Add WiFi connectivity to older USB printers with Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A and UoWPrint print server

Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A printer 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

Youyeetoo X1 GPIO review

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 […]

DIN rail mount works with all Raspberry Pi boards and compatible SBC’s with a 40-pin GPIO header

DINPi Rack Raspberry Pi DIN Rail mount

DIN rail mounts or mountable enclosures for the Raspberry Pi have been available for years with products such as the RailPi 2.0 enclosure or TerraPi’s DIN rail mount, but PlasmaDan’s DINPi RACK adds another option that happens to be compatible with any Raspberry Pi board, be it model A, model B or Zero. Since there’s no software involved, it will also with other SBCs with a 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header and the same mounting holes as the Raspberry Pi SBCs, and DINPi RACK also supports one Raspberry Pi HAT or up to two Raspberry Pi pHATs, also known as uHATs (Micro HAT), plus there’s an extra 40-pin right angle for further example. The board received CE & UKCA certifications, is RoHS compliant (lead-free), and is manufactured by a UL 796 certified manufacturer. This is what the DINPi RACK looks like with a Raspberry Pi Zero W and a Raspberry […]

Olimex launches STMicro STM32MP157 SoM and open-source hardware EVB

Olimex STM32MP157 EVB

Olimex has just launched the STMP157-BASE-SOM-EXT system-on-module (SoM) powered by an STMicro STM32MP157 dual-core Cortex-A7 microprocessor along with the open-source hardware STMP157-BASE-SOM-EVB evaluation board designed in KiCAD. The CPU module comes with 1GB RAM, an EEPROM for configuration, and power management circuitry, and the carrier board exposes all features of the microprocessor with HDMI video output, LCD display interfaces, a 2MP camera, gigabit Ethernet, USB ports, CAN bus terminal block, audio jacks, several GPIO headers, and more. STMP157-BASE-SOM-EXT System-on-Module specifications: Microprocessor – STMicro STM32MP157DAA1 dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 800 MHz with Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core @ 209 MHz, Vivante 3D GPU with OpenGL ES 2.0 support System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – Linux configuration EEPROM Host interface – 6x 40-pin board-to-board connect with 1.27mm pitch for I/Os Misc – User LED, 24 MHz oscillator Power Management  – AXP209 PMIC, LDO, DCDC power management Dimensions – 72 x 48 mm […]

Radxa ROCK 3B Rockchip RK3568 SBC combines Pico-ITX and Raspberry Pi form factors

Radxa ROCK 3B

Radxa ROCK 3 Model B, or ROCK 3B for shorts, is a “PI-CO ITX” SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3568 SoC that combines the benefits of Pico-ITX and Raspberry Pi form factors in the sense that the 100x72mm board features all main ports on the rear side and supports expansion through a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible GPIO header and several M.2 sockets for storage and wireless modules. The ROCK 3B is the younger, but bigger brother of the ROCK 3A business card-sized SBC introduced in 2021, still with an RK3568 CPU and up to 8GB LPDDR4, but the board features two gigabit Ethernet ports, an M.2 B Key socket for 4G LTE/5G cellular modules, an M.2 PCIe 3.0 x1 socket for an M.2 2280 SSD not necessitating an expansion board, besides the M.2 Key-E socket for WiFi 6. ROCK 3B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568(J) CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor […]

UP 7000 Intel Processor N100 fanless SBC review – Part 1: Unboxing and first boot

UP 7000 Review

AAEON has sent us an UP 7000 single board computer equipped with an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N CPU, 8GB RAM, and 64GB eMMC flash for review. The business card-sized SBC is an update to the UP 4000 SBC that we reviewed last year with an Intel Atom x7-E3950 Apollo Lake processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and should also provide an x86 alternative to the Raspberry Pi 5 for industrial application. We’ve already written about the UP 7000 specifications with N100, N97, or N50 processor in an earlier article, so in the first part of the review, we’ll check out the hardware, compare its design to other small form factor, yet relatively powerful, single board computers, and install Ubuntu 22.04,  before testing the Linux OS on the board in more details in the second part of the review. UP 7000 Unboxing We received a package with two boxes, one […]

Banana Pi BPI-R4 WiFi 7 router board is powered by a MediaTek Filogic 880 processor

Banana Pi R4

Banana Pi BPI-R4 is a WiFi 7 router board powered by the MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad-core Arm Corex-A73 processor with 4GB DDR4 RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, and 128MB SPI-NAND flash. The board also comes with two 10GbE SFP cages, four Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports, a USB 3.2 port, as well as an M.2 socket for a 4G/5G modem or an NVMe SSD, and two mini PCIe slots with PCIe 3.0 to support WiFi 7. Banana Pi BPI-R4 specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad-core Arm Corex-A73 processor @ 1.8GHz with AI-powered packet accelerator System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, 128MB SPI NAND Flash, microSD card slot, M.2 Key M for NVMe SSD (see Expansion section for details) Networking 2x 10GbE SFP cages (option for 1x 10Gbe SFP cage and 1x 2.5Gbe PHY) 4x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports (1x WAN and 3x LAN) USB – […]

International Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 deals and coupon codes

Alixexpress Black Friday 2023

We’ve been writing about international Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and coupon codes since 2014, as US-centric promotions such as Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are not always available to the international audience of CNX Software. So once again, we’ve searched at Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 international promotions and discount codes from specific manufacturers as well as popular online stores such as Aliexpress, Banggood, and others. Aliexpress Black Friday and Cyber Monday event Aliexpress will have a Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) event in 2023, but we have limited details at this time since it will only start on November 23, contrary to some of the other deals we’ll feature below which are already up and running. But the event will have two periods: Nov 20-22 PT – Warm Up event where users can find and add items to the cart before purchasing during the […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC