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May 21, 2023May 29, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Using BTT Pad 7 touchscreen display with Raspberry Pi CM4

The BTT Pad 7, or BIGTREETECH Pad 7 in full, is a 7-inch touchscreen display that ships with the CB1 Allwinner H616 system-on-module compatible with Raspberry Pi CM4. The display is mostly designed for 3D printers with its SPI and CAN Bus interfaces, but it can also be used as a standard tablet PC. So today, I’ll switch the CB1 with a Raspberry Pi CM4 Lite module and report my experience doing the conversion and using it as a Raspberry Pi CM4 tablet PC running Raspberry Pi OS, and test it with a 3D printer with Klipper in another post later on. Installing a Raspberry Pi CM4 (Lite) module in the BTT Pad 7 We’ll need the Pad 7, a Raspberry Pi CM4, and a few tools. The first step is to remove the red heatsink by loosening four screws with a 2.0mm hex key, as well as the cover […]

May 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Review of MaTouch_ESP32-S3 4-inch Display Demo Kit with sensors, Arduino, LVGL graphics library

Makerfabs MaTouch_ESP32-S3 4-inch Display Demo Kit is an ESP32-S3 development board with a 4-inch touchscreen display, a TVOC sensor, and a thermal camera. It can be used to make various projects such as electronic photo frames. air quality monitors, or patient screening devices MaTouch_ESP32-S3 4-inch display demo kit unboxing When we unpack the box, we will find the device as in the picture, consisting of the following items: The mainboard of the MaTouch_ ESP32-S3 4-inch Display with the following specifications: Controller – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1, PCB Antenna, 16MB Flash, 8MB PSRAM, ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 Wireless – WiFi & Bluetooth 5.0 Storage – MicroSD card slot LCD 4.0-inch IPS display with 480×480 resolution, 50+ FPS RGB 5/6/5+ SPI interface using ST7701S controller. 5 Points Touch, Capacitive via GT911 touch panel driver. Audio – MAX98357A USB – Dual USB Type-C (one for USB-to-UART and one for native USB); USB to UART Chip: CP2104 Expansion – 2x […]

April 23, 2023April 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 review – A multi-function 10-in-1 educational robot kit

Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 is an educational robot kit that can be used to easily create up to 10 different types of robots. An Arduino-compatible Mega 2560 MCU board serves as the main controller and there are over 550 mechanical parts and electronic modules. The robot can drive up to 4 encoder and stepping motors, control up to 10 servo motors to work simultaneously, and can also be connected to Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards for more complex projects. The review/tutorial is fairly long, so if you are short on time, you can jump to different sections by clicking on some of the links below: MegaPi control board and main modules description mBlock 5 visual-programming IDE installation Programming of DC Encoder motors, Ultrasonic sensor, Line follower module, motion sensor, RJ25 adapter, and shutter module mBlock mobile app Building the ten models for the Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot kit (as shown in […]

April 17, 2023April 20, 2023 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

Using ChatGPT for Robotics – Programming myCobot 280 robotic arm with natural language (Sponsored)

ChatGPT AI chatbot can help engineers write programs, and we recently tested it by letting it write a Python program to read data from an I2C accelerometer. But it can be used for more advanced programs and Microsoft Autonomous Systems and Robotics Group used ChatGPT for robotics and programmed robot arms, drones, and home assistant robots intuitively with (human) language. The long-term goal is to let a typical user control/program a robot without having an engineer write code for the system. Microsoft explains that the current robotics pipelines begin with an engineer or technical user that needs to translate the task’s requirements into code for the system. That’s slow, expensive, and inefficient because a user needs to write code, skilled workers are not cheap, and several interactions are required to get things to work properly. With ChatGPT or other large language models (LLM), a user could “program” the robot with […]

April 15, 2023April 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

How to setup a WireGuard server on Ubuntu for remote login

In this article, we will show you how to set up a WireGuard server on Ubuntu in order to use it for remote login. Introduction to WireGuard First of all, let’s first understand, what is WireGuard? WireGuard is a very simple and fast VPN tool with state-of-the-art encryption. Its goal is to be faster, simpler, more streamlined, and easy to use than IPsec, while avoiding the hassle of large-scale configuration. WireGuard is designed as a general-purpose VPN to run on embedded interfaces and supercomputers in many different environments. Originally released for the Linux kernel, WireGuard is now widely deployed and supported across platforms (Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, Android). WireGuard is growing rapidly and is already considered the most secure, easiest-to-use, and simplest VPN solution in the industry. Basic Concepts of WireGuard Several basic concepts are involved in WireGuard: Peer: A node in WireGuard. Private key: Each node has its own […]

April 14, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Using Pico:ed V2 board as a replacement for BBC Micro:bit

We’ve received a sample of the Pico:ed V2 board developed by ELECFREAKS and will show how to use it as a replacement for the BBC micro:bit in a project using CircuitPython. We’ve already covered the board in detail with specifications, block diagram, and pinout diagram before, and it’s basically a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 board with BBC Micro:bit form factor including a 17×7 Dot Matrix LED display, some buttons, a buzzer, but no wireless connectivity, relying only on USB instead. CircuitPython firmware installation on the Pico:ed V2 board The board supports C/C++, MicroPython, and CircuitPython programming languages, and for this review, we’ve decided to download the CircuitPython UF2 firmware. Press and hold the BOOTSEL button after having downloaded the firmware file… … and connect the board to your computer using a USB cable before releasing the BOOSEL button on the Pico:ed V2 board, which should then show up as the […]

March 28, 2023March 29, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Servo and motor control with Raspberry Pi Pico, CircuitPython, and Wukong 2040 breakout board

ELECFREAKS Wukong 2040 is a multifunctional breakout board designed for Raspberry Pi Pico. It is equipped with interfaces for four DC motors, up to twelve servos, a buzzer, A\B buttons, RGB “rainbow” lights, a Reset button, etc… The board can be powered by a single 18650 3.7V LiPo battery and integrates a power management IC that monitors the battery level and can also charge the battery via a USB charger. Battery life is typically 60 minutes per charge but can last over 120 minutes depending on the load. Wukong 2040 key features and specifications Description of the Wukong 2040 interfaces Specifications and dimensions of the Wukong 2040 Expansion Board for Raspberry Pi Pico The Wukong 2040 breakout board for the Raspberry Pi Pico can control up to four DC motors and up to 12 servo motors as shown in the diagram below. Pinout diagram of the Wukong 2040 board […]

March 25, 2023April 15, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Getting Started with GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit

Last week we checked out the hardware for the GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit with three nRF52840 Thread Dev Boards, and I’ve now had time to work with the kit, so I’ll report my getting started experience in the second part of the review. GL-S200 Initial Set Up I connected the WAN port to my Ethernet Switch itself connected to my modem router and the LAN port to my laptop, so I could access the web interface using the default IP address (192.168.8.1). The GL-S200 uses the same Admin Panel as other GL.iNet routers such as the Beryl AX router we reviewed at the beginning of the year. You’ll be greeted by a wizard to let you select the language and set a new password for the Admin Panel, and once you’re done you’ll have access to the familiar GL.iNet Admin Panel 4.x.x. After completing the wizard, the system […]