Category: Broadcom BCMxxxx

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Remote.It adds Bluetooth assisted WiFi configuration to Raspberry Pi SBC’s

Remote.It adds Bluetooth assisted WiFi configuration to Raspberry Pi SBC’s

Remote.it Dashboard

Remote.It, a company providing remote access services, has released an open-source project to enable Raspberry Pi WiFi network configuration using Bluetooth (BLE), so users can easily configure WiFi on the board by simply using their smartphone. Configuring WiFi on a Raspberry Pi usually involves either: Manual configuration – The user connects a monitor and keyboard to the Raspberry Pi to configure the wireless network directly on the device. Pre-configured SD cards, NVMe SSDs, or USB drives –  The WiFi ESSID and password can be set in Raspberry Pi USB imager, and the Raspberry Pi will automatically connect to the network at boot time. That’s quick, but less flexible since the credentials can’t be modified after deployment, and it only works when using a single wireless network. Remote.It offers a third option for WiFi provisioning using Bluetooth LE. The Raspberry Pi can run headless or fully enclosed into a product, and […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - 3 Comments on Waveshare Pi5 Module BOX is a configurable mini computer kit for the Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare Pi5 Module BOX is a configurable mini computer kit for the Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare Pi5 Module BOX

Waveshare Pi5 Module BOX is a multi-functional mini-computer kit designed for the Raspberry Pi 5. The housing of this kit is made from aluminum alloy and Waveshare lists three variants of this kit, the first one is the Pi5 Module BOX-A (PCIe to Gigabit Ethernet), Pi5 Module BOX-B (PCIe to 4-ch USB3.2 Gen1), and Pi5 Module BOX-C (PCIe to M.2 interface). The kit looks very similar to the Waveshare Jetson Nano-powered mini-computer or the ODYSSEY-X86J4105 SBC with a case that we have reviewed previously, there was also this metal enclosure for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 that we have written about, feel free to check that out if you are interested in some similar products. Waveshare Pi5 Module BOX specifications Compatibility – Designed for Raspberry Pi 5 (not included) Case Material – Aluminum alloy PCIe Adapter Board Options: Pi5 Module BOX-A – PCIe to Gigabit Ethernet port Pi5 Module BOX-B […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Linux 6.10 Release – Notable changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.10 Release – Notable changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.10 Release Changelog

Linux Torvalds has announced the release of Linux 6.10 on LKML: So the final week was perhaps not quote as quiet as the preceding ones, which I don’t love – but it also wasn’t noisy enough to warrant an extra rc. And much of the noise this last week was bcachefs again (with netfs a close second), so it was all pretty compartmentalized. In fact, about a third of the patch for the last week was filesystem-related (there were also some btrfs latency fixes and other noise), which is unusual, but none of it looks particularly scary. Another third was drivers, and the rest is “random”. Anyway, this obviously means that the merge window for 6.11 opens up tomorrow. Let’s see how that goes, with much of Europe probably making ready for summer vacation. And the shortlog below is – as always – just the last week, not some kind […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - No Comments on Waveshare PoE HAT (G) is a compact 25W PoE HAT+ for the Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare PoE HAT (G) is a compact 25W PoE HAT+ for the Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare PoE HAT (G)

Waveshare PoE HAT (G) is a compact, easy-to-assemble “mini HAT” designed especially for the Raspberry Pi 5. The most unique thing about this PoE HAT+ is that Waveshare designed it so compact that it could fit in the stock Raspberry Pi case with the cooling fan attached. It supports the IEEE 802.3af/at network standard, delivering up to 5V/5A power output. Other features of the HAT+ include a 40-pin GPIO header, a non-isolated switched-mode power supply, and compatibility with 803.3af/at PoE routers or switches. This makes it ideal for remote monitoring, IoT applications, and networked devices. After the Raspberry Pi 5 was released in the last quarter of 2023, we saw Waveshare launch the PoE HAT (F), which also doubled as a cooling solution and followed the official Raspberry Pi PoE+ HAT introduced in 2021. Both modules are compatible with 802.3at (aka PoE+) and 802.3af standards and support up to 25.5 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on SunFounder PiPower 3 kit is a UPS solution for the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC

SunFounder PiPower 3 kit is a UPS solution for the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC

Raspberry Pi 5 UPS Solution

SunFounder PiPower 3 kit is a UPS solution designed to work with the Raspberry Pi 5, other Arm SBCs, or even MCU boards like Arduino UNO and Raspberry Pi Pico. The board delivers a stable 5V/5A output, and a 32-bit CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller takes care of power management and battery level reporting to make sure the Raspberry Pi 5 keeps running when a power failure occurs and shutdowns gracefully when the battery level is low. The kit comes with two 18650 2,000mAh batteries that connect through a 2-pin connector, and all accessories – standoffs, acrylic case, and fan – for assembly with the Raspberry Pi 5, or other compatible boards like the Pi 4, Banana Pi BPI-M5, Radxa Rock Pi E, Orange Pi 3B, and others.   PiPower 3 kit specifications: 32-bit CH32V003 RISC-V microcontroller supporting I2C communication Input – 5V/5A via USB Type-C with PD support Output – 5V/5A […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on N-Fuse PoE HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 also includes mini PCIe or M.2 Key-M/E/B sockets

N-Fuse PoE HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 also includes mini PCIe or M.2 Key-M/E/B sockets

Raspberry Pi PoE HAT M2 socket

N-Fuse has designed a PoE HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC that also serves as a PCIe expansion board thanks to either a mini PCIe socket or an M.2 Key-M, Key-B, or Key-E socket supporting 2230, 2242, or 3042 modules such as SSDs, AI accelerators, or wireless modules. The SBCPoE RPi5 HAT complies with the latest 802.3bt standard delivering up to 25W with active cooling or 15W with passive cooling. The HAT board still allows users to make use of the 40-pin Raspberry Pi 5 header thanks to a 40-pin Raspberry Pi interposition header. SBCPoE RPi5 HAT specifications: Power Supply IEEE 802.3af/at/bt compliant Overload protection 25W power delivery with active cooling, 15W without active cooling Output current up to 5A 5V output via optional 2.54mm pin header High efficiency (> 85%) enabled by active MOSFET bridge rectifier Short-Circuit Duration – infinity PCIe expansion (one or the other) Mini PCIe […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on RAUC open-source OTA update solution for embedded Linux ported to Rock Pi 4 SBC

RAUC open-source OTA update solution for embedded Linux ported to Rock Pi 4 SBC

RAUC OTA firmware update Rock Pi 4

RAUC open-source OTA update solution enabling A/B updates for embedded Linux images has recently been ported to the Radxa Rock Pi 4 Model B SBC powered by a Rockchip OP1 SoC by the project’s maintainer, Leon Anavi working for Konsulto Group. If you run a Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora, packages and OS images are taken care of automatically or by running a few commands. However, software engineers who build custom embedded Linux images with the Yocto Project or Buildroot must handle this themselves. Luckily, there are already open-source OTA firmware update solutions such as Mender, Balena, Torizon, OSTree, Snap, or RAUC, and we’ll look at the latter today. RAUC (Robust Auto-Update Controller) was started by Pengutronix in 2015 and eventually adopted by the community. It’s a lightweight update client that runs on an Embedded Linux device and controls the A/B update procedure when a new firmware revision […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on NUMA emulation patch boosts Geekbench 6 benchmark results by up to 189 on Raspberry Pi 5

NUMA emulation patch boosts Geekbench 6 benchmark results by up to 18% on Raspberry Pi 5

Raspberry Pi 5 NUMA emulation

Igalia Engineer, Tvrtko Ursulin has recently submitted a patch to the Linux kernel adding a NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) emulation implementation for arm64 platforms that boosts the performance of 64-bit Arm targets by “splitting the physical RAM into chunks and utilizing an allocation policy to better utilize parallelism in physical memory chip organization”.

The NUMA emulation implementation was tested on a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC and the Geekbench 6 single-core score improved by 6%, while the multi-core score boosted by 18% after splitting into four emulated NUMA nodes. In other words, that’s like having a Broadcom BCM2712 CPU overclocked from 2.4 GHz up to 2.83 GHz.

UP 7000 x86 SBC