CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 21, 2022November 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Air32F103 is a clone of STM32F103 clocked at up to 216 MHz

Air32F103 is yet another clone of the STM32F103 microcontroller that can be faster if needed with a clock of up to 216 MHz instead of 72 MHz for the original STMicro STM32 Arm Cortex-M3 microcontroller. The first SKU of the family is the Air32F103CBT6 whose peripherals and hardware design are compatible with equivalent STM32F103CBT6 parts and offered with 32KB RAM and 128KB flash. There’s also a Bluepill-like development board, but with a different pinout, made by LuatOS. Documentation for the board and microcontroller can be found in a Wiki including the MCU datasheet that indicates models with 256KB flash and 64KB SRAM (Air32F103CCT6) and 96KB SRAM (Air32F103RPT6). Since the wiki is in Chinese only, you may want to head over a post in English on Chowdera to learn how to get started with the Keil IDE using code hosted on Gitee. The chip and board were also spotted on EEVBlog […]

November 20, 2022January 17, 2023 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

Elephant Robotics Black Friday 2022 Sales (Sponsored)

Elephants Robotics is selling some of its educational robotic kits and toys as part of the company’s Black Friday Sales event taking place until November 25, 2022. You can get various discounts depending on the total amount of the order: Save $50 On Orders Over $400 Save $100 On Orders Over $800 Save $200 On Orders Over $1500 Save $250 On Orders Over $2500 The company also offers product-specific discounts with the metaCat robotic plush toy / smart cat going for $129 – its lowest price ever – instead of the original price of $219, and the Raspberry Pi 3-powered MarsCat selling for $999, or $400 less than the original price tag of $1,399. Elephants Robotics is also having a Black Friday Sale on Amazon that includes a 10% discount for the myCobot 280 robotic arm that we reviewed last month with a Raspberry Pi 4 and a 30% discount […]

November 19, 2022January 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

LinkStar H68K – A Rockchip RK3568 “multimedia” router with dual 2.5GbE, dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6

Linkstar H68K is a Rockchip RK3568 multimedia router with two 2.5GbE ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, an optional WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, a few USB ports, and an HDMI 2.1 port supporting up to 4Kp60. Rockchip RK3568 was initially introduced as a solution for NVRs, but I’ve yet to see any, Instead, we’ve gotten some SBCs and mini PCs, as well as several routers such as NanoPi R5S, FastRhino R68s, and the upcoming Radxa E25 that will be announced next week. Linkstar H68K specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU, 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator, 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoder, 1080p60 H.264/H.265 video encoder System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4X Storage 32GB eMMC flash MicroSD card socket Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.1 port up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, digital audio via HDMI Networking 2x 2.5GbE RJ45 […]

November 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Starfish PnP machine control board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with TMC2209 motor drivers

StarFish Raspberry Pi RP2040 PnP control board

We’ve already seen the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU in a 3D printer controller board, so it should come as no surprise that the dual-core microcontroller also found its way into a Pick-and-Place (PnP) machine control board. Designed by Thea Flowers, the Starfish board leverages the RP2040 MCU capabilities to control three Trinamic TMC2209 motor drivers, MOSFET drivers to control DC vacuum pumps, two vacuum sensors, and offer RS485 and I2C connectivity for feeders and peripherals respectively. Starfish specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex M0+ microcontroller at up to 133 MHz with 264 kB of embedded SRAM Storage – QSPI flash Motor drivers – 3x TMC2209 drivers for X, Y1, and Y2 MOSFETs – 2x MOSFETs to control the 2x vacuum pumps Valve drivers – 2x TI DRV120 single-channel relay, solenoid, and valve drivers to control two pneumatic solenoid valves Sensors – 2x CFSensor XGZP6857D I2C pressure sensor modules […]

November 18, 2022November 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

NVIDIA Jetson Nano based AI camera devkit enables rapid computer vision prototyping

ADLINK “AI Camera Dev Kit” is a pocket-sized NVIDIA Jetson Nano devkit with an 8MP image sensor, industrial digital inputs & outputs, and designed for rapid AI vision prototyping. The kit also features a Gigabit Ethernet port, a USB-C port for power, data, and video output up to 1080p30, a microSD card with Linux (Ubuntu 18.04), and a micro USB port to flash the firmware. As we’ll see further below it also comes with drivers and software to quickly get started with AI-accelerated computer vision applications. AI Camera Dev Kit specifications: System-on-Module – NVIDIA Jetson Nano with CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A57 processor GPU – NVIDIA Maxwell architecture with 128 NVIDIA cores System Memory – 4 GB 64-bit LPDDR4 Storage – 16 GB eMMC Storage – MicroSD card socket ADLINK NEON-series camera module Sony IMX179 color sensor with rolling shutter Resolution – 8MP (3280 x 2464) Frame Rate (fps) – […]

November 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

MediaTek Kompanio 520 and Kompanio 528 processors targets entry-level Chromebooks

MediaTek Kompanio 520 and Kompanio 528 octa-core Arm processors are designed for entry-level Chromebooks with all-day battery life and a display up to 2520 x 1080 resolutions. As time passes “entry-level” gets a new meaning as the new SoCs are equipped with two Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, six Cortex-A55 cores @ 2.0 GHz, and an Arm Mali-G52 GPU. That’s almost Rockchip RK3588 territory although not quite… MediaTek Kompanio 528 and 520 specifications: Octa-core CPU 2x Arm Cortex-A76 cores up to 2.2GHz (Kompanio 520 is limited to 2.0 GHz) 6x Arm Cortex-A55 cores up to 2GHz GPU – Arm Mali G52 MC2 2EE AI accelerator – Dual-core AI processing unit (APU) Memory – LPDDR4x up to 3733Mbps Storage – eMMC 5.1 flash with hardware command queue Display 2520 x 1080 @ 60Hz 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz (Ext) Video Encoding – 1920 x 1080 @ 60fps H.264 or […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

November 17, 2022November 17, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

DIY air quality monitor is based on Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 board, Sensirion SGP41 TVOC sensor

Open AirGradient is a DIY air quality monitor based on the Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 WiFi IoT board programmed with Arduino and fitted with a range of sensors including an optional Sensirion SGP41 TVOC sensor through a custom PCB designed with EasyEDA. Two versions of Open AirGradient are available. The Basic model includes an OLED display, a Plantower PMS5003 PM sensor, a Senseair S8 CO2 sensor, and SHT30 or SHT31 temperature & humidity sensor, while the Pro version adds a larger display, a plastic enclosure, and support for the SGP41 TVOC sensor. Open AirGradient key components: MCU board Basic – Wemos D1 Mini Pro Pro – Lolin D1 Mini v4 with USB-C port Display Basic – Wemos OLED shield Pro – 1.3-inch OLED display Sensors Plantower PMS5003 PM sensor Senseair S8 CO2 sensor SHT30 or SHT31 temperature and humidity sensor module Optional Sensirion SGP41 TVOC & NOx sensor (Pro version […]

November 17, 2022March 11, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

International Black Friday 2022 deals and coupons

We’ve been writing about international Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and coupons since 2014, since US-centric promotions such as Amazon Black Friday deals are not always suitable to the diverse, international audience of CNX Software. Let’s check out Black Friday 2022 international deals from specific manufacturers as well as events from Aliexpress, Banggood, and other stores. Arduino Black Friday sales Arduino’s Black Friday Sales event offers new and legacy boards at a 20% to 25% discount, as well as a discount for one certification bundle. The number of items on sale is limited, as at the time of writing there were only 11. While the screenshot above shows prices in USD, the Black Friday event is also taking on the EMEA website. Aliexpress SuperDeals Aliexpress will usually organize a “Global Shopping Festival” event for Black Friday with coupons, deals, and lucky draws, but this year the event page is […]