GEEKOM A6 Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 tested on an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC

review GEEKOM A6 Ubuntu 24.04

We’ve already checked out the hardware of the GEEKOM A6 mini PC with an unboxing and teardown in the first part of the review, and thoroughly tested the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC in Windows 11 Pro in the second part, so it’s now time to report our experience with Ubuntu 24.04 Linux on the mid-range mini PC. We’ve gone through features testing, system benchmarks, storage (SSD and USB) performance tests, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 network evaluation, 4K and 8K YouTube video playback, a stress test to check out the cooling ability of the mini PC, and finally fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 24.04 installation and system information Since we wanted to install Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS alongside Windows 11 Pro, we resized the partition by roughly half. But since the C: drive was “BitLocker Encrypted”, we knew Ubuntu installation wouldn’t be successful that way, so we went to […]

GoogleFindMyTools locates ESP32-based Bluetooth trackers using Google Find My Device network

Google Find My Device ESP32

Leon Böttger’s GoogleFindMyTools is a re-implementation of Google’s Find My Device network. It works with Android devices and commercial trackers, but experimental support for ESP32-based trackers has recently been added.

The implementation features two components. First, the main.py Python script that will list and locate devices, and then the ESP32 firmware implemented in C with the ESP-IDF. The host computer will also need several Python libraries that can be installed with “pip install -r requirements.txt” and Google Chrome web browser.

This is the output of the Python script on my Ubuntu laptop:

Ceva-Waves Links200 IP supports Bluetooth LE High Data Throughput (HDT) up to 7.5 Mbps, 802.15.4 for Zigbee, Thread and Matter

Ceva-Waves Links200 IP Bluetooth LE HDT

Ceva has recently unveiled the Ceva-Waves Links200 multi-protocol platform IP with support for Bluetooth LE High Data Throughput (HDT) technology up to 7.5 Mbps and IEEE 802.15.4 for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter designed for TSMC’s low-power 12nm process. Released in 2016, Bluetooth 5 upgraded Low Energy implementation with four times the range and twice the speed of Bluetooth 4.0 LE transmission which meant up to 2 Mbps over BLE, and even the latest Bluetooth 6.0 specification does not change that. There’s just a new LE 2M 2BT physical layer for Bluetooth Channel Sounding. So I was intrigued when the press release of the Links200 further read: Addressing the rising market demand for faster, more efficient Bluetooth connectivity, particularly for low-power audio and latency-sensitive IoT applications, the breakthrough High Data Throughput mode more than doubles the speed of traditional Bluetooth, delivering a data rate of up to 7.5 Mbps. For this […]

Silicon Labs unveils low-cost BG22L BLE 5.4 and BG24L BLE 6.0 SoCs

Silicon Labs BG24L BG22L

Silicon Labs has unveiled the BG22L and BG24L SoCs for low-cost, ultra-low-power Bluetooth LE connectivity. These are Lite versions of the company’s BG22 and BG24 SoC families introduced in 2020 and 2022 respectively. The 38.4 MHz Silabs BG22L Arm Cortex-M33 SoC targets high-volume, cost-sensitive Bluetooth 5.4 applications like asset tracking tags and small appliances. In comparison, the 78 MHz BG24L Cortex-M33 SoC offers an affordable entry-level solution with AI/ML acceleration and Bluetooth 6.0 Channel Sounding to locate items or implement access control in crowded areas such as warehouses and multi-family housing. Since the specs for the BG22L and BG24L are similar to the ones for the BG22 and BG24 chips I won’t reproduce those here, and instead highlights the main features and cost-saving measures. Silicon Labs BG22L Bluetooth LE 5.4 SoC Silicon Labs BG22L highlights: MCU – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 38.4 MHz with DSP and FPU (BG22 is clocked at […]

Waveshare ESL color e-paper displays support Bluetooth & NFC, offer 5-year battery life, cloud management

waveshare ESL e Paper display

Waveshare recently launched a series of dot matrix ESL color e-paper displays with Bluetooth and NFC connectivity designed for various IoT, retail, industrial, and similar applications. These Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) displays can be updated through a wireless base station that enables device management using Waveshare’s cloud platform. The displays come with a 1,200mAh coin cell battery which according to Waveshare can last approximately 5 years and support four colors: red, yellow, black, and white. With a wide 178° viewing angle and housed in a durable ABS plastic case, they are ideal for applications such as price tags, shelf labels, asset tracking, and conference name tags. Waveshare ESL color e-paper displays specifications Display technology – E-Paper (Electrophoretic) Display colors – Red, Yellow, Black, White Display sizes – 2.13″, 2.66″, 2.9″, 3.5″ (Dot Matrix) Resolution / Pixel density / Display area 2.13″ – 250 × 122 pixels / 130 DPI / 48.55 × […]

u-blox RUBY-W2 is a family of Wi-Fi 7 automotive-grade modules for infotainment and telematics applications

RUBY W2 series Automotive Wi Fi 7 modules

u-blox has recently released the RUBY-W2 series (RUBY-W273-05A and RUBY-W295-05A) of automotive Wi-Fi 7 modules designed for advanced infotainment and telematics applications. These modules support tri-band Wi-Fi 7 and dual-mode Bluetooth 5.4, with up to Gbps (PHY) of throughput, supporting simultaneous use cases for in-car hotspots, Apple CarPlay, and multi-client video streaming. Key features of this module include Multi-Link Operation (MLO) with Dual Band Simultaneous (DBS) and High Band Simultaneous (HBS) modes, 2×2 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth LE Audio, long-range Bluetooth, security with WPA2/3, and secure boot. The modules are based on Qualcomm’s QCA6787AQ or QCA6797AQ automotive chipsets and connect to the host via PCIe for Wi-Fi and UART/PCM for Bluetooth. RUBY-W2 specifications: Chipset Qualcomm QCA6787AQ for RUBY-W273 Qualcomm QCA6797AQ for RUBY-W295) Wireless Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) RUBY-W273 – Dual Band Simultaneous (DBS) (2.4 GHz + 5/6 GHz) RUBY-W295 – High Band Simultaneous (HBS), any two bands (2.4, 5, or 6 […]

FlipMods Combo is a 3-in-1 Flipper Zero expansion module with ESP32, GPS, and CC1101 modules

ESP32 GPS CC1101 3-in-1 expansion Flipper Zero

Sacred Labs’ FlipMods Combo is a 3-in-1 expansion module for the Flipper Zero that combines an ESP32 WiFi and Bluetooth SoC, Texas Instruments CC1101 Sub-GHz wireless microcontroller, and an unnamed GPS module. The expansion module is housed in a neat 3D-printed case and features a built-in GPS antenna, external WiFI/Bluetooth & Sub-Ghz antennas, as well as a switch to send the GPS data to the ESP32 chip or the Flipper Zero. The ESP32 module is preloaded with the Marauder firmware also used in the ESP32 Marauder Pocket Unit and Mayhem v2 for Flipper Zero for penetration testing with Wi-Fi scanning, de-authentication attacks, packet sniffing, and more. FlipMods Combo specifications: Wireless modules ESP32-WROOM-32UE for WiFi and Bluetooth; external SMA antenna (long) Texas Instruments CC1011 for 315, 433, 868, and 915MHz ISM bands; external SMA antenna (short) GPS module with internal antenna Storage – MicroSD card slot up to 32GB USB – […]

FOSDEM 2025 schedule – Embedded, Open Hardware, RISC-V, Edge AI, and more

FOSDEM 2025 Schedule Embedded

FOSDEM 2025 will take place on February 1-2 with over 8000 developers meeting in Brussels to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. The free-to-attend (and participate) “Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting” grows every year, and in 2025 there will be 968 speakers, 930 events, and 74 tracks. Like every year since FOSDEM 2015 which had (only) 551 events, I’ll create a virtual schedule with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms including “RISC-V”, “FOSS Mobile Devices”, “Low-level AI Engineering and Hacking”, among others. FOSDEM 2025 Day 1 – Saturday 1 10:30 – 11:10 – RISC-V Hardware – Where are we? by Emil Renner Berthing I’ll talk about the current landscape of available RISC-V hardware powerful enough to run Linux and hopefully give a better overview of what to […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC