Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on 8-MOSFET solid-state power driver works with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32 and other maker boards (Crowdfunding)

8-MOSFET solid-state power driver works with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32 and other maker boards (Crowdfunding)

Using inexpensive relays to switch AC or DC loads work well in most cases, but those relays will be quickly damaged when faced with high DC voltages, fast switching times, or other endurance requirements for which MOSFET’s are better suited, and that’s why MOSFET power supplies are found in 3D printers. Sequent Microsystems has made a habit to provide specialized Raspberry Pi HAT with relays or terminals for resistance temperature detectors that are stackable to supports a larger number for I/O or sensors. The company is now back at it with the 8-MOSFET stackable, DIN-rail mountable board that works not only with Raspberry Pi SBC, but also popular Arduino, ESP32, and other maker boards. 8-MOSFET key features and specifications: Eight MOSFETs with status LEDs 4 optimized for high-current (HC) loads up to 10 A / 24 VDC 4 optimized for high-voltage (HV) loads up to 2 A / 240 VDC Pluggable connectors Host interface – I2C via 40-pin Raspberry Pi […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Penguino Feather 4260 LoRa development board features RAK4260 module

Penguino Feather 4260 LoRa development board features RAK4260 module

Adafruit Feather form factor has become more popular in recent years with third-parties introducing Feather compatible boards such as the Giant Board (Linux capable), OrangeCrab (FPGA), or FeatherS2 (ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth), and as well as FeatherWing add-on boards. Azerbaijan based MakerTronika Labs has launched their own Feather compatible board with LoRa connectivity: Penguino Feather 4260. The development board is powered by a RAK4260 module based on SAMR34 LoRa SiP and supports both 868 and 915 MHz bands. Penguino Feather 4260 specifications: LoRa module – Rak wireless RAK4260 module with: SiP – Microchip ATSAMR34J18 SiP with SAML21 Arm Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz, 40 KB RAM, 256 KB Flash, Semtech SX1276 LoRa Connectivity Frequency Range – 862 to 1020 MHz High level of accuracy and stability (32MHz TXCO) Max Tx Power: 20dBm; Max Sensitivity: -148dBm; Rx Current: 17mA (typical) Compliant with LoRaWan 1.0.2 Power Consumption Low RX current of 13.6mA 790 nA in sleep mode Antenna – SMA and […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on FeatherS2 Board Brings ESP32-S2 to Adafruit Feather Form Factor

FeatherS2 Board Brings ESP32-S2 to Adafruit Feather Form Factor

We’ve covered a fair number of development boards following Adafruit Feather form factor in the last year or so with products such as QuickFeather Cortex-M4 + FPGA board, OrangeCrab (Lattice FPGA), nRF9160 Feather providing LTE IoT & GPS connectivity, and other boards. But here’s yet another Adafruit Feather themed board that has just launched: FeatherS2. The tiny board is equipped with the latest Espressif Systems ESP32-S2 WiFi SoC, 16 MB SPI Flash, 8 MB PSRAM, several I/O, and a USB-C port for power and programming. FeatherS2 key features and specifications: SoC – ESP32-S2 single-core Tensilica LX7 processor @ 240 MHz, RISC-V ultra-lower power co-processor, 320 kB SRAM, 128 kB ROM Memory – 8 MB extra PSRAM Storage – 16 MB SPI Flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi – 802.11b/g/n with 3D antenna USB – 1x USB-C port for power and programming Sensor – ALS-PT19 Ambient Light Sensor Expansion 16 + 12 through holes for up to 21x GPIOs, I2C, SPI, […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Keyboard FeatherWing Brings Keyboard & Display to Adafruit Feather Boards

Keyboard FeatherWing Brings Keyboard & Display to Adafruit Feather Boards

Solder Party is a brand new Swedish startup founded by Arturo182 who previously designed several maker boards including the tiny Serpente R2 CircuitPython prototyping board, and its first product, named Keyboard FeatherWing, brings a QWERTY keyboard and 2.6” color LCD with resistive touch screen to any boards compatible with Adafruit Feather for factor. That means you can build a portable device that runs Linux via the  Giant Board, features an FPGA (Orange Crab), or a wide range of connectivity options including WiFi, Bluetooth LE, LoRa, etc… depending on your chosen board. The solution actually brings a bit more than just a keyboard and color, as shown by the list of Keyboard FeatherWing key features: Display – 2.6” 320×240 16-bit color LCD with resistive touch screen (SPI) Storage – MicroSD card slot (SPI) User Inputs controlled by a Microchip SAMD20 MCU QWERTY keyboard (I2C) 5-way button 4 soft tactile buttons Expansion Stemma QT/Qwiic I2C connector Dual-row Adafruit Feather compatible female headers […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on nRF9160 Feather LTE IoT and GPS Board Launched for $99

nRF9160 Feather LTE IoT and GPS Board Launched for $99

Nordic Semi nRF9160 is a system-in-package part of nRF91 series offering NB-IoT and eMTC (LTE-M) IoT connectivity, as well as assisted GPS. The package is now accessible on a board following Adafruit Feather form factor. Made by Circuit Dojo (Jared Wolff), nRF9160 Feather board supports both CAT M1 LTE and NB-IoT, can be powered by a USB power adapter or a LiPo battery and runs Zephyr OS via the nRF Connect SDK. nRF9160 Feather specifications: SiP – Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160-SICA LTE-M/NB-IoT/GPS SIP with Arm Cortex-M33 MCU, 1024 KB flash, 256 KB SRAM Storage – Onboard 4MB NOR flash (note: upgraded from initial 2MB) Cellular Connectivity – LTE Cat-M1 (eMTC) and LTE NB1/NB2 (NB-IoT) plus 4FF SIM card slot, and u.FL connector for an external antenna GNSS – Built-in assisted GPS support plus u.FL connector for an external antenna Expansion – Feather I/Os (12+16 through holes) with digital and analog I/Os, I2C, UART, SPI, RST, 3.3V, VBAT, GND Debugging & Programmer […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on RFCat N32 Long Range nRF52832 Bluetooth Board Delivers 30x the Transmission Power with an Amplifier

RFCat N32 Long Range nRF52832 Bluetooth Board Delivers 30x the Transmission Power with an Amplifier

Bluetooth 5.0 has two main new features: high speed (2Mbps) and long-range. But as we’ve seen in our nRF52840 vs nRF52832 vs nRF52810 comparison is that only nRF52840 supports Bluetooth 5.x long range. Bluetooth 5 long range is achieved with two new lower bit rates of 500 kbps and 125 kbps. So what do you do if you’d like a longer range and keep using the higher bit rates? You add a power amplifier and LNA to your board, and that’s exactly what Nikolaj (RFCat) did with RFCat N32 board based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 wireless SoC. RFCat N32 board specifications: Wireless module – Meshtek-H52 Smart Mesh Module with integrated PCB antenna based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 Arm Cortex-M4F Bluetooth 5-ready SoC (See datasheet) Skyworks RFX2401C PA &LNA with 18.9dBm TX gain and 11dBm RX gain USB – 1x USB-C port for power, programming and debugging via CP2102N USB to UART bridge I/Os – 2x 13-pin 2.54mm pitch headers with […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on PoE FeatherWing Brings PoE, Unique MAC Address to Adafruit Feather Boards (Crowdfunding)

PoE FeatherWing Brings PoE, Unique MAC Address to Adafruit Feather Boards (Crowdfunding)

[Update: In the initial version of this post, Giant Board was wrongly attributed to Silicognition LLC (Patrick Van Oosterwijck). It was actually made by Groguard] Silicognition LLC (Patrick Van Oosterwijck)’s PoE FeatherWing is an expansion board that adds PoE support to Adafruit Feather boards and can handle up to 4 Watts of power. The expansion board also comes with a built-in globally unique MAC address. It’s similar to the official Ethernet FeatherWing, but with the addition of PoE and a unique MAC address. PoE FeatherWing key hardware features and specifications: WIZnet W5500 Ethernet controller up to ~13 Mbps Microchip 24AA02E48 2 Kbit serial EEPROM with built-in globally unique MAC address to avoid having to change and recompile the code for each device. Power Isolated IEEE 802.3at Class 1, Mode A and Mode B Power over Ethernet (PoE) with up to 4W of output power available via an RJ45 Ethernet port Output voltage – 4 to 5 V Dimensions – 55.9 […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on The Visible Lisp Computer Runs on Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Board

The Visible Lisp Computer Runs on Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Board

Specified in 1958, Lisp is one of the oldest programming languages, and it does not appear to be widely used anymore. But if you want to play around with the 61 years old language, you may want to do so in a neat way via the Visible Lisp Computer, a Lisp interpreter that displays the contents of the Lisp workspace on an OLED display. It is a modified version of Technoblogy’s uLisp interpreter for Arm boards designed to run on  Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0, or other boards based on Microchip ATSAMD21E MCU on a prototyping board, connected to a 64×48 OLED display over I2C. uLisp gives you a workspace of 3072 free Lisp objects (each of 8 bytes) on this hardware, which exactly matches the 3072 pixels (64×48) from the display.  Having said that the program would also work on larger SSD1306-based OLED displays. The display shows free Lisp objects in black, and when an object is in use the corresponding […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples