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PiccoloBASIC – A BASIC interpreter for the Raspberry Pi Pico board

PiccoloBASIC is an open-source BASIC interpreter for the Raspberry Pi Pico development board that’s based on “uBASIC: a really simple BASIC interpreter” by Adam Dunkels and relying on Arm’s LittleFS fail-safe filesystem for microcontrollers. If my memory serves me well, my first computing experience was at school using a Thomson TO7 computer that we programmed with BASIC. I don’t think the language is still used in practical applications, but we can still see some BASIC projects pop up from time to time such as a BASIC interpreter for the Arduino Zero boards. Gary Sims, owner of the Gary Explains YouTube channel, has now ported a BASIC interpreter to the Raspberry Pi Pico.   The project is still work in progress, but currently implemented features include: Let, if, print, for, goto, gosub String variables (let z$=”hello”) Floating point numbers and variables (let z#=1.234) Builtin functions [zero, randint, not, time] Sleep, delay, […]

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8K 50MP camera module targets NVIDIA Jetson, Raspberry Pi, and RK3588 boards (Crowdfunding)

RBTS.co’s C50M camera module is equipped with the same 8K 50MP Samsung ISOCELL GN2 image sensor found in the upcoming Google Pixel 8 Pro smartphone but targets the maker market with support for NVIDIA Jetson, Raspberry Pi, and Rockchip RK3588 boards. With high-resolution and quick focusing ability, this camera sensor is designed for drones, machine vision, and industrial automation applications such as automated optical inspection and preventive maintenance, and the large 1.4μm pixels of the Samsung ISOCELL GN2 sensor are said to make the camera work well in low-light conditions. C50M camera module specifications: Effective Resolution – 8,160 x 6,144 (50MP) Pixel Size – 1.4μm (2.8μm with 12.5MP binning) Optical Format – 1/1.12″ sensor Color Filter – Dual Tetrapixel RGB Bayer Pattern Frame Rate – 30fps @ 50MP, 120fps @ 4K and 480fps @ FHD ADC Accuracy – 10-bits Chroma – Tetra Auto Focus – Dual Pixel Pro (PDAF); range: […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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reTerminal DM – A Raspberry Pi CM4-powered 10.1-inch HMI controller

Seeed Studio’s reTerminal DM is an upgrade to the Raspberry Pi CM4-powered reTerminal with a larger 10.1-inch touchscreen display and a greater range of features and interfaces for various industrial applications. Described as a “Panel PC, HMI, PLC, IIoT Gateway all-in-one device”, the new reTerminal DM notably supports 12V-24V variable DC input and optionally PoE power input, its front panel is rated IP65 for protection against liquids and dust, a range of wired and wireless connectivity options are offered, and it also includes some serial and digital input and output interfaces. reTerminal DM specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB flash Storage – Optional M.2 NVMe SSD via M.2 2280 Key-M slot Display – 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution, 10-point capacitive touchscreen 400-nit brightness, 170° H/V viewing angle Video Output – […]

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Pico-Ice board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with Lattice ICE40 UltraPlus 5K FPGA

tinyVision.ai Pico-Ice is a development board with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU and a Lattice ICE40 UltraPlus 5K FPGA connected through an 8-bit bus. The Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller provides the clock for the FPGA and can program the FPGA directly or the dedicated FPGA flash using a drag-drop of a UF2 file. Just a few days ago we wrote about the LILYGO T-FPGA board that combines an ESP32-S3 wireless MCU with a Gowin FPGA connected through a 6-bit bus, and the Pico-Ice board provides a similar option with different chips and without wireless connectivity. Pico-Ice specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM with all pins exposed FPGA – Lattice UltraPlus iCE40UP5K FPGA with 5.3K LUTs, 1Mbit SPRAM, 120Kbit DPRAM, 8x multipliers with all pins brought out Memory & storage chips MCU – 4MB QSPI flash FPGA – 4MB QSPI Flash, 8MB low […]

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Using BTT Pad 7 touchscreen display with Raspberry Pi CM4

The BTT Pad 7, or BIGTREETECH Pad 7 in full, is a 7-inch touchscreen display that ships with the CB1 Allwinner H616 system-on-module compatible with Raspberry Pi CM4. The display is mostly designed for 3D printers with its SPI and CAN Bus interfaces, but it can also be used as a standard tablet PC. So today, I’ll switch the CB1 with a Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module and report my experience doing the conversion and using it as a Raspberry Pi CM4 tablet PC running Raspberry Pi OS, and test it with a 3D printer with Klipper in another post later on. Installing a Raspberry Pi CM4 (Lite) module in the BTT Pad 7 We’ll need the Pad 7, a Raspberry Pi CM4, and a few tools. The first step is to remove the red heatsink by loosening four screws with a 2.0mm hex key, as well as the cover […]

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Sumolink Erhu RP2040 is a $3.60 Raspberry Pi Pico clone with a USB-C port

The Sumolink Erhu RP2040 is a Raspberry Pi Pico clone with the exact same features except the micro USB port has been replaced by a USB-C port that may be preferred by some people, and the Wisdpi claims it is one of the world’s cheapest RP2040 MCU boards at $3.60, although that price does not include shipping. We had seen some other replicas, but most offer something different rather than just the USB-C port. Two examples that come to my mind are the WeAct RP2040 with a USB-C port, but also a Reset button and up to 16MB SPI flash, instead of the 2MB flash in the original board, and the Banana Pi BPI-Pico-RP2040 with an extra I2C connector and an RGB LED. Sumolink Erhu RP2040 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI flash (Note: the specs list […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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BeepBerry handheld Linux computer drives 2.7-inch display with Raspberry Pi Zero W

Good news! The PocketCHIP handheld Linux computer is back! OK, not quite but that’s what the Raspberry Pi Zero-powered BeepBerry reminds me of with a Blackberry-like keyboard, a small 2.7-inch display, and a 2,000mAh LiPo battery for power. The BeepBerry is another open-source hardware design from SQFMI, who previously did the Watchy ESP32 E-Ink smartwatch, that runs Raspberry Pi OS Lite on the Raspberry Pi Zero/Zero W, and also includes a Raspberry Pi RP2040 to handle the keyboard and peripherals. BeepBerry specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi Zero board with a Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor @ 700 MHz, VideoCore IV GPU, or Raspberry Pi Zero W with WiFi and Bluetooth Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – Ultra-low power high contrast 2.7-inch Sharp Memory LCD with 400 x 200 resolution User input – QWERTY tactile keyboard w/ backlight and touchpad based on Solder Party BB Q20 Keyboard USB – USB-C programming […]

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EDATEC ED-IPC2010 – A compact DIN Rail mountable industrial computer based on Raspberry Pi CM4

EDATEC has launched yet another Raspberry Pi CM4-powered industrial computer with the ED-IPC2010 offering a more compact design than the company’s CM4 Industrial and CM4 Sensing models, and an aluminum alloy enclosure that can easily be mounted to a DIN Rail. Most of the specifications of the new ED-IPC2010 are pretty common with a choice of Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4 with up to 8GB RAM, 32GB flash, and optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, as well as a full-size HDMI video output, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a few USB ports. What’s a little different is one FPC connector on the mainboard with both HDMI and USB for touchscreen displays. ED-IPC2010 specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz with VideoCore VI GPU System Memory –  1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB RAM Storage – 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB eMMC flash Wireless – […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC