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SONOFF iHost Review – A future-proof Smart Home Hub for local control

ITEAD has sent us a Sonoff iHost Smart Home Hub for review, and this device seems to be what many SONOFF fans have been waiting for, especially in terms of local control. meaning it can work without an Internet connection. SONOFF is known for its durable devices and good interoperability, but they are still catching up with other companies in terms of local control. Finally, the iHost Smart Home Hub fills the gap. In addition to local control, it also comes with privacy features as data stay local. SONOFF plans to expand its ecosystem by including devices from other brands compliant with standards such as Zigbee 3.0. Furthermore, the iHost Smart Home Hub is more like a platform than just a product, as it has add-ons to add more capability over time. In the future, it can be expanded to support the new “Matter” standard, similar to Home Assistant. The […]

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Adafruit Feather RP2040 with RFM95 LoRa Radio launched for low power long range IoT communication

Adafruit has designed a new variant of the Feather RP2040 board with the “Adafruit Feather RP2040 with RFM95 LoRa Radio” featuring a 900 MHz RFM95 “RadioFruit” module and following the “Adafruit Feather RP2040 with DVI Output Port” that we covered last week. The board ships with 8 MB of QSPI flash, supports USB-C or LiPo battery power, is offered in the familiar Feather form factor, and the built-in RFM95 module supports 433 MHz, 868MHz, and 915MHz frequencies, selectable by firmware, for global coverage. Adafruit Feather RP2040 with RFM95 LoRa Radio specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264 KB RAM Storage – 8MB SPI flash RFM95 LoRa wireless module Semtech SX127x LoRa transceiver Frequency bands – License-free ISM bands: ITU “Europe” @ 433MHz and ITU “Americas” @ 900MHz. (CNXSoft: it looks 900 MHz here means 868 MHz (EU) and 915 MHz (US), […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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Cytron CM4 Maker Board review – Part 2: NVMe SSD, RTC, Buzzer, Grove modules, ChatGPT…

We’ve already checked out Cytron’s CM4 Maker Board kit with a Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-module and booted the system with the included 32GB “MAKERDISK” Class 10 microSD card preloaded Raspberry Pi OS in the first part of the review. For the second part of the CM4 Maker review, I’ve mostly used the 128GB NVMe SSD provided by the company and played with other features of the board including the RTC, the buzzer, some Seeed Studio grove modules, and even got help from ChatGPT for one of the Python programs I used. Booting Cytron CM4 Maker Board with the “MAKERDISK” NVMe SSD I connected several Grove modules with GPIO and I2C interfaces, a Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, an Ethernet cable, two RF dongles for a wireless keyboard and mouse, an HDMI cable to a monitor, and finally inserted the provided 5V/3.5A USB-C power adapter. The MAKERDISK SSD comes with Raspberry […]

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$15 Adafruit Feather RP2040 with DVI Output Port connects to your HDMI TV or monitor

“Adafruit Feather RP2040 with DVI Output Port” is another Raspberry Pi RP2040 board with an HDMI port that can output DVI video signal (no audio) to most TVs or monitors with an HDMI input port thanks to the PicoDVI project. The board builds upon the company’s Adafruit Feather RP2040 with the HDMI port adding just a few dollars. Adafruit Feather RP2040 with DVI Output Port specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller ~125 MHz (but it should be overclocked for DVI output) with 264 KB RAM Storage – 8MB SPI flash Video Output – 1x HDMI port for DVI output up to 320×240 or 400×240 resolution with 16-bit pixels, I2C signals to read EDID data, plus CEC and Utility pads broken out USB – 1x USB Type-C port I/Os Adafruit Feather compatible headers Up to 21x GPIOs 2x I2C, 2x SPI, 2x UART 4x 12-bit ADC […]

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Tiny ESP32-C6 IoT board supports 2.4 Ghz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy, and 802.15.4 radio

01Space has designed a tiny ESP32-C6 IoT board with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.0 connectivity built around the ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 wireless module, and exposing I/Os through two 10-pin headers. Espressif launched their ESP32-C6 modules and development kits last January, and the 01Space is the first third-party ESP32-C6 board we’ve covered. It’s a minimal board with a wireless module, a USB Type-C port for power and programming, and Reset and Boot buttons. 01Space ESP32-C6 board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N4 module with Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 single core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ 160 MHz with 2.4 Ghz WiFi 6 1T1R, Bluetooth LE 5.0, and 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee/Thread/2.4GHz proprietary Storage – 4MB SPI flash Onboard PCB antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming I/Os – 2x 10-pin headers with UART, I2C, I2S, RMT (TX/RX), LED PWM, USB Serial/JTAG controller, etc… 5V, 3.3V, VBAT, GND Misc – Reset and […]

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Renesas RZ/G2L CPU module targets HMI and IoT gateway applications

MYIR MYC-YG2LX is Renesas RZ/G2L CPU module with up to 4GB DDR4, 32GB eMMC flash, and various I/Os such as gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, camera and display interfaces accessible through 222 castellated holes, and designed for advanced HMI, IoT edge gateways, and other embedded devices with video capabilities. As a reminder, the Renesas RZ/G2L microprocessor comes with up to two Arm Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz, one 200 MHz Cortex-M33 real-time core, a Mali-G31 GPU for 3D graphics interfaces, and a VPU capable of H.264 encoding/decoding. The company also offers the MYD-YG2LX development board based on the 45x43mm MYC-YG2LX CPU module with easy access to its interfaces. MYIR MYC-YG2LX Renesas RZ/G2L CPU module MYC-YG2LX module specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L (R9A07G044L23GBG) dual-core Cortex-A55 processor with Cortex-M33 core @ 200 Mhz, Arm Mali-G31 GPU, H.264 hardware video decoding/encoding System Memory – 1 or 2GB DDR4 (option for up to 4GB) […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Convert your 3D printer into a metal cutting machine with an Electrical Discharge Machining kit (Crowdfunding)

Rack Robotics’ Powercore is an Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) kit that converts your existing 3D printer (or CNC router) into a machine capable of cutting high-precision and detailed metal parts. We’ve already seen 2-in-1 3D printers and laser engravers such as the Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro, but while this type of machine can usually cut plywood or engrave stainless steel, the laser is not powerful enough to cut through aluminum. The Powercore EDM kit changes that by enabling the cutting of aluminum parts up to 4mm thick, although aluminum sheets that are 1mm or thinner are recommended. But before we get into Powercore details, what is Electrical Discharge Machining exactly? Engineers Edge explains: Electrical Discharge Machining, EDM is one of the most accurate manufacturing processes available for creating complex or simple shapes and geometries within parts and assemblies. EDM works by eroding material in the path of electrical discharges […]

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CM4 Maker Board review – Part 1: specifications, unboxing, and first boot

Cytron CM4 Maker Board is a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi CM4 or CM4 Lite system-on-module with plenty of I/Os, support for one M.2 NVMe SSD, and RTC backup battery, a buzzer, and various LEDs for GPIO status that makes the board especially well suited for the education market and prototyping. The carrier board also comes with the usual Gigabit Ethernet and full-size HDMI port, four USB 2.0 ports, five Grove connectors, one Maker port, the omnipresent 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header, and support power input from 7V-18V DC jack or 5V via a USB Type-C connector. CM4 Maker Board specifications Cytron CM4 Maker Board specifications: Supported SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 or Compute Module 4 Lite Storage microSD card slot M.2 PCIe 2.0 socket for NVMe 2232/2242 SSD Video Interfaces Full-size HDMI 2.0 port MIPI DSI display connector Camera – MIPI CSI connector connector Audio – […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products