WeAct STM32G4 is a tiny board based on STMicro STM32G4 mixed-signal microcontroller

WeAct STM32G4 mixed-signal board

WeAct STM32G4 is a tiny development board based on a 170 MHz STMicro STM32G4 Arm Cortex-M4F mixed-signal microcontroller with DSP instructions and suitable for applications such as motor control, building automation, lighting, digital power meters, and more. Two versions of the board are offered one with an STM32G474CEU6 “Hi-resolution line” microcontroller equipped with 128KB RAM and 512KB flash, and the other with the lower-end STM32G431CBU6 “Access Line” MCU with just 32KB RAM and 128KB flash. The board also comes with a USB-C port for power and programming, three buttons, and two 24-pin headers. WeAct STM32G4 specifications: Microcontroller (one or the other) STMicro STM32G431CBU6 – Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 170 MHz with DSP instructions, 32KB RAM, 128KB flash, and math accelerator STMicro STM32G474CEU6 – Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 170 MHz with DSP instructions, 128KB RAM, 512KB flash, and math accelerator; high-resolution timer and complex waveform builder plus event handler (HRTIM) for […]

LibreVNA open-source USB vector network analyzer (VNA) works in the 100kHz to 6GHz range

LibreVNA Open source hardware vector network analyzer vna

Jan Käberich’s LibreVNA is an open-source hardware USB vector network analyzer (VNA) based on a Spartan-6 FPGA, an STM32 microcontroller, and RF circuitry with MAX2871 and Si5351C chips. The open-source VNA supports two channels and works in the 100kHz to 6GHz frequency range. Vector network analyzers are expensive pieces of electronic test equipment used to measure the magnitude and phase of high-frequency electrical networks costing several thousand dollars. They are commonly used in radio frequency (RF) and microwave engineering applications. Last year, we wrote that Pico Technology released PicoVNA 5 software for Linux, Raspberry Pi, and macOS instead of only providing a Windows program for their commercial PicoVNA devices. I thought it was already a good development even if it was closed-sourced, but LibreVNA goes all the way with an open-source hardware design with hardware design files, the FPGA code, STM32 firmware, and PC software (GUI) all open-source. LivreVNA hardware […]

The M1 device is a Flipper Zero alternative with a faster STM32H5 microcontroller and Wi-Fi connectivity (Crowdfunding)

m1 multitool device

The M1 is a multitool device that bundles several hacking and penetration tools in a package that looks like a retro-gaming console and could be viewed as a Flipper Zero alternative with a more powerful STMicro STM32H5 Cortex-M33 high-performance MCU featuring Arm TrustZone hardware-based security for additional protection for sensitive data. The M1 multitool device features transceivers for infrared, sub-1 GHz, Bluetooth, NFC, RFID, and Wi-Fi. This means that the M1 can replace most of your remotes as well as your RFID and NFC-based items (membership cards, access fobs, business cards, credit cards, etc.) It also has twelve 3.3V (5V tolerant) GPIO pins that can be used to add extra functionality to the device. M1 specifications: MCU – STM32H5-series microcontroller, with a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M33 core, 1MB RAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 1.54-inch display, 128 x 64 resolution Connectivity Bluetooth 4.2 BR/EDR BLE Sensitivity -96dBm Infrared – […]

Flipper Zero gets a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered video game module

flipper zero video game module

Flipper Zero hardware & wireless hacking tool can now be used as a proper game console thanks to a Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered video game module that mirrors the display of the device on a larger monitor or TV via DVI/HDMI video output, and also adds a 6-axis motion tracking sensor. The Flipper Zero has been in the news in recent days, notably with Canada’s government banning the device due to car theft (although it only seems feasible on older cars), and today the company has announced the launch of a video game module developed in collaboration with Raspberry Pi Ltd. Video game module specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller clocked up to 133 MHz with 264 kB SRAM Video Output – DVI-D at 640х480 with 60 Hz refresh rate. It also supports HDMI. USB – USB Type-C port connected to the microcontroller. Acts as a USB device […]

STMicro STM32WL5MOC SiP Module is pre-certified for LoRaWAN & Sigfox networks

STM32WL5MOC wireless prototyping board

STMicroelectronics has recently introduced the STM32WL5MOC system in package (SiP) module with a dual-core STM32 microcontroller, sub-1 GHz RF radio, power supply, and passive components into a 10×10 mm LGA package. According to ST, the new chip uses the STM32WL module which we have seen used in Arduino MKR-inspired MKR Windy board, smart building, and many other LoRa devices. STMicroelectronics’ STM32WL, an Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller, operates in sub-GHz ISM bands (413-479MHz, 826-958MHz, and 169MHz later in 2024) for protocols like wireless M-Bus (mode N) and Wize. It supports multi-protocol and multi-modulation (4-(G)FSK, 2-(G)FSK, (G)MSK, DBPSK, DSSS, OOK, ASK) for various wireless standards (Sigfox, KNX, WiSun, mioty, M-Bus, etc.) and introduces power-saving features for up to 15 years of battery life. STM32WL5MOC SiP module specifications: Core Specifications:  STM32WL55JC SoC with 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0+ CPUs, up to 48 MHz. Adaptive real-time accelerator (ART Accelerator) for efficient flash memory execution. DSP instructions […]

FOSDEM 2024 schedule – Open-source embedded, mobile, IoT, robotics, RISC-V, etc..

FOSDEM 2024

FOSDEM – which stands for Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting – is a free-to-participate event where thousands of developers meet in Brussels on the first week-end of February to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. FOSDEM 2024 will take place on February 3-4 with 880 speakers, 818 events, and 66 tracks. Although I won’t attend, I’ve created a virtual schedule like every year with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms including “FOSS Mobile Devices”, “ Energy: Reimagining this Ecosystem through Open Source”, “RISC-V”, and others. FOSDEM Day 1 – Saturday, February 3, 2024 10:30 – 10:55 – Screen Sharing on Raspberry Pi 5 Using VNC in Weston and Wayland with the Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded by Leon Anavi In 2023, embedded Linux developers received eagerly awaited news: […]

Linux 6.7 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.7 release

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.7, following Linux 6.6 LTS a little over two months ago: So we had a little bit more going on last week compared to the holiday week before that, but certainly not enough to make me think we’d want to delay this any further. End result: 6.7 is (in number of commits: over 17k non-merge commits, with 1k+ merges) one of the largest kernel releases we’ve ever had, but the extra rc8 week was purely due to timing with the holidays, not about any difficulties with the larger release. The main changes this last week were a few DRM updates (mainly fixes for new hw enablement in this version – both amd and nouveau), some more bcachefs fixes (and bcachefs is obviously new to 6.7 and one of the reasons for the large number of commits), and then a few random […]

2023 Year in review – Top 10 posts, statistics, and what to expect in 2024

CNX Software Happy New Year 2024

It’s the last day and last article of the year, so we will look at some highlights of 2023, some traffic statistics on the CNX Software website, and speculate what interesting developments may happen in 2024. Looking back at 2023 The semiconductor shortage that had happened since 2020 started to fade away in early 2023, and supplies for most electronics components and devices seem to be adequate at this time, so that was a bright spot this year, and hopefully, it will stay that way in 2024 despite geopolitical tensions. We did not have any super exciting new Arm application processors from Rockchip, Amlogic, or Allwinner announced this year, although the Amlogic S928X penta-core Cortex-A76/A55 CPU started to show up in some 8K TV boxes. The launch of the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC with a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 processor was probably the main highlight for Arm on this side […]

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