LILYGO T-Echo Lite Kit is a Nordic nRF52840-based LoRa + GPS development kit with a built-in keyboard that enables direct off-grid communication without a smartphone. The kit is not entirely new since it’s based on the T-Echo Lite devkit introduced last year, to which the company has now added a keyboard shield with backlit alphanumeric keys, audio support via a 3.5mm audio jack and a built-in speaker, and a vibration motor. LILYGO T-Echo Lite Kit specifications: LILYGO T-Echo Lite Core module SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 CPU – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz Memory and storage – 1 MB Flash, 256 KB RAM Wireless – Bluetooth 5, Thread, ANT, Bluetooth Mesh, 802.15.4 (Zigbee), 2.4 GHz proprietary LoRa transceiver – Semtech SX1262 with global coverage support: 433 MHz, 868 MHz, 915 MHz, 923 MHz Power management circuitry Display – 1.22-inch SPI e-paper display with 192 x 176 resoltion (GDEM0122T61) […]
SONOFF Hydro DUO review – A dual-zone BLE and Zigbee water valve tested with eWeLink and Home Assistant
ITEAD has sent us a review sample of the SONOFF Hydro DUO (SWV-ZF2E) dual-channel Zigbee 3.0 and Bluetooth 5 LE smart water valve. The device supports up to 12 custom watering schedules, integrates a water flow meter, and features alert systems for leak risks, low battery, and insufficient water. The device has a maximum Zigbee communication range of 130 meters in open, unobstructed areas. It is primarily designed for the eWeLink app but also works with MQTT-compatible platforms such as Home Assistant. In this review, we will cover everything from unboxing, installation, and getting started with the SONOFF Hydro DUO via Bluetooth LE and Zigbee (through the SONOFF NSPanel Pro Gen2) using the eWeLink app, before switching to Home Assistant and creating an automation system leveraging moisture data from the XIAO Soil Moisture Sensor. SONOFF Hydro DUO unboxing We received the device in a retail package which clearly indicates we […]
Luckfox Lyra PLC – A Linux-based Rockchip RK3506B industrial controller with RS232, RS422, RS485, CAN bus, and relays
Luckfox Lyra PLC is a Linux-based programmable logic controller powered by a Rockchip RK3506B tri-core Arm Cortex-A7 SoC, equipped with dual Ethernet, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, a 1.9-inch touchscreen LCD, and a range of I/Os. The I/Os are mostly exposed through two 11-pole terminal blocks with one RS232, one shared RS422/RS485, one CAN Bus, and two relays, as well as smaller connectors for I2C, GPIO, and debugging. The system can be powered via USB-C (5V only), terminal block pins supporting 7V-24V DC input, or an optional PoE module. Luckfox Lyra PLC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3506B CPU 3x Arm Cortex-A7 cores up to 1.2 GHz Arm Cortex-M0 real-time core GPU – 2D GPU only No VPU, no NPU System Memory – 512MB DDR3L Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Display – 1.9-inch touchscreen LCD with 320 x 170 resolution Networking 2x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet RJ45 ports 2.4 GHz […]
Google Chrome is now available for Arm Linux. We tested it on a Raspberry Pi 5
Google Chrome web browser is now available for 64-bit Arm Linux, and we quickly tested it with Raspberry Pi OS on a Raspberry Pi 5 2GB SBC. The open-source Google Chromium web browser has been available for Arm Linux for years, but it lacks some features such as account sync, out-of-the-box DRM support, and automatic updates. Google wrote about working on a port last March, but hasn’t officially released it. However, users on Interfacing Linux have noticed that it can easily be installed by changing amd64 to arm64 in the download link. So we did that on a Raspberry Pi 5:
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wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_arm64.deb sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_arm64.deb |
Google Chrome now appears alongside Chromium and Firefox in the list of Internet applications. The screenshot below shows that some GPU features like WebGL and video acceleration are enabled. The latter is not especially useful on a Raspberry Pi 5 since the Broadcom BCM2712 only supports H.265 hardware […]
Using the Khadas Mind Graphics 2 (NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti USB4 eGPU) on Ubuntu 26.04
When we used the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB-based Khadas Mind Graphics 2 dock with a mini PC running Ubuntu 26.04 last week, the USB4-connected eGPU was detected and enabled automatically, but we encountered two issues: very poor performance and the mini PC failed to boot when the dock was removed. The solution is partially documented as part of a long GEEKOM IT13 Max Ubuntu 26.04 review, but I thought it might be useful to document everything in a shorter article for people who own the Khadas Mind Graphics 2 or another NVIDIA Blackwell eGPU connected over USB4/Thunderbolt. Fixing Khadas Mind Graphics 2 performance issues on Ubuntu The Khadas Mind Graphics 2 and NVIDIA graphics card were automatically detected when I connected the dock to an Ubuntu 26.04 mini PC
GEEKOM IT13 Max Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 26.04 on an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini computer
We’ve already checked out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the GEEKOM IT13 Max in the first part of the review, before testing the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC with Windows 11, so it’s now time to test Linux on the mini computer using Ubuntu 26.04. In this review, we will report our experience running Ubuntu 26.04 on the GEEKOM IT13 Max, after going through feature testing, running system benchmarks and AI benchmarks on the CPU, GPU, and NPU, checking out storage and USB performance, testing 2.5GbE and WiFi 6/7, stress testing the mini PC, and measuring the Meteor Lake mini PC’s fan noise and power consumption. Installing Ubuntu 26.04 We installed Ubuntu 26.04 alongside Windows 11 in dual boot configuration. We first shrank the Windows partition (C:) size by approximately half, before inserting a USB flash drive with Ubuntu 26.04 to start the installation […]
Giada DK320 digital signage player and Edge AI embedded PC supports up to the Intel Core 5 315 Wildcat Lake processor
Giada DK320 is an ultra-compact Wildcat Lake mini PC powered by up to an Intel Core 5 315 hexa-core processor and designed for digital signage, edge computing, and embedded applications requiring real-time analytics, intelligent monitoring, and automated decision-making. The system supports up to 48GB DDR5 RAM and M.2 2240/2280 NVMe storage, and offers dual 4K-capable HDMI video output, 2.5GbE networking, an optional WiFi 5/6/7 and Bluetooth module, an RS232 COM port, and four USB 3.2 ports. Giada DK320 specifications: Wildcat Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core 3 304 5-core CPU – 1x P-cores @ 1.5/4.3 GHz (Turbo) + 4x LPE-cores @ 1.4/3.3 GHz (Turbo) GPU – 1-core Intel Xe3 Graphics @ 2.3 GHz (9 TOPS) NPU – 15 TOPS Intel Core 5 315 6-core CPU – 2x P-cores @ 1.5/4.4 GHz (Turbo) + 4x LPE-cores @ 1.4/3.3 GHz (Turbo) GPU – 2-core Intel Xe3 Graphics @ 2.3 GHz […]
Gemma Translator multilingual interpreter runs locally on Raspberry Pi 5 with the LiteRT runtime
Gemma Translator is an open-source project for the Raspberry Pi 5 that acts as a multilingual interpreter running locally without access to the cloud using Google Gemma 4 and LiteRT runtime. It’s a project built by three Google engineers with the help of Google Antigravity. It includes code to run an on-device, fully offline voice translator/interpreter using Gemma 4 E2B (2.3B effective / ~5.1B total parameters with per-layer embeddings) and the LiteRT runtime. The hardware is comprised of a few components: A Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM Display – HDMI monitor or touchscreen display such as a 480×320 kiosk display Audio Microphone or USB audio capture interface Speaker or headphone output device Keyboard – The project demonstrated below appears to use a custom PCB (AX-4LABS-NEW) with a rotary encoder and four mechanical keys (of which only two are used) Optional 3D printed parts for the enclosure Software highlights: […]









