Silicon Labs Solutions architect Nicola Wrachien has designed an Arduino Nano Matter gamepad for which he was successfully able to port Quake, a popular first-person shooter game. We have seen developers and engineers port doom on everything from toothbrushes to GPS receivers. Wrachien was previously able to port Doom on a Sparkfun Thing Plus Matter MGM240P at Silicon Labs’ 30th-anniversary celebration. But to make things more interesting and challenging he wanted to see if Quake could be run on the same MGM240SD22VNA MCU, and he succeeded. In the end, he could not only run the game, but he also implemented improved graphics (better than Doom), better physics, 3D rendering, and much more. This gamepad is built around an Arduino Nano Matter board which features MGM240SD22VNA MCU from Silicon Labs, along with 256KB of RAM, which is very low compared to Quake’s original system requirements which is a minimum of 8MB […]
DigiPort is an HDMI computer dongle powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 (Crowdfunding)
Shivam Goyal, going under the Geeky Tronics name, has developed the DigiPort HDMI computer dongle powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-module and designed to be connected directly to the back of an HDMI or through an HDMI cable. Since it does not support MHL, the DigiPort also needs a USB-C power source. You can add a keyboard and a mouse through its two USB 2.0 ports or via Bluetooth and network connectivity is managed through WiFi 5 making it a portable computer ready to use out of the box. DigiPort specifications: Supported System-on-Module – Raspberry Pi CM4 SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz System Memory – 1GB to 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM Storage – 0GB (CM4 Lite), or 8GB to 32GB eMMC flash Wireless – Dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 Storage – MicroSD card for OS when using a CM4 Lite module Video Output – […]
Jumperless V5 programmable breadboard is based on Raspberry Pi RP2350B, features a built-in power supply (Crowdfunding)
Jumperless V5 is a one-of-a-kind, programmable breadboard based on a Raspberry Pi RP2350B microcontroller that lets you skip the jumper wires and jump right into prototyping. It is described as “an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for hardware.” The Jumperless V5 also removes the need for test equipment as it comes with built-in power supplies and can function as a multimeter, oscilloscope, function generator, and logic analyzer. As the name implies, the Jumperless V5 breadboard is a revamped version of the original Jumperless, with significant upgrades to make the board easier to use. The Jumperless V5 features a 14 x 30 LED matrix display under the breadboard, a probe for making connections and measurements, four ±8 V, 300 mA power supplies, daisy-chain headers, and overcurrent/overvoltage protection. The software-defined jumpers allow all points to be connected. The four individually programmable ±8 V power supplies, GPIOs, and management channels for voltage, current, and […]
ThunderScope is an open-source Thunderbolt and PCIe oscilloscope with a 1 GS/s data sampling rate (Crowdfunding)
The ThunderScope is an open-source, Thunderbolt/USB4 and PCIe oscilloscope with a sampling rate of up to 1 GS/s. It is portable, presents an affordable, open-source alternative to expensive bench-top and PC-based scopes, and delivers a higher sampling rate than most USB oscilloscopes. ThunderScope streams sample data to your computer for processing and analysis, unlike traditional oscilloscopes which “are limited by their built-in processing capabilities and cramped user interfaces.” It uses the fastest available interface, Thunderbolt, to stream data, allowing it to use your computer’s full potential. ThunderScope is “the only scope that will get better every time you upgrade your computer.” The Thunderbolt oscilloscope is based on AMD’s Artix 7 XC7A35T-2CSG325C FPGA. It supports up to four channels and a full analog bandwidth of 500 MHz (with the anti-aliasing filter disabled). It doesn’t require an external power source, as it is powered via the Thunderbolt port. It comes in a […]
Adafruit Feather RP2350 board with HSTX port enables video output and display interfaces
“Adafruit Feather RP2350 with HSTX port” is a Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU development board that features an onboard 22-pin high-speed serial transmit interface (HSTX) port. The board also features a built-in 200mA+ LiPo charger, an RGB LED, a STEMMA QT connector, and a USB Type-C port for power and programming. The board is compatible with FeatherWings and supports development with various programming languages. These features make this board suitable for a wide range of applications, from embedded projects and IoT devices to educational purposes and prototyping. Previously we have covered a variety of RP2350-powered development boards, including the MOTION 2350 Pro, designed for robotics and motor control; the Solder Party’s RP2350 Stamp, ideal for space-constrained applications; and the WIZnet Raspberry Pi RP2350 boards designed for IoT and internet-connected applications. Feel free to check those out if you want to take a look at some of the unique development boards. Adafruit […]
SparkFun’s $125 “Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor” combines the SCD41 and SEN55 environmental sensors
SparkFun has released a new air quality multi-sensor board, the Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor, which integrates the SCD41 and SEN55 sensors from Sensirion for measuring carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, relative humidity, and temperature. The air quality multi-sensor board simplifies power management for the two sensors via onboard DC voltage conversion and allows a single Qwiic connection for power and communication. It features two Qwiic connectors and a 0.1”-space through-hole header for I2C and power. The board is not a complete solution for indoor air quality monitoring. It has to be connected to a Qwiic-enabled microcontroller such as SparkFun Thing Plus Matter, DataLogger IoT, and the ESP32 Qwiic Pro Mini. Users can install the required Arduino libraries — the Arduino Core library, Sensirion I2C SEN5x, and SparkFun SCD4x — either via the Arduino library manager or directly from SparkFun. The device is open-source, with hardware files, […]
The SenseCAP Watcher is a voice-controlled, physical AI agent for LLM-based space monitoring (Crowdfunding)
Seeed Studio has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the SenseCAP Watcher, a physical AI agent capable of monitoring a space and taking actions based on events within that area. Described as the “world’s first Physical LLM Agent for Smarter Spaces,” the SenseCAP Watcher leverages onboard and cloud-based technologies to “bridge the gap between digital intelligence and physical applications.” The SenseCAP Watcher is powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller coupled with a Himax WiseEye2 HX6538 chip (Cortex-M55 and Ethos-U55 microNPU) for image and vector data processing. It builds on the Grove Vision AI V2 module and comes in a form factor about one-third the size of an iPhone. Onboard features include a camera, touchscreen, microphone, and speaker, supporting voice command recognition and multimodal sensor expansion. It runs the SenseCraft software suite which integrates on-device tinyML models with powerful large language models, either running on a remote cloud server or a local computer […]
STMicro STM32C071 Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU adds USB FS interface, targets inexpensive GUI implementations
STMicro has just announced the availability of the STM32C071 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller part of the STM32C0 series with 128 KB of flash and 24 KB of RAM suitable for driving a small 320 x 240 display using an SPI interface and building affordable graphical user interfaces (GUI) for appliances. The microcontroller also adds a crystal-less USB FS device interface, additional SPI and I2C interfaces, and extra GPIOs (up to 61) all of which are 5V tolerant. For evaluation and quickly get started with firmware development, STMicro also offers the NUCLEO-C071RB development board and X-NUCLEO-GFX01M2 display expansion board. STM32C071 low-cost Cortex-M0+ MCU for GUI in appliances STM32C071 specifications: MCU Core -Arm 32-bit Cortex-M0+ CPU @ up to 48 MHz Memory – Up to 24KB SRAM with HW parity check Storage – Up to 128KB flash with protection and securable area Peripheral interfaces Up to 61x fast I/Os, all 5V tolerant 5-channel […]