PCB News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 13, 2026May 17, 2026 by Sponsored Post - 1 Comment

NextPCB Officially Launches Rev 0 PCBA — An Automated, No-Touch Prototype Assembly Service Built for Speed and Predictability (Sponsored)

NextPCB Rev 0 PCBA manufacturing service

NextPCB today announced the official launch of Rev 0 PCBA, a fully automated, no-touch prototype assembly workflow engineered to eliminate traditional manufacturing obstacles and dramatically accelerate early hardware development. Rev 0 PCBA introduces a new era of rapid prototyping by automating the entire front‑end workflow – from file upload to assembly – without engineering queries, manual intervention, or unpredictable delays or costs. “Rev 0 PCBA was born from countless conversations with engineers. The EQ email loop kept coming up as the biggest momentum‑killer, so we built a workflow that removes it entirely. By integrating DFM directly into the process, we’ve created a no‑touch path from screen to factory floor — no delays, no back‑and‑forth, just clean, confident verified builds. And with our new Jiangmen Smart Manufacturing Base, we can deliver those builds with ultra-fast, reliable production.” said Ivy Li, head of international business development at NextPCB. Rev 0 PCBA leverages NextPCB’s award‑winning DFM/DFA engine […]

May 5, 2026May 8, 2026 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

AIVON Offers $60 New User Credits for PCB Prototyping Starting from $1 (Sponsored)

Hardware prototyping often starts with a simple idea, but quickly runs into a familiar problem: costs add up faster than expected. Small batch PCB orders, international shipping fees, and repeated iterations can easily slow down development before the first working prototype is even finished. To make early-stage development easier, AIVON has launched a new user support program that significantly lowers the cost barrier for first-time orders. New customers who register on AIVON and verify their email address will automatically receive $60 in welcome credits, which include: $30 Manufacturing Credit applied to the PCB portion of their first PCB or PCBA order (minimum order amount after credit: $1). $30 Shipping Credit for their first pure-PCB order (including stencil orders). With these credits, most standard PCB prototype orders qualify for completely free shipping. For example: If your calculated PCB cost is $20 and shipping is $25, you would only pay $1 for […]

March 23, 2026March 24, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ESP32-P4 revision 3.0 gains new power rail, requires new PCB design and firmware

Espressif’s ESP32-P4 revision 3.0 and greater converts pin 54 of the chip from NC (not connected) to a power rail (VDD_HP_1), requires a few extra passives, and an updated firmware. Espressif Systems first unveiled the 400 MHz ESP32-P4 dual-core RISC-V SoC in January 2023, and the official ESP32-P4-Function-EV development board was launched in August 2024, with commercial solutions slowly ramping up last year. You’d think the silicon and related hardware would now be frozen, but apparently not. The pin 54 was likely converted from NC (not connected) to VDD_HP_1 to improve the stability of the high-performance digital domain. The old revisions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.3 are not recommended for new designs, and the company advises people to use revision 3.0 or 3.1. They also provided updated reference schematics with the following key changes: The main differences between chip revisions v1.0/v1.3 (not recommended for new designs) and v3.0 and later versions […]

March 22, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

KiCad 10 release – Dark mode, graphical DRC rule editor, new file importers, and more

KiCad 10 open-source EDA software has just been released with support for dark mode, importers for Allegro, PADS, and gEDA/Lepton PCB, and various changes to the Schematic Editor (e.g., hop-over display) and the PCB Editor, notably adding a graphical DRC rule editor. KiCad 10 was built by hundreds of developers, translators, library contributors, and documentation submitters, who submitted 7,609 unique commits after KiCad 9 was released in February 2025. The new version also gains 952 new symbols, 1216 new footprints, and 386 new 3D models. Some UI and usability improvements include dark mode support (Windows only), customizable toolbars, undo/redo support in dialogs, lasso/freeform selection instead of only rectangular selection, and new importers for Allegro, PADS, and gEDA/Lepton PCB. Schematic editing gains support for variants (e.g., single project with different BoM), hop-over display, jumper support, grouping support, and pin table CSV export/import. PCB Design adds time-domain tuning beyond just length constraints […]

January 24, 2026June 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

FOSDEM 2026 schedule – Embedded, RISC-V, Robotics, Rust, Open Hardware, and more

FOSDEM 2026 will take place on January 31-February 1, with thousands of developers meeting in Brussels to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. The free-to-attend “Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting” gets more traction every year, and in 2026, there will be at least 1,113 speakers, 1,016 events, 70 tracks, and potentially close to 10,000 attendees. As usual, I’ll create a virtual schedule with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms, including “RISC-V”, “Robotics and simulation”, and “FOSS on Mobile”, among others. I’m aware some of the talks overlap by a couple of minutes or so… FOSDEM 2026 Day 1 – Saturday, January 31 10:40 – 11:15 – RISC-V Vector optimisations in FFmpeg by Rémi Denis-Courmont FFmpeg is the most versatile multimedia codec and format support library, and was […]

December 8, 2025December 22, 2025 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

YumiAI: An AI-Native End-to-End Hardware Innovation Platform For Embedded Engineers (Sponsored)

Anyone who has designed a custom ESP32 board or an RK3588 carrier knows the real bottleneck isn’t creativity — it’s the grunt work. Finding components that are actually in stock, checking pin compatibility, verifying footprints, building symbols, and dealing with yet another “NRND” surprise. It slows down even simple projects. A Multi-Agent System Built for Hardware Workflows YumiAI is an AI-Native Generative Hardware Innovation Platform. YumiAI has five specialized agent clusters: Market Insight agent clusters: General AI gives summaries. YumiAI focuses on “Engineering Feasibility.” It asks: Will we hit patent issues? Is the cost competitive? It outputs a technical research report for hardware decisions. Function Definition agent clusters: interprets requirements (“STM32WL LoRaWAN node, USB-C power”) and structures them into a proper engineering spec. Component Selection agent clusters: pulls real-time availability and pricing from DigiKey, Mouser, and LCSC. Circuit Topology agent clusters: Our Agent has industrial algorithms and simulation built in. It performs “Physical […]

December 3, 2025December 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PCBWay’s Christmas Event Is Now Live (Sponsored)

As the holiday season approaches, PCBWay is thrilled to announce their Christmas Promotions! If you’ve been considering starting a project or testing out their services, this is a great time to begin. Don’t hesitate to visit the website to learn more: https://www.pcbway.com/activity/christmas2025.html. Activity Time: November 28th to December 31st Unlock Special Material Advantages To encourage customers to explore more capabilities and remove barriers to innovation, PCBWay has launched special benefits on some material options. For PCB manufacturing, the solder masks of purple, pink, and matte black incur no additional cost. For 3D printing, UTR8100 Clear and Somos Ledo orders can enjoy 10% off on materials + 20% off on the starting price. Never miss this chance to try these services at a low price and add a splash of premium color for your projects. Discover Special Offers Cost-effectiveness has always been a priority for customers. Recognizing this, except for the […]

November 21, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ridiculously tiny ESP32-C3 board features USB-C, one LED, and a ceramic antenna

PegorK’s f32 might be the world’s smallest ESP32-C3 board. It measures just 9.85 x 8.45 mm, or slightly larger than the area covered by a USB Type-C connector. A board of this size will have limited features, and besides the ESP32-C3FH4 RISC-V WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller, it comes with a USB-C port, a ceramic antenna, and a single GPIO pin connected to an LED. f32 specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C3FH4 Single-core 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz Memory – 400 KB SRAM Storage – 4MB flash Wireless 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0 USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming Misc Tiny LED connected to GPIO10 Ceramic antenna Crystal Power Supply – 5V via USB-C port; 3.3V LDO Dimensions – 9.85 x 8.45 mm (the height must be around 4-5 mm) The PCB was designed using DipTrace and manufactured with a board thickness […]