Sainsmart 3018 CNC Router
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Genmitsu CNC 3018-PRO CNC Router Review – Part 1: Build & First Etches

Hey Karl here. Today we are going to look at something a little different. I am writing about my experiences with building Genmitsu 3018 CNC router upgraded version provided by Sainsmart for this review. While waiting on the unit to arrive I did some research and found that there are several different versions on the market labeled CNC xxxx. The xxxx represent the build volume in the x and y. So the one I was sent has a 300x180mm build volume. The 3018 is called upgraded because the new mounting for the X and Y rods and lead screws. On the previous version these had to be mounted and manually aligned which from what I read can be a pain. Building Genmitsu CNC 3018-PRO CNC Router The build went very well. The 3018 user manual was mostly pictures but they called out anything that might be questionable. I had been […]

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TS80 USB type-C Soldering Iron Up for Sale for $79.99

TS100 digital programmable soldering iron has been popular in recent years due to its compact size, open source STM32 firmware, fast heating, and it does the job. Another advantage is that the soldering can be powered by a standard 19V laptop power supply. As noted in a post about a separate soldering pen board with audio jack, the company behind TS100 has been working on a new model called TS80 powered via USB type C port, lighter & more compact, and supporting soldering tips that connect through a typical 3.5mm audio jack. The good news is that TS80 is now available for $89.99 on Sainsmart under the ToolPAC brand. Use TS80 coupon for $10 discount. [Update: TS80 is now sold on Banggood for $72.99 shipped] TS80 SUB type-C soldering iron specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F103T8 Arm Cortex-M3 MCU @ 72 MHz with 20KB SRAM, 64KB or 128KB flash Temperature Range […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Banana Pi BPI-R64
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Banana Pi BPI-R64 Router Board is Powered by Mediatek MT7622, Supports 802.11ac WiFi, Optional PoE Module

SinoVoIP launched several Banana Pi router boards in the past starting with Allwinner A20 based Banana Pi BPI-R1 in 2014, and followed by Banana Pi BPI-R2 board powered by a Mediatek MT7623 processor last year. Such boards normally include multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as at least one SATA connector, and in some cases an mPCIe connector for WiFi or LTE cards. THe company also launched Banana Pi BPI-W2 board a few months ago, but that model is more geared towards multimedia router use cases. The company has now unveiled Banana Pi BPI-R64 router board based on Mediatek MT7622 dual core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, five Gigabit Ethernet port, on-board 802.11ac WiFi, one “laptop” SATA port, as well as an optional PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) add-on board.Banana PI RPI-R64 board specifications provided by the company – which has not always shown to be accurate -: SoC – MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 […]

RAK811 Cayenne LPP Data
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AS923 LoRa GPS Tracking with MatchX MatchBox Gateway and RAK811 LoRa GPS Tracker Board

Earlier this month, I installed Match MatchBox LoRa outdoor gateway close to the roof, and showed how easy it was easies to setup with MatchX Cloud. Basically, you just register to the cloud, enter the serial number, and the gateway is automatically based on your location. I’m in South East Asia, so the gateway was configured with AS923. I’ve now had time to play with the gateway using Rak Wireless RAK811 LoRa tracker board, and eventually managed to get the tracker location to show up on a map. It was my first experience with LoRaWAN, and I had to learn a lot, and overcome many issues from outdated software development tools, different data formats, and some interoperability issues between all components involved. I’ll document all that in this review, and hopefully it will help others. RAK811 LoRa GPS Tracker Unboxing Before going into LoRa configuration, I’ll show what I got […]

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Three 5W Intel Amber Lake Processors Coming Soon: Core m3-8100Y, Core i5-8200Y, Core i7-8500Y

When I talk about low power Intel processors, I usually think about atom-based families like Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, Apollo Lake or Gemini Lake with 2W to 10W processors that delivers entry-level performance at a reasonable price. But Intel has also been selling more powerful Core-m processors with a similar power budget, but with much better performance, at the cost of a significantly higher price tag. The company is now prepping to launch a new family of such processor with Amber Lake Y-series (aka Amber Lake-Y) family. Three Amber Lake processors are expected to be officially announced very soon: Core m3-8100Y dual core/quad thread processor @ 1.1 GHz (base) / 3.4 GHz (turbo) Core i5-8200Y dual core/quad thread processor @ 1.3 GHz (base) / 3.9 GHz (turbo) Core i7-8500Y dual core/quad thread processor @ 1.5 GHz (base) / 4.2 GHz (turbo) All three processors are manufactured with a 14 nm […]

Anavi-Light-Controller-Starter-Kit-Assembly
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ESP8266 RGB LED Strip Control with ANAVI Light Controller, Arduino, MQTT, and HTML5

A few months ago I reviewed ANAVI Light pHat for Raspberry Pi which allows you to control an LED RGB strip from the popular development board. However, if all you need is to switch the RGB LED light on and off, or change the color, the hardware is clearly overpowered for the tasks. So Leon ANAVI designed another board based on ESP8266 – ANAVI Light Controller – which does the same thing with lower cost and more power efficient hardware. Leon sent me a sample for review, so let’s see what we’ve got. ANAVI Light Controller Starter Kit Unboxing I received a package for the Starter kit that’s offered for $39 on CrowdSupply. We’ve got the main board, a USB debugging, an acrylic enclosure with screws and spacers, a one meter RGB LED strip, and some stickers inside the package. If we have a close look at the board we […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Linux 4.17 Release – Main Changes, Arm & MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds released Linux 4.17 last Sunday: So this last week was pretty calm, even if the pattern of most of the stuff coming in on a Friday made it feel less so as the weekend approached. And while I would have liked even less changes, I really didn’t get the feeling that another week would help the release in any way, so here we are, with 4.17 released. No, I didn’t call it 5.0, even though all the git object count numerology was in place for that. It will happen in the not _too_distant future, and I’m told all the release scripts on kernel.org are ready for it, but I didn’t feel there was any real reason for it. I suspect that around 4.20 – which is I run out of fingers and toes to keep track of minor releases, and thus start getting mightily confused – I’ll switch […]

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Acer Chromebook Tab 10 is the First Chrome OS Tablet

Chrome OS has been found in laptops (Chromebooks), and mini PCs (Chromeboxes) or even All-in-One PCs (Chromebases) for a while, but a new category has launched with Chrome OS tablets starting with Acer Chromebook Tab 10. The tablet is powered by a Rockchip RK3399 / OP1 processor, comes with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage, a 9.7″ display, supports Wacom EMR stylus, targets the education market. Acer Chromebook Tab 10 (D651N) specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399-C / OP1 hexa core processor with two Cortex A72 cores, four Cortex A53 cores, and a Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot Display – 9.7″ touchscreen IPS display with QXGA (2048×1536) resolution Audio – Headphone/speaker jack Connectivity – 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 Camera – 2MP front-facing camera USB – 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C  port for charging, data transfer and connection […]

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