Pimonori has started to take pre-orders for the NVMe BASE add-on board that adds an M.2 PCIe socket underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC with support for M.2 NVMe SSDs and M.2 AI accelerators with 2230, 2242, 2260, or 2280 sizes. It’s not the first M.2 expansion board for the Raspberry Pi as the PineBerry Pi HatDrive TM1 and BM1 add-on boards launched last month can also do that either on top of on the bottom of the Raspberry Pi, but the NVMe BASE is quite cheaper at just 13.50 GBP inc. VAT or $14.29 ex. VAT at the time of writing. NVMe Base key features and specifications: NVMe Base PCB M.2 M-key slot Holes for 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 sized M.2 modules Raspberry Pi FFC PCIe connector ‘PCIe Pipe’ Flat Flex Cable M2 bolt and 2x nuts for SSD mounting 4x 7mm M2.5 standoffs for base mounting 8x […]
Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero Allwinner H618 SBC follows Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W form factor
Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero is another Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W alternative with an Allwinner H618 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, 2GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC flash, mini HDMI video output, two USB-C ports, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless connectivity and the usual 40-pin GPIO header as well as a 24-pin “Misc” FPC header. It succeeds the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero launched in 2017 with an Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex A7 processor with basically the same form factor but a more powerful 64-bit Arm processor, more memory (2GB vs 512MB), built-in eMMC flash, dual-band WiFi 5, and the 24-pin MIPI CSI connector is now a “Misc” connector with USB 2.0, Fast Ethernet, and other I/Os. Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero specifications: SoC – Allwinner H618 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with 1MB L2 cache GPU – Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.0/2.0/3.2, OpenCL […]
TQ MBa8MP-RAS314 i.MX 8M Plus single board computer targets industrial, medical, and transportation applications
TQ has recently introduced a single board computer (SBC) called MBa8MP-RAS314. This industrial SBC is built on the TQMa8MPxL embedded module powered by the i.MX 8M Plus Arm Cortex-A53 processor developed by NXP and incorporates all the interfaces of the processor. The MBa8MP-RAS314 single board computer (SBC) finds many applications across various industries due to its features and versatility. In the medical field, it can be found in equipment for sleep monitoring, HMI eye laser systems, dialysis system control, and patient monitoring. In transportation, it can be used for in-vehicle diagnostics and acts as a gateway. Its capabilities extend to industrial automation, where it contributes to optical inspection systems, soft PLCs, programmable control, machine control, and maintenance systems. Specifications: CPU/Processor NXP i.MX 8M Plus Quad 8 ML/AI NXP i.MX 8M Plus Quad 6 Video NXP i.MX 8M Plus Quad 4 Lite Memory/Storage LPDDR4-SDRAM: Up to 8 GB Quad SPI NOR: […]
UP 7000 SBC review – Part 2: Ubuntu 22.04 on a fanless Intel N100 single board computer
The UP 7000 is a credit card-sized Alder Lake-N single board computer that can be used as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 5 for industrial applications. AAEON sent me a model with an Intel Processor N100 CPU, 8GB LPDDR5, and a 64GB eMMC flash, and I went through an unboxing in the first part of the review, compared its mechanical design to the earlier UP 4000 and Raspberry Pi 5 SBC , and also installed Ubuntu 22.04 since the UP 7000 board did not come with any OS and would initially boot to the UEFI shell. I’ve now spent more time with the board and I will report my experience with the UP 7000 SBC running Ubuntu 22.04 in this article checking out features, performance, video playback, power consumption, and so on using the UP 4000 review with Ubuntu 22.04 I did last year as a template plus some […]
Arduino Portenta X8 achieves EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) compliance
Foundries.io, in collaboration with Arduino, has integrated its security software into the Portenta X8, making it the first system-on-module (SoM) to achieve CRA Compliance with the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). Last year, we covered the Portenta X8, Arduino’s first board with an Arm processor running Linux with expansion capabilities with add-ons such as the Portenta HAT Carrier Board, and you’ll find more details about the hardware in those posts. This new EU’s CRA specifies minimum security for all IoT devices in Europe from 2025. This includes: Establish standards for secure products with digital elements throughout the EU. Require manufacturers to focus on security at every stage of a product’s life. Increase user awareness of a product’s cybersecurity features. Demand that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) quickly address vulnerabilities in devices already in use. All these rules will be applicable for the full lifespan of the devices. Under the upcoming […]
Radxa Zero 3W SBC – Rockchip RK3566 SoC, 8GB RAM, WiFi 6 in Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W form factor
More Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W lookalikes are coming to market, as after the Allwinner H618-based Orange Pi Zero 2W, the Radxa Zero 3W has now been introduced with a 1.6 GHz Rockchip RK3566 processor and up to 8GB RAM, plus WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, which makes it one of the most powerful Arm Linux SBCs in the compact Raspberry Pi Zero form factor. The board also comes with an optional eMMC flash with up to 64GB capacity, a microSD card, a micro HDMI port, two USB Type-C ports, a MIPI CSI camera connector, and of course, the usual 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header. Radxa Zero 3W specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.6 GHz (Note the RK3566 is usually clocked at up to 1.8 GHz but may have been underclocked here due to heat issues at the higher frequency as the […]
Add WiFi connectivity to older USB printers with Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A and UoWPrint print server
I previously used an inexpensive CHIP board as a Linux printer and scanner server for the Canon MP250 USB multi-function printer. It took a while to make it work with a long list of instructions and even then the scanner function was not working very reliably. ValdikSS’s UoWPrint driverless printing and scanning server aims to simplify the process for older USB printers and also supports AirPrint and Mopria standards over WiFi. The older Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A board was the hardware of choice for this project due to its ultra-low price. The resulting product enables users to convert their old USB printer (or MFP) into a WiFi printer/MFP and print and scan without drivers from Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as mobile operating systems such as iOS/Android. ValdikSS told CNX Software he spent a considerable amount of time backporting patches required to run modern Debian 12 to the kernel 3.2.67 […]
Youyeetoo X1 x86 SBC Review – Part 2: GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, NFC, PoE module, and power consumption
The Youyeetoo X1 x86 single board computer (SBC) with an Intel Celeron N5105 Jasper Lake CPU differs from a typical Intel or AMD mini PC by its range of IOs including SPI, I2C, UART, NFC connectivity, and support for PoE module that you won’t find in a typical computer, and that’s what we will test in the second part of the X1 SBC review along with power consumption. The Youyeetoo X1 SBC is also different from Arm-based single board computers since we can just install any x86-compatible operating system by ourselves, and w don’t need to flash a board-specific image like we would do with Arm SBCs and peripherals such as SPI, I2C or UART may be or may not usable immediately due to lack of supported drivers. We’ve already installed Ubuntu 22.04 on the Youyeetoo X1 in the first part of the review, so in the second part, we’ll […]