Bouffalo Lab Category - CNX Software

July 30, 2025July 30, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Matter-enabled Smart Mechanical Keyboard MK1 targets Smart Home users

THIRDREALITY Smart Mechanical Keyboard MK1 may look like a traditional mechanical keyboard, but it supports the Matter protocol to double as a Smart Home controller. I initially thought it was a ridiculous idea, but as someone who spends 8 hours or more a day in front of a keyboard, it could be quite convenient. Simply press the F1 to F12 keys to control lights, adjust air conditioners, smart shades, and more with minimal distraction. So let’s have a look at the MK1 in more detail. Smart Mechanical Keyboard MK1 specifications: Model Number – 3RMK01069M Wireless connectivity Matter over Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz only, 5GHz not supported) Compatible Devices – Apple Home, Home Assistant, SmartThings, and Google Home (and likely other Matter-certified hubs with Wi-Fi connectivity) Likely based on Bouffalo Lab BL602 chip (See Home Assistant screenshot below). Keyboard 87-key mechanical QWERTY keyboard Customizable display keys Yellow mechanical switches with “minimal noise” […]

December 31, 2024January 2, 2025 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

GGBEE RMW002 WiFi AC smart switch supports Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cozy Life app

The GGBEE RMW002 is a mini WiFi AC smart switch designed to make your appliances smarter. It supports a voltage range of 100-240V AC and a maximum current of 16A/20A. With built-in WiFi, the switch connects to the Cozy Life app for easy remote control of your appliances. It also supports voice commands through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant allowing for hands-free operation. Additional features include group control, countdown timers, and dual-control wiring options. The device has very similar from-factor and features to that of a SONOFF ZBMINIR2 or SONOFF MINI Extreme (MINIR4M) but there are significant price differences if you are comparing the RMW002 to any SONOFF devices since the GGBEE switch is quite cheaper. GGBEE RMW002 specifications: SoC – Boufallo Lab BL602 32-bit RISC-V wireless SoC Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 via BL602 Input Voltage range – 100-240V AC (50/60Hz) Max Current: 16A or 20A depending on […]

June 19, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

$5 Ai-M62-12F-Kit RISC-V development board features BL616 WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee MCU, plenty of I/Os

Ai Thinker Ai-M62-12F-Kit is a development board based on Bouffalo Lab BL616 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 LE, and an 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee/Thread), plus thirty I/O pin for expansion. We had already covered the tiny Sipeed M0S module based on BL616 MCU earlier this year along with its M0S dock board that exposed eight GPIO pins via a 12-pin header, and the “NodeMCU” Ai-M62-12F basically offers the same features but with many more I/Os thanks to two 15-pin headers, as well as an RGB LED and two user-programmable LEDs. Ai-M62-12F-Kit specifications: MCU – Bouffalo Lab BL616 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMAFCP) microcontroller @ up to 320 MHz (384 MHz overclocked) with 480KB SRAM, 4MB flash, 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 dual mode, and 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee) Antenna – PCB antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming I/Os – 2x 15-pin headers with Storage […]

January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

$4 Sipeed M0S Dock IoT development board features BL616 WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee RISC-V microcontroller

As expected, Sipeed has now launched the Sipeed M0S IoT module based on Bouffalo Lab BL616 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee connectivity along with the “Sipeed M0S Dock” development board. The M0S is a tiny module (11×10 mm) with a 320 MHz wireless MCU, a ceramic antenna, and castellated holes for I/Os, and the Sipeed M0S Dock places the module on an easy-to-use board with a USB Type-C port, a BOOT button, and a 12-pin 2.54mm pitch header. Sipeed M0S module specifications: MCU – Bouffalo Lab BL616 32-bit RISC-V (RV32IMAFCP) microcontroller @ up to 320 MHz (384 MHz overclocked) with 480KB SRAM, 4MB flash, 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 dual mode, and 802.15.4 radio (Zigbee) Antenna – Ceramic antenna (red component on module) I/Os – 25 castellated holes with RGB LCD DVP camera USB 2.0 OTG up to 480 Mbps I2C, UART, SPI […]

December 31, 2022December 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Year 2022 in review – Top 10 posts and statistics

It’s the last day of the year and the time to look at some of the highlights of 2022, some traffic statistics from CNX Software website, and speculate on what 2023 may bring us. The semiconductors shortage continued in 2022, but things are looking brighter in 2023 with the full reopening of the world mixed with forecasts of difficult economic times that should keep the demand/supply equation in check. On the Arm processor front the biggest news of the year, at least in this corner of the Internet, was the launch of the Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor together with interesting single board computers that we’ll discuss below. Announced last year, the Amlogic A311D2 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 was finally made available in a few SBC’s, and we finally got some news about the Amlogic S928X Cortex-A76/A55 SoC showcased in 8K TV boxes, but we have yet to see it in action. […]

December 29, 2022January 16, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Bouffalo Lab BL616/BL618 RISC-V MCU supports WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and Zigbee

Bouffalo Lab BL616/BL618 is a 32-bit RISC-V wireless microcontroller with support for 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 dual-mode, and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter designed for IoT applications. We first spotted the BL616 RISC-V IoT MCU during the BL602/BL606 announcement in November 2020, but we had virtually no additional information about it so far. It appears both BL616 and BL618 will be launched next month with the main difference between the two being that BL616 has 19 GPIOs and BL618 comes with 35 GPIOs. Bouffalo Lab BL616 and BL618 specifications: MCU core – 32-bit RISC-V CPU (RV32IMAFCP) @ up to 320 MHz with FPU and DSP, 32KB instruction cache & 16KB data cache VPU – MJPEG video encoder Memory – 480KB SRAM, 4KB HBN RAM, embedded 4 or 8MB pSRAM (optional) Storage – 128KB ROM, 4Kb eFuse, embedded 2, 4, or 8MB flash (optional), XIP QSPI […]

December 19, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Pinecil V2 Bluetooth LE soldering iron gets a web interface

It’s now possible to make use of the Pinecil V2 soldering iron‘s Bluetooth LE connectivity through a web-based interface used to monitor and/or set the temperature and power of the RISC-V soldering iron. When the Pinecil V2 soldering iron was launched with a Bouffalo Lab BL706 RISC-V Bluetooth microcontroller last summer, we were told there were main potential cases to make use of the Bluetooth LE features: OTA firmware upgrade and remote telemetry and control. The latter is now being taken care of by Joric who has written a web application to visualize telemetry data and even control the temperature of the soldering iron. To be able to use the Bluetooth features, you’ll first need to install the latest Pinecil V2 firmware with blisp flashing utility before going to https://joric.github.io/pinecil to pair your soldering iron as explained in the wiki. Note the implementation relies on the Web Bluetooth API which […]

December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 75 Comments

$6 Pine64 Ox64 SBC features BL808 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V multi-protocol WiSoC with 64MB RAM

Pine64 Ox64 is a single board computer powered by Bouffalo Lab BL808 dual-core 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V processor with up to 64MB embedded RAM, multiple radios for WiFi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee), as well as an AI accelerator. The board also features up to 16MB XSPI NOR flash, a MicroSD card socket, a USB 2.0 OTG port with support for a 2-lane MIPI CSI camera module, and two 20-pin GPIO headers for expansion. It measures just 51 x 21mm, or in other words, is about the size of a Raspberry Pi Pico W. Pine64 Ox64 specifications: SoC – Bouffalo Lab BL808 with: CPU Alibaba T-head C906 64-bit RISC-V core @ 480MHz Alibaba T-head E907 32-bit RISC-V core @ 320MHz Alibaba T-head E902 32-bit RISC-V @ 150MHz Memory – 728KB SRAM, 64MB embedded DRAM AI accelerator – NPU BLAI-100 (Bouffalo Lab AI engine) for video/audio detection/recognition Wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n […]