IkaScope WiFi Oscilloscope Probe Works with Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android and iOS

Last year, I wrote about Aeroscope, a portable Bluetooth oscilloscope that looks somewhat like a Stabilo Boss highlighter pen, and sends measurements over the air directly to your Android and iOS tablet or smartphone. It was introduced through a crowdfunding campaign which eventually failed, but Aeroscope can now be purchased for $199 on Amazon US or their own website. If you’d prefer WiFi over Bluetooth, and would like something that also works on Windows, Linux, and/or Mac OS X, IKALOGIC has just launched IkaScope WiFi oscilloscope probe compatible with all popular mobile and desktop operating systems. IkaScope WS200 specifications: Analog Bandwidth  – 30 MHz @ -3dB Sample Rate – 200 MSps Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n/e/i WiFi @ 2.4 GHz configurable as access point or station Input Range – +/-40 V range CAT1 Offset Range – +/- 20V to +/- 40V offset Input Impedance – 10MΩ || 14pF Input Contact – […]

SanStar WS-3A Medical Board Runs Android 5.1 on Rockchip RK3288 SoC

Warp United, a “Chinese Health 2.0″/point-of-Care medical technology company based in Shenzhen, launched Warp 3 medical recorder – an Android powered handheld device supporting various  vital signs and ultrasound medical modules – earlier this year,  and the company has now just introduced SanStar WS-3A motherboard powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex-A17 SoC, and running Android 5.1 in order to allow engineers to develop and connect their own medical modules via the various interfaces of the board, and create their own medical products. SanStar WS-3A medical motherboard specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex-A17 processor @ 1.8GHz with an ARM Mali-T764 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, Directx11 System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot up to 32GB Video Output / Display I/F HDMI 2.0 up to 3840 x 2160 pixel embedded DisplayPort (eDP) […]

Review of Sonoff RF Bridge, Sonoff 4ch Pro, and Sonoff POW with Sonoff-Tasmota Firmware

Karl here. Today we are going to look at 2 new and one older Sonoff devices. Sonoff RF Bridge – $9.90 433MHz RF to WiFi Bridge Sonoff 4ch Pro – 4 Gang WiFi RF Smart Switch Sonoff POW – Wireless switch with power metering capabilities I spent very little time with the stock firmware on the device. I don’t like the fact that an Internet connection is needed, and I am not in control. As of the time of this writing I found the Ewelink was not configurable enough to meet my needs. There is one feature that is really nice that I could easily see keeping stock firmware. It is the Alexa Skill. It worked. I am also currently reviewing Vobot Smart Alarm Clock with Alexa integration and had no trouble controlling the Sonoff devices with Alexa. But unfortunately I am lazy and want everything automatic so I can’t […]

Getting Started with Espruino & JavaScript on ESP32 with ESPino32 Board

Venus Supply Co., Ltd, better known as ThaiEasyElec, is a company based in Thailand, selling embedded systems and development board, as well as providing development services based in Thailand. The company sent me their latest board called ESPino32 powered by Espressif ESP-WROOM-32 WiFi and Bluetooth module for evaluation. While the board is supported in Arduino-esp32, I’ve already tested Arduino with ESP32-Bit module & ESP32-T board, so after checking out the hardware, I’ll load it with something different: Espruino, a firmware allowing for JavaScript programming over the serial console, or a Web based IDE. ESPino32 Unboxing and Soldering The board shipped with four female headers, and I/O stickers. The board includes ESP-WROOM-32, exposes I/Os through four 10-pin headers, features CP2104 chip for serial to USB debugging via micro USB port, two buttons (reset and program), a user LED connected to IO16, and a jumper to select between regulated power supply (micro […]

PiPo X12 Mini PC is Equipped with a 10.8″ Touchscreen Display, an RS232 Port, Ships with a Digital Stylus Pen

PiPo has released several mini PCs with touchscreen displays with products like PiPo X8 or PiPo X9S, and now the company has launched PiPo X12 model based on an Intel Cherry Trail processor, with a larger 10.8″ display, an RS-232 port to connect a barcode reader for instance, and that ships with a digital stylus pen. PiPo X12 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz/1.92 GHz with Intel Gen8 HD graphics System Memory – 4 GB DDR3 Storage – 64 GB flash, and micro SD slot Display – 10.8″ capacitive touch IPS display with 1920×1280 resolution Video Output – HDMI 1.4a and VGA Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack, built-in microphone and speaker. Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet ports, dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 with external antenna USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port Misc – […]

$99 Inforce IFC6420 Qualcomm Snapdragon 600E Board Comes with 3 HDMI Out/In Ports

Inforce Computing has introduced the first board of their “Application Ready Platforms” family with Inforce 6420 SBC powered by Qualcomm Snpadragon 600 / 600E processor, and equipped with three HDMI ports including one HDMI input, and two independent HDMI outputs making suitable for products needing streaming, content sharing or rendering on multiple displays. The board also comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, etc… for “edge computing in the IoT space”. Inforce 6420 board specifications: SoC –  Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 / 600E (APQ8064 / APQ8064E)  quad core Krait 300 CPU @ up to 1.7 GHz with Qualcomm Adreno 320 GPU, and Hexagon DSP System Memory – 2GB on-board DDR3 (PCDDR3-533MHz) Storage – 4GB eMMC flash (expandable to 64GB) Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet via Atheros8151, dual band dual stream 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1 via QCA6234 Video – 2x HDMI 1.4a outputs up to 1080p, 1x HDMI input up to 1080p Audio – […]

UFS 3.0 Embedded Flash to Support Full-Duplex 2.4GB/s Transfer Speeds

All my devices still rely on eMMC flash for storage, but premium smartphones, for example, make use of UFS 2.0/UFS 2.1 flash storage with performance similar to SSD, with Samsung UFS 2.0 storage achieving up to 850MB/s read speed, 260 MB/s write speed, and 50K/30K R/W IOPS. UFS 3.0 promises to roughly double the performance of UFS 2.0/2.1 with transfer rates of up to 2.4 GB/s, and separately, the UFS Card v2.0 standard should deliver UFS 2.1 performance on removable storage. Several Chinese and Taiwanese websites, including CTimes and Benchlife, have reported that companies have started getting UFS 3.0 & UFS Card v2.0 licenses from JEDEC, and Phison is working on a controller to support both new standards, and scheduled to launch in 2018. Premium smartphone SoC are only expect to support UFS 3.0 in 2019 and beyond, and hopefully by that time eMMC will have been replaced by UFS 2.0/2.1 […]

Amlogic A111, A112 & A113 Processors are Designed for Audio Applications, Smart Speakers

Amlogic processors are mostly found in TVs and TV boxes, but the company is now apparently entering a new market with A111, A112, and A113 audio processors. I was first made aware of those new processors through Buildroot OpenLinux Release Notes V20170831.pdf document posted on their Open Linux website, where two boards with Amlogic A113D and A113X are shown. First, S400 board with the following key features/specifications: SoC – Amlogic A113D CPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 512MB SLC NAND flash Display I/F – MIPI interface Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet SDIO WiFi/BT (AP6356S) Audio SPDIF_IN/SPDIF_OUT LINE_IN/LINE_OUT 2x Audio headers (MIC_Connector & SPK_Connector) USB – 1x USB 2.0 OTG Expansion – 2x PCIe ports Misc – 6x ADC Keys, IR_IN/IR_OUT, UART Interface (RS232) The second S420 board is based on A113X SoC, and comes with less features (no display, no Ethernet, no PCIe…), less memory: SoC – Amlogic A113X […]