Tiny Seeeduino XIAO board gets Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU

Seeduino XIAO RP2040

Seeeduino XIAO is a tiny Arduino Zero compatible board with battery support that was launched last year with Microchip SAMD21G18 ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller at up to 48MHz. Seeed Studio has now launched the XIAO RP2040 board with the same form factor but upgrading to a more powerful Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller clocked at up to 133 MHz. XIAO RP2040 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ up to 133 MHz, or even 252 MHz (48MHz default) with 264 kB SRAM Storage – 2MB SPI flash USB – 1x USB type C port for power and programming Expansion I/Os 2x 7-pin headers with 11x 4x analog inputs, 11x digital I/Os / PWM, 1x DAC, SPI, UART, and I2C; 2.54mm pitch 3.3V I/O voltage (not 5V tolerant) Misc – 1x user LED, power LED, 2x LEDs for serial port downloading, Reset Button/ Boot Button, RGB LED, SWD pads […]

reServer 2-bay multimedia NAS is equipped with an Intel Core Tiger Lake SBC

reServer multimedia NAS

Seeed Studio has just introduced reServer dual-bay multimedia NAS based on Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Tiger Lake 11th generation processor. The networked storage device is based on ODYSSEY X86 V2 single board computer that offers an upgrade to the ODYSSEY-X86J4105 and ODYSSEY-X86J4125 Gemini Lake SBC’s. reServer comes with up to to 64GB dual-channel memory, dual 2.5GbE, support for two 3.5-inch SATA drives, HDMI and DisplayPort video output, and some USB 3.0/2.0 ports. reServer (preliminary) specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-1115G4 dual-core/quad-thread processor with 48 EU Intel UHD Graphics @ 400 – 1250MHz; 28W TDP Unnamed Intel Core i5 with 80 EU Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 @ 400-1300MHz; 28W TDP Unnamed Intel Core i7 with 96 EU Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 @ 400-1300MHz; 28W TDP Co-processor – Microchip ATSAMD21G18 32-Bit Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller System Memory – Up to 64GB dual-channel DDR4-3200 SDRAM via two SO-DIMM sockets Storage […]

A compact Raspberry Pi RP2040 WiFi board – Meet $12.95 Wio RP2040 mini

Wio RP2040 mini WiFi board

Seeed Studio has launched another Raspberry Pi RP2040 WiFi board with the compact Wio RP2040 mini development board that provides a cheaper and more compact alternative to ESP32 based Pico Wireless carrier board and Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect, albeit at the cost of providing fewer I/O pins, and lacking Bluetooth LE. Wio RP2040 mini dev board specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller up to 133 MHz with 264 kB of embedded SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI Flash Memory WiFi – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 supporting AP & station modes USB – USB 1.1 Type-C host/device port for programming Expansion – 2x 14-pin headers with 20x multifunctional GPIO pins supporting PIO and PWM, 2x UART, 4x ADC, 2x SPI, 2x I2C. Misc – Boot & Reset(RUN) buttons, Power and user (GP13) LEDs Power Supply 5V via USB-C port(default) 3.6-5V via Vin header pin Dimensions – 45.5 […]

The 5 best Intel & AMD single board computers for makers

Best Intel AMD single board computers for makers

A few weeks ago, we wrote a list of what we consider to be the top 5 most powerful Arm SBC’s and development kits, and this time around we’ll cover x86 SBC’s powered by Intel or AMD processors. But this time around, instead of focusing on the most powerful x86 single board computers which would lead to unaffordable, industrial Xeon SBC’s, we’ll be looking into the 5 best boards designed for makers. That means affordable pricing, I/O headers, and community support. The list is in no particular order. Rock Pi X – x86 on the cheap If you ever wanted the cheapest possible x86 board, Atomic Pi SBC $35 price tag was hard to beat, but it was only cheap because it was sourced from a failed robotics project, and not very convenient to use. But now in 2021, the cheapest x86 SBC that can run Windows is clearly Rock […]

ODYSSEY-X86J4125 SBC gets a faster Celeron J4125 SoC and a price increase

ODYSSEY-X86J4215

ODYSSEY-X86J4105 is an Intel Gemini Lake SBC designed for makers with Arduino compatibility thanks to a Microchip SAMD21 microcontroller, as well as Raspberry Pi headers. We reviewed the board and enclosure last year both with Windows 10 Enterprise and Ubuntu 20.04, and we also successfully tested the Arduino and Raspberry Pi GPIO headers with the latter. But the Intel Celeron J4105 quad-core Gemini Lake processor has been scheduled for discontinuance since last year, and the last order on January 22, 2021, and the final shipment on planned for July 9, 2021. So Seeed Studio had to find a replacement, and they’ve now launched ODYSSEY-X86J4125 single board computer with the same features, but switching to a slightly faster, and still available, Intel Celeron J4125 processor. ODYSSEY-X86J4125800 SBC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh processor @ 2.0 / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) / 2.4 GHz (Turbo all cores) with […]

reTerminal – A Raspberry Pi CM4 based 5-inch HMI Terminal

reTerminal Raspberry Pi CM4 console

Seeed Studio has just unveiled reTerminal HMI terminal that reminds me of the company’s Wio Terminal based on Microchip SAMD51 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller with a 2.4-inch display. But as we’ll look into the details, reTerminal is quite a different beast as a Linux-capable device powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 module with up to 8GB RAM, equipped with a 5-inch capacitive touchscreen display, and supporting plenty of connectivity options from GIgabit Ethernet to WiFi to LoRaWAN. reTerminal specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Computer Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB flash Display – 5-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 1280×720 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI port up to 4Kp60 Camera I/F – 2-lane MIPI CSI inteface Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet with optional PoE support 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 BLE (on Raspberry Pi CM4 module) Optional 5G, 4G LTE, […]

WM1302 LoRaWAN gateway mini PCIe module works over SPI or USB

WM1302 LoRaWAN Gateway Module

Announced in 2019, Semtech SX1302 LoRa transceiver is designed for cheaper, and more efficient LoRaWAN gateways, and we’ve seen it in mini PCIe concentrator cards such as nFuse SX1302 and Rak Wireless RAK2287 using USB or SPI host interfaces. Seeed Studio adds another option with WM1302 LoRaWAN gateway mPCIe module using either SPI or USB interfaces and supporting 868 or 915 MHz frequency bands. WM1302 module specifications: MCU – STMicro STM3L412 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller @ 80 MHz with 40KB RAM, 64 or 128KB flash LoRa Connectivity Semtech SX1302 LoRa Transceiver with 2x SX1250 Tx/Rx front-ends Tx power – Up to 26dBm @ 3.3V Rx sensitivity – Down to -139dBm @ SF12, BW 125 kHz; -125dBm @ 125K/SF7 LoRaWAN 1.0.2 compatible. LoRa band coverage – EU868, US915, AS923, AS920, AU915, KR920, and IN865. u.FL antenna connector Misc – Power, Config, and Tx/Rx LEDs Host Interface – SPI or USB interface on […]

Raspberry Pi CM4 boards offer dual Ethernet, 4G LTE

Raspberry Pi CM4 Dual Ethernet

Since the launch of Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite systems-on-module last October, we’ve seen carrier boards bring their own set of features including industrial communication interfaces, a stereoscopic camera, four SATA ports to build a NAS, a DIN-rail based industrial controller, and more. But so far, I have not seen a Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board with dual Ethernet ports. Seeed Studio’s “Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4” was brought to our attention this morning, but there’s another one with 4G LTE connectivity, Fast+Gigabit Ethernet ports, and extra I/Os courtesy of MCUZone’s CM4-4G IO board. Let’s have a look at both of them. Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Specifications: Supported SoMs – Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite with up to 8GB RAM, 32GB eMMC flash, optional WiFi & Bluetooth Storage – MicroSD card slot to load OS on CM4Lite […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC