Posted on

Open hardware Raspberry Pi Pico VGA, SD Card, and Audio demo board to support QVGA video playback

Abhishek recently posted an overview of Raspberry Pi RP2040’s two PIO blocks with examples in C and Micropython using some PIO assembler code. He used some basic examples like blinking an LED, but the Raspberry Pi Foundation also mentioned the programmable IO could be used to drive a VGA display, read and write data from a MicroSD card at reasonable speeds, and so on. However, the Raspberry Pi Pico does not have any of those interfaces, and it would be nice to have a board that does. It turns out there’s such a board in “Chapter 3. The VGA, SD Card & Audio Demo board for Raspberry Pi Pico” of  “Hardware Design with RP2040.pdf” document. It will be sold as the “Pimoroni Pico VGA Demo Base” board for 19.50 GBP inc. VAT (about $22 US ex. VAT), but since the KiCad hardware files are open-source, I’d assume other companies may […]

Posted on

ZimaBoard Intel Apollo Lake SBC and micro server goes for $69.99 and up (Crowdfunding)

We’ve had our fair share of low-cost x86 SBCs in recent years, mostly based on Intel Cherry Trail processor, with the likes of Atomic Pi and Rock Pi X. Ice Whale Technology has come up with its own low-cost Intel single board computer with ZimaBoard “single board server” as it mostly has network storage applications in mind, but with a 4K capable mini DisplayPort connector it could also be used as a standard SBC or mini PC. There are two versions of the board both with Apollo Lake processors: ZimaBoard 216 with a dual-core Celeron N3350 coupled with 2GBRAM and 16GB eMMC flash, and ZimaBoard 832 powered by a quad-core Celeron N3450 with 8GB RAM and 32GB storage. Both ZimaBoard SBC shares most of the same specifications in terms of I/Os: SoC – ZimaBoard 216 – Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor @ 1.1/2.4GHz (Burst freq.) with 12 EU Intel HD […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC
Posted on

Himax WE-I Plus EVB AI development board supports TFLite for microcontrollers

Himax WE-I Plus EVB is a low-power AI development board focused on machine learning and deep learning applications with its support for the TensorFlow Lite framework for Microcontrollers. It consists of majorly two significant components. First, HX6537-A ASIC is an ultra-low-power microcontroller designed for battery-powered TinyML applications. Second, HM0360 VGA mono camera with ultra-low power and  CMOS image sensing features for CV(Computer Vision) based applications like object classification and recognition. The All in One AI Development Board The Development Board consists of HX6537-A ASIC, with built-in ARC EM9D DSP working at 400MHz frequency. It contains internal 2MB ultra-low leakage SRAMs for system and program usage. It also contains two LEDs to display classification results. Connections with external sensors/devices can be established using I2C and GPIOs interface present in its expansion header.  “The all-in-one WE-I Plus EVB includes an AI processor, HM0360 AoS VGA camera, 2 microphones, and a 3-axis accelerometer […]

Posted on

Raspberry Pi gets official IQAudio audio boards, improved industrial support

The Raspberry Pi was envisioned as an inexpensive, yet highly-features platform to teach programming to young kids, but as soon as the board was released in 2012 things quickly got out of control and many people started to use the low-cost SBC in various projects, or just as an XBMC (now Kodi) media center. Over 8 years later, that means 44 percent of Raspberry Pi boards were sold to the industrial/commercial market as opposed to individuals or the education market. Two recent announcements from the Raspberry Pi Foundation / Raspberry Pi Trading highlight the willingness of the organizations to expand the use of their boards to more markets: IQaudio audio boards and a new section of the website specific to industrial support. IQaudio audio boards for Raspberry Pi If you’ve already heard about IQaudio, that’s because the audio boards are not new. They were developed by a company called IQaudio […]

Posted on

Compact Jetson Xavier NX/ Nano open hardware baseboard supports Android

When it comes to NVIDIA Jetson family of modules, we should understand that NVIDIA Jetson Nano is for makers and STEM education, while Xavier NX is more geared towards professional and commercial use. The compute module Xavier NX was announced before the development kit, which includes the module and reference carrier board and otherwise for NVIDIA Jetson Nano. There are some third-party carrier boards & edge computers available for Jetson Xavier NX and Jetson Nano, including DesignCore Carrier Board and Diamond FLOYD Carrier Board. Antmicro, a custom hardware, software, and AI engineering company, came up with a compact open hardware device: Jetson Nano/ Xavier NX baseboard. It supports both NVIDIA Jetson Nano SoM as well as the Xavier NX SoM. The board is designed to put NVIDIA’s versatile module at the heart of cutting-edge projects and drive innovation in areas such as AI/ML, drones, medical and industrial object recognition systems. […]

Posted on

PixelBlaze v3 WiFi LED board supports live-coding via a web interface (Crowdfunding)

We’ve previously covered a couple of ESP8266 WiFi boards to control LED strips from ANAVI Technology ESP8266 powered ANAVI Miracle Controller and ANAVI Light Controller Starter Kit, but Ben Henke has also made similar ESP8266 LED controllers with PixelBlaze boards. The latest iteration – PixelBlaze v3 – is based on ESP32 WiSoC and comes in two variants: PixelBlaze v3 Standard with headers and PixelBlaze V3 Pico in a much tinier form factor (33.3 x 11mm) with both models supporting live-coding via a web interface. PixelBlaze v3 specifications: Wireless SiP or module Standard – ESP32-WROOM-32 module with Espressif ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash Pico – ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package with Espressif ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash 4-pin header with VCC, GND, DATA, CLK for LED matrix or strip Compatible with APA102, SK9822, DotStar, WS2811, WS2812 (up to 2,500 LEDs), WS2813, WS2815, NeoPixel, and WS2801 actively […]

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

Cellular gateway board takes up to five 4G mini PCIe cards, one 5G M.2 module, seven SIM cards

One Banana Pi customer asked them to customize Banana Pi BPI-R64 Linux router board based on MediaTek MT7622 WiFi processor as part of their “BPI 4.0 server” OEM/ODM customization service. Specifically, they were asked to design a cellular gateway board with the same five Gigabit Ethernet ports as on the original board, but adding five mini PCIe sockets and SIM card slots for 3G/4G cards, and one M.2 socket plus two SIM cards for a 5G module. Here’s the result! Banana Pi “GrassRouter” cellular gateway board specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7622E dual-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.35GHz System Memory – 1 or 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Connectivity Cellular 1x 5G via M.2 Key-B module (USB 3.0 or PCIe bus), 2x SIM card slots. Up to 5x 3G/4G LTE via  mPCIe expansion socket, 5x SIM card slots Ethernet – 5x Gigabit Ethernet ports (4x LAN […]

Posted on

ESP32 CNC Controller Board Supports Grbl Arduino Firmware

Grbl_ESP32 CNC development board is a breakout board for NodeMCU 32S board that also takes three stepper motor drivers, and designed to run Grbl open-source Arduino firmware to control wireless CNC machines. Grbl_ESP32 CNC breakout board specifications: Socket for NodeMCU 32S board with ESP32 WiFi and Bluetooth dual-core SoC 3 sockets for stepper motor drivers such as TI DRV8825 types and others. Micro-step selection jumpers included. MicroSD card socket Home/Limit switch connections for XY and Z axes. Control switch input connections for Feed Hold, Cycle Start, Reset, and Door. Spindle output for PWM to control speed. 3A DC-DC power supply to run the ESP32 if it is not connected to USB Grbl CNC firmware was initially developed for the Arduino UNO and basic 3 axis CNC routers around 10 years ago, but has since then been ported to other CPUs and is now found in other types of CNC machines […]

Boardcon EM3562 Rockchip RK3562 SBC with 8 analog camera inputs