Linux 6.2 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.2 release

Linux 6.2 has just been released with Linus Torvalds making the announcement on LKML as usual: So here we are, right on (the extended) schedule, with 6.2 out. Nothing unexpected happened last week, with just a random selection of small fixes spread all over, with nothing really standing out. The shortlog is tiny and appended below, you can scroll through it if you’re bored. Wed have a couple of small things that Thorsten was tracking on the regression side, but I wasn’t going to apply any last-minute patches that weren’t actively pushed by maintainers, so they will have to show up for stable. Nothing seemed even remotely worth trying to delay things for. And this obviously means that the 6.3 merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have 30+ pull requests queued up, which I really appreciate. I like how people have started to take the whole “ready for […]

Giveaway Week 2022 – Sonoff NSPanel Pro and Zigbee modules

SONOFF NSPanel Pro Zigbee Devices Added

The fourth prize of Giveaway Week 2022 is the Sonoff NSPanel Pro control panel with four Zigbee modules including a temperature & humidity sensor, a door/window sensor, a switch, and a PIR motion sensor. The controller is based on a Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor running Android 8.1 and acts as a Zigbee 3.0 gateway allowing users to add all sorts of Zigbee modules. It also works with the eWelink app to add security cameras which can be some of your old smartphones. We reviewed the SONOFF NSPanel Pro control panel & Zigbee gateway last month together with Zigbee modules and the SONOFF Slim Cam indoor security camera and found it worked reasonably well, although some advanced features required us to use the eWelink app in our phones instead of the touchscreen on the display. We also found one bug with the Zigbee switch that the company promised to fix […]

SONOFF NSPanel Pro control panel review with Zigbee modules, CAM Slim WiFi camera

SONOFF NSPanel Pro Zigbee Devices Added

ITEAD has sent us a Smart Home kit for review including the SONOFF NSPanel Pro Android control panel and Zigbee gateway, an enclosure stand, the CAM Slim WiFi camera, and four Zigbee modules, namely the SNZB-01 wireless switch, the SNZB-02 temperature & humidity sensor, the SNZB-03 motion sensor, and the SNZB-04 door/window sensor. In this review, we’ll configure the NSPanel Pro controller with the eWelink app in Android, show how to add the WiFi camera and Zigbee devices directly to NSPanel Pro, and go back to the eWelink app for more advanced features such as scenes with triggers and actions. Sonoff NSPanel Pro kit unboxing Let’s get started by having a closer look at the SONOFF NSPanel Pro controller. As previously noted, the device is based on Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor and runs Android 8.1. It acts both as a control panel and a WiFi to Zigbee 3.0 gateway. The […]

Tuya “T6E” is a 4-inch Android touch control panel & Zigbee gateway for OEMs

Tuya T6E 4-inch smart home controller

Tuya T6E is a 4-inch control panel with a touchscreen running Android 8.1 on Rockchip PX30, WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee,  and designed to be wall-mounted for home automation and other HMI applications. It looks fairly similar to the ITEAD NSPanel Pro introduced last month, for Tuya’s “Central Control System” (CSS) appears to be mostly designed for OEMs who want to roll their own products with custom firmware. Tuya T6E specifications (details vary depending on OEM requirements): SoC – Rockchip PX30 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB RAM Storage – 4GB to 8GB  eMMC flash Display – 4-inch 480×480 IPS screen with 5-point capacitive touch Audio Dual-array microphone with noise reduction 1 Watt speaker Connectivity 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 Bluetooth LE 4.2 and Bluetooth Mesh (Tuya SigMesh) Zigbee 3.0 gateway based on Tuya […]

SONOFF NSPanel Pro Android control panel doubles as WiFi & Zigbee Smart Home gateway

SONOFF NSPanel Pro

ITEAD has introduced the SONOFF NSPanel Pro Smart Home control panel running Android 8.1 on a Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor and acting as a Smart Home gateway thanks to an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee 3.0, and 2.4 GHz 802.11b WiFi for connectivity. The NSPanel Pro follows the ESP32-powered SONOFF NSPanel introduced just last year but offers much more flexibility with Android, 2GB RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, and also offers a slightly larger 3.95-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 480×480 resolution. SONOFF NSPanel Pro specifications: SoC – Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor with Arm Mali-G31 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash Display – 3.95-inch capacitive touchscreen color TFT display with 480×480 resolution Audio – 1W speaker, digital microphone for two-way communication (intercom) Connectivity 802.15.4 radio with Zigbee 3.0 support. Matter and BLE Mesh scheduled for 2023 2.4 GHz 802.11b WiFi Sensor – Light sensor for […]

Linux 5.16 Release – Main Changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 5.16 release

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.16: Not a lot here since -rc8, which is not unexpected. We had that extra week due to the holidays, and it’s not like we had lots of last-minute things that needed to be sorted out. So this mainly contains some driver fixes (mainly networking and rdma), a cgroup credential use fix, a few core networking fixes, a couple of last-minute reverts, and some other random noise. The appended shortlog is so small that you might as well scroll through it. This obviously means that the merge window for 5.17 opens tomorrow, and I’m happy to say I already have several pending early pull requests. I wish I had even more, because this merge window is going to be somewhat painful due to unfortunate travel for family reasons. So I’ll be doing most of it on the road on a laptop […]

Linux 5.15 LTS release – Main Changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 5.15

Linus Torvalds released Linux 5.15, an LTS version, this past Sunday: It’s been calm, and I have no excuse to add an extra rc, so here we are, with v5.15 pushed out, and the merge window starting tomorrow. Which is going to be a bit inconvenient for me, since I also have some conference travel coming up. But it’s only a couple of days and I’ll have my laptop with me. Sometimes the release timing works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.. Anyway, the last week of 5.15 was mainly networking and gpu fixes, with some random sprinkling of other things (a few btrfs reverts, some kvm updates, minor other fixes here and there – a few architecture fixes, couple of tracing, small driver fixes etc). Full shortlog appended. This release may have started out with some -Werror pain, but it calmed down fairly quickly and on the whole 5.15 was […]

KloudNote 10.3-inch E-reader supports WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular connectivity

Kloud Note

Geniatech used to be better known for their Amlogic TV boxes, before expanding their business to development boards and systems-on-modules. But the company has now introduced KloudNote, a 10.3-inch E-reader running Android 8.1 on a quad-core Cortex-A35 processor. The device is equipped with 2GB of RAM and a 16GB eMMC flash, supports WiFi 5 and Bluetooth, as well as optional 2G/3G/4G LTE cellular connectivity, and comes with a USB-C port and a headphone jack. KloudNote (sometimes written Kloud Note) specifications: SoC – Unnamed quad-core Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.2 GHz System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash Display – 10.3-inch E-Ink flexible screen with cover-lens, 1872×1404 resolution, capacitive touch and electromagnetic touch with support for a stylus with 4096-level of pressure sensitivity Connectivity 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.2 Optional 2G/3G/4G Audio – Earphone jack, built-in speaker & microphone USB – 1x USB-C port for charging Documents […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case