CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 9, 2023August 9, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Raspberry Pi Pico to Arduino Uno adapter relies on “FlexyPins” for castellated holes

Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino UNO adapter FlexyPins

Solder Party’s “Raspberry Pi Pico to Uno FlexyPin Adapter” transforms the Raspberry Pi Pico into an Arduino UNO without soldering the board directly or using headers, but instead relying on FlexyPins flexible pins to attach the Pico board to the adapter using its castellated holes. The end result is basically the same as for the WisdPi ArduPico board, except the Raspberry Pi Pico is soldered to the main PCB on the latter, but it can be easily removed from the Solder Party’s Uno adapter board to be replaced with another compatible model, e.g. Raspberry Pi Pico vs Pico W. The FlexyPins can be used with any board or module with castellated holes, but it’s obviously especially useful for castellated modules without through holes, for example, to easily program a bunch of ESP32 modules. You’ll first need to get a few FlexyPins as shown below. Then solder them to a compatible […]

August 9, 2023August 9, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Tiny mini PC with four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports ships with Intel Processor N100/N200 or Core i3-N305 CPU

The “M1 Pocket Mini Soft Router” is a tiny Intel Alder Lake-N OEM mini PC with four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports that is powered by a Processor N100, Processor N200, or Core i3-N305 CPU and sold by various brands such as Kingnovy or Tuofudun Topton. The pocket-sized computer comes with up to 16GB DDR5 memory, up to 1TB NVMe SSD, and features HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort USB-C video outputs, two USB 3.0 ports, as well as a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. M1 mini PC specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N200 quad-core processor @ up to 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel HD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 15W […]

August 8, 2023August 9, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

DIN-Rail mountable industrial 4G LTE router takes 9V to 36V DC power input

Waveshare WS-431E is an industrial-grade 4G LTE router with three Ethernet ports, WiFi 4, wall and DIN-Rail mounting options, and support for a wide power input range between 9V and 36V DC. The router is said to be based on two Qualcomm chips without further details provided, support various VPN protocols, and be suitable for networked medical equipment, Smart Agriculture, Smart Cities, robots, and security monitoring applications. Waveshare WS-431E specifications: SoC – “Dual Qualcomm chips” for WiFi and 4G LTE Networking Ethernet 1x 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 WAN port (can be configured as LAN) with auto MDI/MDIX, 1.5KV electromagnetic isolation protection 2x 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 LAN ports with auto MDI/MDIX, 1.5KV electromagnetic isolation protection 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 2×2 MIMO up to 300 Mbps, and 500-meter LoS range 4G LTE cellular 4G TDD-LTE – B38/40/41 4G FDD-LTE – B1/3/7/8/20/28A 3G WCDMA – B1/8 2G GSM/EDGE – B3/8 Nano SIM card […]

August 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PicoCNC – A 4-axis CNC controller based on Raspberry Pi Pico

PicoCNC is a 4-axis CNC motion controller that works with Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W running the open-source grblHAL firmware and can be used to control CNC routers, lathes, laser engravers, and other machines. PicoCNC specifications: Works with Raspberry Pi Pico and Pico W, or other compatible boards. Storage MicroSD card slot Footprint for EEPROM or FRAM Host interface – USB or WiFi via Raspberry Pi Pico (W) CNC control via screw terminals 4-axis spindle control outputs 5V PWM and direction 0-10V spindle control output. 12V PWM support via open collector output Isolated 12V limit switch input on all 4 axes. Isolated standard Grbl spindle control outputs (5V): Cycle Start, Feed Hold, EStop and Safety Door. 9x Opto-isolated inputs including standard Grbl controls and limits switches for all axes. Relay 7x relay outputs – Spindle, Mist Coolant, Flood Coolant, Dust Extraction, and 3x auxiliary relays. Relay Coil voltage selectable […]

August 8, 2023August 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-CM2 – A Raspberry Pi CM4-compatible Rockchip RK3568 SoM with extra I/Os

Banana Pi BPI-CM2 is another Raspberry Pi CM4-compatible system-on-module, this time based on a Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC and with a twist as besides the two 100-pin high-density connectors, the module adds two 70-pin high-density connectors for the extra I/Os provided by the Rockchip processor such as PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0, eDP, MIPI DSI, and an additional Gigabit Ethernet. The Rockchip RK3568 module comes with many of the same features and options as the Raspberry Pi CM4 with 2GB to 8GB RAM, 8GB to 256GB eMMC flash, optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and an on-module Ethernet transceiver, in this case, a Realtek RTL8211F. Banana Pi BPI-CM2 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1 AI accelerator – 0.8 TOPS NPU VPU – 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 […]

August 7, 2023August 10, 2023 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

Get Early Access to the World’s Most Powerful Edge AI Accelerator! (Sponsored)

AxeleraAI EAP Evaluation Kit Box and System

Final Call for Axelera AI’s Early Access Program A few months ago Axelera AI launched their Metis AI hardware and software platform, available as M.2 cards, PCIe boards, and vision-ready systems, combined with the Voyager SDK. Now, Axelera AI’s Early Access Program (EAP) is entering its final phase – the first evaluation kits are almost ready to be shipped. This program offers a unique opportunity for customers who have signed up to experience firsthand the accuracy, performance, and usability of the Metis AI Platform. Axelera AI delivers the most powerful AI Accelerator in the world. With a PCIe AI Edge accelerator card delivering a peak performance of 214 TOPS. Using a smaller form factor, the M.2 AI Edge accelerator module delivers up to 106 TOPS peaks. This handles the most demanding vision applications. In this article, we will delve into the advantages of the EAP by sharing three customer stories […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

August 7, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DietPi News – v8.20 released, NanoPi Neo Air handheld Linux terminal

The latest DietPi v8.20 release of the lightweight Debian-based Linux distribution for SBCs and server systems was outed on July 29, 2023, and on a separate note, a DIY handheld Linux terminal based on the NanoPi Neo Air SBC and running DietPi has been found on the interwebs. DietPi v8.20 release The project team released the new DietPi v8.20 on July 29th, 2023 with the following highlights: Homebridge: New software package bringing Apple Homekit support Kernel updates for Pine64 Quartz64 – Linux 6.4.7 and enabled support for the NFS kernel server FriendlyELEC NanoPi R5S/R5C/R6S series – Linux 5.10.160 StarFive VisionFive 2 RISC-V SBC – Linux 5.15.123 WiFi Hotspot: Enhanced DHCP default settings Fixes and updates for DietPi-LogClear, DietPi-Dashboard, DietPi-LetsEncrypt, PaperMC, vaultwarden, etc… The full changelog can be found on the DietPi website and the source code is hosted on GitHub. NanoPi Neo Air handheld Linux terminal running DietPi While it’s […]

August 7, 2023August 30, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Blackview MP80 Processor N95 mini PC review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing and teardown

Blackview MP80 is an upcoming tiny (0.285L) and lightweight mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N95 quad-core Alder Lake-N CPU clocked at up to 3.4 GHz and equipped with 16GB RAM, and a 512GB M.2 SSD preloaded with Windows 11 Pro. The mini PC also comes with three HDMI 2.0 video outputs, three USB 3.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless connectivity. Blackview sent us an early sample of the MP80 mini PC for review and we’ll have a look at the specifications, go through an unboxing and attempt a teardown in the first part of the review, before publishing our experience with Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04 once the mini PC officially launches in September. Blackview MP80 specifications SoC – Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N quad-core/quad-thread processor @ up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16 EU Intel UHD […]