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Board::mini development tools offer a complete Vehicle-Hacking Platform (Crowdfunding)

If you are looking to connect to a vehicle’s CAN bus, then the newly launched open-source board::mini development tools include a board and expansion boards that will aid your application. BMC labs have introduced a development board based on the STM32 MCU and supporting expansion boards to increase the capabilities of the baseboard via a crowdfunding project.  As mentioned earlier, the board:mini base development board features an STM32 MCU at its heart and comes with a CAN transceiver. For those who do not know what a CAN transceiver is, it just transmits and detects data on the CAN bus. The board:mini project also includes three expansion boards designed to fit on top of the base development board.  The bmc::board project was born to produce development tools appropriate for both field- and industrial-prototyping work. These boards were not designed to sit on a workbench. We ourselves have a habit of strapping […]

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Sainsmart Genmitsu 4030 review – Unboxing, mods, and first cuts

Karl here. This will be a long one but I haven’t had this much fun with a product review in quite some time. I don’t consider myself a complete noob with CNC routers but I have only scratched the surface. Learning new things really drives me and being able to make more permanent things is very satisfying. I have some experience with the Sainsmart 3018 CNC router. I had a lot of fun with it but the build volume was on the smaller side so really limited on what can be done with it. I still recommend it as a starter CNC router and as a good stepping stone to get your feet wet and the Genmistu PROVerXL4030 as the next step. I was able to make some cool things with the 3018 and I hope now to take it to the next level with the Genmistu 4030. Before we […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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Raspberry Pi 4 Gets 8GB RAM, Raspbian 64-bit (Beta)

The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B was launched in June 2019 with Broadcom BCM2711 Arm Cortex-A72 processor coupled with either 1, 2, or 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. But there were expectations that a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB RAM or an 8GB eMMC flash may be eventually launched, as some of the user guides read “Product name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB + 8 GB variants”. We now know the answer as the Raspberry Pi Foundation has just introduced Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB RAM. Raspberry Pi 4 8GB specifications are the same except for the RAM capacity: SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARMv8) @  1.5GHz with VideoCore VI GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – MicroSD card slot Video Output  & Display I/F 2x micro HDMI ports up to 4Kp60 3.5mm AV port with composite video (and […]

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MikroTik wAP LoRa8/LoRa9 LoRa Gateway Kits Launched for $169

Last year, MikroTik announced they had worked on several LoRa products including R11e-LoRa8EU mini PCIe LoRaWAN Gateway/concentrator card, wAP LoRa8 kit (LoRa & WiFi gateway) with the mini PCIe card, as well as a 6.5 dBi Omni antenna kit to extend the range provided by the 2 dBi internal antenna. All three products are now available with R11e-LoRa8EU mini PCIe selling for $89, wAP LoRa8 kit going for $169, and the optional antenna kit adding $49. The company also introduced wAP LoRa9 kit with R11e-LoRa9 mini PCIe card geared towards markets (like the USA) using the 902-928 MHz frequency band and selling for the same price. MikroTik wAP LoRa8 kit (RBwAPR-2nD&R11e-LoRa8) specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros QCA9531 MIPSBE (Big Endian) processor @ 650 MHz System Memory – 64 MB RAN Storage – 16 MB flash Connectivity Wired – 10/100M Fast Ethernet WLAN – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 @ up […]

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Sovol SV01 Upgrade with BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 Control Board

Karl here with a quick upgrade guide. The one complaint I had in the review of the SV01 3D printer was it was loud. Today we are going to look at resolving part of the problem by replacing the Creality board with the BigTreeTech SKR mini E3 V1.2 control board sold on Amazon for around $37. Fan noise at a later date. This board is ideal because the SD card, USB, and screws line up for nearly a perfect replacement. I did not bother hooking up the filament runout sensor. I have never found them particularly useful and always ensure I start with enough filament and bypassed it for the review. The board comes with TMC2209 drivers which significantly reduce the stepper motor noise as well as stop any salmon skin. SKR Mini E3 Warning This board is a replacement for the board found on the Ender 3. Below is […]

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Snapmaker 2.0 is a 3-in-1 3D Printer, CNC and Laser Engraver (Crowdfunding)

The Snapmaker 2.0 is going to hit the market very soon, and it comes with a modular design and functionality to rival the high-priced all-in-one 3D printers, but comes at a very reduced price point. The company was featured on KickStarter and was fully funded within just a few days.  Snapmaker 2.0 has many features and upgrades from the earlier model.  The Snapmaker 2.0 comes in 3 models, the A150, A250 and the A350 and the main differences are in the build scalability. Respectively the build volumes range from 164x160x160mm which at the smallest range, it is already larger than the original Snapmaker, up to 320x350x330mm. These 3D printer models will carry a different pricing structure, but still in the modest range for a 3-in-1 3D printer with the A150 at $719, the A250 at $899 and the A350 at $1079, for preorder on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter price is […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Review of SainSmart Genmitsu CNC Router 3018-MX3

Hey Karl here. Back in September of 2018 I reviewed the Sainsmart Genmitsu 3018 Pro. Sainsmart has now further upgraded the 3018 and asked for a review of it. Let’s take a look at the changes and the evolution of the 3018 and see if the increase in price is worth it. You can find the original 3018 on sale for about $200. The pro version can be found for about $250, and the CNC Router 3018-MX3  for $350. I won’t go into too much detail like I did in the previous review. I suggest reading the pro version after reading this one. Most of the experiences and solutions apply to this version. Build Building the CNC Router 3018-MX3 was a breeze. The instructions are fantastic. I struggled a little bit to read the small booklet that came with the kit and afterwards I found a PDF on the Sainsmart […]

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Split Home Energy Meter Combines ESP32 with Microchip ATM90E32 IC (Crowdfunding)

It’s always useful to monitor the electricity consumption of your house, as you can easily and quickly find out whether an appliance is suddenly consuming a large amount of electricity before finding out from your next utility bill. It can also help remotely monitoring if an appliance has stopped working and fix it as soon as possible, for example an electric pipe heater making sure your pipe do not freeze in a holiday home. In many cases, a qualified electrician needs to be involved for the installation of whole home energy meters both for safety and insurance matters. We’ve seen in the past energy meters fit easily into a circuit breaker box but they may not be suitable for all setups. I’ve previously reviewed an inexpensive digital clamp meter that you just need to clip on one of the wire connected to your home without having to mess with dangerous […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC