Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 27, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

WBZ451 Curiosity Board features Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 BLE and Zigbee 3.0 microcontroller

WBZ451 Curiosity Board Bluetooth LE Zigbee 3.0

Microchip WBZ451 Curiosity Board features the company’s Microchip’s WBZ451PE Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2 and Zigbee 3.0 RF module based on the new Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F wireless microcontroller. WBZ451 Curiosity Board (EV96B94A) specifications: Wireless module – WBZ451PE Bluetooth Low Energy and Zigbee RF Module with Microchip PIC32CX-BZ2 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F wireless microcontroller @ up to 64 MHz, 128KB RAM, 1MB flash, 2.4 GHz radio for Bluetooth LE 5.2 and 802.15.4 (Zigbee 3.0) Tx output power – Up +12 dBm Rx sensitivity – Up to -103 dBm PCB antenna 29x I/O pins Storage – 64Mbit QSPI flash Expansion – mikroBUS socket for MikroElectronika Click adapter boards Sensor – Microchip MCP9700A analog voltage temperature sensor Debugging On-board Programmer/Debug Circuit using PICkit On-board 4 (PKoB4) based on Microchip SAME70 MCU On-board USB to UART Serial Converter with Hardware Flow Control based on Microchip MCP2200 10-pin Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD) header for […]

October 26, 2022October 29, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Rockchip RK3588S industrial mini PC features CAN Bus, RS485 & RS232 interfaces, relay, and more

Firefly EC-R3588SPC industrial mini PC is based on the Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor and offers various interfaces used in industrial settings such as RS485 and RS232 serial interfaces, a CAN Bus, a relay, and digital input. The system is offered with up to 32GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, supports M.2 NVMe or SATA storage, as well as Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, WiFi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, and 4G LTE cellular connectivity. You’ll also find 8K-capable HDMI and DisplayPort (USB-C) video outputs, some USB ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Firefly EC-R3588SPC specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with CPU – 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with OpenGL ES3.2 / OpenCL 2.2 / Vulkan1.1 support AI accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU VPU – 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoder, 4Kp60 AV1 decoder, 8Kp30 […]

October 26, 2022April 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Brume 2 – OpenWrt “security gateway” with MediaTek MT7981B SoC supports WireGuard VPN

Brume 2 MediaTek MT7981B security gateway

GL.inet Brume 2 is an OpenWrt router, or rather a “security gateway” as the company calls it, powered by a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core Cortex-A53 processor, and equipped with a 2.5GbE WAN port and a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port. The device also comes with a USB 3.0 port for storage and a USB Type-C port for power. It is offered with either a plastic enclosure (GL-MT2500 model) or an aluminum allow case (GL-MT2500A model), and with WireGuard and OpenVPN, is suitable to host a VPN server and “monitor, manage, and configure SD-WAN settings”. Brume 2 (GL-MT2500/GL-MT2500A) specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Networking 1x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet WAN port 1x Gigabit Ethernet LAN port USB – 1x USB 3.0 Type-A port, 1x USB Type-C port for power Misc – Reset button, Power and […]

October 26, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

uConsole is a modular Arm or RISC-V handheld computer with optional 4G connectivity

Clockwork’s uConsole is a modular handheld computer with a 5-inch display, a built-in keyboard, and based on a carrier board supporting various Arm or RISC-V modules compatible with the Raspberry Pi CM3 or CM4 form factors. The device is offered with a system-on-module with up to 4GB RAM, a WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module, features micro HDMI video output, USB ports, and an audio jack, plus expansion connectors for more advanced users, and takes two 18650 batteries for power. The company also offers a 4G LTE module for cellular connectivity. The mainboard, called ClockworkPi v3.14 revision 5, offers the following: System-on-module socket – 200-pin DDR2 SODIMM socket compatible with Raspberry Pi CM3 and, through an adapter, Raspberry Pi CM4 and compatible modules Storage – MicroSD card socket Video Interfaces 40-pin MIPI DSI connector micro HDMI interface for external display Audio – 3.5mm audio jack with headphone and microphone […]

October 25, 2022October 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Adapters convert Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W into Raspberry Pi 3 or 4

Spotpear’s Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W to Raspberry Pi 3/4 adapters would not exist in a “normal” world of abundance that still existed a little less than 3 years ago. But I suppose extraordinary times require extraordinary adapters… If you have a spare Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W lying around but would rather like getting the ports from a Raspberry Pi 3 or Raspberry Pi 4, Spotpear has designed three adapters that can also be used as USB docks from a computer or mobile phone. The first adapter the “ZERO to 4B” will get you a Raspberry Pi 4-looking SBC with a Raspberry Pi RP3A0 system-in-package (Quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU + 512 MB RAM), and most of the same ports, except only three USB 2.0 Type-A ports are available with a maximum speed of 480 Mbps, and only one HDMI output due the inherent limitations of the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 […]

October 25, 2022October 25, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

$600 Windows Dev Kit 2023 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor

Microsoft has just introduced the Windows Dev Kit 2023, that’s basically a Windows 11 Arm mini PC powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor designed for developers of Windows programs. Previously known as “Project Volterra”, the system comes with 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe storage, mini DP video output, Ethernet, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, as well as five USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and more. Windows Dev Kit 2023 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform with CPU – 4x 3.0 GHz Prime cores, 4x 2.4 GHz Efficiency Cores GPU – Unnamed Adreno GPU with DirectX 12 (DX12) API support DSP – Qualcomm Hexagon Processor, Qualcomm Sensing Hub AI – Qualcomm Neural Processing Engine SDK support for AI (up to 29+ TOPS) System Memory – 32GB LPDDR4x RAM Storage – 512GB NVMe SSD Video Output – Mini DisplayPort (mini DP) with support for HBR2 […]

October 24, 2022February 21, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Automation 2040 W board supports 6V to 40V I/Os, ships with Raspberry Pi Pico W

Pimoroni Automation 2040 W is an industrial/automation controller based on the Raspberry Pi Pico W board that supports I/Os from 6V up to 40V and offers 2.4GHz WiFi 4 connectivity. The board offers plenty of interfaces including the ADC inputs, four digital inputs, three digital outputs, and three relays whose signals are all available through screw terminals, as well as two Qwiic/STEMMA QT connectors for further expansion. Automation 2040 W specifications: Controller – Raspberry Pi Pico W with Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM, 2MB flash, 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 module I/Os 3x 12-bit ADC inputs up to 40V 4x digital inputs up to 40V 3x digital sourcing outputs at V+ (supply voltage) with 4A max continuous current 2A max current at 500Hz PWM 3x relays (NC and NO terminals) supporting 2A up to 24V, 1A up to 40V 3.5mm screw terminals for inputs and […]

October 24, 2022June 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

T-Dongle-S3 USB dongle combines ESP32-S3 wireless MCU with optional color display

LilyGO T-Dongle-S3 is a USB dongle based on ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, a microSD card slot, as well as an optional 0.96-inch color display. You may remember the company launched the T-Dongle ESP32-S2 last spring, and I first thought it was an update to ESP32-S3, but the new T-Dongle-S3 has quite more compact design and a smaller set of features that makes it suitable for data logging and displaying basic information over a wireless connection. T-Dongle ESP32-S3 development board specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 with Dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller up to 240MHz RISC-V ULP Co-processor 512KB SRAM 2.4GHz Wifi 4 (802.11b/g/n) Bluetooth 5.0 BLE + Mesh Storage 4 MB flash (or 16MB flash depending on where you look) MicroSD card socket cleverly “hidden” under the USB connector Display – Optional 0.96-inch 65K color IPS LCD (ST7735 SPI controller) with 160 x […]