Destore Citronics Fairphone 2 industrial gateway
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Citronics built a router based on the Fairphone 2 mainboard

Belgium-company Citronics has designed a router based on the mainboard of the Fairphone 2 smartphone, connecting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 “system-on-module” to a carrier board with Ethernet, USB ports, and other connectors, while leveraging 4G LTE, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity from the phone’s core board. Citronics calls this type of hardware “Circular Microcomputers,” which refers to small computers focusing on sustainability and circular economy principles using parts from discarded devices like old smartphones. There’s actually more than one router, as Citronics designed its own development kit, and also partnered with other companies to design custom gateways based on the Fairphone 2 mainboard. Let’s have a look at the devkit first. Citronics devkit: Fairphone 2 mainboard SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AB) quad core Krait 400 processor @ up to 2.26 GHz with Adreno 330 GPU System Memory – 2 GB LPDDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash Connectivity – 2G/3G/4G LTE, […]

Haasoscope Pro USB oscilloscope
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Haasoscope Pro open-source, real-time sampling USB oscilloscope supports up to 2GHz bandwidth (Crowdfunding)

The Haasoscope Pro is an open-source hardware, high-bandwidth, and real-time sampling USB oscilloscope. Building upon its predecessor, the Haasoscope, the new Pro model offers a bandwidth of 2GHz, 12-bit resolution, and a 3.2GS/s sampling rate. The Haasoscope Pro USB oscilloscope is “designed to be low cost, while maintaining super-fast performance.” While it only comes with 2 channels, the flexible design makes it possible to combine and sync multiple devices (using Cat5 cables) to double the sample rate or add more channels. The oscilloscope works with standard x10 passive probes but a custom active probe, the Haasoscope Pro-be, is also offered. It supports the full 2GHz analog bandwidth and is priced much cheaper than similar probes. The Haasoscope Pro USB oscilloscope’s high sampling rate and bandwidth make it ideal for radio frequency signal analysis and high-speed digital debugging. It is similar to the ThunderScope Thunderbolt and PCIe oscilloscope which offers more […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
NComputing RX540 thin client
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NComputing RX540 Raspberry Pi CM5-powered thin client supports Citrix, Microsoft AVD, WIndows 365, RDS, and more

NComputing RX540 is a thin client powered by the Raspberry Pi CM5 that works with Citrix, Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Windows 365, Remote Desktop Services (RDS), and NComputing’s own vSpace Pro and VERDE VDI platforms. Omnissa Horizon integration is expected in March 2025. We first covered NComputing when the company released the RX300 Raspberry Pi 3-based Thin Client in 2017, which we reviewed with Windows Server 2016 the same year. Since then, the company introduced the RX420(HDX) Raspberry Pi 4 Thin Client compatible with Citrix HDX in 2020, and now they’ve introduced their first Raspberry Pi Compute Module-based hardware with the CM5-powered NComputing RX540 thin client, and there’s also an RX580 model with 8GB RAM and internal storage available upon request. Ncomputing RX540 specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 CPU – Quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 processor @ 2.4GHz GPU – VideoCore VII GPU […]

Rimer Cortex-M4 single-board computer
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Rimer SBC is a Microchip SAMD51 Cortex-M4-based development board with a built-in LCD, keyboard, audio, and battery

The Rimer SBC is a development board based on a Microchip SAMD51 Cortex-M4 microcontroller and designed as a complete standalone playground with a built-in display, keyboard, audio input and output, a few I/Os, and a 60x20mm LiPo battery or an optional 18650 battery holder. It is specifically based on the Microchip ATMSAMD51J20A microcontroller, running at 120MHz with 1MB of flash memory and 256KB of RAM, and utilizes many of the peripherals available in the TQFP64 package. The board includes a 3.2-inch 320 x 240 IPS TFT LCD connected via high-speed SPI and a 40-key mechanical keyboard scanned via an I2C GPIO expander. It also features an amplified 700mW speaker output and buffered analog input and output is routed via the 3.5mm audio jack. The Rimer SBC’s standalone nature makes it suitable for on-the-go development, rapid prototyping, and educational purposes without the need for external hardware. The maker also plans to […]

Microchip maXTouch M1 Curved Automotive Displays Knob on Display Technology
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New Microchip maXTouch M1 automotive touchscreen controllers support curved displays, physical Knob-on-Display technology

Microchip Technology’s ATMXT3072M1 and ATMXT2496M1 add to the existing maXTouch M1 automotive touchscreen controllers and are designed for large, curved, free-form displays, including ones using OLED and microLED technologies. These controllers support up to 112 reconfigurable touch channels (or 162 in ultra-wide mode), enabling touch functionality for displays up to 20-inch (16:9 format) or 34-inch (7:1 format) in size. Additionally, they use smart mutual touch acquisition to enhance signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by +15 dB, ensuring reliable touch detection in high-capacitive environments.  The controllers also feature integrated Knob-on-Display (KoD) technology for physical control knobs on touchscreens and low-latency haptic feedback for enhanced user interaction. The controls meet ASIL-A and B safety standards and support OTA firmware updates with SHA-512 authentication for cybersecurity compliance (ISO 21434:2021). All these features make these MCUs suitable for user-friendly infotainment and dashboard systems. Microchip ATMXT3072M1 and ATMXT2496M1 specifications Touchscreen channels ATMXT3072M1 – 112 fully configurable sensor […]

KiCad 9 release
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KiCad 9 released with support for embedded files, tables in schematics, custom ERC/DRC errors, mouse scroll wheel actions, and more

KiCad 9 open-source EDA software has just been released with a range of new features such as support for embedded files (fonts, 3D files, PDF), tables in schematics, custom ERC/DRC errors, warnings, and exclusion comments, mouse scroll wheel actions, multiple track drag, and much more. The latest KiCad 9.0.0 release includes 4,870 unique commits from hundreds of developers and translators, and the KiCad library has further gained 1500 new symbols, 750 new footprints, and 132 new 3D models. There are way too many changes to list them all here, so I’ll mention some highlights here: Jobsets (predefined output jobs) – Feature that provides predefined sets of ‘jobs’— plotting, exporting, and running DRC—on schematics and PCBs. Independent jobset files are reusable as users may want to create output pipelines that they can apply across their projects for consistency. Jobsets can be run from the command line or the KiCad GUI. Embedded […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Femtofox Pro v1 kit LoRa and Meshtastic development board
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Femtofox Pro v1 LoRa and Meshtastic development board runs Linux-based Foxbuntu OS on Rockchip RV1103 SoC

The Femtofox Pro v1 kit is a compact, low-power LoRa and Meshtastic development board running Linux specially designed for Meshtastic networks. Built around the Luckfox Pico Mini (Rockchip RV1103) SBC, this compact development platform supports USB host/device functionality, Ethernet, WiFi over USB, GPIO interfaces, I2C, UART, and a real-time clock (RTC). The most unique feature of this board is that it operates at very low power (0.27-0.4W), making it ideal for solar-powered applications. Additionally, Femtofox supports native Meshtastic client control, USB mass storage, and network reconfiguration via a USB flash drive. It also includes user-configurable buttons for WiFi toggling and system reboot, enhancing its usability. These features make Femtofox particularly useful for applications such as emergency response and off-grid messaging. Femtofox Pro v1 kit specifications Mainboard – Luckfox Pico Mini A SoC  – Rockchip RV1103 SoC CPU – Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2GHz + RISC-V core Memory – 64MB DDR2 […]

Raspberry Pi RP2040 200 MHz
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Raspberry Pi Pico SDK 2.1.1 release adds 200MHz clock option for RP2040, various Waveshare boards, new code samples

The Raspberry Pi Pico SDK 2.1.1  has just been released with official 200 MHz clock support for the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, several new boards mostly from Waveshare, but also one from Sparkfun, as well as new code samples, and other small changes. Raspberry Pi RP2040 gets official 200 MHz clock support When the Raspberry Pi RP2040 was first released along with Raspberry Pi Pico in 2021, we were told the default frequency was 48 MHz, but the microcontroller could also run up to 133 MHz. Eventually, I think the Cortex-M0+ cores were clocked at 125 MHz by default, although some projects (e.g. PicoDVI) would boost the frequency up to 252 MHz. Frequencies higher than 133 Mhz were not officially supported so far, but the Pico SDK 2.1.1 changes that since the Raspberry Pi RP2040 has now been certified to run at a system clock of 200MHz when using a […]

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