Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Samsung Galaxy Upcycling at Home program aims to repurpose older phones into IoT devices

Samsung Galaxy Upcycling at Home program aims to repurpose older phones into IoT devices

Samsung Galaxy Upcycling light sensor

Electronics waste, also as known as e-waste, has been a problem talked about for years, and in 2015 we asked the question “What do you do with your old devices and boards?” as many devices just end up collecting dust or stored in a drawer. Some better ways include giving or selling them to others, or repurpose them. For instance, a cheap Arm HDMI dongle can make a torrent downloader, an old phone can be transformed into a surveillance camera, an ATX power supply could be converted into a bench power supply, etc… But repurposing devices require some technical skills which many of the smart CNX Software readers have, but it’s unrealistic to expect the typical consumer to be able to hack their old devices into new ones using some tutorials found on the Internet. Samsung Galaxy Upcycling Program aims to make recycling upcycling easier for owners of Galaxy smartphones, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 45 Comments on PhD students willfully committed known malicious changes to mainline Linux

PhD students willfully committed known malicious changes to mainline Linux

Open source project vulnerabilities

We just reported about the Linux 5.12 changelog with a focus on Arm, MIPS and RISC-V targets on Tuesday, and at the time, the expectation was a delay of about one week after Linux 5.12-rc8 was outed on Sunday,  April 18. But Linux 5.12 could be further delayed due to shenanigans from two Ph.D. students doing a research project on open-source vulnerability at the University of Minnesota. This was announced by Greg Kroah-Hartman on the Linux kernel mailing list. Commits from @umn.edu addresses have been found to be submitted in “bad faith” to try to test the kernel community’s ability to review “known malicious” changes. The result of these submissions can be found in a paper published at the 42nd IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy entitled, “Open Source Insecurity: Stealthily Introducing Vulnerabilities via Hypocrite Commits” So their work at to be reverted with 190 reversions so far. It also […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on Business card-sized dual GbE SBC runs OpenWrt on Rockchip RK3328 SoC

Business card-sized dual GbE SBC runs OpenWrt on Rockchip RK3328 SoC

Pi-R2S3328-B

We’ve previously reported about at least two dual GbE router boards based on Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with namely NanoPi R2S and Orange Pi R1 Plus. But there’s now a third option with SmartHomeBoard Pi-R2S3328-B single board computer offered in a larger business card-sized format, equipped with 1GB DDR4, and booting OpenWrt from a MicroSD card. Debian and Ubuntu are also supported according to the manufacturer. Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-450MP2 System Memory – 1GB DDR4 RAM (Note some photos how 2x 512MB DDR3 instead) Storage – MicroSD Slot Connectivity -2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports, one native, one USB 3.0 to GbE USB – 1x USB Type-A host port, 1x micro USB OTG port, 1x USB Type-C port for power Debugging – 3-pin 2.54mm pitch header for serial console Misc – Reset button, Sys,WAN and LAN LED’s, Power Supply – 5V/2A […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Terminal Block modules for Raspberry Pi Pico come with screw or DIN rail mounting option

Terminal Block modules for Raspberry Pi Pico come with screw or DIN rail mounting option

Terminal block raspberry-pi-pico din rail mount

if you’d like to use terminal blocks with your Raspberry Pi Pico, or compatible board,  instead of soldering wires to the MCU board, HCDC’s Terminal Block Breakout Module may meet your requirements with variants for either screw or DIN rail mounting. Description/specifications: PCB mount Terminal Block with 5 mm pitch, 7mm strip length, M2.5 screws – Wire range 28AWG ~ 12AWG / 2.5mm square. FR-4 fiber glass PCB, dual copper layers. Mounting options Screw version – “Taiwan high-quality” fireproof nylon material mount carrier (“not China low-quality carrier”). DIN rail version – “High-quality Taiwan” DINKLE fireproof nylon material DIN rail mount carrier (“not China low-quality carrier”); supports 35mm wide rail. I have not mentioned it in the introduction, but after reading the specifications, it appears (Xuken) HCDC may be based in Taiwan. 🙂 The company explains its Terminal Block Breakout Module for Raspberry Pi Pico is best suited to industrial control, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Linux 5.12 – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.12 – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.12

Linux 5.12 release was expected last Sunday, but Linus Torvalds decided to release one more release candidate, namely Linux 5.12-RC8, to “make sure things are all settled down“, so the latest Linux kernel is now expected this weekend.  Tihs should not yield any significant changes, so we can check what’s new in Linux 5.12, notably with regards to Arm, MIPS, and RISC-V architectures often used in SoC’s found in embedded systems. Around two months ago, the release of Linux 5.11 added support for Intel’s software guard extensions (SGX) and Platform Monitoring Technology (PMT), AMD “Van Gogh” and “Dimgrey cavefish” graphics processors, MIPI I3C host controller interfaces, and much more. Some interesting changes in Linux 5.12 include: Added support for ACRN hypervisor designed for IoT & embedded devices Added support for Playstation DualSense & Nintendo 64 game controllers, as well as Nintendo 64 data cartridges Dynamic thermal power management via a […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Dual Ethernet SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 SBC supports 4-inch or 7-inch displays

Dual Ethernet SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 SBC supports 4-inch or 7-inch displays

Dual Ethernet SBC with display

SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 are low-cost, highly integrated SoC’s with a dual Cortex-A7 processor, 64MB to 128MB on-chip RAM designed for Full HD smart displays, but we’ve also found SSD201 in a 4G LTE industrial gateway. There’s now a different type of board based on the SigmaStar processors with Wireless Tag/Industio IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-12W and IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-22W  SBC’s powered respectively by SSD201 and SSD202, and both equipped with dual Ethernet and a connector for a 4-inch or 7-inch display. Specifications: System-on-Module (one or the other) IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-12W SBC – IDO-SOM2D01  module with SigmaStar SSD201 dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 2D GPU, 64MB DDR2,  2Gbit SPI NAND flash IDO-SBC2D06-V1B-22W SBC – IDO-SOM2D01 module with SigmaStar SSD202 dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 2D GPU, 128MB DDR3,  2Gbit SPI NAND flash Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 4-lane MIPI DSI connector for 4-inch RGB565 display or 7-inch RGB888 display Audio – 2-pin Microphone connector […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on PiMod Zero for Raspberry Pi Zero SBC broadcasts video to your older NTSC TV (Crowdfunding)

PiMod Zero for Raspberry Pi Zero SBC broadcasts video to your older NTSC TV (Crowdfunding)

PiMod Zero

Playing retro games or watching older movies on your Raspberry Pi Zero board over a modern digital video interface like HDMI clearly ruins the experience! 😉 While it should be possible to use to 2-pin reserved for video composite on the Raspberry Pi Zero to connect to an old TV, PiMod Zero HAT allows you to get back that retro feeling even with TVs lacking RCA composite and audio inputs by broadcasting video over VHF to older NTSC compatible televisions. PiMod Zero specifications: Operating frequency – VHF channels 2 and 3 (55.25 MHz and 61.25 MHz) Broadcast format – NTSC RF output power – 0.005 mW Impedance – 75 Ω Supply voltage – 5 V Power draw – 100 mW Dimensions – pHAT form factor The expansion board supports both color and B&W video, as well as audio. There were already solutions to achieve the same results, but Isotope Engineering […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on Mecool KT1 4K AV1 capable Android TV STB ships with DVB-T2 tuner

Mecool KT1 4K AV1 capable Android TV STB ships with DVB-T2 tuner

Mecool KT1

Amlogic S905X4 TV boxes such as Mecool KM6 have already been available for a few months with the main selling being support for 4K AV1 video hardware decoding. But if you’d like to watch AV1 YouTube or Netflix videos, and also get free-to-air channels using older codecs, Mecool KT1 adds a DVB-T2 TV tuner that works in the EMEA region, some Asian countries, Oceania, and a few other countries that adopted the standard. Mecool KT1 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X4 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G31MP2 supporting OpenGL ES3.2, Vulkan 1.1, and OpenCL 2.0 System Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD/SDXC card socket Video & Audio Output HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60Hz with CEC, HDCP2.2, HDR AV output with composite video and analog stereo audio Video Playback Codecs AV1 up to 4K @ 60 fps H.265 HEVC […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications