Raspberry Pi Category - Page 14 of 30 - CNX Software

November 17, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

MessengerPi – A LoRa messenger and walkie-talkie based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 (Crowdfunding)

SB Components MessengerPi is a DIY messenger and walkie-talkie based on a Raspberry Pi RP2040 that relies on LoRa communication for P2P messaging over distances of up to 5 kilometers and calls up to 300 meters away. The company actually provides two boards: the MessengerPi itself for both calls and messaging with a keyboard, and the smaller “Walky Talky” board for audio communication only and without a LoRa module. Messenger Pi specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Wireless Ebyte E22-900T22S LoRa module (also used in the company’s LoRa HAT for Raspberry Pi) Based on the Semtech SX1262 transceiver Operates in the 850 MHz to 930 MHz band Up to 5km LoRa text messaging SB Components marked Walkie-Talkie module 16 FRS channels Tx Power – Up to 17 dBm Rx sensitivity – Up to -98dBm Audio communication […]

November 5, 2023April 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 43 Comments

Raspberry Pi 5 review – Part 2: Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm, benchmarks, power consumption, and more

Raspberry Pi 5 Review Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm

A few days ago I finally went through the Raspberry Pi 5 kit I received last September going through all the items and booting it with Raspberry Pi OS bookworm. I’ve now had time to perform more tests to check out the performance with benchmarks and test various features on the Raspberry Pi 5. So I’ll report my experience in the second part of the review and compare the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC to the Raspberry Pi 4 and some other Arm Linux SBCs.

System information in Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm

Last time around, I installed the Raspberry Pi 5 in its official case, but for most of the testing, I decided to go back to the bare board fitted with its active cooler since it’s the best cooling option as we’ll see further in the review.

November 3, 2023November 3, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Arm makes strategic investment in Raspberry Pi

Arm has just acquired a minority stake in Raspberry Pi through a strategic investment in order “to deliver critical solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) developer community.” Paul Williamson, SVP and GM, Internet of Things Line of Business, Arm explains the rationale behind the investment: Arm and Raspberry Pi share a vision to make computing accessible for all, by lowering barriers to innovation so that anyone, anywhere can learn, experience and create new IoT solutions. With the rapid growth of edge and endpoint AI applications, platforms like those from Raspberry Pi, built on Arm, are critical to driving the adoption of high-performance IoT devices globally by enabling developers to innovate faster and more easily. This strategic investment is further proof of our continued commitment to the developer community, and to our partnership with Raspberry Pi. Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi founder and CEO, also provided remarks: Arm technology has always […]

October 9, 2023October 10, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Waveshare RP2040-PiZero – A Raspberry Pi RP2040 board with Raspberry Pi Zero form factor

Waveshare RP2040-PiZero board is a Raspberry Pi Zero lookalike that features a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller instead of a Linux-capable application processor. But RP2040 board comes with the same layout as the Raspberry Pi Zero and similar ports including two USB Type-C ports, a mini HDMI/DVI connector, a microSD card slot, and a 40-pin GPIO header, but also adds support for LiPo batteries with a 2-pin connector and a charging circuit. RP2040-PiZero specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264 kB of embedded SRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash, microSD card slot Video – Mini HDMI port that can output DVI signals USB – 1x USB Type-C port for data using PIO-USB host/device implementation Expansion – 40-pin color-coded header with 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 2x UART, 4x 12-bit ADC, 16x PWM, 8x Programmable I/O (PIO) state machines for custom peripheral support Misc – […]

October 7, 2023October 7, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Raspberry Pi releases RP1 peripheral controller datasheet and block diagram

The Raspberry Pi 5 was recently introduced with the Broadcom BCM2712 CPU and the RP1 chip handling I/Os designed in-house by the Raspberry Pi just like they did for the RP2 (RP2040) microcontroller, and we now have more details about the Raspberry Pi RP1 including a (draft) datasheet and a block diagram. The RP2040 came out before the RP1 peripheral controller as the design for the latter started 7 years ago with a total R&D budget to develop the Raspberry Pi 5 of around 25 million dollars. While at launch, we knew the RP1 handled some peripherals, doubled USB bandwidth with two separate USB 3.0 hosts, and embedded higher speed MIPI interfaces, it was unclear whether some of the other connections came from the BCM2712 or RP1 chips. But we now do know with the release of the datasheet. Raspberry Pi RP1 key features and specifications: MCU – Dual-arm Cortex-M3 […]

September 14, 2023September 13, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Pico QwiicReset board adds Reset button and Qwiic connector to Raspberry Pi Pico

Pico QwiicReset is a tiny add-on board for the Raspberry Pi Pico that adds a Reset button as well as the Qwicc connector to more easily connect I2C modules to the popular MCU board. The lack of a Reset button on the Raspberry Pi Pico has always been an issue since the reset pin is used to flash the firmware, so people have tried various ways to add a Reset button to the Pi Pico board. The Pico QwiicReset is like an extension of the Pimoroni “Captain Resetti” button with an extra Qwiic connector. The Pico QwiicReset board is shown soldered to a Raspberry Pi Pico board above, but it’s also compatible with the Raspberry Pi Pico W and it works with or without headers soldered to the board. But you may noticed the Debug header is partially covered on Pico W, which means the add-on board cannot be used […]

September 5, 2023September 4, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

STARLIGHT – A Raspberry Pi RP2040 board for rockets

STARLIGHT Raspberry Pi RP2040 rocket board

Circuit Wizardry’s STARLIGHT is a rocket control board based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and designed for small 75mm model rockets. The board features rocket control-specific I/Os such as Igniter and Ejection pins each connected to a MOSFET, two headers for 5V servos, plus some sensors and 3.3V or 5V GPIOs for expansion. STARLIGHT specifications: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 16MB flash for firmware and flight data USB – 1x Micro USB port for programming Rocket control Igniter via 2-pin terminal block and AO3400 MOSFET (pulse current up to 30A) used with ignition systems to automatically light your engine. Ejection via 2-pin terminal and AO3400 MOSFET Servo control 2x 3-pin servo outputs for optional thrust loop vector control interface (X Axis and Y axis on board) Level shifter to allow the use of 5V servos with the 3.3V […]

August 15, 2023December 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Mini review of GGtag e-paper display programmable through sound or USB serial

GGtag is a 3.52-inch e-paper display based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and programmable through sound or USB serial from your web browser, plus it also supports emulation of 125 kHz RFID tags (ASK and FSK). When Radoslav Gerganov contacted me about the upcoming Crowd Supply campaign for the GGtag e-paper badge, I happened to have just discussed using an e-paper display to sell some samples on Facebook Groups where requirements include using the seller’s name and date in the photos. So I asked for a sample if any were available, and I just received it today… GGTag specifications: MCUs Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Microchip ATtiny85 8-bit AVR microcontroller (used for RFID) Storage – 2 MB flash Display – 3.52-inc e-paper display with USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and serial programming Sensor – PDM digital microphone for data-over-sound […]