development board News - CNX Software

September 28, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Raspberry Pi RP2040 gets into BBC Micro:bit lookalike board

ELECFREAKS Pico:ed V2 is a Raspberry Pi RP2040 board heavily inspired by the BBC Micro:bit with an edge connector exposing rings suitable for crocodile clips, a 17×7 LED matrix display, and designed for the classroom. We’ve seen several BBC Micro:bit clones – or rather adaptations – over the years with boards such as the SiFive Learn Inventor, Elecrow Mbits, and HiHope “Big Brother” board. The Pico:ed V2 adds to the list, and the main differences are that it is based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller instead, and does not come with wireless connectivity relying on a USB interface only. ELECFREAKS Pico:ed V2 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI flash Display – 17×7 dot-matrix display USB – 1x micro USB 1.1 port for power, data, and programming I/Os 25-pin notched “Wavy” connector with up to […]

September 27, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

LiLyGo T-SIMCAM ESP32-S3 camera development board supports optional 4G LTE connectivity

ESP32-S3 has been in the news recently and we just wrote about the Bee S3 and BPI-PicoW-S3 boards yesterday, but there’s more, and LilyGo T-SIMCAM ESP32-S3 is another interesting ESP32-S3 board with a 2MP camera as well as support for an optional 4G LTE module. The board can make use of the AI capabilities from the ESP32-S3 microcontroller through the built-in camera and microphone and offers two options for power with 5V through a USB Type-C port, as well as a 2-pin JST connector for connecting a battery. T-SIMCAM ESP32-S3 CAM board specifications: Wireless MCU – ESP32-S3R8 dual-core Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE and Mesh connectivity with 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB QSPI flash, MicroSD card socket Camera – 2MP OV2640 camera with 1622×1200 resolution Audio – I2S digital microphone Connectivity – Optional NB-IoT, 2G GSM, or 3G/4G LTE module via mPCIe socket and SIM […]

September 26, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

$5.5 Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 ESP32-S3 board follows Raspberry Pi Pico W form factor

Banana Pi’s BPI-PicoW-S3 is a development board following the Raspberry Pi Pico W form factor, but based on Espressif System ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller offering both WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The Raspberry Pi SBCs have inspired many designs, but the Raspberry Pi Pico MCU boards less so. So far, I had only seen the WeAct RP2040 board with the same layout except for a USB Type-C port and a 16MB flash. But the Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 provides a direct alternative to the Raspberry Pi Pico W with a more powerful microcontroller, vector instructions for AI acceleration, BLE, and about the same price at $5.5 plus shipping. Let’s see how the BPI-PicoW-S3 specifications compare to the ones of the Raspberry Pi Pico W in the table below. While the power signal (5V, 3.3V, GND) and GPIO numbers are the same on both boards, there are a few variations here and […]

September 26, 2022September 29, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Bee S3 ultra-low-power ESP32-S3 board can last several years on a LiPo battery

Smart Bee Designs’ Bee S3 is an ultra-low-power development board based on Espressif ESP32-S3 WiFi & Bluetooth microcontroller that consumes less than 20 uA in deep sleep mode allowing the board to theoretically last over 5 years under specific conditions. The board provides WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 LE connectivity, features a battery voltage monitoring circuitry to check the battery charge level, a USB Type-C port for power and programming, plus 20 through holes for extensions such as connecting sensors, and so on. Bee S3 specifications: Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3-MINI-1 module (PDF datasheet) with ESP32-S3 dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor with WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4MB or 8MB QSPI flash, PCB antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansion – 2x 10-pin headers with up to 15x GPIO, 8x ADC, touch support, I2C, SPI, UART, 5V In/out, 3.3V out, and GND Misc – […]

September 19, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

OpenHarmony development board borrows BBC Micro:bit edge connector

HopeRun’s HiHope development board features a HiSilicon Hi3861V100 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller compatible with OpenHarmony OS and looks very much like the BBC Micro:bit educational board notably with its edge connector. The board is also designed for youth education (in China) and comes with similar sensors, but there are some differences such as a 0.96-inch OLED instead of an LED matrix and support for offline voice recognition. There’s no wireless connectivity apart from NFC support. HiHope board specifications: MCU – HiSilicon Hi3861 32-bit microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 352 KB SRAM and 288 KB ROM, 2 MB flash memory Display – 0.96-inch OLED display with 128×64 resolution (SSD1306) Connectivity – NFC with R/W mode, card emulation, and bidirectional mode USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Sensors – Temperature & humidity sensor, light sensor, microphone, 6-axis motion sensor Expansion – Edge connector with 5x rings (3x […]

September 16, 2022September 17, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Beetle RP2040 is a tiny Raspberry Pi RP2040 board with easily solderable pads

DFRobot Beetle RP2040 joins other miniature Raspberry Pi RP2040 developments boards such as Pimoroni Tiny 2040 & Adafruit QT Py RP2040, but with only eight GPIOs accessible through larger pads that are easier to solder. The tiny 27 x 20 mm board comes with a USB Type-C port, BOOT and reset buttons, and twelves pads with a through hole each comprised of eight GPIOs, plus VCC, 3.3V, and GNS pads. The Beetle RP2040 is designed to be embedded into small devices or projects, and the company selected I/Os that can be configured as I2C, UART, SPI, GPIOs, analog input, etc… Beetle RP2040 specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller@ up to 133Mhz with 264kB of SRAM Storage – 2MB QSPI flash USB – USB 1.1 Type-C port for power, data, and programming I/Os 12x golden pads with through hole for 8x I/Os pins enabling up to 2x I2C, […]

September 12, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Geniatech DB982 – An 8K TV motherboard with Amlogic T982 CPU, ATSC 3.0 TV tuner

Geniatech DB982 is a development board/motherboard powered by an Amlogic T982 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor designed for 8K televisions and equipped with an ATSC 3.0 TV tuner. The board ships with up to 4 GB RAM and up to 128 GB eMMC flash, and also includes three 4K HDMI inputs, LVDS and ultra-high-definition VX1 LCD screen interfaces, as well as Fast Ethernet and WiFI 5 connectivity. Geniatech DB982 specifications: SoC – Amlogic T982 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor up to 1.8GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MP2 (2EE) GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1 and OpenCL 2.0 APIs AI accelerators – 2x NNA accelerators with INT8 inference performance up to 2.6 TOPS Manufacturing process – 12nm System Memory – 2GB (4GB optional) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash (8 to 128GB optional) Video Output 1x VX1 up to 8K resolution (CNXSoft: I suppose it stands for V-By-One interface) 1x 30-pin […]

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ESP32 board supports 2.4Ghz LoRa with SX1280 RF transceiver

We’ve seen plenty of ESP32 LoRa boards with the traditional 433 MHz, 868 MHz, or 915MHz frequencies, but I think LilyGO LoRa V1.8 (aka T3 V1.8) is the first ESP32 board that integrates a Semtech SX1280 transceiver for the 2.4GHz LoRa standard used for global coverage, notably maritime applications, and ranging. The ESP32 & SX1280 board also offers 26 pins for expansion, a microSD card for data storage, a 2-pin connector for batteries, a 0.96-inch OLED for information display, and comes with a 3D antenna and u.FL connector for WiFi and Bluetooth, and an SMA antenna for LoRa connectivity. LilyGO LoRa/T3 V1.8 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core Xtensa LX6 processor with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 Storage – 4MB SPI flash, microSD card slot Display – 0.96-inch OLED display with 128×64 resolution (SSD1306 I2C driver) Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 up to 150 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.2 […]