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April 14, 2021

Check LoRaWAN deployments on the go with WisGate Developer Base USB dongle

RAKWireless just had their “Big Tech Bloom” event services they announced many new LPWAN products ranging from WisDM fleet management system, OpenWrt based Wisgate OS, new industrial LoRaWAN gateways like WisGate Edge Lite 2, their first STM32WL module, as well as 9 new modules for WisBlock modular IoT platform with MIC, e-Paper display, GPS, an ESP32 based WisBlock core, etc… But today, I’ll have a look at the new $99 WisGate Developer Base, a USB dongle that connects to a laptop for LoRaWAN networks evaluation, for example, to check the coverage before installing a new gateway. Alternatively, it could also be used to add LoRaWAN gateway capability to existing embedded hardware like routers or industrial PCs. Two variants of the WisGate Developer Base are available – RAK7271 & RAK7371 – with the following specifications: Concentrator modules RAK7271 – RAK2287 SX1302 based mini PCIe concentrator module RAK7371 – RAK5146 SX1303 based […]

March 24, 2021

Pockit modular Linux computer takes hot plugging magnetic blocks

There have been attempts to create modular computers and smartphones to reduce electronics waste and improve user-serviceability over the years with initiatives and products like Google Project Ara, PinePhone and Fairphone3 smartphones, DevTerm mini computer, Olimex TERES-I laptop, and many more. Here’s another modular computer project that looks really cool. Pickit modular computer is comprised of an STM32+ESP32 based mainboard with a socket for an optional Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3. The board includes magnets and electrical contacts to snap and hot-plug modules/blocks while the computer is running. The video demo embedded further below, is really impressive, but let’s check out Pockit preliminary specifications first: MCU – STMicro STM32 microcontroller Wireless MCU – ESP32 dual-core processor with WiFi and Bluetooth LE CPU module – Socket for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 Expansion 24+ feature BLOCKS ready to use with instant connection using magnetic-snaps including Ethernet, Display (HDMI), audio, sensor modules […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

March 10, 2021

Beelink Expand X USB dock turns your phone into a computer

Beelink is better known for its Intel mini PCs, so the first time I saw Beelink Expand X I thought it was a mini PC somehow fitted with a smartphone stand… But instead, it’s a USB dock for your mobile phone or tablet, that comes with a foldable stand to use your smartphone into a computer by connecting it to a monitor, USB keyboard & mouse, and maybe throw a USB hard drive in the mix to complete your setup. Beelink Expand X specifications: Video Output – 1x HDMI port up to 4K UHD resolution USB 1x USB Type -C input port to connect to the host device (data, video, audio) 1x USB Type-C port for power/charging 2x USB 2.0 host ports 1x micro USB port to connect a PC Mode switch button Foldable stand for smartphone or tablet Dimensions – 120mm (length folded) x 65 x 13 mm (Full […]

February 15, 2021February 17, 2021

Linux 5.11 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linus Torvalds has released Linux 5.11 just in time for… “Valentine’s Day”: Nothing unexpected or particularly scary happened this week, so here we are – with 5.11 tagged and pushed out. In fact, it’s a smaller-than-average set of commits from rc7 to final, which makes me happy. And I already have several pull requests lined up for tomorrow, so we’re all set for the merge window to start. But in the meantime – and yes, I know it’s Valentine’s Day here in the US – maybe give this release a good testing before you go back and play with development kernels. All right? Because I’m sure your SO will understand. Linus Last time around, Linux 5.10 was an LTS release that added EXT-4 performance enhancements, improved post-Spectre performance, as well as the enablement of BCM2711 (Raspberry Pi 4) display pipeline, among other many changes. Some of the notable changes in […]

January 24, 2021January 25, 2021

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Pico using MicroPython and C

Raspberry Pi Pico board was just launched last Thursday, but thanks to Cytron I received a sample a few hours after the announcement, and I’ve now had time to play with the board using MicroPython and C programming language. I went to the official documentation to get started, but I had to look around to achieve what I wanted to do, namely blinking some LEDs, so I’ll document my experience with my own getting started guide for Raspberry Pi Pico using a computer running Ubuntu 20.04 operating system. The instructions will be similar for Windows and Mac OS. Preparing the hardware In theory, we could just get started with the board alone, but since I got some headers with my board, I also took the opportunity to try out Pine64 Pinecil soldering iron powered by MINIX NEO P2 USB-C power supply. The soldering iron worked great for about one minute, […]

Desktop Power Supply Qi Wireless Charging

January 16, 2021

PinePower 120W desktop power supply features display, USB PD, QC 3.0 and wireless charging

Pine64’s January update includes the launch of PinePhone with Mobian operating system, some limited details about the upcoming Quartz64 RK3566 SBC that will ship with 4 to 8GB RAM, and other news about all their products. There’s not enough details yet to write a post about Quartz64, but another product caught my eyes: PinePower. Yes, Pine64 is now offering power supply, and last month they presented PinePower 65W GaN power adapter that looks similar to MINIX NEO P1 power supply, albeit slightly larger. But I find the desktop version of the power supply even more interesting with an integrated display that shows voltage and current for each port, and also adds Qi wireless charging. PinePower “Desktop” version specifications: Display – Shows individual port voltage and current status USB charging ports 1x USB Type-C PD port up to 65W output with support for 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/3.25A 1x QC 3.0 […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

January 15, 2021January 15, 2021

H2 Net Card adds four 2.5 GbE ports to ODROID-H2/H2+ SBC

ODROID-H2+ is already a cool single board computer with an Intel Gemini Lake Refresh processor, up to 32GB RAM, dual 2.5GbE networking, support for SATA and NVMe storage, dual 4K video output, and more. But in recent days, I’ve read people complaining recently announced WiFI 6 or WiFi 6E routers only had one 2.5 Gbps or 5 Gbps Ethernet jack and wanted all/more RJ45 connectors to be 2.5 GbE ports or greater. But if even the two 2.5GbE ports on ODROID-H2+ are not quite enough for your needs, Hardkernel H2 Net Card triples that amount by adding four extra 2.5 GbE to the x86 SBC. It also works on ODROID-H2, meaning you’d get the existing dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, plus the four 2.5GbE ports from the M.2 card. There’s no much in the way of specifications for H2 Net Card: 4x Ethernet ports up to 2.5 GbE via RTL8125 controller. […]

December 31, 2020March 19, 2021

Year 2020 in review – Top ten posts and stats

It’s this time of the year when we look back at what happened, and what may be next. 2020 did not pan out as planned in more ways than one, but there were still some interesting developments. Based on 2019 announcements, 2020 was promising to be an exciting year for Amlogic and Rockchip with the expected launch of RK3588 and S908X high-end processors for 8K capable devices, but we’ll have to wait for 2021 for this to happen. Instead, the most interesting processor of the year from the Allwinner, Amlogic, and Rockchip offerings was probably Amlogic S905X4 processing adding AV1 hardware decoding. As pointed out in our “RISC-V 2020 highlights” post, it was a fairly eventful year for RISC-V architecture, although there’s still a long road ahead, especially for application processors. We had seen some general-purpose and Bluetooth RISC-V MCUs in 2019, but 2020 saw the launch of the first […]