CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ANAVI Macro Pad 10 & Knobs input devices run KMK firmware on Raspberry Pi RP2040 (Crowdfunding)

ANAVI Macro Pad 10, Knobs 3, and Knob 1 are open-source hardware input devices based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered Xiao RP2040 mini module, and equipped with mechanical keys and/or rotary encoders Leon Anavi has some experience under his belt with the earlier Macro Pad 2 and Macro Pad 8 open-source keypads with mechanical keys running QMK open-source firmware on a Microchip 8-bit microcontroller. The new models switch the MCU to the Raspberry Pi RP2040 and to KMK open-source firmware written in CircuitPython. ANAVI Macro Pad 10 specifications: MCU module – Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040 with Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133 Mhz with 264KB SRAM, 2MB SPI flash, USB Type-C port Inputs – Rotary encoder with clickable switch and nine hot-swappable Cherry MX-style switches Keys – 9x Gateron red, linear, non-clicky mechanical switches and transparent keycaps with yellow LED backlighting Host interface – USB Type-C […]

October 3, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Lyra V2 open-source audio codec gets faster, higher quality and compatible with more platforms

Lyra V2 is an update to the open-source Lyra audio codec introduced last year by Google, with a new architecture that offers scalable bitrate capabilities, better performance, higher quality audio, and works on more platforms. Under the hood, Lyra V2 is based on an end-to-end neural audio codec called SoundStream with a “residual vector quantizer” (RVQ) sitting before and after the transmission channel, and that can change the audio bitrate at any time by selecting the number of quantizers to use. Three bitrates are supported: 3.2 kps, 6 kbps, and 9.2 kbps. Lyra V2 leverages artificial intelligence, and a TensorFlow Lite model enables it to run on Android phones, Linux, as well as Mac and Windows although support for the latter two is experimental. iOS and other embedded platforms are not supported at this time, but this may change in the future. It gets more interesting once we start to […]

October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Linux 6.0 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.0 has just been released by Linus Torvalds: So, as is hopefully clear to everybody, the major version number change is more about me running out of fingers and toes than it is about any big fundamental changes. But of course there’s a lot of various changes in 6.0 – we’ve got over 15k non-merge commits in there in total, after all, and as such 6.0 is one of the bigger releases at least in numbers of commits in a while. The shortlog of changes below is only the last week since 6.0-rc7. A little bit of everything, although the diffstat is dominated by drm (mostly amd new chip support) and networking drivers. And this obviously means that tomorrow I’ll open the merge window for 6.1. Which – unlike 6.0 – has a number of fairly core new things lined up. But for now, please do give this most […]

October 2, 2022October 3, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Beelink SEi12 mini PC features an Intel Core i5-1235U Alder Lake CPU

Beelink SEi12 mini PC is powered by an Intel Core i5-1235W Alder Lake U-Series 10-core hybrid processor with a 15W processor base power (PBP), making it one of the first 12th generation Alder Lake-U mini PCs. The computer ships with 16GB or 32GB dual-channel RAM, a 500GB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD, and provides two HDMI 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, as well as five USB ports for expansion. Beelink SEi12 i5-1235U specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-1235U 10-core/12-thread hybrid Alder Lake U-Series processor with 2x Performance cores @ 1.3/4.4GHz, 8x Efficient cores @ 0.9/3.3GHz, 12 MB Intel Smart Cache, 80EU Iris Xe Graphics @ 1.2 GHz; BPB: 15W System Memory – Dual-channel 16GB (2x 8GB) or 32GB (2 x 16GB) Crucial DDR4; upgradeable to 64GB Storage – 500GB PCIe 4.0 Kingston M.2 2280 NVMe SSD up to 7,000MB/s read speed Video Output – 2x […]

October 1, 2022October 2, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Using SenseCraft firmware for no-code programming on Wio Terminal

In the conclusion of our SenseCAP K1100 Sensor Prototype kit review with LoRaWAN and Vision AI, the author suggested that it would be great if SeeedStudio could develop a new firmware that can connect without coding instead of using Arduino programming: I had to rely on my knowledge and experience with LoRaWAN to transmit data wirelessly over long distances. That’s because LoRaWAN has a more complicated connection process than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It would be great if Seeed Studio could develop a new firmware that can connect without any coding It did not take long, as SeeedStudio very recently released the first version of SenseCraft open source smart sensor software for no-code sense, process, and uplink that happens to be compatible with the Wio Terminal part of the SenseCAP K1100 development kit. So let’s test the new SenseCraft firmware together. SenseCraft navigation keys We can use Wio Terminal’s joystick as follows: […]

September 30, 2022October 1, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

T-Embed is a battery powered WiFi controller with display and rotary encoder

LilyGo has launched yet another product based on the ESP32 family of microcontrollers with the T-Embed WiFi IoT controller powered by an ESP32-S3 dual-core processor, equipped with a color display and a rotary encoder, and powered by a battery. The device is programmable and can be used to control Smart Home and IoT devices connected over WiFi or Bluetooth. It also integrates a microphone and speaker, a microSD card for data logging, as well as a Grove connector and an 8-pin GPIO header for expansion. T-Embed specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module with an ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4 to 16MB QSPI flash, up to 8MB PSRAM, PCB antenna; (Note it’s unclear which exact version is used) Storage – MicroSD card socket Display – 1.9-inch IPS color TFT LCD with 320 x 170 resolution (ST7789 driver), 350 Cd/m2 brightness Audio – […]

September 30, 2022September 30, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

ESP32 DevKitC V4 IoT development board ships with ESP32-WROOM-DA dual antenna module

The ESP32 DevKitC V4 is now selling with the ESP32-WROOM-DA module with two PCB antennas that was introduced last year in order to offer a longer WiFi range and better reliability. The development kit is exactly the same as the other ESP32 DevKitC V4 models, and the only difference is the dual antenna design. When running a recent version of the Arduino Core for the ESP32 (2.0.3 or greater), the ESP32 will automatically switch to the antenna with the strongest signal in order to deliver the best connectivity possible. ESP32 DevKitC V4 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROOM-DA (PDF datasheet) with SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-D0WD-V3 dual-core LX6 microprocessor with 520 KB SRAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity Storage – 4MB SPI flash Two PCB antennas (ANT1 and ANT2) USB – 1x Micro USB port for power, programming, and debugging through USB-to-UART bridge up to 3 Mbps Expansion […]

September 30, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Nuvoton NuMicro MA35D1 Arm Cortex-A35/M4 microprocessor to power Linux edge IIoT gateways

Novoton NuMicro MA35D1 microprocessor features two Arm Cortex-A35 cores, one Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core, and two Ethernet interfaces for Linux-based edge IIoT gateway. The SoC also is offered in variants supporting external DDR memory or integrated up to 512MB RAM, 154 or 208 GPIOs, and an optional “Enhanced ADC”. The MA35D1 also comes with a TFT interface for up to 1920×1080 displays, several hardware security features, and the company says the microprocessor facilitates Tiny AI/ML for edge computing despite not integrating an AI accelerator. Nuvoton NuMicro MA35D1 key features and specifications: CPU sub-system 2x Cortex-A35 cores running at up to 800 MHz Cortex-M4 real-time core at up to 180 MHz Memory sub-system On-chip 384 KB SRAM (Cortex-A35 256 KB + Cortex-M4 128 KB) Multi-Chip Package (MCP) DDR up to 512MB External DDR interface for MA35D16A087C SKU Storage Quad SPI NAND Flash Controller Secure Digital Host Controller (SDHC) Display and Video […]