CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 10, 2023October 10, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

49 cents “Black Pill” board clone features AT32 Cortex-M4F microcontroller

The “Black Pill” board with an STM32F4 Cortex-M4F MCU is already cheap, but I’ve just come across a clone going for just 49 cents plus shipping (34 cents to Thailand) based on a 240 MHz AT32 (or AT32F4) Cortex-M4F microcontroller with Arduino support. [Edit: the price looks like a lottery and everybody seems to get a different price, and not related to VAT. See comments section] Other features are pretty much the same with two 20-pin headers for GPIOs, an SWD header, a USB Type-C port for power and programming, and a few buttons. WeAct “Black Pill” board specifications: Microcontroller – Artery Technology AT32F403ACGU7 Cortex-M4F MCU @ 240MHz with 96 + 128KB RAM, 256KB zero wait-state flash, 768KB non-zero wait-state flash; note: RAM and flash size are somehow configurable by the user, and the numbers listed here are the maximum capacities. Storage – Footprint for SPI flash USB – 1x […]

October 9, 2023October 10, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Waveshare RP2040-PiZero – A Raspberry Pi RP2040 board with Raspberry Pi Zero form factor

Waveshare RP2040-PiZero board is a Raspberry Pi Zero lookalike that features a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller instead of a Linux-capable application processor. But RP2040 board comes with the same layout as the Raspberry Pi Zero and similar ports including two USB Type-C ports, a mini HDMI/DVI connector, a microSD card slot, and a 40-pin GPIO header, but also adds support for LiPo batteries with a 2-pin connector and a charging circuit. RP2040-PiZero specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264 kB of embedded SRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash, microSD card slot Video – Mini HDMI port that can output DVI signals USB – 1x USB Type-C port for data using PIO-USB host/device implementation Expansion – 40-pin color-coded header with 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 2x UART, 4x 12-bit ADC, 16x PWM, 8x Programmable I/O (PIO) state machines for custom peripheral support Misc – […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

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

GigaDevice GD-xD-W515-EVAL board features GD32W515 Cortex-M33 MCU, a fingerprint scanner, and an LCD module

GigaDevice GD-xD-W515-EVAL is a new “all-in-one” Cortex-M33 evaluation kit comprised of a GD32W515 mainboard, a fingerprint board, and an LCD board powered by either a battery or the Mini-USB interface of the GD-Link programmer. The devkit is mainly used to evaluate various chips from the company, namely the 180 MHz GD32W515PIQ6 Cortex-M33 microcontroller, the GD25Q128E SPI NOR flash, the GSL6157 capacitive fingerprint Sensor, the GD30BC2416 battery management IC, and the GD30LD1002 power management chip. GigaDevice GD-xD-W515-EVAL board specifications: MCU – Gigadevice GD32W515PIQ6 Core – Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller clocked at up to 180 MHz with Arm TrustZone support Memory – 448KB SRAM Storage – 2048KB flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 (802.11b/g/n), but somehow not used in the development board… I/Os – Up to 43x GPIOs, 3x USART, 2x I2C, 2x SPI, USB 2.0 FS, I2S, etc… Package – QFN56 Storage – 128Mbit SPI NOR Flash (GD25Q128E) Display – 0.96-inch […]

October 8, 2023October 7, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

M5Dial – An ESP32-S3 smart rotary knob with a touchscreen display

M5Stack M5Dial is a WiFi and Bluetooth-connected smart rotary knob with a round 1.28-inch touchscreen TFT display powered by an ESP32-S3 board, more precisely, the M5Stamp S3 IoT module. The user-programmable device comes with a rotary encoder recording the position and direction of the knob, an RFID module, an RTC, a buzzer, and under-screen buttons, as well as two Grove connectors for expansion enabling all sorts of projects. M5Dial specifications: Wireless MCU module – M5Stack M5Stamp S3 with SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN8 dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with AI vector instructions up to 240MHz, RISC-V ULP co-processor, 512KB SRAM, 2.4GHz WiFi 4 (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 5.0 BLE + Mesh, 8MB flash 2.4GHz 3D antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port Expansion connectors for I/Os such as SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, and more Display – 1.28-inch TFT display with 240×240 resolution using GC9A01 driver, and FT3267 capacitive touchscreen controller RFID – […]

October 7, 2023October 7, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Raspberry Pi releases RP1 peripheral controller datasheet and block diagram

The Raspberry Pi 5 was recently introduced with the Broadcom BCM2712 CPU and the RP1 chip handling I/Os designed in-house by the Raspberry Pi just like they did for the RP2 (RP2040) microcontroller, and we now have more details about the Raspberry Pi RP1 including a (draft) datasheet and a block diagram. The RP2040 came out before the RP1 peripheral controller as the design for the latter started 7 years ago with a total R&D budget to develop the Raspberry Pi 5 of around 25 million dollars. While at launch, we knew the RP1 handled some peripherals, doubled USB bandwidth with two separate USB 3.0 hosts, and embedded higher speed MIPI interfaces, it was unclear whether some of the other connections came from the BCM2712 or RP1 chips. But we now do know with the release of the datasheet. Raspberry Pi RP1 key features and specifications: MCU – Dual-arm Cortex-M3 […]

October 6, 2023December 5, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Barebone M4 fanless mini PC features Intel Processor N100 for $106 and up

I thought it would be hard to beat the price of the Processor N100 ZX05 mini PC, but the Topton M4 fanless mini PC does just that for just $106.53 plus shipping. The trick for that price is that the M4 is a barebone mini PC without any RAM, storage, or wireless module, but some may see it as an advantage preferring to purchase RAM, storage, and/or a WiFi module separately, or simply having the ability to replace or upgrade them when needed. M4 mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N quad-core/quad-thread processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – Up to 32GB (TBC) DDR4-3200 via SO-DIMM socket Storage 1x M.2 2280 socket for NVMe (PCIE3.0 x2) or SATA III SSD 1x mSATA socket SATA III port for up to 7mm […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

October 6, 2023October 7, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Android 14 released, source code hits AOSP

Google has just released Android 14 for supported devices such as Google Pixel phones and pushed the source code to AOSP (the Android Open-Source Project). Most of the changes to the fourteenth version of the Android operating system were introduced with the first Android 14 developer preview – released in February 2023 – which included performance improvements, better privacy and security, and additional user-side customization options. Some of the new features unveiled since the first Android 14 developer preview include: AI-generated wallpapers using text-to-image diffusion models to help users easily create unique wallpapers HDR images with Ultra HDR (Android 13 already supported HDR videos) Built-in Health Connect support to let people track their fitness, health, and wellness levels across apps in a secure way respecting privacy. Android 14 encourages users to set a six-digit PIN (or longer) to improve security. Improved accessibility with vision-and hearing-inclusive features such as an enhanced […]

October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

UP Squared i12 Edge is a compact, yet feature-rich, fanless Alder Lake-P mini PC

UP Squared i12 Edge is a compact fanless mini PC powered by 12th Generation Intel Alder Lake-P processors from the Celeron 7305E penta-core CPU up to an Intel Core i7-1270PE 12-core processor, but still a good range of ports and features. Based on the UP Squared i12 SBC introduced earlier this year, the UP Squared i12 edge mini PC comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and features a 64GB or 128GB SSD soldered on board, plus an M.2 2280 NVMe socket and a SATA port for additional storage. The system also has two gigabit Ethernet ports, optional WiFi and Bluetooth, three 4K-capable display interfaces (HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C), and three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. UP Squared i12 Edge specifications: 12th generation Alder Lake-P SoC: Intel Core i7-1270PE 12-core/16-thread processor @ up to 3.30GHz (E-cores) / 4.50GHz )P-cores) with 96EU Intel Xe graphics – PBP: 28W, up to 64W MTP […]