$26 Banana Pi BPI-RT2 WiFi 6 router board features Realtek RTL8198D dual-core MIPS SoC

Banana Pi BPI RT2 WiFi 6 router board with Realtek RTL8198D dual core MIPS SoC

Just last week we wrote about the GL.iNet Mango 2 (GL-MG1300), a low-cost mini travel router built around a MediaTek MT7621A dual-core MIPS SoC. Now, Banana Pi has introduced another MIPS router: the BPI-RT2 router board built around a Realtek RTL8198D dual-core MIPS SoC. The BPI-RT2 ships with 256MB DDR3 RAM, 128MB SPI-NAND flash, four Gigabit Ethernet ports (one WAN and three LAN), and a USB 3.0 port. It also supports dual-band WiFi 6 with 2×2 MIMO on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The board measures 97 × 65mm and is designed for home networking, wireless access points, and small business routers. Banana Pi BPI-RT2 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTL8198D Dual-core MIPS interAptiv processor Integrated Gigabit Ethernet switching hardware Memory – 256MB DDR3 RAM Storage – 128MB SPI-NAND flash Networking 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port 3x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports Dual-band WiFi 6 (802.11ax), AX3000 2.4 GHz – […]

Linux 7.3 release – Main Changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 7.3

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 7.3 on LKML last Sunday: It’s Sunday afternoon, and this week I somehow kept my wits together long enough to keep track of the day of the week, so the release isn’t randomly delayed. Will wonders never cease? Anyway, nothing very special seems to have happened this last week, so as expected the final 7.3 is out, and thus tomorrow the merge window for 7.4 opens. Except I’m on my annual family vacation, so instead of merging anything first thing in the morning, I’ll spend most of the day on a boat and under water. I’ll get back to merging in the afternoon, but I expect my schedule to be a bit unusual for a while. I hope I can still complete the merge window in the usual two weeks, but it may be that I’ll end up with an extra week of merging […]

Linux 7.2 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 7.2 release

Linus Torvalds released Linux 7.2 on LKML last Sunday: Well, this last week of the release was – once again – bigger than I would have wished for, but hey, with the whole “new normal” thing, if I delayed releases for that reason we’d probably never have a release at all. There are a number of fairly late reverts – the drm scheduling reverts stand out, but there’s a few other ones in here too. It may not be pretty, but it’s the correct way to deal with “oh, that code wasn’t ready and caused problems”. People will be trying that again later. But while the drm reverts stand out and are some of the bigger patches in here, there’s a lot of small fixes all over. Mostly in drivers, but networking remained fairly active this last week too. And then there are a few random patches to architecture files […]

Linux 7.1 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 7.1 release

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 7.1 on LKML: So it’s only Sunday morning back home, but it’s Sunday afternoon where I am right now, so I’m doing the 7.1 release at the regular time – just not in the regular timezone. This obviously means that the merge window opens tomorrow, but I’ll be in yet another timezone by then, so timing will all be a bit irregular. Normally I try to front-load the merge window and do as much as possible the first few days – this time I’m not sure that will work out with my laptop and a couple of long flights without internet, but I’ve made sure that I have fetched the early pull requests (thank you – you know who you are), so I will be able to do some of it off-line. Anyway, possible slight hiccups in the merge window aside, the news today […]

$54 ThinkNode G4 Wi-Fi HaLow gateway extends the range of Ethernet or 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 devices

ThinkNode G4 Wi-Fi HaLow gateway

Elecrow’s ThinkNode G4 is a Wi-Fi HaLow gateway with Ethernet and 2.4 GHz WiFi that allows you to connect compatible devices or extend the range of existing devices when used with two gateways or in an 802.11s Mesh configuration with multiple gateways. It’s based on a (legacy) Mediatek MT7628N MIPS processor paired with a Quectel FGH100M featuring Morse Micro MM6108 Wi-Fi HaLow SoC introduced in 2022 with a data rate of up to 32.5 Mbps and a range of up to one kilometer with line-of-sight. ThinkNode G4 specifications: Core module – HLK-7628N Module SoC – Mediatek MT7628N MIPS processor @ up to 580 MHz System Memory – 128MB DDR2 RAM Storage – 32 MB SPI flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 2×2 MIMO 802.11b/g/n up to 300 Mbps combined WiFi HaLow Module – Quectel FGH100M based on Morse Micro MM6108 chipset WiFi protocol – IEEE 802.11ah Frequency band – 850~950 […]

Linux 7.0 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 7.0

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 7.0 on LKML: The last week of the release continued the same “lots of small fixes” trend, but it all really does seem pretty benign, so I’ve tagged the final 7.0 and pushed it out. I suspect it’s a lot of AI tool use that will keep finding corner cases for us for a while, so this may be the “new normal” at least for a while. Only time will tell. Anyway, this last week was a little bit of everything: networking (core and drivers), arch fixes, tooling and selftests, and various random fixes all over the place. Let’s keep testing, and obviously tomorrow the merge window for 7.1 opens. I already have four dozen pull requests pending – thank you to all the early people. Linus This follows the Linux 6.19 release about two months ago, which brought us PCIe link encryption and […]

Linux 6.19 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.19

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 6.19 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): No big surprises anywhere last week, so 6.19 is out as expected – just as the US prepares to come to a complete standstill later today watching the latest batch of televised commercials. The betting man would expect them all to be AI-generated, but maybe some enterprising company decides to buck the trend? Doubtful, but there’s always a slight chance. But for anybody outside the US, maybe taking the newest kernel out for a spin instead is an option? I have more than three dozen pull requests for when the merge window opens tomorrow – thank you to all the early maintainers. And as people have mostly figured out, I’m getting to the point where I’m being confused by large numbers (almost running out of fingers and toes again), so the next kernel is going to […]

8devices Maca 2 – A ultra-long-range data radio with 80km range for drones and robotics

8devices Maca 2

8devices Maca 2 high-power plug-and-play ultra-long-range wireless data radio targets drones, UAS, robotics, interceptor systems, industrial IoT, and defense-grade communications, where long range, resilience, and scalability are critical. The device features high transmit power of up to 39 dBm (with 36 dBm per RF chain) and a receiver sensitivity of –98 dBm, and is designed for air-to-ground and point-to-point connectivity over distances of up to 80 km. To maintain stable links over extreme distances, the radio supports ultra-narrow channel widths ranging from 1.5 MHz to 19.5 MHz, significantly improving signal-to-noise ratio and resistance to interference and jamming. Additionally, it includes dual Ethernet, USB 2.0, UART, GPIO, and 14–33 V power input. It also supports industrial temperature operation and NDAA/TAA-compliant manufacturing. For unmanned systems, the radio allows users to manage bandwidth asymmetry. It’s a feature where a user can allocate 90% of the channel to downstream video data while reserving 10% […]

Exit mobile version