Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on How to recover a “bricked” Raspberry Pi Pico 2 or other RP2350 board

How to recover a “bricked” Raspberry Pi Pico 2 or other RP2350 board

Recover Bricked Raspberry Pi Pico 2 or RP2350 board with flash_nuke.uf2

In theory, it’s close to impossible to brick your Raspberry Pi Pico 2 or other RP2350 boards because the bootrom code (source code) is stored in the 32KB ROM of the microcontroller and is by definition “read-only memory”.  But I managed to “brick” my Raspberry Pi Pico 2 the other day, and even a blinky sample would not run on the board. So I’ll explain a simple method to recover/perform a factory reset of sorts. First, let me explain what happened. My board became unusable after I ran the following command while building RISC-V Linux for RP2035 and my Pico 2 was connected to the build machine:

At some point, it will copy a UF2 firmware binary designed for boards with PSRAM which the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 lacks:

After that, I could still see the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 board as an “RP2350” drive on my computer, […]

Posted on by Sponsored Post - 3 Comments on Compex unveils new Wi-Fi 7 dual-band dual-concurrent modules: WLE7002E25, WLTE7002E25 and WLTB7002E25 (Sponsored)

Compex unveils new Wi-Fi 7 dual-band dual-concurrent modules: WLE7002E25, WLTE7002E25 and WLTB7002E25 (Sponsored)

Compex Wi-Fi 7 Dual-Band Dual-Concurrent M.2 mPCIe Modules

Compex Systems (Compex) announces the latest additions to its Wi-Fi 7 modules, WLE7002E25, WLTE7002E25, and WLTB7002E25, expanding its Wi-Fi 7 solution lineup. The updated lineup now includes M.2 variants to its popular dual-band Wi-Fi 7 modules. The new WLE7002E25, one of the first in the industry to feature a standard mini PCIe form factor, promises enhanced wireless performance and reliability at Wi-Fi 6 prices. The similar-sized WLTE7002E25 with an M.2 E Key and WLTB7002E25 with an M.2 B+M Key further broaden the versatility of Compex’s Wi-Fi 7 solutions. Powered by Qualcomm’s QCN6224, QCN6274, and QCN9274 Waikiki series radio chipsets, the new WLE/WLTE/WLTB7002E25 are dual-band dual-concurrent 2.4+5GHz Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) modules, offering wider signal coverage by transmitting both bands concurrently, reducing latency with Multi-Link Operation (MLO) support, featuring OFDMA and 4096 QAMs. Delivering up to 20dBm per chain, these 2×2 MU-MIMO models are ideal for enterprise, industrial, cybersecurity, transportation, and SMB applications. […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on WeAct RA4M1 – A small board with plenty of GPIOs that’s software-compatible with the Arduino UNO R4

WeAct RA4M1 – A small board with plenty of GPIOs that’s software-compatible with the Arduino UNO R4

WeAct RA4M1 board

Last week, we covered the Maker Go RA4M1-R4 development board, an inexpensive “clone” of the Arduino UNO R4 Minima with some small modifications like support for up to 50V DC input and a 3.3V/5V switch for I/Os. But today, I’ve come across a smaller and cheaper Renesas RA4M1 board that’s also software compatible with the Arduino UNO R4. Meet the WeAct RA4M1. The WeAct RA4M1 is mostly a breakout board for the Renesas R7FA4M1AB3CFM Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller with two 30-pin GPIO headers, a USB-C port for power and programming, and three buttons. It offers a middle ground between the Arduino UNO R4 Minima and the tiny XIAO RA4M1 USB-C board. WeAct RA4M1 specifications: Microcontroller – Renesas RA4M1 Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 48 MHz with 32KB SRAM, 256KB flash USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion 2x 30-pin headers with GPIO, VIN, VCC, GND 3.3V or 5V […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on DietPi 9.7 and Armbian 24.8 released with improved support for Rockchip, Amlogic, and Allwinner SBCs

DietPi 9.7 and Armbian 24.8 released with improved support for Rockchip, Amlogic, and Allwinner SBCs

DietPi 9.7 Orange Pi 5 Plus

Armbian and DietPi are two separate projects that provide Linux-based OS images optimized for Arm-based single board computers. The last time we had a look at both projects was in June with the release of Armbian 24.5.1 and DietPi 9.4, but there have been several updates since then including the releases of the latest DietPi 9.7 and Armbian 24.8 Yelt just a few days ago. So let’s check out the latest changes. DietPi 9.7 DietPi is a lightweight Debian-based Linux distribution for SBCs and server systems that ships as a minimal image but users can install any packages they want, including the ones required for desktop environment, to match the requirements of the applications. It’s notably used by the Linamp project – a Raspberry Pi 4-based project that brings WinAMP to real life – that we covered a few weeks ago. DietPi 9.7 was released on August 25, 2024 with […]

Posted on by Sayantan Nandy - 3 Comments on T1000-E Card Tracker is a thin, credit card-sized GPS tracker with Meshtastic support

T1000-E Card Tracker is a thin, credit card-sized GPS tracker with Meshtastic support

SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000 E

Seeed Studio has introduced the T1000-E, an updated version of the SenseCAP T1000 Card Tracker, built for Meshtastic. This rugged tracker is compact, about the size of a credit card, making it easy to carry or attach to assets. It uses Semtech LR1110 RF transceiver, Nordic Semi nRF52840 wireless SoC, and MediaTek/Aihora AG3335 GPS module for precise, low-power tracking and communication. With an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, the T1000-E is ideal for reliable asset tracking. The T1000-E supports LoRa and Bluetooth v5.1 for communication and includes a 3-axis accelerometer, an LED, a buzzer, and a button for operation. It has internal antennas for GNSS, LoRa, Wi-Fi, and BLE communication range of 2 to 5 km, depending on the environment. SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E specifications: SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 CPU – 32-bit Cortex-M4 core with FPU running at 64 MHz Flash – 1 MB RAM – 256 kB […]

Posted on by Sayantan Nandy - No Comments on Vecow EVS-3000 AI computing systems combine 14th Gen Intel Core CPUs and MXM Graphics for Edge AI applications

Vecow EVS-3000 AI computing systems combine 14th Gen Intel Core CPUs and MXM Graphics for Edge AI applications

EVS 3000

Vecow has introduced the EVS-3000 series, a new line of AI computing systems powered by Intel Core i9/i7/i5/i3 (14th Gen) processors with embedded MXM graphics. These systems deliver high computing power, come with multiple PCIe slots for expansion, and support remote monitoring making them ideal for edge AI applications such as autonomous robotics, public security, and machine vision. The EVS-3000 series includes both fan and fanless models: EVS-3100, EVS-3200, EVS-3300, EVS-3400 without fans, and EVS-3100(F), EVS-3200(F), EVS-3300(F), EVS-3400(F) with fans. All systems are powered by Intel R680E chipsets and feature compact NVIDIA or AMD MXM graphics, with support for 2.5GbE LAN, Out-of-Band (OOB) management, and multiple PCIe Gen 4 slots. These systems deliver high performance for AI computing at the edge for applications such as machine vision and robotics. As you may know, we’ve previously covered several Vecow AI computing systems, including the TGS-1000 Series, SPC-9000 fanless embedded system, ECX-3200, […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on GAOMON PD2200 pen display review – A 21.5-inch drawing tablet tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04, Krita software

GAOMON PD2200 pen display review – A 21.5-inch drawing tablet tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04, Krita software

GAOMON PD2200 pen Display review

Today, we’ll review the GAOMON PD2200 pen display, a 21.5-inch drawing tablet with 1920 x 1080 resolution, and an AP32 stylus with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity. It allows you to draw and write in the same way as you would with a pen and paper. It can also be used as a standard HDMI monitor and is similar to the smaller, but higher resolution (2560 x 1440) HUION Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) we reviewed last April. HUION and GAOMON are different brands, but based on the shipping information, they may be made by the same company… Guangdong Gaomon Technology sent us a sample of the GAOMON PD2200 drawing tablet for review. We will test the device as an external display in Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 and as a drawing tablet using the stylus with Krita open-source software that works fine in both Windows and Linux. GAOMON PD2200 Pen […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Using RISC-V cores on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 board and RP2350 MCU – From blinking an LED to building Linux

Using RISC-V cores on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 board and RP2350 MCU – From blinking an LED to building Linux

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 RP2350 RISC-V review

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 was released last month with a Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller equipped with two Arm Cortex-M33 cores and two 32-bit RISC-V “Hazard3” cores with up to two cores usable at any time. So in this guide, we’ll show how to use the RISC-V cores on the RP2350 MCU, compare their performance against the Arm Cortex-M33 cores, and even build Linux for RISC-V for RP2350 boards that have PSRAM. Apart from the extra memory and more powerful cores, plus new features related to security and the HSTX interface, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 and Pico will be very similar to the end user and the instructions in our article “Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Pico using MicroPython and C” remain valid. I don’t think there’s a MicroPython RISC-V image yet, so we’ll focus on running C programs on the RISC-V cores. A quick check with the Arm cores […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products