CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

SlimeVR Butterfly Trackers – nRF52833-based, ultra-slim, full-body VR trackers offer up to 48h battery life (Crowdfunding)

Designed by SlimeVR in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the SlimeVR Butterfly Trackers are open-hardware, IMU-based, ultra-slim, full-body VR trackers designed for virtual reality gaming, motion capture, VTubing, and more. The trackers provide full-body positional tracking without base stations, cameras, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. Each tracker uses an IMU to measure absolute rotation and transmits data over a custom 2.4 GHz ESB protocol via a dedicated dongle supporting up to 10 trackers, eliminating occlusion issues and router setup. Based on Nordic Semi’s nRF52833 wireless MCU, the split “butterfly” design places the PCB and 90 mAh battery side-by-side to achieve a thickness of under 7 mm and a weight below 10 grams, while a flexible interconnect improves comfort when worn under clothing. The system offers a 100–200 Hz refresh rate, <15 ms latency, over 48 hours of battery life with USB-C charging and OTA firmware updates. SlimeVR Butterfly Trackers specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic nRF52833 CPU […]

February 12, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

de next-RAP8-EZBOX – An ultra-compact, fanless or actively-cooled Intel Core i7-1365UE Raptor Lake embedded system

AAEON’s de next-RAP8-EZBOX is an ultra-compact embedded system powered by an Intel Core i7-1365UE 10-core Raptor Lake SoC paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x system and one M.2 2280 M-Key slot for storage. It’s offered as either a 42.5mm thick fanless or a 45.4mm thick actively cooled mini PC. Key interfaces include HDMI 1.4b video output, two Ethernet (2.5GbE + GbE) ports, and two USB 3.0 ports. Its compact size, powerful processor, and range of interfaces make it suitable for space-constrained autonomous systems or industrial robots. de next-RAP8-EZBOX specifications: SoC- Intel Core i7-1365UE 10-core/12-thread Raptor Lake processor up to 1.70 GHz / 4.90 GHz (Turbo) with 96 EU Intel Iris Xe Graphics @ 1.30 GHz; TDP/PBP: 15 Watts System Memory – Up to 16GB LPDDR5x Storage – NVMe SSD via M.2 2280 M-Key (PCIe x2) socket Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz Networking Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 […]

February 12, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 laptop review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

It’s been a while since we’ve tested a laptop, but CHUWI sent us their latest CoreBook AirPlay 16 laptop for review. It’s powered by a mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 6600H hexa-core processor, paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 and a 512GB NVMe SSD, and features a 16-inch display with 1920 × 1200 resolution. I’ll start the CoreBook Air Plus 16 review by listing the specifications, going through an unboxing and a teardown to check out the hardware, and finally boot it to the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro. We’ll then test it in more detail with Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 (Snapshot 4) in the next parts of the review. CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 specifications SoC – AMD Ryzen 5 6600H CPU – 6-core/12-thread Zen 3+ “Rembrandt” processor at up to 3.3 GHz / 4.5GHz (Turbo) GPU – AMD Radeon 660M clocked at up to 1,900 MHz with […]

February 11, 2026February 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Open Stack standalone 4G LTE IoT board runs RTOS on Quectel EC200U LTE module (Crowdfunding)

Open Stack — Standalone 4G LTE IoT & Connectivity Module

Open Stack is a standalone 4G LTE IoT connectivity board designed to run RTOS-based C applications directly on the Quectel EC200U series LTE module, meaning you don’t need an external MCU like Arduino, ESP32, or Raspberry Pi. By removing the MCU, the board reduces power consumption, bill-of-materials (BOM) cost, and physical footprint. The board supports multi-band LTE with GSM fallback, GNSS, and Bluetooth 4.2, as well as IPv4/IPv6 client and server modes. It also includes a USB Type-C port, a Nano SIM card slot, LTE/GNSS/BLE antenna connectors, an OLED information display, status LEDs, control buttons, and a 40-pin Raspberry Pi HAT-compatible GPIO header. Networking support includes TCP/UDP, SSL/TLS, HTTP/HTTPS, MQTT, LwM2M, CoAP, FTP/FTPS, and PPP, making it suitable for asset tracking, industrial monitoring, BLE-to-LTE gateways, remote infrastructure, and always-connected IoT deployments without additional controller hardware. Open Stack specifications: Cellular Module – Quectel EC200U-CN series (EC200UCNAA-N05-SGNSA) module Cellular Connectivity: LTE FDD […]

February 11, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ESP32 Marauder 5G – Apex 5 module for Flipper Zero combines ESP32-C5, two Sub-GHz radios, nRF24, and GPS

Designed by HoneyHoneyTrading, the ESP32 Marauder 5G – Apex 5 Module is an ESP32-C5-based hacking and penetration testing tool for the Flipper Zero, with dual-band WiFi 6 (2.4GHz and 5GHz), two Sub-GHz radios (868MHz and 433MHz), an NRF24 radio, and a built-in GPS. This new Flipper Zero module can be considered an upgrade from the ESP32 Marauder – Double Barrel 5G, as it does not rely on a dual-chip configuration for 5 GHz operation, leveraging the ESP32-C5 dual-band capabilities instead. A microSD card slot handles storage, and the device can also save data directly to the Flipper Zero’s microSD card. It also features five antennas, including WiFi, Sub-GHz, nRF24, and GPS, along with dedicated LED indicators for the Sub-GHz radios and nRF24 activity. There is also a hardware button to toggle 433 MHz and 868 MHz Sub-GHz operation, a USB-C port, and a side button for power management and firmware […]

February 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PiLink PL-R5/R5M Series – IP20/IP65 Industrial PCs powered by Raspberry Pi CM5

Made by Japan-based PiLink, the PL-R5 and PL-R5M Series are compact industrial PCs powered by a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5) and offered with either IP20 or IP65 ingress protection rating. The PL-R5 Series provides one USB 3.0 port, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and 9V to 40V DC input, while the PL-R5M Series offers one USB 2.0 port, one 100 Mbps Ethernet port, an optional extra Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 10.7V to 28.8V DC input range. Both include optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth, an M.2 B-Key socket for cellular, optional RS-232, RS-485, I2C interfaces, and more. The IP65 models are offered in Basic, Basic Plus (adds 4x analog inputs, 4x DI/DO), and USB (3x USB ports) configurations. The PL-R5 also adds a DIO CAN IP65 variant with two DI, two DO, and two CAN Bus interfaces. The IP20 variants have an even wider choice of options. PiLink PL-R5/R5M […]

February 11, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

VU GPSDR – A low-cost GPS-disciplined SDR expansion board for the Vivid Unit RK3399 touchscreen SBC

UUGear’s VU GPSDR is a low-cost GPS-disciplined SDR expansion board designed specifically for the Vivid Unit, a palm-sized Rockchip RK3399-based touchscreen SBC we covered back in 2024. The VU GPSDR is built around the RTL2832U ADC and Rafael Micro R860 tuner, but what makes it different from SDRs like the PhaseLatch Mini and DeepRad SDR is the integration of a u-blox NEO-M8N GPS module. This module provides a GPS-disciplined 24 MHz clock reference to the Si5351 local oscillator, which ensures high frequency stability and timing accuracy that is typically only found in much more expensive SDR hardware. VU GPSDR specifications: Supported Platform – UUGear Vivid Unit via Vivid Unit Extender Gen 1/2 (See details below) MCU – STM8S003F for board-level controls RF Tuner – Rafael Micro R860 ADC – Realtek RTL2832U Frequency Range – 500 kHz to 1.766 GHz Bandwidth – Up to 3.2 MHz (2.4 MHz recommended for stability) HF […]

February 10, 2026February 10, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

PicoClaw ultra-lightweight personal AI Assistant runs on just 10MB of RAM

PicoClaw lightweight personal AI Assistant embedded systems

PicoClaw is an ultra-lightweight personal AI Assistant designed to work on less than 10 MB RAM and suitable for resource-constrained embedded boards such as the Sipeed LicheeRV Nano SBC going for around $15 and powered by a SOPHGO SG2002 RISC-V SoC with 256MB on-chip DDR3. I keep reading news about the OpenClaw personal AI assistant, after first finding out about it when the Cubie A7S SBC was launched. OpenClaw (previously ClawdBot) clears your inbox, sends emails, manages your calendar, and checks you in for flights from WhatsApp, Telegram, or any chat app. It’s been shown to run a range of hardware platforms, but it can be resource-intensive, and HKUDS created the nanobot ultra-lightweight personal AI assistant with about ~4,000 lines of Python code, or roughly 99% smaller than Clawdbot’s 430k+ lines. PicoClaw further builds on the nanobot project, and has been “refactored from the ground up in Go through a […]