC offering a 10-inch touchscreen display that can be mounted by using 75x75mm VESA holes, for example on a display stand. AIO-CM4-101 All-in-One Pi specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor at 1.5 GHz, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash Storage – MicroSD card slot for storage expansion Display – 10.1-inch IPS LCD with 1280×800 resolution, 10-point capacitive touchscreen, 350 nit brightness: Camera – Optional front-facing camera Audio – Mic input on the front panel, 2W internal stereo speaker, 3.5mm audio In/Out connector, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on MPi4 NEC MediaPlayer Kit slot-in card powers 4K digital signage displays with Raspberry Pi CM4

MPi4 NEC MediaPlayer Kit slot-in card powers 4K digital signage displays with Raspberry Pi CM4

MPi4 NEC MediaPlayer Kit

NEC Display Solutions has been integrating Raspberry Pi Compute Modules into commercial displays used for digital signage and presentation platforms for over 5 years now. The company, now called Sharp NEC Display Solutions, has launched a new Intel Smart Display Module (SDM)-like slot-in card based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 called “MPi4 NEC MediaPlayer Kit” and designed as an entry-level card alternative to the company’s Intel SDM slot-in cards designed for NEC large format 4K displays. MPi4 NEC MediaPlayer Kit specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 “NEC Edition” with SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Arm Cortex 72 @ 1.5GHz, VideoCore IV GPU with OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics,  H.265 (HEVC) up to 4Kp60 decode, H.264 up to 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode System Memory – 4GB LPDDR2 SDRAM Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash Dimensions – 55 × 40 × 4.7 mm Interface Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Linux 5.12 – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.12 – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.12

Linux 5.12 release was expected last Sunday, but Linus Torvalds decided to release one more release candidate, namely Linux 5.12-RC8, to “make sure things are all settled down“, so the latest Linux kernel is now expected this weekend.  Tihs should not yield any significant changes, so we can check what’s new in Linux 5.12, notably with regards to Arm, MIPS, and RISC-V architectures often used in SoC’s found in embedded systems. Around two months ago, the release of Linux 5.11 added support for Intel’s software guard extensions (SGX) and Platform Monitoring Technology (PMT), AMD “Van Gogh” and “Dimgrey cavefish” graphics processors, MIPI I3C host controller interfaces, and much more. Some interesting changes in Linux 5.12 include: Added support for ACRN hypervisor designed for IoT & embedded devices Added support for Playstation DualSense & Nintendo 64 game controllers, as well as Nintendo 64 data cartridges Dynamic thermal power management via a […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC