Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Silicon Labs partners with Nabu Casa to support Home Assistant development

Silicon Labs partners with Nabu Casa to support Home Assistant development

Silicon Labs Nabu Casa partnership

Silicon Labs has entered an official partnership with Nabu Casa, the company behind the popular Home Assistant home automation software, to support the development of Home Assistant open-source software and Silicon Labs-based hardware platforms. Most open-source embedded software projects start as a one-person (or a small team) effort as the vendor-provided firmware and related software may not have the features set needed by this user or group of users. So they hack existing hardware to build something that better fits their requirements often without input/help from the silicon vendor or product manufacturer. But sometimes the project becomes popular enough that large companies start to help it with support and funding. That’s apparently the case for Home Assistant project with Silicon Lans and Nabu Case entering an official partnership. The announcement does not provide details about the partnership but explains this should lead to better support and improvements for both Home […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on COM Express Type 6 Compact module features 14th gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor

COM Express Type 6 Compact module features 14th gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor

Intel Core Ultra COM Express

ADLINK cExpress-MTL is a COM Express Type 6 Compact module based on the just-announced 14th gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor family with up to fourteen CPU cores in 6P+8E configuration, eight Xe-cores (128 EUs), and an NPU (11pTOPS/8.2eTOPS) in a 15 or 28W TDP thermal configuration delivering up to 1.9x the GPU performance of the previous generation (Raptor Lake). The power consumption will also be lower thanks to Intel Core Ultra’s new Low-Power E-cores that are 30 to 50% more efficient than the E-cores in 13th gen Intel Core processors, and the faster GPU and built-in NPU will enable hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding/decoding and various devices leveraging AI such as portable medical ultrasound devices, industrial automation, autonomous driving, AI robots, and more. cExpress-MTL specifications: Meteor Lake-H/U SoC (one of the other) Intel Core Ultra 7 MS3 165H 16-core (6P+8E+2LPE) processor @ 1.4 / 5.0 GHz with 24MB cache, Intel […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Renesas RA8D1 Arm Cortex-M85 SoC features LCD display interfaces, 2D graphics accelerator

Renesas RA8D1 Arm Cortex-M85 SoC features LCD display interfaces, 2D graphics accelerator

Renesas RA8D1

Renesas RA8D1 is a new Arm Cortex-M85 microcontroller with graphics capabilities such as a 2D graphics accelerator and MIPI DSI and parallel RGB interfaces to connect an LCD that will make the chip suitable for HMI applications. Renesas introduced the world’s first Arm Cortex-M85 microcontroller with the RA8M1 just a few weeks ago, but the MCU has limited multimedia capabilities with just a 16-bit Capture Engine Unit (CEU) interface to connect a camera. The second member of the Renesas RA8 family fills this void with the RA8D1 microcontroller adding an LCD controller and a 2D graphics drawing engine on top of the CEU camera interface. Renesas RA8D1 specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M85 clocked at 480 MHz with Helium MVE (M-Profile Vector Extension) with 32KB I/D caches, 12KB data flash Memory & Storage 1MB SRAM with TCM (128KB) 1MB to 2MB Flash memory 32-bit external SDRAM interface Display interfaces and […]

Posted on by Tomisin Olujinmi - 4 Comments on Lite3DP Gen 2 is a tiny, open-source resin 3D printer (Crowdfunding)

Lite3DP Gen 2 is a tiny, open-source resin 3D printer (Crowdfunding)

lite3dp gen 2 resin printer

The Lite3DP Gen 2 3D Printer builds on the success of its predecessor. With a new and improved design, an ESP32 microcontroller replacing the Arduino Pro Mini, and several other improvements, the Lite3DP Gen 2 is well-suited for making small, detailed resin prints. It is slightly bulkier than the Lite 3DP S1 3D printer but is still compact enough to fit into a bag. Gen 2 has been designed to maintain backward compatibility with the older model, and owners of existing Lite3DP printers can use the Gen 2 dev kit to upgrade their printers. The resin 3D printer is completely open-source (firmware, hardware, and software), and you can use the schematics, Gerber files, code, and other resources hosted in the GitHub repository to build a different kind of mSLA resin printer. Lite3DP Gen 2 key features & specifications: Electronics – All-in-one PCB with ESP32 microcontroller, high-res LCD, an ultra-silent TMC2209 […]

Posted on by Sponsored Post - 2 Comments on JLCPCB now offers flex PCB manufacturing services starting at $15 (Sponsored)

JLCPCB now offers flex PCB manufacturing services starting at $15 (Sponsored)

Flexible PCB Stainless Steel Stiffener + FR4 Stiffener + 3M Tape Stiffener

JLCPCB, arguably the most popular and best PCB manufacturer in the community, has now started to offer a flex PCB manufacturing service with a special price starting at $15 and up to $54 coupon codes for new users. A flex PCB, also called flexible PCB or flexible printed circuit (FPC), is made by creating copper traces on a polyester or polyimide film and can used to fit into electronic products in the consumer, communication, medical, automotive, aviation, and military industries. Its main benefits are its flexibility so a flex PCB can arbitrarily be bent and moved replacing regular cables, especially on moving parts, and its size and light weight that allows them to be integrated with high reliability into products with a small form factor. JLCPCB supports flex PCBs from 8x12mm to 234×490 in size with the full JLCPCB flex PCB capabilities shown in the table below. Hardware engineers can […]

Posted on by Debashis Das - No Comments on ESP32 Qwiic Pro Mini is an ESP32 board in Arduino Pro Mini form factor

ESP32 Qwiic Pro Mini is an ESP32 board in Arduino Pro Mini form factor

Sparkfun's latest development board puts Espressif ESP32-PICO-MINI-02 on a compact Arduino Pro Mini footprint. It also includes an onboard QWICC connector for easy interfacing with a wide range of sensors and peripherals,

SparkFun’s latest development board, the ESP32 Qwiic Pro Mini, puts the Espressif ESP32-PICO-MINI-02 on a compact Arduino Pro Mini footprint. It also includes an onboard QWICC connector for easy interfacing with a wide range of sensors and peripherals. We have already covered other Sparkfun dev boards like DataLogger IoT, Datalogger IoT – 9DoF, and SparkFun Thing Plus Matter you can check those out if interested. Like any other ESP32 board, this also uses an ESP32 microcontroller which features a 32-bit dual-core processor, 520kB of SRAM, 2MB of PSRAM, 8MB of flash memory, and 16 kB of additional SRAM in its RTC. It supports Bluetooth 4.2 and BLE and has ADC and DAC, touch detection, PWM, TWAI, Ethernet MAC, UART, SPI, SDIO, I2C, and I2S interfaces. As reported in a Hackster article, the board also features a Qwiic Connector for solderless connections to sensor boards and add-ons, positioned at a 90-degree angle […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on GEEKOM Mini IT12 Core i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Core i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Review

GEEKOM Mini IT12 is a 12th Gen Intel mini PC offered with either an Intel Core i7-12650H or Intel Core i5-12450H Alder Lake processor, support for up to 64GB RAM, up to 2TB NVMe SDD, HDMI 2.0 video outputs and high-performance ports such as USB4 and 2.5GbE. The mini PC is also equipped with a WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module and comes preloaded with Windows 11 Pro operating system. GEEKOM has sent us a sample of the Mini IT12 with a 10-core Intel Core i7-12650H processor, 32GB DDR4, and a 1TB M.2 SSD for review.  We’ll start the review by listing the specifications, before going and unboxing and a teardown, and finally boot the device to Windows 11 Pro. This will be followed by detailed reviews of the mini PC with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next few weeks. GEEKOM Mini IT12 specifications SoC – Intel […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Mixtile Core 3588E development kit review – Part 1: Unboxing and first boot

Mixtile Core 3588E development kit review – Part 1: Unboxing and first boot

Mixtile Core 3588E development kit review

Mixtile Core 3588E is a Rockchip RK3588 SO-DIMM system-on-module with up to 32GB LPDDR4 and 256GB eMMC flash that follows NVIDIA Jetson Nano, TX2 NX, Xavier NX, and Orin Nano form factor and should work with any board made for Jetson SO-DIMM modules. We first covered the module last April, but Mixtile is now shipping their Rockchip RK3588 module and sent us a development kit with the Mixtile Core 3588 SoM fitted with a fansink and a carrier board that looks quite similar to the NVIDIA Jetson Nano developer kit we reviewed a few years ago, although its design is closer to the new B01 developer kit as we’ll see below.  We’ll start the review with an unboxing and first boot, before testing it in more detail with Ubuntu 22.04 in the second part of the review. Mixtile Core 3588E development kit unboxing We received the development kit fully preassembled. […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products