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March 14, 2022March 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Waveshare CM4-Duino – An Arduino compatible carrier board for Raspberry Pi CM4

Waveshare CM4-Duino is a carrier board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) that follows Arduino UNO R3 form factor while offering HDMI output, a MIPI CSI camera interface, a USB interface, and even an M.2 M Key socket for expansion. This allows the board to reuse most Arduino shields while offering the flexibility of a more powerful Arm Linux platform that can further be expanded with an NVMe SSD or a wireless module through the included M.2 socket. Waveshare CM4-Duino specifications: Support SoM – All variants of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Storage MicroSD card socket for Compute Module 4 Lite (without eMMC) variants Optional NVMe SSD via M.2 socket Video Output – HDMI up to 4Kp30 (not sure why 4Kp60 would not be supported) Camera I/F – 1x MIPI CSI-2 connector USB – 1x USB 2.0 Type-A header, 1x USB Type-C for power and programming Expansion M.2 M […]

February 22, 2022April 13, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Challenger RP2040 LoRa board combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with RFM95W LoRa module

Invector Labs is now offering a variant of the WiFi-based Challenger RP2040 board with a LoRa radio. The Challenger RP2040 LoRa board features the Hope RF RFM95W LoRa radio transceiver module instead of the ESP8285 WiFi chip found in the original board. Raspberry Pi RP2040 has already been used in combination with a LoRa module, notably in Rakwireless RAK11300 WisDuo LPWAN module and the “LoRa Expansion for Pico“, a baseboard for Raspberry Pi Pico equipped with a LoRa module, but it’s the first time I see the combination in a development board form factor, which as a potential bonus following Adafruit Feather form factor. Challenger RP2040 LoRa board preliminary specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 133MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 8MB flash Wireless module – Hope RF RFM95W connected via SPI channel and some GPIOs 168 dB maximum link budget. +20 dBm – 100 mW […]

January 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Maker Nano RP2040 offers Arduino Nano, Grove and Qwiic modules compatibility

Cytron Maker Nano RP2040 is board similar to Raspberry Pi Pico but with Arduino Nano form factor, a proper reset button, two RGB LEDs, single color LEDs for some GPIOs, a buzzer, as well as two Qwicc/STEMMA QT connectors that can also be used to connect Seeed Studio Grove modules using provided conversion cables. While the board mostly aims to be an Arduino Nano/Maker Nano upgrade, there are some notable differences with the I/O voltage being limited to 3.3V without 5V tolerance, and there are only four ADC inputs (A0 – A3) instead of eight on the Arduino Nano. Maker Nano RP2040 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 125 MHz with 264KB internal RAM Storage – 2MB flash Audio – Piezo buzzer with mute switch Expansion 2x 15-pin headers with 22x GPIOs, 14x of which with LEDs,2x I2C, 2x UART, 2x SPI, 14x PWM, 4x […]

December 24, 2021December 24, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Newt 2.7-inch wireless display offers high refresh rate with SHARP’s Memory-in-Pixel (MiP) technology (Crowdfunding)

Newt is a battery-powered, always-on, ESP32-S2 wireless display with a 2.7-inch display leveraging SHARP’s Memory-in-Pixel (MiP) technology to provide an experience similar to E-Ink displays but with a much faster refresh rate. The wireless display can connect to the Internet to retrieve weather, calendars, sports scores, to-do lists, quotes, and whatever you’d like. Since it is powered by an ESP32-S2 microcontroller you can program with the ESP-IDF framework, Arduino, MicroPython, or CircuitPython. Newt display specifications: WiFi module – Espressif ESP32-S2-WROVER module with ESP32-S2 single-core Xtensa LX7 processor @ 240 MHz with 4 MB flash and 2 MB PSRAM Display – 2.7-inch, 240 x 400 pixel SHARP MiP LCD with “high-contrast, high-resolution, low-latency content with ultra-low power consumption”, reflective mode to eliminate the need for a backlight. USB – 1x USB Type-C port for programming, power, and charging Expansion – I2C Qwiik connector Misc Micro Crystal RV-3028-C7 RTC (45nA power consumption) […]

December 20, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DIY Pip-Boy wrist computer is equipped with Adafruit Feather RP2040 board

The Pip-Boy is a (virtual) personal information processor found in Fallout post-apocalyptic role-playing video games. But John Edgar Park decided to bring the wrist computer to (real) life combining an Adafruit Feather RP2040 board, a round IPS TFT color display, directional buttons, a joystick, and a battery. The Raspberry Pi RP2040 based Pip-Boy is programmed with CircuitPython and the demo code is a slide-show with navigation controls, but you could obviously adapt the code to your needs. The main components are: Black Adafruit Feather RP2040 board Adafruit Joy FeatherWing adding buttons and a joystick Adafruit 1.69″ 280×240 Round Rectangle Color IPS TFT Display FeatherWing Tripler mini kit to connect the two boards above and the display 3D printed enclosure A 3.7V/420mAh LiPo battery for power On/off switch The design is completed with some headers, stand-offs, screws, and a nylon watch strap. You’ll find detailed instructions with the list of parts, […]

December 2, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Seeed XIAO BLE – A tiny nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.0 board with (optional) IMU sensor and microphone

Seeed Studio has just introduced two new members to their XIAO board family with the Seeed XIAO BLE and XIAO BLE Sense boards equipped with Nordic Semi nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.0 microcontroller, as well as an IMU sensor and microphone on the “Sense” model. Just like the earlier XIAO RP2040 board, the tiny Seed XIAO BLE board can be programmed with Arduino, MicroPython, and CircuityPython, and offers two headers with 7-pin each for GPIOs. What’s really new is the wireless connectivity, the sensors, and a battery charging circuitry. Seeed XIAO BLE specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ up to 64 MHz with 1 MB flash, 256 KB SRAM, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, Zigbee connectivity Storage – 2 MB QSPI flash Expansion I/Os 2x 7-pin headers with 1x UART, 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 1x NFC, 1x SWD, 11x GPIO (PWM), 6x ADC 3.3V I/O voltage (not 5V tolerant) Sensors […]

October 8, 2021November 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Blues Wireless Swan board adds castellated holes to Adafruit Feather form factor

We’ve often written about Adafruit Feather-compatible boards in the past, but Blues Wireless Swan board is a little different, as the STM32L4-based board comes with castellated holes instead of just through holes which allows the board to expose up to 55 GPIOs, or 36 more pins than a traditional feather-compatible board. The company also introduced the “Feather Starter Kit for Swan” that enables the board to work with the company’s Notecard LTE Cat-M/NB-IoT M.2 modem that ships with 10-year (up to 500MB) of IoT connectivity, as well as GPS/GNSS connectivity. The Swan board Swan specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32L4R5 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller clocked at 120Mhz with 2MB of flash and 640KB of RAM USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming Castellated holes giving access to 55 GPIO including: 8x analog input 16x digital 4x I2C, 3x SPI 1x USB OTG full speed 1x 14-channel DMA 12-bit ADC, […]

August 26, 2021August 26, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MiniLink IIoT Node – An Arduino compatible RS485 to LoRaWAN node with wireless expansion

Designed by Thailand-based Saijai Tech, MiniLink IIoT Node is an Arduino compatible board based on either an ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC or an unnamed Microchip Cortex-M0+ microcontroller designed for Smart Agriculture or industrial applications (e.g. PLC controllers). The board includes an RS485 interface for sensors or actuators, an ACER-branded LoRa module, and expansion headers to add an extra wireless module with either LoRa PtP (P2P, Point-to-Point), NB-IoT, or 3G/4G LTE & GNSS, and some of those add an extra RS485 port. MiniLink IIoT node key features & specifications: MCU (one or the other) Espressif ESP32 dual-core processor with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE Microchip Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller (probably SAMD21) LPWAN – ACER AS923 LoRaWAN module Sensor interface – RS485 or UART via terminal block (jumper selectable) Expansion – 2x 14-pin header for expansion modules Misc – User & reset buttons, RS485/UART selection jumpers, user and power LEDs, USB/TTL […]