Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.8 on the Linux kernel mailing list: So it took a bit longer for the commit counts to come down this release than I tend to prefer, but a lot of that seemed to be about various selftest updates (networking in particular) rather than any actual real sign of problems. And the last two weeks have been pretty quiet, so I feel there’s no real reason to delay 6.8. We always have some straggling work, and we’ll end up having some of it pushed to stable rather than hold up the new code. Nothing worrisome enough to keep the regular release schedule from happening. As usual, the shortlog below is just for the last week since rc7, the overall changes in 6.8 are obviously much much bigger. This is not the historically big release that 6.7 was – we seem to […]
PineBerry Pi launches five additional HAT+ boards for the Raspberry Pi 5 with 2.5GbE, GbE, M.2 NVMe, and more
PineBerry Pi was the first company to launch a Raspberry Pi HAT+ board making use of the Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe FPC connector with the Hatdrive! M.2 HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 along with the HatDrive! Bottom expansion board that goes underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC. The company has now launched five additional HAT+ boards for the Raspberry Pi 5 with various PCIe (NVMe/AI modules) and networking (2.5GbE, GbE) options. Here’s the list with basic specifications: HatNET! 2.5G – 2.5GbE for the Raspberry Pi 5 using a Realtek RTL8125BG controller, dedicated MAC address range (i.e. not randomly assigned), and an RJ45 jack with Activity and Link LEDs HatDrive! NET 1G – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8111H) and M.2 M-Key socket for NVMe 2230,2242 SSD. Implemented through an ASMedia PCIe Gen 2 switch and booting with the SSD is not supported at this time. You may want to follow the […]
Xtherm II TS2+ review – A 256×192 thermal imager tested with an Android smartphone
Shortly after I wrote about the Mustool MT13S 2-in-1 thermal imager and multimeter, Xinfrared asked me if I wanted to review the Xtherm II TS2+ thermal imager for smartphones. They offer versions that work for Android or iOS smartphones, so the company sent me the Android version of the Xtherm II TS2+ for review. After listing the key features and specifications, I’ll go through an unboxing, and report my experience using the thermal imager with the OPPO A98 5G smartphone running Android 14. Xtherm II TS2+ specifications Minimum focus – 8mm Resolution – 256×192 Pixel Pitch – 12μm FOV – 44.9° x 33.4° Image Frame Rate – 25Hz NETD (Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference) – ≤40mK@25°C, F#1.0 MRTD (Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference) – ≤500mK@25°C,F#1.0 Temperature Range Measurements- -20°C ~ +450°C with ±2°C or ±2% reading accuracy Operating – -20°C ~ +50°C Temperature Correction – Manual/automatic Power Consumption – <350mW Dimensions – […]
Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered 0.99″ rounded display is housed in CNC metal case
The Waveshare RP2040-LCD-0.99-B rounded display is the latest display module by Waveshare. This board is built around the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU and hosts a 128×115 pixels 65K color IPS LCD, along with a QMI8658C IMU, all inside a CNC metal case with an acrylic dull-polish bottom plate. The board also hosts a USB Type-C connector, an LDO, a 2MB NOR-Flash, a SH1.0 6PIN connector (adapting 4x GPIO pins), and a BOOT button. Waveshare RP2040-LCD-0.99-B rounded display module specification: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ processor up to 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 2MB on-board flash memory Display – 0.99-inch 128×115 pixel 65K color IPS LCD USB – 1x USB 1.1 Type-C port (host/device) for power and programming using drag-and-drop via USB mass storage Sensor – QMI8658C IMU Expansion – 4x GPIO via SH1.0 6PIN connector Power Management – Low-power sleep and dormant modes Dimension – […]
Kaki Pi is a Raspberry Pi-inspired Renesas RZ/V2H AI SBC with four camera connectors, a PCIe 3.0 interface
Japanese company Yuridenki-Shokai Co. Ltd will soon launch the Kaki Pi single board computer [update Aug 2024: now called Kakip] based on the just-announced Renesas RZ/V2H Arm microprocessor with a powerful 80 TOPS AI accelerator, with Raspberry Pi-inspired form factor and features such as the 40-pin GPIO header, the same PCIe 3.0 connector as found in the Raspberry Pi 5, and four 22-pin MIPI CSI connectors that look to be compatible with the Raspberry Pi cameras. The board also comes with up to 8GB LPDDR4, a microSD card for the OS, a 22-pin MIPI DSI connector for a display, a gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, two CAN Bus connectors, and other interfaces that make it suitable for robotics applications such as Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and HSR (Human Support Robots) as well as IoT projects. Kaki Pi specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/V2H CPU/MCU cores Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor […]
2×2 Quad Display Board uses Raspberry Pi Pico W or ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module to drive four displays (Crowdfunding)
SB Components’ 2×2 Quad Display Board is an MCU development board fitted with either a Raspberry Pi Pico W board or an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module used to drive four small color displays in square or round shapes. The board specifically features either four 1.54-inch square TFT displays or four 1.28-inch round displays, a microSD card, an RTC with coin-cell battery holder, and a USB-C port for power and programming, plus a few buttons. It may feel like it’s coming out of the but-why-because-we-can department, but the company expects it to be used for signage, interactive displays, art projects, portable devices, data loggers, education, and more. 2×2 Quad Display Board specifications: Main control (one or the other) Raspberry Pi Pico W MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI flash Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5.2 USB – 1x Micro […]
Embedded Open Source Summit 2024 schedule – Embedded Linux, Zephyr OS, and Real-time Linux
The Embedded Open Source Summit 2024 (EOSS 2024) will take place on April 16-18 and the Linux Foundation has already announced the schedule with conference sessions, lightning talks, and birds of a feather (BoF) sessions covering embedded Linux, Zephyr OS, and real-time (RT) Linux. While I won’t be attending in person, I still find it interesting to check out the schedule as we may learn more about the current status of embedded Linux. So I’ve created my own little virtual schedule out of the available talks. Tuesday, April 16 – Day 1, Embedded Open Source Summit 2024 9:05 – 9:45 – No, It’s (Still) Never Too Late to Upstream Your Legacy Linux-Based Platforms by Neil Armstrong, Linaro Nearly 7 years ago, Neil already spoke about this subject in Berlin, and it’s still very true. Do you maintain or used to maintain a Linux-based board or SoC off-tree? Then there are […]
Waveshare RP2040-BLE is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 module with Bluetooth LE connectivity
If you could not care less about WiFi, the Waveshare RP2040-BLE module combines a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller with an unnamed Bluetooth 5.1 dual-mode chip, and supports a USB-C add-on board useful during development. There are several Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards with a WiFi and Bluetooth module including the Raspberry Pi Pico W, but if you are only interested in using Bluetooth, the RP2040-BLE board from Waveshare may be more power-efficient and its design may be more suitable for integration into products. Waveshare RP2040-BLE specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller up to 133 MHz with 264KB of SRAM Storage – 2MB of onboard Flash memory. Connectivity Bluetooth 5.1 dual-mode function (BLE and classic) Controlled by serial AT commands Ceramic antenna Expansion 24x through and castellated holes with 14x multi-function GPIO pins. 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 2x UART, 3x 12-bit ADC, 14 x PWM FPC connector […]