Broadcom BCMxxxx Category - Page 60 of 72 - CNX Software

December 14, 2016December 16, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Android Things OS for the Internet of Things Supports Raspberry Pi 3, Intel Edison, and NXP Pico Boards

Google introduced Project Brillo a little over a year ago, an operating system based on Android, but with a smaller footprint optimized for Internet of Things applications. Brillo has now just become Android Things OS, with Google releasing a developer preview of Android Things working on Raspberry Pi 3, Intel Edison, and NXP Pico boards. The company has also updated the Weave platform to simplify connection of all types of devices to the cloud, and interaction with services like the Google Assistant. The Weave Device SDK currently supports schemas for light bulbs, smart plugs, switches, and thermostats, with more type of device supported in the future, as well as a mobile app API for both Android and iOS. Using an Android based OS instead of a pure Linux OS should make it easier for Android app developers to create smart devices thanks to the use of familiar Android APIs and […]

November 21, 2016November 22, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 36 Comments

Raspberry Pi 2 Gets an Upgrade to 64-Bit Broadcom BCM2837 Processor with PCB Version 1.2

With the launch of Raspberry Pi 3 based on Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor earlier this year, sales of Raspberry Pi 2 boards have suffering meaning the demand for Broadcom BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 processor has also been reduced, and it appears the Raspberry Pi foundation has now launched Raspberry Pi 2 V1.2 with the faster BCM2837 processor. The new Raspberry Pi 2 v1.2 runs BCM2837 CPU cores up to 900 MHz, instead of 1.2 GHz on RPi 3, and includes 1 GB RAM. The main difference with Raspberry Pi 3 is the lack of the WiFi and Bluetooth module, which may also prevent some UART issues if you want to access the serial console or use an add-on board with UART. Since both boards cost the same ($35), most people should probably stick with Raspberry Pi 3, unless you’d rather not have any wireless module on […]

November 3, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Outernet Introduces Standalone & DIY Internet Satellite Kits for C.H.I.P Board, Raspberry Pi 3 Board, and Laptops

Outernet goal is to bring knowledge and/or emergency info to places without Internet either to remote places, or where Internet has been temporary shutdown due to natural disasters or political reasons through a satellite feed. In some ways, it works like a typical FM radio, but instead of receiving audio, you’ll get data. The first hardware was based on WeTek Play TV box, and called Lighthouse, but they now have a DIY kit that will work with Next Thing C.H.I.P, Raspberry Pi, or Laptops running Windows 7/10 or Linux, as well as a standalone Outernet Satellite kit including C.H.I.P Allwinner R8 development board. Let’s first check out “Basic Outernet DIY Kit” comprised of three items: L-Band Antenna Frequency: 1525 – 1559 MHz (Center frequency: 1542 MHz) 8dbi 4″ SMA Male connector Dimensions – 12 cm x 12 cm x 1.5 cm Weight – ~100 grams RTL-SDR Blog Software Defined Radio/Tuner […]

November 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

RabbitMax Flex IoT Board for Raspberry Pi Supporting up to Five I2C Sensors Launched on Indiegogo for 20 Euros and Up

RabbitMax Flex is an add-on board, compatible with HAT specifications, for Raspberry Pi 2 /3 boards and other Raspberry Pi models with a 40-pin GPIO header. It includes headers for up to 5 I2C sensors, as well as an RGB LED, a buzzer, a relay, a button, infrared receiver and transmitter, and an optional LCD display, and as we’ve seen in my RabbitMax Flex getting started guide, a nice way to learning about hardware programming using either C or Python, or to used in home automation or IoT projects. The project has just been launched on Indiegogo. RabbitMax Flex specifications: Relay – Songle SRD-05VDC-SL-C supporting 125V/250VAC up to 10A, 30VDC up to 10A Storage – EEPROM with some system information for identification IR – IR LED, IR receiver Misc – Buzzer, Button, RGB LED Expansion Header for LCD character display + potentiometer for backlight adjustment 5x 4-pin headers for I2C […]

October 30, 2016December 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Getting Started with RabbitMax Flex IoT and Automation Hat for Raspberry Pi

At the beginning of the month I showed how to assemble RabbitMax Flex, a Raspberry Pi HAT compliant add-on board for Raspberry Pi boards with 40-pin header, that targets IoT and home automation project with its relay, IR transmitter and receiver, I2C headers for sensors, buzzer, RGB LED, and more. Since I’ve already described the hardware, I’ve spend some time this week-end following the user’s guide to play around with the board using a Raspberry Pi 2 board, and try various features. The user’s manual explains that you need the latest version of Raspbian, but I’d not played with my Raspberry Pi 2 board for a while, so the kernel and firmware were quite old:

uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 4.1.7-v7+ #817 SMP PREEMPT Sat Sep 19 15:32:00 BST 2015 armv7l GNU/Linux
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd version
Sep 23 2015 12:12:01 
Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom
version c156d00b148c30a3ba28ec376c9c01e95a77d6d5 (clean) (release)

uname -a

Linux raspberrypi 4.1.7-v7+ #817 SMP PREEMPT Sat Sep 19 15:32:00 BST 2015 armv7l GNU/Linux

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd version

Sep 23 2015 12:12:01

version c156d00b148c30a3ba28ec376c9c01e95a77d6d5 (clean) (release)

So the first thing I had to do was to upgrade Raspbian. There are basically two options to upgrade, either downloading and dumping the latest Raspbian firmware image to your micro SD card, and […]

October 27, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Quirky Linux 8.1 Lightweight Linux Desktop Distribution Released for Raspberry Pi 2 and Pi 3

Barry Kauler, the creator of Puppy Linux, may have retired from maintaining Puppy Linux a few years ago, but he appears to be still active, as he’s just released Quirky Linux 8.1 for Raspberry Pi 2 and Pi 3 boards, a lightweight Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Xenial Xerus 16.04, and including LibreOffice & Inkscape to have the same out of the box experience as Raspbian, but with a 360 MB download size instead of 1.3 GB for Raspbian. A build for ODROID-XU4 development board should also be coming soon. The image has been designed for 8GB micro SD card, and needs to extracted and dumped onto the card with the usual Win32DiskImager or dd tools. There are three mirrors for quirky-pi2-sd-8gb-xerus-8.1.img.xz firmware: iBiblio.org, nluug.nl, and archive.org. You can read the full release notes if you want more details. In case you don’t have a spare micro SD card, […]

October 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 (CM3) and Compute Module 3 Lite (CM3L) Datasheet Released

Last week NEC announced they were going to use Raspberry Pi Compute 3 Module in some of their presentation and digital signage displays. This led to a longish discussion in the blog post, during which one commenter left a link to Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 datasheet, so let’s have a look. There will actually be two version of the Broadcom BCM2837 based Compute Module with CM3 with a 4GB eMMC, and CM3 Lite (CM3L) without eMMC, but SD card signal are available to the baseboard. Apart from storage differences, both modules shared the same specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Videocore IV GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 Storage CM3 Lite – SD card signals through SO-DIMM connector CM3 – 4GB eMMC flash 200-pin edge connector with: 48x GPIO 2x I2C, 2x SPI, 2x UART 2x SD/SDIO, 1x NAND interface (SMI) […]

October 14, 2016October 16, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 39 Comments

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 to be launched by the end of the year, used in NEC displays

Eben Upton had already mentioned the Raspberry Pi Foundation was working on a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 based on the same Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor and 1GB LPDDR2 RAM used in Raspberry Pi 3 board earlier this year, but few details had been provided at the time. The module is still not available, but NEC Display Solutions Europe has already announced they are working on integrating Compute Module 3 into commercial displays starting with 40″, 48″ and 55″ models in January 2017, and up to 98″ by the end of next year, used for digital signage and presentation platforms. The Raspberry Pi Foundation goes on to say they’ve been working on NEC project for over a year now, and they expect to release Compute Module 3 to the general public by the end of the year. Price and complete technical details have not been released yet. […]