CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2025 has just ended and we’ve now ready to announce the winners. We offered some of the review samples we tested, and three companies joined us offering new samples, namely Banana Pi with two router boards, VOIPAC with an industrial development kit, and RAKwireless offered two of their IoT development kits for the fifth year running. Besides the aforementioned prize, we also included an ESP32-P4 development kit, a dry switch from SONOFF, a Raspberry Pi CM4-based HMI with a 915MHz LoRa module, a 5-inch Raspberry Pi Touch Display, and two USB PD voltage indicators on both CNX Software “International” and CNX Software Thailand. You can see all prizes shown below. Without further ado, here are the seven winners of Giveaway Week 2025 on CNX Software (English): M5Stack M5Tab – Ed, Canada Elecrow Pi Terminal – Tom, Finland Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite router board – Stef, Belgium […]
$500+ MINISFORUM MS-R1 Arm Linux AI mini PC features CIX CP8180 12-core SoC, up to 64GB LPDDR5x
MINISFORUM MS-R1 is an AI mini PC running Debian 12 Linux that’s powered by a CIX P1 (CP8180) 12-core Arm Cortex-A720/A520 processor with up to 45 TOPS of AI performance. The mini PC supports up to 64GB of soldered-on LPDDR5 memory, M.2 storage, and provides HDMI, USB-C DP, and eDP display interfaces, two 10GbE ports and WiFi 6E, a total of nine USB ports, a PCIe Gen x16 slot for a graphics card, U.2 storage, or networking expansion, a 40-pin internal GPIO header, and more. MINISFORUM MS-R101 specifications: SoC – Cix CP8180 (P1) 12-core DynamIQ processor 4x Cortex‑A720 big cores @ up to 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex‑A720 medium cores 4x Cortex‑A520 LITTLE cores Cache – 12MB shared L3 cache GPU – Arm Immortalis G720 MC10 with hardware ray-tracing support, graphics APIs: Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 VPU Video Decoder – Up to 8Kp60 AV1, H.265, H.264, VP9, VP8, H.263, […]
Giveaway Week 2025 – RAKwireless Blues.ONE LoRaWAN, LTE-M, and NB-IoT devkit
It turns out we don’t have two, but three companies offering free samples on CNX Software this year. The last one is a regular, and RAKwireless joins us for the fifth year running with a Blues.ONE LoRaWAN, LTE-M, and NB-IoT devkit that can be useful for industrial automation and asset-tracking applications. Regular readers may recall that it is the same prize as last year. While I usually prefer getting a new devkit, the company didn’t launch any this year (just some Meshtastic kits). The good news is that if you missed out last time around, you have a chance to give it another go. Here’s what the winner will get as a reminder: RAK4631 WisBlock Core Module based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 1 MB Flash, 256 KB RAM, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0 protocol stack Semtech SX1262 LoRa Transceiver with LoRaWAN 1.0.2 protocol stack […]
Giveaway Week 2025 – M5Stack Tab5 ESP32-P4 IoT devkit
It’s that time of the year when we organize CNX Software Giveaway Week, a global contest where we give away review samples or get companies to send units to readers. For the 12th edition of the contest, we have seven items to give away this time around: five review samples I will send myself, and two prizes from companies offering a router board and an industrial development kit. As usual, the contest is open worldwide, and CNX Software Thailand has a separate contest with four additional items for people with an address in Thailand. The first prize will be the M5Stack Tab5 ESP32-P4 IoT development kit featuring a 5-inch touchscreen display, a 2MP front-facing camera, a speaker, a dual-microphone array, a microSD card slot, an ESP32-C6 for wireless connectivity, sensors, and more. I had some fun reviewing the M5Stack Tab5 devkit by building the default firmware with the ESP-IDF framework, […]
Google’s open-source, RISC-V-based Coral NPU is integrated into Synaptics SL2610 Edge AI SoCs
Google has very recently introduced Coral NPU full-stack, open-source RISC-V-based platform for always-on AI on low-power edge devices and wearables. The first chip to integrate the Coral NPU is the upcoming Synaptics Astra SL2610 family. Google Coral NPU The Coral NPU aims to address the software fragmentation on entry-level AI accelerators that makes them difficult to program. By releasing an open-source NPU and associated source code, Google hopes its design will be adopted by silicon vendors, reduce software fragmentation over time, and help machine learning (ML) developers bring products to market faster. Building on the works on the Coral platform, the new, open-source Coral NPU is comprised of three main components: A scalar core – A lightweight, C-programmable RISC-V core that manages data flow to the back-end cores. It uses a simple “run-to-completion” model for ultra-low power consumption and traditional CPU functions. A vector execution unit – A single instruction […]
Espressif’s EchoEar ESP32-S3 voice-controlled AI chatbot runs esp-brookesia firmware
Espressif Systems’ EchoEar is a compact ESP32-S3 AI chatbot designed for voice interaction and edge AI applications, for smart toys, voice-enabled speakers, and control systems. It features a 1.85-inch circular touch display, a dual microphone array with local wake-word detection, and support for large AI models from OpenAI, Xiaozhi AI, and Gemini. The kit is built around the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5 module, and also integrates a 3W speaker for audio interaction, and a microSD card slot for data storage. Other hardware features include a BMI270 IMU, a green LED, a USB-C port, a magnetic connector, and a battery management chip. Espressif EchoEar Specifications Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM ROM – 284KB Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Storage – 16MB […]
M5Stack Air Quality Kit v1.1 features Sensirion SEN55 environmental sensor and SCD40 CO2 sensor
M5Stack Air Quality Kit v1.1 is an ESP32-S3-based air quality monitor equipped with Sensirion SEN55 and SCD40 sensors capable of monitoring PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4, PM10 particulates, temperature, humidity, VOC, and CO2 concentration in the air. The first version was introduced in January 2024, but M5Stack just introduced the v1.1 model with Stamp-S3A master control, power consumption optimizations, an improved Wi-Fi antenna design, and a larger button for a “better feel”. M5Stack Air Quality Kit v1.1 specifications: Wireless module – M5Stack StampS3A WiSoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN8 CPU Dual-core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 microcontroller with AI vector instructions up to 240MHz RISC-V ULP co-processor Memory – 512KB SRAM Storage – 8MB flash Wireless – 2.4GHz WiFi 4 (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 5.0 LE + Mesh Connectivity 2.4 GHz WiFi 4, 20 MHz and 40 MHz bandwidth, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n protocol, up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth Mesh, with support for 125 Kbps, 500 […]
Renesas RL78/L23 16-bit MCU features segment LCD interface, SMS for low-power HMI systems
Renesas’ RL78/L23 is a low-power 16-bit MCU with built-in segment LCD, capacitive touch, dual-bank flash for FOTA, and a wide 1.6–5.5 V operating voltage range. It targets HMI appliances, metering, and low-cost IoT products with support up to 2037. Key features include up to 512 KB dual-bank flash, 32 KB SRAM, 8 KB data flash, with ~1 µs wake-up, and SMS (Snooze Mode Sequencer) to run LCD/touch tasks without waking the CPU. It integrates a segment LCD controller with a new VL4 reference mode that cuts LCD current by ~30% compared to the RL78/L1x. Connectivity and sensing options include UART/I²C/CSI, a temperature sensor, and an internal oscillator. With an industrial operating temperature range and a wide supply range, this MCU is suitable for induction cooktops, HVAC panels, utility meters, and battery-powered HMI devices. Renesas RL78/L23 MCU Specifications: CPU core – Renesas RL78 16-bit CISC core, 3-stage pipeline, 0.03125 µs/instruction at […]


