MochaBin-5G SBC offers 10GbE, WiFi 6, 5G for $159 and up (Crowdfunding)

Mochabin 5G SBC

Globalscale Technologies has a follow-up to their low-cost ESPRESSOBin SBC based on Marvell Armada 3700LP SoC. The MochaBin-5G SBC is powered by a Marvell Armada 7040 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, and offers 10GbE networking for as little as $159, with as well as optional WiFi 6 and 5G connectivity. The single board computer is equipped with 16GB eMMC flash, up to 8GB DDR4, and plenty of high-speed interface with multiple Ethernet ports, USB 3.0 ports, M.2 socket for SATA and Cellular, and a mini PCIe for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. MochaBin-5G specifications: SoC – Marvell Armada 7040 quad-core Corex-A72 processor @ up to 1.4GHz System Memory – 4GB or 8GB DDR4 (soldered down) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, 4MB SPI NOR flash for bootloader, SATA connector, M.2 2280 socket for SATA III SSD Networking 1x 10GbE SFP+, 1x 1GbE SFP (via 88E1512 PHY) 4x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 LAN ports via Topaz […]

ODROID-N2+ SBC gets Ubuntu 21.10, Chromium OS with Panfrost open-source GPU driver

ODROID-N2+ running Ubuntu 21.10 with Panfrost

Panfrost open-source driver for Arm Mali Bifrost and Midgard GPUs has come a long way, and Hardkernel’s ODROID-N2+ board now supports Ubuntu 21.10 and Chromium OS with 3D graphics acceleration through the Panfrost driver. As a reminder, ODROID-N2+ is a single board computer powered by an Amlogic S922X Rev.C processor clocked at 2.4GHz with an Arm Mali-G52 GPU, with up to 4GB RAM, and which comes with HDMI 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, plus a GPIO header. ODROID-N2+ with Ubuntu 21.10 + Panfrost Ubuntu 21.10 Impish Indiri is supposed to be released on October 14, 2021 together with Gnome 40, but Hardkernel released a development version as early as August, with Linux 5.14 and Panfrost GPU acceleration as you can see from the screenshot above. The Ubuntu 21.10 image for ODROID-N2+ and the earlier ODROID-N2 SBC cannot be found in the Wiki just yet, but should be there […]

Fujitsu introduces Wirepas Massive USB dongle for location tracking, IoT mesh networking

Fujitsu Wirepas Massive USB Dongle

I was first introduced to Wirepas Massive mesh networking a few days ago when I covered Solidrun Solidsense N8 IoT Compact Wirepas Massive gateway comprised of an NXP i.MX 8M Nano processor running Linux and a module based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 wireless MCU handling Wirepas Massive through its 2.4 GHz radio. It turns out there’s an easy way to add the new mesh networking technology to existing gateways: USB dongles. Fujitsu has launched the FWM8BLZ09x Wirepas Massive USB dongle family, based on the more recent nRF52833 SoC, with Anchor, Tag, and Sink models. Fujitsu FWM8BLZ09x specifications: USB Dongle Types Anchor – FWM8BLZ09P Tag – FWM8BLZ09T Sink – FWM8BLZ09S Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52833-CJAA Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 64 MHz with  8 KB RAM, 512 KB Flash, 2.4 GHz radio Connectivity Wirepas Massive mesh networking Transmit power – +8dBm max. Carrier frequency – 2,400MHz to 2,483.5MHz Modulation – GFSK Symbol rate […]

Nicla Sense ME – Arduino PRO meets Bosch SensorTech’s motion and environmental sensors

Arduino NICLA SENSE ME

Arduino is going full steam ahead with its Arduino PRO family of boards for industrial applications. After the announcement of the Portenta H7 Lite board earlier this month, the company has now introduced the Arduino Nicla Sense ME designed in collaboration with Bosch Sensortec. The Nicla Sense ME (Motion & Environment) board comes with a range of Bosch Sensortec sensors notably a 9DoF smart motion sensor and a 4DoF environmental sensor with AI capabilities, and targets industrial IoT applications either for research projects, rapid prototyping, or commercial products. Arduino Nicla Sense ME specifications: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52832 Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 512KB Flash, 64KB RAM, Bluetooth 4.2/5.0 LE connectivity (via U-blox ANNA B112 module) Storage – 2MB SPI flash for storage; 2MB QSPI dedicated for BHI260AP Sensors BHI260AP motion sensor system with integrated AI, “Fuser 2” 32-bit Synopsys DesignWare ARC EM4 core with RISC FPU BMM150 magnetometer […]

Bangle.js 2 JavaScript smartwatch gets an nRF52840 MCU, a new design (Crowdfunding)

Bangle.js 2

The Bangle.js 2 is an upgraded, improved version of the Bangle.js hackable, JavaScript smartwatch based on NordicSemi nRF52832 SoC that was introduced in 2019 with ESPruino open-source firmware. The new watch comes with a new rectangular design, a Nordic Semi nRF52840 SoC that offers four times the RAM, twice the on-chip and external flash, plus an always-on sunlight-readable screen with full touchscreen support, and improved Bluetooth signal strength. Bangle.js 2 specifications: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4 MCU @ 64MHz  with Bluetooth LE, 256kB RAM, 1MB on-chip flash Storage – 8MB flash Display – 1.3-inch 176×176 always-on 3-bit color LCD display (LPM013M126) with backlight, full touchscreen Connectivity Bluetooth 5.0 LE with advertising, central and peripheral mode support GPS/Glonass receiver Sensors Heart rate monitor 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis magnetometer Air pressure/temperature sensor Misc – Vibration motor Debugging/Programming – Full SWD debug port on the rear of the watch Battery – 200mAh […]

ANAVI Gardening uHAT adds soil and other sensors to Raspberry Pi (Crowdfunding)

ANAVI Gardening uHAT

We’ve been covering and reviewing ANAVI open-source hardware boards for several years now, either standalone boards based on ESP8266, or add-on boards for Raspberry Pi. The  ANAVI Gardening uHAT is the latest board from Leon Anavi. It is a micro HAT designed for Raspberry Pi Zero to Raspberry Pi 4 SBCs that offers interfaces for soil sensors and other environmental sensors allowing measurements of soil moisture, atmospheric pressure and humidity, temperature with a waterproof sensor, and light intensity for gardening applications. ANAVI Gardening uHAT key features and specifications: Compatibility – Any Raspberry Pi board with a 40-pin GPIO header Storage – EEPROM for uHAT compliance 2x 3-pin headers for capacitive soil moisture sensors connected to Microchip MCP3002 ADC chip 3-pin One-wire terminal block for a waterproof temperature sensor 2x 4-pin I²C headers for additional sensors 10-header with GPIO pins for controlling irrigation systems and peripherals Misc – 2x user LEDs,  […]

SolidSense N8 IoT Compact gateway supports Wirepas Massive

SolidRun N8 IoT Compact Gateway

SolidRun “SolidSense N8 IoT Compact” is a Linux Edge gateway based on NXP i.MX 8M Nano Solo processor that offers Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, and optional 4G LTE Cat 4 & GPS connectivity, plus Wirepas Massive (previously Wirepas Mesh networking) via a module based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 wireless Cortex-M4 microcontroller. The gateway comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, offers optional RS485 and  CAN interfaces, and targets IoT applications such as smart metering, automation, asset tracking, safety & security, and smart buildings. SolidSense N8 IoT Compact gateway SolidSense N8 IoT Compact specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M Nano single core Arm Cortex A53 @ 1500MHz + Cortex M7 @ 650MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MIcroSD card slot Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port with optional PoE support 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 Optional 4G LTE Cat 4 (Global) + GPS with fallback […]

PiKVM v3 Raspberry Pi HAT offers KVM over IP on the cheap (Crowdfunding)

PiKVM v3

Last December, we wrote about the inexpensive DIY Pi-KVM board to add KVM over IP to the Raspberry Pi board mentioning PiKVM v3 was in the works with extra features such as onboard ATX power control. It turns out PiKVM v3 HAT has been on Kickstarter for about a month and raised close to $600,000 US from over 2,500 backers with just about two days to go at the time of writing. PiKVM v3 hardware features and specifications: Video & audio capture port – 1x HDMI input up to 1080p50 MIPI CSI-2 interface to Pi to visualize HDMI input USB 1x USB-C console port 1x USB-C power input port USB-OTG pins USB-C OTG port doing the emulation of a USB keyboard, mouse, Virtual CD-ROM or USB Flash Drive, USB-Ethernet, USB-Serial port, etc… Console – RJ45 console port Debugging – UART access pins Expansion SPI and an extra GPIO for the […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC