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February 3, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

AOMedia AV2 video codec draft specification release, and a quick try at the reference implementation

After 5 years of work and over 2700 commits against the reference software, the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) has recently released the AV2 specification. This next-generation open video codec provides up to 40% bandwidth reduction over AV1 at equivalent quality. The document entitled “AV2 Bitstream & Decoding Process Specification” specifies the Alliance for Open Media Video 2 (AV2) bitstream syntax, semantics, parsing process, and decoding process. AV2 builds upon the foundation of AV1 and has been engineered to provide higher compression efficiency and high-quality video delivery at lower bitrates. The Alliance for Open Media also highlights that it provides better “support for AR/VR applications, split-screen delivery of multiple programs, improved handling of screen content, and an ability to operate over a wider visual quality range”. The AOMedia Video Model (AVM) serves as the official reference software, and tools and source code can be found on GitLab. Note that reference […]

January 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Getting started with SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24 Zigbee adapter using Home Assistant

SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24 review AirGuard TH MINI-ZB2GS-L

We have received a sample of the SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24 (also known as Dongle-PMG24) Zigbee/Thread USB dongle for review. As its name implies, it’s based on a Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 wireless chip, and the company claims up to 200 meters range thanks to an included 3dBi antenna. It is compatible with Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi OS, and other operating systems that support USB serial drivers. The dongle works seamlessly with popular open-source platforms, such as Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, ioBroker, and OpenHAB. In this review, we will go through an unboxing of the SONOFF Dongle Plus MG24, before connecting it to a Raspberry Pi 4 running Home Assistant. We will use two Zigbee devices from SONOFF: the AirGuard TH (SNZB-02DR2) temperature and humidity sensor with an LCD, and the MINI DUO-L (MINI-ZB2GS-L) dual-channel/2-gang Zigbee 3.0 switch to demonstrate how to use the dongle with Home Assistant. SONOFF Dongle Plus […]

December 9, 2025December 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

FlashESP is an all-in-one web-based tool for ESP32/ESP8266 Arduino development and firmware flashing

FlashESP Web-based ESP32 programming tool

FlashESP is a web-based tool allowing the development of Arduino sketches and firmware flashing for ESP32 and ESP8266 hardware platforms. I initially thought it was similar to ESP Web Tools for flashing firmware from the web and used by projects like ESPHome, but it goes further than that, and it looks like an Arduino Cloud Editor for ESP32/ESP8266 instead, since users can select boards, write code, load libraries, and flash the resulting firmware from a compatible web browser without installing anything else on their computer. FlashESP key features: Cloud Compilation – Real-time compilation with live logs. Auto Configuration – Intelligent board and library detection. One-Click Flash – Web Serial integration. Connect your ESP via USB and flash directly from a compatible browser (WebSerial support needed) without any drivers or downloads. Public Explorer – Discover community projects. Flexible Visibility – Create private projects for your team, public for the world, or […]

December 2, 2025December 2, 2025 by Sponsored Post - 2 Comments

Mongoose Wizard builds professional embedded device dashboards for microcontrollers like ESP32, STM32, NXP, RPi and others (Sponsored)

Cesanta Software introduced Mongoose Wizard – a no-code visual tool that enables embedded developers to effortlessly build a professionally looking device dashboard (WebUI) and REST API without writing any frontend code, transforming the microcontroller (MCU) board into a browser-accessible web dashboard for control, monitoring, and updates. Whether for prototyping or building production devices, integrating a web dashboard into firmware gives end users intuitive and powerful control. Designed for use in Industrial, Automotive, Smart home, or any Internet of Things product (machinery, devices, appliances, etc.) that benefits from a browser-based interface. Mongoose Wizard utilises the Mongoose Library, an open source network library for C/C++. Mongoose Library provides event-driven non-blocking APIs for TCP, UDP, HTTP, WebSocket, MQTT, and other protocols. It is designed for connecting devices and bringing them online. On the market since 2004, used by a vast number of open-source and commercial products – it even runs on the International […]

November 24, 2025November 24, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0 released with a revamped user interface, Raspberry Pi Connect support

Raspberry Pi Imager V2.0.0 Raspberry Pi 5 Device

Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0 has just been released with a revamped user interface with a wizard to enable easier navigation, as well as a new option for Raspberry Pi Connect remote access, among other changes. The Raspberry Pi Imager was first released in March 2020 to improve the user experience when flashing OS images for the Raspberry Pi to a microSD card. No need to download an OS image from the website and flash it manually to a microSD card with the dd command line tool, Win32DiskImager, or BalenaEtcher. Just select your Raspberry Pi model, the image you want from a curated list, and the storage device, and you’re good to go. A popular feature was the OS customization settings, but the list grew quite large, and that’s one of the main reasons for the release of the Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0 utility. Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0 highlights: New UI […]

November 9, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Using the Raspberry Pi 500+ keyboard PC as a regular Bluetooth keyboard

Using Raspberry Pi 500+ as a Bluetooth Keyboard

While the Raspberry Pi 500+ is a fully functional Linux keyboard PC, it’s also possible to use it as a regular mechanical Bluetooth keyboard. This week, I had a problem with my regular Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse combo, so I sent it back to the shop for repair since it was still under warranty. Then somebody forgot the RF dongle for her own combo at home, so long story short, we ended up with one third spare keyboard for two people. Not ideal. But luckily, we just completed the review of the Raspberry Pi 500+ keyboard PC, so we had a spare mechanical keyboard, and the btferret project allowed us to use it as a Bluetooth keyboard, which I’m using right now to write this article. We could have used the Pi 500+ as a Linux machine directly, but we would have had to reinstall all the software we […]

August 24, 2025August 25, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Getting Started with Quectel EC200U 4G LTE Cat 1 IoT board using the QNavigator and the QuecOpen SDK

Quectel EC200U development board QNavigator

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Eicut showing how to get started with a Quectel EC200U 4G TLE Cat 1 IoT development board using QNavigator and the QuecOpen SDK. In IoT projects—and across embedded systems in general—we’ve seen a growing demand for higher data exchange rates, along with broader frequency band coverage. These advancements are critical for enhancing the reliability of a device’s communication link with the network. As a result, 4G modules with fallback capability to 2G and 4G networks have emerged as a leading solution in this space. But the key question remains: Which modules should we use to leverage this technology, and what features do they offer? Exploring the Quectel EC200U LTE Cat 1 Module for IoT In this section of the EC200U tutorial, we’ll take a closer look at one of the most popular and dependable options in the IoT space—Quectel’s EC200U module. If you’ve […]

August 16, 2025August 16, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

AAEON NV8600-Nano AI Developer Kit Review – Part 2: Benchmarks, features testing, AI demos with Nx Meta

NV8600-Nano AI Developer Kit review with Nx Meta AI platform

In the first part of the review, I had a look at the hardware of the NV8600-Nano AI developer Kit featuring an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB module, booted it to Ubuntu 22.04, checked some system information, and made sure both the USB camera and Raspberry Pi Camera Module 2 (MIPI CSI) module worked fine.

I’ve now spent much more time with the Edge AI devkit, and report my experience in the second part of the review with some benchmarks, key features testing, and AI vision demos using Network Optix Nx Meta IP video management platform with the provided USB camera and an ONVIF-capable network camera.