LEGO Technic meets Raspberry Pi with the Build HAT

A new official Raspberry Pi expansion board is introduced today. The Built HAT provides four connectors for LEGO Technic motors and sensors from the SPIKE Portfolio, as well as an 8V DC jack to power both the Raspberry Pi and LEGO motors, sensors, LED matrix, and more. Designed in collaboration with LEGO Education, the Build HAT features the Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core ARM Cortex M0+ MCU for I/O control, and will enable more complex models benefiting from more powerful Broadcom BCM2xxx processors, as well as a Python library for easy programming. Build HAT key features and specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller for low-level control of LEGO Technic devices 4x LPF2 connectors for LEGO Technic motors and sensors included in the SPIKE Portfolio 40-pin GPIO header for connection to Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, 3B+, 3B, 3A+, or Pi Zero family (Raspberry Pi 400 not supported) Misc – 2x […]

Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite

StonedEge and Dmcke5 have come up with an incredibly well-designed Raspberry Pi CM4 handheld console that looks like a Nintendo Switch Lite “clone”, and that can run Dreamcast and PSP emulators at full speed using RetroPie. The RetroLite CM4 The design includes a 5-inch display, speakers, all buttons, joysticks, and D-PAD controlled via a custom Arduino board, a micro HDMI port to connect an external display, and a 4000 mAh LiPo battery charged over the USB Type-C port, and it seems to work, albeit we are told there’s still some more work to do. RetroLite CM4 specifications include: Linux capable SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module with custom copper heatsink and fan Storage – MicroSD card slot All-on-one PCB with Arduino for inputs, TI bq24292i for battery management controlled via a PIC16F15234 MCU, and backlight boost converter circuitry Display – ~5-inch LCD IPS screen Audio – Stereo speakers User […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

Raspberry Pi 4, Rockchip RK3399 SBC’s get Arm SystemReady IR certification

The first hardware platforms getting Arm SystemReady IR certification for IoT Edge applications were announced a few months ago with namely NXP i.MX 8 Mini evaluation kit and Compulab IOT-GATE-IMX8 gateway being able to run off-the-shelf operating system images such as Fedora IoT, OpenSuSE Leap 15.3, and Debian 11 thanks to UEFI firmware. But following PinePhone Pro Linux smartphone announcement, and Pine64 October update, we also learned that Rockchip RK3399 based RockPro64 was also Arm SystemReady IR certified, and check Arm’s website directly revealed it was joined by Lenovo Leez P710 “Gateway” SBC, as well as Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 400 platforms. Let’s check the details and see what off-the-shelf images each board has been tested with. Pine64 RockPro64 RK3399 SBC achieved SystemReady IR v1.0 Level 1 certification meaning it complies with some waivers and workarounds found in the errata document. The board has been successfully tested with Fedora […]

PCIe adapter adds four USB 3.2 ports to Raspberry Pi CM4 IO board

Waveshare has introduced a non-standard PCIe adapter that adds four USB 3.2 ports to the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO carrier board in a way that does not take too much height. It’s non-standard as it can not be inserted directly into a typical computer PCIe slot, and Waveshare recommends a PCIe extension cable to connect it to a motherboard. Having said that It looks much better on the IO board. Waveshare USB PCIe adapter features: PCIe host interface 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, USB 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.1 compatible Onboard VIA Labs VL805 chip as found on Raspberry Pi 4 SBC Power supply – 12V via PCIe connector or 4-pin header Designed for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board Dimensions – 82×39 mm   Since it’s basically using the same design as Raspberry Pi 4 providing USB ports through the same VL805 PCIe chip, there’s no […]

Using Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard PC as a USB keyboard for your PC

Let’s try not to get confused, but you can now use Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard PC as a standard USB keyboard, optionally with a mouse attached to it, for your computer, or twisted minds may even connect it to a Raspberry Pi SBC… “But why?” you may ask. Because we can. That’s now possible thanks to work from Phil Howard (Gadgetoid), software lead of Pimoroni, and his Pi400kb project which implements a raw HID keyboard forwarder that turns the Raspberry Pi 400 into a standard USB keyboard. All you need to do is to find a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect the Raspberry Pi 400 to one of the USB ports on your computer, change some Raspberry Pi OS configuration, and install and run pi400kb. Add dtoverlay=dwc2 to /boot/config.txt in order to use the dwc2 USB device/gadget mode, and reboot your Pi 400 Load the libcomposite kernel module, get […]

RAK introduces Raspberry Pi RP2040 based LoRaWAN core, more Wisblock modules

RAKwireless has just launched the RAK11310 WisBlock LPWAN Module with Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU and LoRaWAN connectivity, as announced after launching 14 new WisBlock modules for IoT prototyping last July. The RAK11310 module was introduced as part of the “Just Track It RAK Autumn Launch 2021” event together with the smallest WisBlock Base Board so far, as well as 11 new Wisblock modules which bring the total to 47 modules. RAK11310 – Raspberry Pi RP2040, LoRaWAN connectivity RAK11310 specifications: RAK11300 WisDuo LPWAN Module MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133MHz with 246 kB RAM LoRa connectivity SX1262 LoRa transceiver Worldwide frequency coverage RAK11310L – EU433, CN470 RAK11310 – EU868, US915, AU915, KR920, AS923, IN865, RU865 LoRaWAN 1.0.2 protocol stack (supports Class A & C) I/O ports – UART, I2C, GPIO, USB through a “Wisconnector” Debugging – Serial Wire Debug (SWD) interface Supply Voltage – 2.0 V ~ […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

Iono RP – An industrial PLC with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU

Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU has been used in many boards, but I think I had seen the dual-core MCU in a PLC, or even any industrial products just yet. Sfera Labs Iono RP is a compact I/O module (PLC) with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller that’s programmable in C/C++ and MicroPython, or even the Arduino IDE. The DIN-Rail mountable, RP2040 based industrial PLC offers digital and analog input and output lines, power relays, and an RS-485 interface, supports power input from 12V-24V with all signals accessible through terminal blocks. Sfera Labs can also provide some optional options such as an RTC or an earthquake sensor module. Iono RP PLC specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 133MHz with 264kB on-chip SRAM Storage – 16MB SPI flash, optional microSD card slot Communication interface – standard RS-485 interface with electrostatic discharge protection Inputs/Outputs via terminal blocks 4x power relay […]

Mini Pupper – Raspberry Pi 4-based robot dog teaches ROS, SLAM, navigation, computer vision (Crowdfunding)

Mini Pupper is a Raspberry Pi 4 powered robot dog inspired by Stanford Pupper open-source quadruped robot, and designed in “light collaboration” with Nathan Kau, the original creator of Stanford Pupper. Just like the original design, MangDang’s Mini Pupper is open-source, based on Ubuntu and ROS (Robot Operating System), and designed for robotics education in schools, homeschool families, enthusiasts and others, with notably students being able to learn out to use ROS, SLAM, navigation, and OpenCV computer vision through online courses that will come with the robot. Mini Pupper key features and specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 2GB RAM Storage – 2GB microSD card Display – 320×240 LCD for facial animation Camera – Support for OpenCV AI Kit Lite 12 DOF via MangDang’s custom servos Optional Lidar module for SLAM (Simultaneous localization and mapping) Battery – 800 mAh Charger – Input voltage – 100-240V AC 50/60Hz, […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC