Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on SwarmDrive is an ESP32 motor driver board for brushless motors (Crowdfunding)

SwarmDrive is an ESP32 motor driver board for brushless motors (Crowdfunding)

Netherlands based NickStick BV has developed a motor driver board powered by an ESP32 dual-core WiFI and Bluetooth module and capable of controlling brushless DC motors. The SwarmDrive board targets users who want to start experimenting with motor control, and learn about commutation strategies, PID for balance plateau or balance robots, cartesian gantries and spatial navigation, drive by wire and wireless, swarm intelligence experiments, etc. SwarmDrive specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-32D module with ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz, 4 Mbit flash Connectivity 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n WiFi up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth v 4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Motor Control L6234 triple half-bridge motor driver, 5 A peak current 3-pin terminal block for motor output 3x enable pins are broken out to a bridging connector Programming and debugging – Micro USB serial port via USB to UART bridge, Misc – Boot and reset push-buttons Power Supply Supply Voltage – 7-13 V via screw terminal or pin headers Power output […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments on Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite Modules Launched for $25 and Up

Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite Modules Launched for $25 and Up

We were expecting Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 sometimes next year, but Raspberry Pi Trading Limited managed to launch the new module much earlier, as Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4Lite modules have just been launched with a new, much more compact form factor incompatible with the earlier Compute Modules, an I/O board making use of the new features, and a choice of 32 models with variations in terms of memory and storage capacity, as well as the presence or lack thereof of a WiFi and Bluetooth wireless module. Raspberry Pi CM4 & CM4Lite Specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz with VideoCore VI GPU System Memory – 1, 2, 4, or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM Storage – CM4: 4, 8, 16, or 32GB eMMC flash up to 100MB/s; CM4Lite: No storage device on module Networking Gigabit Ethernet transceiver Optional Wireless module with 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0; external or PCB antenna (selectable by on-board electronic switch) […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Google Coral Dev Board mini SBC is now available for $100

Google Coral Dev Board mini SBC is now available for $100

Google Coral SBC was the first development board with Google Edge TPU. The AI accelerator was combined with an NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor and 1GB RAM to provide an all-in-all AI edge computing platform. It launched for $175, and now still retails for $160 which may not be affordable to students and hobbyists. Google announced a new model called Coral Dev Board Mini last January, and the good news is that the board is now available for pre-order for just under $100 on Seeed Studio with shipping scheduled to start by the end of the month. Coral Dev Board Mini specifications haven’t changed much since the original announcement, but we know a few more details: SoC – MediaTek MT8167S quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.3 GHz with Imagination PowerVR GE8300 GPU AI/ML accelerator – Google Edge TPU coprocessor with up to 4 TOPS as part of Coral Accelerator Module System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on PineCube open-source Linux IP camera devkit launched for $30

PineCube open-source Linux IP camera devkit launched for $30

Pine64 has been a busy company/community with the launch of Linux powered Arm development boards, PinePhone smartphone, PineTab tablet, and Pinebook Pro laptop in the last two years. They also had other smaller projects that got fewer resources due to the launch of the aforementioned products and COVID-19 induced delays, and one of those is PineCube open-source IP camera development kit that finally launched for $29.99 plus shipping. PineCube hardware specifications: SoC – Allwinner/Sochip S3 Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 800MHz with 128MB in-package DDR3 RAM Storage – 128Mbit SPI Nor Flash and MicroSD slot, both bootable Camera – 5MP OV5640 sensor Audio – Built-in microphone, speaker Display – Optional 4.5-inch RGB LCD screen ( Networking – 10/100M Ethernet with passive PoE and WiFi USB – USB 2.0 Type-A host port Expansion – 26-pin GPIO header Misc – Volume and home buttons Power Supply 5V/1A via micro USB port or GPIO pin 8V-24V passive PoE Optional 950-1,600 mAh 3.7V 903048 lithium […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on BBC micro:bit v2 board Unveiled with Nordic nRF52833 SoC, Microphone and Speaker

BBC micro:bit v2 board Unveiled with Nordic nRF52833 SoC, Microphone and Speaker

The original BBC micro:bit educational board was launched in July 2015 with a Nordic nRF51822 Arm Cortex-M0 MCU @ 16 MHz providing Bluetooth LE connectivity,  a few I/Os, some buttons, and a LED matrix acting as a small display. The British company has now launched a new update with BBC micro:bit v2 with the same form factor, but equipped with a more powerful Nordic Semi nRF52833 Bluetooth 5.1 Arm Cortex-M4 MCU clocked at 64 MHz and adding a microphone and a speaker. BBC micro:bit v2 specifications: Wireless MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52833 Arm Cortex-M4 MCU clocked at 64 MHz with 128 KB RAM, 512 KB flash, Bluetooth 5.1 LE connectivity “Display” – 25x red LED indicator lights in a 5×5 matrix USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming via NXP Kinetis KL27Z Cortex-M0+ microcontroller Audio – Built-in MEMS microphone and speaker Expansion 25 pins on edge connector with 4 dedicated GPIO, PWM, I2C, SPI etc… 5x rings […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Arduino Portenta H7 Gets Embedded Vision Shield with Ethernet or LoRa Connectivity

Arduino Portenta H7 Gets Embedded Vision Shield with Ethernet or LoRa Connectivity

Announced last January at CES 2020, Arduino Portenta H7 is the first board part industrial-grade “Arduino Pro” Portenta family. The Arduino MKR-sized MCU board has plenty of processing power thanks to STMicro STM32H7 dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller. It was launched with a baseboard providing access to all I/Os and ports like Ethernet, USB,  CAN bus, mPCIe socket (USB), etc… But as AI moves to the very edge, it makes perfect sense for Arduino to launch Portenta Vision Shield with a low-power camera, two microphones, and a choice of wired (Ethernet) or wireless (LoRA) connectivity for machine learning applications. Portenta Vision Shield key features and specifications: Storage – MicroSD card socket Camera – Himax HM-01B0 camera module with 324 x 324 active pixel resolution with support for QVGA Image sensor – High sensitivity 3.6μ BrightSense pixel technology Microphone – 2x MP34DT05 omnidirectional microphones Connectivity Ethernet version- 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 jack LoRa version – Same Murata CMWX1ZZABZ LoRa module as found on […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Hi3861 based HiSpark WiFi IoT development board supports LiteOS and HarmonyOS

Hi3861 based HiSpark WiFi IoT development board supports LiteOS and HarmonyOS

HiHope HiSpark WiFi IoT development board features Hisilicon Hi3518 microcontroller with 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and supports Huawei LiteOS as well as HarmonyOS. Equipped with 2MB flash and 384KB SRAM, the board targets smart home applications, and ships with a baseboard to help with development. HiSpark board specifications: MCU – Hisilicon Hi3861 32-bit microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 352 KB SRAM and 288 KB ROM, 2 MB flash memory, and WiFI 4 connectivity; QFN-32 5x5mm package WiFi 802.11b/g/n standard up to 72 Mbps @ HT20 2.4 GHz frequency band (ch1-ch14). Station (STA) and access point (AP) modes with up to 6 clients for the latter WiFi mesh with up to 256 nodes Security – WPA, WPA2 personal, and WPS 2.0 PCB antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming via CH340 chip Expansion – 2x headers with up to 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 3x UART interfaces, 15x GPIO, 7x ADC inputs, 6x PWM interfaces, […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Linux 5.9 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.9 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.9 on lkml: Ok, so I’ll be honest – I had hoped for quite a bit fewer changes this last week, but at the same time there doesn’t really seem to be anything particularly scary in here. It’s just more commits and more lines changed than I would have wished for. The bulk of this is the networking fixes that I already mentioned as being pending in the rc8 release notes last weekend. In fact, about half the patch (and probably more of the number of commits) is from the networking stuff (both drivers and elsewhere). Outside of that, the most visible thing is a reinstatement of the fbdev amba-clcd driver – that’s a noticeable patch, but it’s basically just mainly a revert. The rest is really really tiny (mostly some other minor driver updates, but some filesystem and architecture fixes too). There’s just a bit more of those kinds of […]

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