HybridOS is an open-source operating system designed for smart IoT devices and cloud computing environment

HybridOS

As I wrote about the “Summer 2021 of Open Source Promotion Plan” earlier, I noticed a new open-source operating system called HybridOS described as “totally new” and designed for “smart IoT devices and cloud computing environment”. It’s actually more of an ecosystem than an operating system, as it offers three main components with a device side running on devices running Linux kernel or another POSIX-compatible kernel, a server side running on servers in the cloud, and a client side to manage the cloud and devices from Windows, Linux distributions, iOS, or Android. HybridOS Device Side relies on several open-source projects including: hiWebKit, the HybridOS derivative of WebKit: hiACEJS, the HybridOS derivative of OpenHarmony ACELite hiViewRenders, the renderers for hiview tag of hiWebKit hiShell, the app running environment (the shell) Various Graphics stacks including hiMesa, the HybridOS derivative of Mesa hiCairo, the HybridOS derivative of Cairo: hiDRMDrivers, DRM Drivers for HybridOS […]

ClusBerry-2M Industrial IoT controller takes two Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4

ClusBerry-2M Industrial IoT controller

Earlier this year, Techbase introduced the ClusBerry 9500-CM4 cluster system for industrial IoT that can take up to eight Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4 housed in a DIN rail enclosure. But for smaller projects and IoT prototyping, the company has now designed ClusBerry-2M, a smaller cluster device including two independent ModBerry I/O mainboards and two Compute Module 4’s that’s equivalent to two ModBerry 500-CM4, but with support for software cluster management tools such as Docker and K3s Lightweight Kubernetes. The company did not share the full ClusBerry-2M specifications, but we can derive most of the features from the photos, previous products features, and the announcement: SoM – 2x Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, 1 to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash. Storage – 2x M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0 ports Connectivity 4x Gigabit Ethernet […]

Ebyte E104-BT11 Bluetooth Mesh module features Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 MCU

Ebyte E104-BT11 Bluetooth Mesh modules

Ebyte E104-BT11 is a Bluetooth Mesh module offered in four variants with support for gateways (G) and node (N) versions, as well as PCB or IPEX antenna versions. Interestingly it is based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Cortex-M33 microcontroller also found in ITEAD Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle, so it’s not impossible that it could be repurposed for Zigbee or Thread with firmware from Silabs. Ebyte E104-BT11 module specifications: Wireless MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ up to 80 MHz with DSP and FPU, up to 1024 kB flash, up to 96 kB RAM, 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 for Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, or Thread Wireless connectivity Bluetooth Mesh/BLE support with default firmware, up to 10,922 devices supported Max Tx power – 20 dBm Rx sensitivity- -88 to -97 dBm (-97 dBm typ.) Max data rate – 1Mbps Antenna – PCB antenna up to 200-meter range, or IPX antenna up […]

DFI EC90A-GH compact AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 mini PC is Ubuntu-certified

DFI-EC90A-GH mini PC

Last year, Taiwan-based DFI introduced DFI GHF51 SBC based on AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 dual-core SoC and roughly the size of a Raspberry Pi. We had the chance to test the Ryzen R1606G model with both Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Ubuntu 20.04. The board worked mostly to expectations except for compatibilities issues with one of my USB hard drives, some video playback issues, as well as a 3D graphics glitches in one benchmark in Ubuntu. The single board computer was designed to be integrated into the customer’s own chassis, but DFI has now launched EC90A-GH mini PC based on GHF51 SBC. The fanless system is offered with a choice of AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000-series processor with up to 8GB RAM, dual Micro HDMI output, and has recently been Ubuntu-certified by Canonical. DFI EC90A-GH preliminary specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 Series with Radeon Vega 3 GPU; 6W to 12W […]

AI-Thinker introduces 5 ESP32-C3 modules pin compatible with ESP8266 & ESP32 modules

ESP32-C3 modules

ESP32-C3 is the first RISC-V wireless SoC from Espressif Systems, and at the time of the initial announcement promised to cost about the same as ESP8266 but adds support for Bluetooth 5.0 LE besides 2.4 GHz WiFi, and retain software compatibility through the ESP-IDF framework. We were also told the goal was to provide ESP8266 compatible modules, and AI-Thinker has just announced five new ESP32-C3 modules compatible with earlier ESP8266 & ESP32 modules as shown in the table below. The table above is quite low resolution but that’s the best I could obtain from the company… It’s also a complete mess, not showing all alternative ESP8266 or mistaken in board sizes. So I’ll try to give a short summary of differentiating features and equivalent ESP8266/ESP32 modules: ESP32-C3F is meant to replace ESP-12F with a 24 x 16 mm form factor. It does add an IPEX connector, besides the PCB antenna. […]

Arduino unveils Edge Control board for smart agriculture

Arduino Edge Control

Arduino hardware and software have been used for smart agriculture applications for years, but Arduino has now launched a board part of its Arduino Pro program specifically designed for smart farming. Meet Arduino Edge Control. Powered by a Nordic Semi nRF52840 Bluetooth microcontroller, the board offers the usual digital & analog I/O’s, plus four 60/V2.5A solid-state relays, hydrostatic watermark sensor inputs, support for DC or solar power input, and can be augmented with one or two Arduino MKR boards for WiFi, 3G NB-IoT, or LoRaWAN connectivity. Arduino Edge Control specifications: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 1MB flash, 256KB SRAM Additional storage – 2 MB QSPI flash memory, MicroSD card slot Connectivity Bluetooth LE Optional Wifi, 2G, 3G, NB-IoT, eMTC, and/or LoRaWAN via Arduino MKR board USB – Full-speed 12 Mbps micro USB port Expansion I/Os Digital Input – 6x edge-sensitive wake-up pins Digital […]

Samsung Galaxy Upcycling at Home program aims to repurpose older phones into IoT devices

Samsung Galaxy Upcycling light sensor

Electronics waste, also as known as e-waste, has been a problem talked about for years, and in 2015 we asked the question “What do you do with your old devices and boards?” as many devices just end up collecting dust or stored in a drawer. Some better ways include giving or selling them to others, or repurpose them. For instance, a cheap Arm HDMI dongle can make a torrent downloader, an old phone can be transformed into a surveillance camera, an ATX power supply could be converted into a bench power supply, etc… But repurposing devices require some technical skills which many of the smart CNX Software readers have, but it’s unrealistic to expect the typical consumer to be able to hack their old devices into new ones using some tutorials found on the Internet. Samsung Galaxy Upcycling Program aims to make recycling upcycling easier for owners of Galaxy smartphones, […]

Dual Ethernet SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 SBC supports 4-inch or 7-inch displays

Dual Ethernet SBC with display

SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 are low-cost, highly integrated SoC’s with a dual Cortex-A7 processor, 64MB to 128MB on-chip RAM designed for Full HD smart displays, but we’ve also found SSD201 in a 4G LTE industrial gateway. There’s now a different type of board based on the SigmaStar processors with Wireless Tag/Industio IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-12W and IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-22W  SBC’s powered respectively by SSD201 and SSD202, and both equipped with dual Ethernet and a connector for a 4-inch or 7-inch display. Specifications: System-on-Module (one or the other) IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-12W SBC – IDO-SOM2D01  module with SigmaStar SSD201 dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 2D GPU, 64MB DDR2,  2Gbit SPI NAND flash IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-22W SBC – IDO-SOM2D01 module with SigmaStar SSD202 dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 2D GPU, 128MB DDR3,  2Gbit SPI NAND flash Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 4-lane MIPI DSI connector for 4-inch RGB565 display or 7-inch RGB888 display Audio – 2-pin Microphone connector […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC