CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HackStar – An RP2040 or ESP32-S3-based USB hacking cable/dongle (Crowdfunding)

HackStar is an ethical hacking tool based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 or ESP32-S3 in a USB cable or dongle form factor for education, pentesters, and makers. While the email I received claimed the HackStar was the “first-ever production-ready ethical hacking product on Kickstarter”, we’ve written about a range of hacking devices based on ESP8266, ESP32, and/or RP2040 microcontroller(s) such as the popular Flipper Zero, the BUG USB stick, nRFBOX V2 ESP32 wireless hacking tool, ESP32 Marauder Double Barrel, HackyPi USB adapter, and many others. What’s relatively new, or at least less common (see HackCable project), here is that the HackStar is also available as a USB Type-A to USB Type-C WiFi hacking cable… HackStar Cable hardware specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 processor @ 240 MHz with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE/dual mode USB Type-A male connector USB Type-C male connector Length – TBD HackStar […]

November 17, 2025November 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

pdsink – An open-source USB PD 3.2 sink stack for embedded devices

open-source USB PD Sink implementation for embedded devices

pdsink is an open-source USB Power Delivery (PD) 3.2 sink implementation for embedded devices released under an MIT license. Vitaly Puzrin noticed that most available USB PD stacks come with at least one hard constraint: vendor lock-in, NDA, no public sources, coupling to a specific OS or framework, incomplete sink feature set (e.g., no EPR), or difficulty extending to new Type-C Port Controller (TCPC)/MCU combinations. So he created pdsink is an attempt to provide a small, platform-agnostic, readable sink-only stack that’s easy to adapt to different controllers. pdsink highlights: USB PD 3.2, SPR (Extended Power Range), and EPR (Extended Power Range for 28V and up) support on the sink side. Platform-agnostic C++ core that does not depend on a specific HAL or RTOS. Reference implementation using OnSemi FUSB302B + FreeRTOS (ESP32-C3). MIT license enabling the project to be used in commercial products without conditions. pdsink can be found on any […]

November 17, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Nuvoton NuMicro M55M1 low-power Arm Cortex-M55 MCU enables on-device AI with Ethos-U55 NPU

Nuvoton’s NuMicro M55M1 is a low-power AI MCU that combines a 220 MHz Arm Cortex-M55 CPU with a 111 GOPS Ethos-U55 NPU to run basic AI tasks on-device. It specifically targets small IoT and embedded devices that need low-power voice, audio, or simple image processing. The chip embeds 1.5 MB RAM, 2 MB flash, and supports external OctoSPI/HyperRAM memory. Connectivity options include Ethernet, USB-OTG, CAN-FD, I3C/I2C/SPI, SDIO, and an 8-bit camera interface, along with ADCs, DACs, comparators, PWM, and multiple low-power modes. It’s built for secure IoT applications with Arm TrustZone, secure boot, AES, and PSA Level 2 certification. Typical uses include voice triggers, smart sensors, simple vision nodes, small appliances, and industrial monitoring devices. Nuvoton NuMicro M55M1 specifications: CPU Core – 220 MHz Arm Cortex-M55 core Architecture – Armv8.1-M with Helium M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE) Arm TrustZone Technology DSP extensions Hardware Floating-point Unit (FPU), double-precision Cache – 16KB I-Cache […]

November 17, 2025November 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UP TWL AI Dev Kit review – Benchmarks, features testing, and AI workloads on Ubuntu 24.04

Earlier this month, I started the review of the Intel-based UP AI development kits with an unboxing of the UP TWL, UP Squared Pro TWL, and UP Xtreme ARL single board computers. I’ve now had time to test the first model, the credit card-sized, Intel Processor N150-based UP TWL SBC with 64GB eMMC flash preloaded with Ubuntu 24.04. As usual, I’ll run a few benchmarks and test the board’s key hardware features, but I’ll then focus on the AI part since that’s what the kit is for. Note that the UP TWL AI Dev Kit is an entry-level solution, and all AI workloads will be running on the CPU or the integrated GPU, since there’s no dedicated AI accelerator or an M.2 slot to add one on this model. In the next parts of the review, the UP Squared Pro TWL adds an Hailo-8L AI accelerator, and the UP Xtreme […]

November 16, 2025November 15, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Eazeye Radiant 15.6-inch portable transflective LCD review

Eazeye Radiant transflective LCD sunlight vs laptop

Eazeye sent me a sample of the Radiant 15.6-inch transflective LCD review for review after I wrote about the Eazeye 2.0 24-inch reflective LCD monitor last August. Yes, there’s been a little bit of miscommunication as I got a transflective LCD (TLCD) launched last year, instead of the new reflective LCD (RLCD). But that’s OK. While those are two different technologies, both monitors are designed to rely on natural light, and I assumed either would perform better outdoors and reduce eye strain compared to traditional portable monitors or laptop displays. Let’s find out. Eazeye Radiant unboxing and specifications I received the portable monitor in a retail box. The main surprise here was that I was expecting a 24-inch monitor, and this looked a little small. I quickly realized the Radiant was a 15.6-inch model instead. We can get part of the specifications on the back side of the package. But […]

November 15, 2025November 15, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C5 IoT development board offers GDI display interface, LiPo battery support

Just the other day, I lamented the lack of options when it came to ESP32-C5 boards featuring dual-band WiFi 6 support. The FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C5 IoT development board made by DFRobot shows that I needed to be more patient… The ESP32-C5 board features 4MB flash, a USB-C port, a LiPo battery connector, and two GPIO headers for expansion, as well as a GDI display connector designed to add an SPI/I2C touchscreen display. The new RISC-V board has about the same features and form factor as the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3. It adds 5 GHz WiFi and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter, but loses a camera connector, and comes with less memory and storage. FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C5 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C5-WROOM-1-N4 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C5 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ 40 MHz acting as the main processor for […]

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

November 14, 2025 by Debashis Das - 21 Comments

Turris Omnia NG Wi-Fi 7 router features dual 10GbE SFP+, mini PCIe slot for 4G LTE/5G, runs OpenWrt-based Turris OS

The Turris Omnia NG is a high-performance Wi-Fi 7 router with a mini PCIe slot for 4G/5G modems, two 10GbE SFP+ cages, a 240×240 px color display, and a D-Pad button, running OpenWrt-based Turris OS, and designed for advanced home users, small businesses, and lab environments. Built around a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A73 CPU, the Omnia NG supports Wi-Fi 7/6 tri-band connectivity. Additionally, it features four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, NVMe storage support, and includes a 90 W power supply for attached peripherals. Other hardware highlights include rack-mount supports, a metal chassis, and antenna arrays for 4×4 MIMO operation. It comes 10 years after the original Turris Omnia open-source router was launched on Indiegogo. Turris Omnia NG Router specifications: CPU – Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 processor @ 2.2GHz processor Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage 8 GB eMMC storage M.2 socket for […]

November 14, 2025November 14, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Windows 95 made to run on ESP32-S3 hardware with Tiny386 x86 PC emulator

He Chunhui (hchunhui) has developed the Tiny386 x86 PC emulator in C (C99) and managed to run Windows 3.1/3.2 and Windows 95 on an ESP32-S3 devkit with a 3.5-inch display. We had already seen Linux 5.0 boot on an ESP32 board, and Olimex ESP32-S3-DevKit-LiPo run a more recent Linux 6.3 image, but I think it might be the first time somebody has loaded Windows on ESP32 hardware. Bear in mind that since the Tiny386 is an emulator running SeaBIOS, it can also boot the Linux kernel directly. He Chunhui explains that the i386 CPU emulator is built from scratch and still lacks some features, such as debugging, hardware tasking, and certain permission checks. It also includes some 486 and 586 instructions to be able to boot a modern Linux kernel and Windows. The code is rather small as the CPU emulator is only about 6,000 lines of code (LOC) long, […]