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January 20, 2026January 19, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Waveshare ESP32-C6-GEEK – A USB flash drive-like ESP32-C6 development board

After releasing the RP2040-GEEK and RP2350-GEEK, Waveshare has now released the ESP32-C6-GEEK, another USB flash drive-like development board featuring an ESP32-C6 wireless MCU with support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE, and IEEE 802.15.4 for Zigbee and Thread connectivity, an onboard 1.14-inch 240 × 135 IPS color LCD, and a USB-A male connector. The board also includes a microSD card slot for external storage, an onboard ceramic antenna, a BOOT button, and UART, GPIO, and I²C connectors for expansion. These features make it suitable for IoT nodes, smart displays, wireless sensors, protocol experimentation, beginner firmware development, and compact embedded UI projects. Waveshare ESP32-C6-GEEK specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V clocked up to 160 MHz Low-power RISC-V core @ up to 20 MHz Memory/Storage – 512KB SRAM, 320KB ROM Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and 802.15.4 radio for Thread/Zigbee Storage 16 MB external NOR flash MicroSD […]

January 16, 2026January 15, 2026 by Debashis Das - 7 Comments

ESP32-S3 multi-radio Smart Home gateway features Ethernet, Zigbee, Thread, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, BLE, and optional 4G LTE connectivity

SLZB Ultima multi radio smart home gateway with ESP32 S3 Zigbee Z Wave, Matter or Thread

SMLIGHT SLZB-Ultima is an ESP32-S3-based, multi-radio smart-home gateway with dual Zigbee/Thread radios, optional Z-Wave 800, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, Ethernet with PoE, USB host expansion, and optional 4G LTE connectivity designed for advanced Home Assistant and DIY applications. The device also integrates an IR receiver and transmitter for controlling legacy appliances, GPIO and I²C for hardware expansion, a buzzer, physical buttons, service LEDs, and 12 on-board WS2812B RGB LEDs on the front for status indication. These features make it suitable for an all-in-one smart-home and IoT gateway rather than a simple coordinator. SMLIGHT SLZB-Ultima specifications: Main SoC – ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core LX7 microprocessor @ up to 240 MHz with Vector extension for machine learning Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 with LE/Mesh Audio – Built-in buzzer and optional microphone for ESPHome Voice Assist Networking Wireless Dual Zigbee / Thread radios (Texas Instruments CC2674P10 + Silicon Labs EFR32MG24) Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n […]

January 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

6-core Intel Wildcat Lake Core Series 3 CPUs to succeed Alder Lake-N and Twin Lake families

When I wrote the Year 2025 in review post, I expected an announcement for the Wildcat Lake CPUs at CES 2026, but instead, Intel initially introduced the high-end Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” family. I assumed the Wildcat Lake announcement was postponed, but some users’ reports on X indicate the company did demonstrate the new Core Series 3 (no “Ultra” there) “Wildcat Lake” processors as lower-end Core Series 3 “Panther Lake” SKUs. Intel has yet to disclose part names, and there’s nothing about the Wildcat Lake on Intel Ark at the time of writing. However, some information was shared through slides and X users. Intel Core Series 3 “Wildcat Lake” key features and specifications: CPU – Hexa-core processor with 2x Cougar Cover P-cores (Performance cores), 4x Darkmont LPE-cores (Low-Power Efficient cores) GPU – 2x Xe-core Intel Xe3 graphics (no ray tracing, not designed for gaming) AI accelerator – Intel […]

January 9, 2026January 9, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Quectel SRG091X and SRG093X NXP i.MX 9 industrial AIoT modules integrates Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 radios

Quectel SRG091X and SRG093X NXP i.MX Smart AIoT module

After releasing the very powerful P895BD-AP AIoT module at CES 2026, Quectel now released two new low-power industrial AIoT modules based on NXP’s i.MX 9 series SoCs. The module integrates Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 radios through the IW610G chipset, so it can simply be dropped into a PCB to create a fully compliant Matter Border Router without any RF design or coexistence concerns. While both modules share the same 46 x 41.5 mm form factor and wireless capabilities, they are different in terms of CPU power as the SRG091X is an entry-level solution built around a single-core NXP i.MX 91 processor, while the SRG093X features dual-core NXP i.MX 93 SoC, which includes a Cortex-M33 real-time core and a neural processing unit (NPU) for edge AI workloads. The module supports LPDDR4/LPDDR4X memory, eMMC storage, and various I/O options, including dual Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, CAN-FD, SPI, UART, I²C/I³C, ADC, […]

January 8, 2026January 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

MUSE Book laptop review – Testing an octa-core RISC-V Linux laptop in 2026

SpacemiT sent me a sample of the MUSE Book RISC-V Linux laptop for review. It’s based on the SpacemiT K1/M1 octa-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC, ships with up to 16 GB of RAM, eMMC flash and/or NVMe SSD, and features a 14.1-inch IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution, WiFi 6 connectivity, a few USB ports, and more. I won’t go through all the hardware specifications since Leo already did that when he wrote about the MUSE Book Laptop in April 2024, along with a teardown, and additional details about the SpacemiT K1/M1 SoC. I’ll still do an unboxing and quickly check the hardware, but I’ll focus on the software part to show the progress with Bianbu OS 2.3 (Ubuntu 24.04-based) on RISC-V hardware, as I just did for the low-end StarFive JH7110S-based VisionFive 2 Lite SBC. It’s quite a long review, so if you are short on time, you can jump directly […]

January 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Nordic Semi nRF54LM20B wireless SoC integrates 128 MHz Axon NPU for Edge AI workloads

Nordic Semi nRF54ML20B Arm Cortex-M33 wireless SoC is the first nRF54L microcontroller to integrate the ultra-efficient Axon Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for edge AI workloads. The NPU is said to deliver up to 7 times faster performance and up to 8 times higher energy efficiency versus (unnamed) competing wireless solutions for tasks such as sound classification, keyword spotting, and image-based detection. The Axon NPU is also about 15x faster compared to using the Cortex-M33 CPU for the same task. Other than the NPU, the nRF54LM20B offers exactly the same features as the earlier nRF54LM20A wireless microcontroller, including up to 2 MB NVM, 512 KB RAM, a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 plus RISC-V coprocessor, high-speed USB, up to 66 GPIOs, and an ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz radio supporting Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Matter over Thread, and more as shown in the nRF54L comparison table below. Like other nRF54L wireless SoCs, the […]

January 7, 2026 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

Snapdragon X2 Plus 6-core and 10-core processors target low-power Windows Copilot+ PCs

After announcing the high-end Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and X2 Elite processors last year, Qualcomm has now introduced the mid-range Snapdragon X2 Plus platform at CES 2026. While the Elite SKUs target premium laptops, the X2 Plus series is designed for affordable, mainstream Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs. The new lineup includes the X2P-64-100 (10-core) and the X2P-42-100 (6-core), both manufactured on a 3nm process. What’s interesting is that they share the same 80 TOPS AI accelerator, 9523 MT/s LPDDR5x memory support, Snapdragon X75 5G modem, and FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 as the flagship Elite models. This means that the X2 Plus reduces CPU core counts and GPU frequencies to maximize battery life for thin-and-light Windows 11 Copilot+ laptops, but it does not compromise on I/O, media capabilities, or AI performance, as it features the same USB4, PCIe Gen5, and AV1 video support as the top-tier models. Snapdragon […]

January 6, 2026January 6, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

ESP32-DIV V1 handheld pentesting tool supports Wi-Fi Attacks, BLE spoofing, 2.4GHz scanning, and Sub-GHz jamming

ESP32 DIV Wi Fi, BLE, 2.4GHz and Sub GHZ pentesting tool

Designed by Cirket open-source hardware in China, the ESP32-DIV V1 is a handheld wireless pentesting and experimentation tool with Wi-Fi, BLE, generic 2.4 GHz (NRF24), and Sub-GHz RF (CC1101) communication. The device targets hardware hackers and cybersecurity researchers for learning and testing wireless vulnerabilities across multiple frequency bands. The device features a modular “sandwich” design consisting of a Main Board and a Shield Board connected via a 20-pin header. The Main Board integrates an ESP32 microcontroller, a 2.8-inch ILI9341 TFT display with XPT2046 touch controller, SD card slot, battery charging and power management, and navigation controls. The Shield Board hosts the RF hardware, including three NRF24L01 modules, a CC1101 Sub-GHz transceiver, and multiple SMA antenna connectors. ESP32-DIV (V1) specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-WROOM-32U SoC – ESP32 dual-core wireless microcontroller CPU – Dual-core Xtensa 32-bit microprocessor @ 240MHz Memory – 520KB internal SRAM Wireless – Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and Bluetooth (4.2 and […]