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SunFounder PiCar-X 2.0 review – A Raspberry Pi 4 AI robot car programmable with Blockly or Python

SunFounder PiCar-X 2.0 is an AI-powered self-driving robot car using the Raspberry Pi 3/4 as the main processing board. It is equipped with a camera module that can be moved by a 2-axis servo motor, allowing the camera to pan or tilt, an ultrasonic module for detecting distant objects, and a line detection module. The PiCar-X robot can also perform computer vision tasks such as color detection, face detection, traffic signs detection, automatic obstacle avoidance, and automatic line tracking. The PiCar-X can be programmed with two computer languages: Blockly-based Ezblock Studio drag-and-drop program and Python, and the robot works with OpenCV computer vision library and TensorFlow for AI workloads. Finally, you can also control the robot through the SunFounder controller application on your mobile phone. The company sent us a sample of the Picar-X 2.0 for review, so let’s get started. SunFounder PiCar-X 2.0 robot overview The PiCar-X robot kit […]

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Sipeed Longan Pi3H – A Raspberry Pi Zero-sized board with gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, HDMI, and USB ports

Sipeed Longan Pi3H is a Raspberry Pi Zero-sized single board computer (SBC) powered by an Allwinner H618 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and equipped with full-size connectors namely an HDMI 2.0 video output, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, and a gigabit Ethernet RJ45 jack. It also offers WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, features the usual 40-pin GPIO header found in Pi Zero boards and relies on a USB OTG Type-C port for power. Its design is unusual for a board of that size, not only because of the full-size ports, but also because it’s comprised of a carrier board and a replaceable LM3H CPU module with the Allwinner H618 SoC, RAM, and eMMC flash. Sipeed Longan Pi3H specifications: SoC – Allwinner H618 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with 1MB L2 cache GPU – Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.0/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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Raspberry Breadstick – A RP2040-based development board in a quirky form factor

The Raspberry Breadstick is a breadstick-shaped development board that is designed for ease of use. Unlike other development boards, the Breadstick is built to fit directly on your breadboard and interface with the other electronic components in your project without the need for lengthy jumper wires. It serves to deliver a prototype that is neat, straightforward, and easy to troubleshoot. It is based on Raspberry Pi’s debut microcontroller, the RP2040, which is the same MCU chip that powers the Raspberry Pi Pico and several other boards. We recently covered the Waveshare RP2040-PiZero that comes in the Pi Zero’s form factor. The RP2040 is cheap and supports C/C++, MicroPython, and CircuitPython. The Breadstick has other interesting features such as a lineup of 24 addressable RGB LEDs with fast refresh rates, a 6-axis inertial measurement unit for collecting acceleration and rotation data, as well as 16MB of external flash storage for your […]

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Microflex MCUs – Tiny USB development boards based on ESP32-S3, ESP32-S2, ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6, or Raspberry Pi RP2040 (Crowdfunding)

SB Components is back with yet another crowdfunding campaign this time with the Microflex MCUs USB development boards all with the same tiny form factor and offered with a choice of five microcontrollers namely Raspberry Pi RP2040, ESP32-S3, ESP32-S2, ESP32-C3, or ESP32-C6. Microflex MCUs share the same layout with a USB-C port for power and programming, a built-in RGB LED, two buttons for Boot and Reset/User, and two rows of 10-pin with through and castellated holes to access the GPIOs and power signals such as 5V, 3.3V, and GND. But they differ in terms of the processor used, wireless features, and available I/Os as shown in the table below which sadly lacks any information about the flash and eventual PSRAM… The illustration below includes some more details for the Micro-C6 with the main components, ports, and a pinout diagram. Programming the firmware for the ESP32-series can be done through the […]

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Raspberry Pi releases PCIe FFC connector specifications, new HAT+ standard

Raspberry Pi has released two new specifications one for the PCIe FFC connector and related cable and the other for the new Raspberry Pi HAT+ (HAT Plus) standard that’s simpler, takes into account new features in Raspberry Pi 4/5, and has fewer rules around mechanical dimensions. PCIe FFC connector specifications The Raspberry Pi 5 was announced over 2 months ago with a new PCIe FFC connector, and people may been playing around with it and even launching products such as an M.2 HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 since then even though the pinout and specifications were not available. But Raspberry Pi has now released the specifications (PDF) for the PCIe FFC found in the Raspberry Pi 5 and likely future models as well. The 16-pin 0.5mm pitch FFC connector features a single lane PCIe interface, something we knew already, but the pinout diagram and recommendations for the FFC cable […]

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PicoUART6 6x UART to USB bridge supports up to 6 Raspberry Pi 5 boards

PicoUART6 is a small USB to UART bridge board that takes a Raspberry Pi Pico board and exposes six UART ports to connect up to six Raspberry Pi 5 SBC’s over the new 3-pin UART connector. The Raspberry Pi 5 has created a lot of buzz since its announcement in September 2023, and people most talked about its higher performance compared to a Raspberry Pi 4 and its new (non-standard) FCP PCIe connector,  but the new Raspberry Pi SBC also features a 3-pin JST UART connector that was not used in earlier and frees 3-pin on the 40-pin GPIO header. The PicoUART6 board makes use of this new connector to interface multiple Raspberry Pi 5 over UART and control them through the USB board of the Pico board. PicoUART6 specifications: Footprint for Raspberry Pi Pico board Serial – 6x 3-pin JST UART connectors Expansion – STEMMA QT/Qwiic I2C connector Debugging […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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ODROID-M1S is a smaller, cheaper, and more efficient Rockchip RK3566 SBC with additional GPIOs

Designed for Hardkernel’s 15th anniversary, the ODROID-M1S is a smaller, cheaper ($49 and up), and more efficient single computer board compared to the ODROID-M1 single board computer introduced last year with a Rockchip RK3568 SoC. The new ODROID-M1S SBC features a Rockchip RK3566 SoC which is similar to the RK3568, but with fewer peripheral interfaces, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4 memory, a 64GB eMMC flash solder on the board (instead of an eMMC flash connector), HDMI 2.0 and MIPI DSI video interfaces, gigabit Ethernet, a few USB ports, and two GPIO headers. It does lose a few features compared to the ODROID-M1, as its memory is clocked at a lower speed, the M.2 socket only supports PCIe 2.1, the SPI flash and SATA port are gone, and so is the MIPI CSI camera connector. The power supply has also changed from a 12V DC jack to a 5V USB-C port. ODROID-M1S […]

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Review of RaZberry 7 Pro Z-Wave Raspberry Pi HAT and Z-Uno2 Z-Wave board

Z-Wave.Me has sent us a couple of Smart Home devices based on Z-Wave technology for review, namely the RaZberry 7 Pro Raspberry Pi HAT and the Z-Uno2 board. The Swiss company has primarily developed Z-Wave products for years and is a member of the Z-Wave Alliance. For those who are concerned about the issues of signal interference in the 2.4GHz range (WiFi, Zigbee, Bluetooth, and Thread), Z-Wave technology is an excellent choice because it operates on a less congested frequency range of 800-900MHz and the technology has been around for more than 20 years, resulting in a wide variety of Z-Wave devices available in the market, and they can work well together across different brands due to a proper certification process which is another advantage when compared to other protocols. The two devices we received are RaZberry 7 Pro, which is a shield that plugs into the 40-pin GPIO header […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC