tools News - Page 2 of 19 - CNX Software

April 15, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

LimeSDR Micro M.2 2280 SDR card pairs NXP LA9310 baseband processor with LMS7002M RF transceiver (Crowdfunding)

The LimeSDR Micro M.2 2280 software-defined radio (SDR) card combines an NXP LA9310 baseband processor and a Lime Microsystems LMS7002M transceiver, and targets integration into portable or embedded solutions with a spare M.2 PCIe Gen3 x1 socket. The module is offered in a 1T2R configuration by default, but can be expanded to 1T4R via an FPC connector, supports a 30 MHz to 3.8 GHz frequency range, and up to 100 MHz bandwidth. Target applications include 4G LTE/5G, future RAN research, custom user equipment/modems, drone communications, IoT, satellite communications, and custom waveform generation. LimeSDR Micro M.2 SDR card specifications: SoC – NXP LA9310 programmable baseband processor Vector Signal Processing Accelerator (VSPA) Gen 2 up to 80 GFLOPs Control Processor – Arm Cortex-M4 at up to 307 MHz Storage – 512 Kbit EEPROM memory for NXP LA9310 initial configuration RF Lime Microsystems LMS7002M RF transceiver Channels – 1T2R expandable to 1T4R via […]

April 8, 2026April 8, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GL.iNet Comet 5G – A KVM over IP solution with 5G RedCap cellular connectivity, 3.69-inch touchscreen display

GL.inet Comet 5G (GL-RM10RC) is a KVM over IP solution with a 3.69-inch touchscreen display and 5G RedCap (Reduced Capability) IoT cellular connectivity, enabling remote access even when your regular Internet connection is down. The design builds upon the GL.iNet Comet Pro introduced last year, featuring a larger design and display, and adding 5G cellular connectivity on top of WiFi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet. It still features HDMI input and output (loop) ports, two USB Type-C ports for power and keyboard/mouse emulation, and a USB 2.0 port for accessories like ATX power control or fingerbot for the control of physical buttons on the target. GL.iNet Comet 5G specifications: SoC – Quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU @ 1.5 GHz; potentially a Rockchip RV1126B SoC System Memory – 1GB DDR3L Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash Video & Audio Input – HDMI port up to 4K @ 30 FPS Output – HDMI loop/passthrough port […]

March 30, 2026March 30, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Select the right hardware for your local LLM deployment with this online guide

When it comes to deploying local LLMs, many people may think that spending more money will deliver more performance, but it’s far from reality. That’s why Sipeed created the “AI Agent Local LLM Inference Device Deployment Guide” hosted on the llmdev.guide website. The website lists common hardware with price, performance (tokens/s), power consumption, and more for various LLMs. If we take Qwen3.5 9B as an example, we can see that $4K+ hardware like NVIDIA DGX Spark or Apple Mac Studio M3 delivers about the same TPS as a machine equipped with a $260 Intel Arc B580 12GB GPU. If money is no object and you’d like the best performance, the NVIDIA GTX 5090 32GB makes the most sense. I reckon the price comparison is imperfect because some data points reflect the price of a complete system, while others only list the price of a graphics card. However, for Qwen 122B-A10B, […]

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

RainbowLink-V2 compact USB-to-serial converter features 12V output, dual TTL, isolated RS-485 and RS-232 interfaces

DFRobot’s RainbowLink-V2 USB-to-serial converter features four independent channels, namely one isolated RS-485, one isolated RS-232, and two TTL interfaces usable simultaneously. The compact tool also converts 5V provided from the host’s USB interface to 12V/800mA, 5V/2A, and 3.3V/200mA outputs, eliminating the need for a separate power adapter. RainbowLink-V2 (TEL0190) specifications: USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and adata Serial 2x TTL (3.3V) via headers 1x fully isolated RS485 channel via lever terminal 1x fully isolated RS232 channel via lever terminal Baud Rate – 2400 to 128000 bps Misc 3x Power LEDs for 3.3V, 5V, and 12V 4x Link LEDs for TTL 1/2, RS232, and RS485 12AWG – 22AWG wires supported on lever-type spring terminals Built-in short-circuit protection and overcurrent protection (but users are still recommended to avoid short-circuiting to prevent damage) Input voltage – 5V via USB-C port Output voltage 3.3V up to 200mA via header 5V up […]

March 24, 2026March 29, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Ampisu is a compact pocket-sized USB lab power supply with SCPI and web control (Crowdfunding)

Ampisu Portable programmable lab power supply

The concept of a USB-C-based power supply is not new, and we have previously seen projects like XIAO Powerbread and Axiometa BrodBoost-C. As USB PD-based power adapters and power banks have become much cheaper, adjustable power supplies like the PocketPD and BenchVolt PD have come out. Both have their own limitation: the PocketPD has only a single output channel, thus hardly a lab power supply, and the BenchVolt PD is not quite compact enough to be considered pocket-friendly. This is where the Ampisu comes in. It’s a compact, pocket-friendly, and isolated three-output lab power supply designed to fit in a pocket and includes features of a typical full-sized power supply. It’s designed for low-power embedded work, field debugging, and automated test setups. Ampisu specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 125 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – Non-volatile memory for saving configurations Power Input 5V via USB Type-C port Automatically adapts to […]

March 9, 2026March 8, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

DSG-22.6 GHz is a $1,590 open-source RF signal generator based on Atek Midas’s custom ICs (Crowdfunding)

DSG 22.6 GHz RF signal generator block diagram

Atek Midas, a Turkish company, has launched DSG-22.6 GHz, a high-performance, open-source RF signal generator designed to provide professional-grade frequency synthesis at a fraction of the cost of traditional benchtop equipment from manufacturers like Anritsu or Keysight. It has an operating frequency range of 0.15 GHz to 22.6 GHz and is designed for makers and production test environments for RF testing, calibration, wireless experimentation, and microwave research. The device offers 1 Hz tuning resolution, adjustable output power −15 dBm to +20 dBm, and supports linear and logarithmic frequency sweeps with configurable start/stop frequencies, step size, and dwell time. It achieves ≥40 dBc spurious and harmonic suppression on the filtered output path and features a tuning speed of <100 µs. The generator includes a capacitive touchscreen display and can also be controlled over a USB Type-C port and/or Wi-Fi. DSG-22.6 GHz specifications: Frequency range – 150 MHz to 22.6 GHz Tuning […]

January 5, 2026January 5, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Openterface KVM-GO – An ultra-compact KVM-over-USB solution with HDMI, DP, or VGA video input

Small enough to fit on a keychain, Openterface KVM-GO is a tiny, open-source hardware KVM-over-USB gadget available with an HDMI, DisplayPort (DP), or VGA connector and is designed for headless device troubleshooting and remote server monitoring. It follows the company’s earlier Mini-KVM KVM-over-USB device introduced in 2024 with HDMI and audio inputs. The new KVM-GO is more versatile with an HDMI, DP, or VGA connector, and does not require any video cable since it’s designed to be connected directly to the target device. It also adds a microSD card slot for easy OS installation. Openterface KVM-GO specifications: Microcontroller – WCH CH32V208 RISC-V MCU @ up to 144 MHz with Bluetooth LE, USB 2.0 Storage – MicroSD card for remote OS installation and file transfers Control method – KVM-over-USB Video capture Up to 4K @ 60 Hz Input port – HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA, depending on model (direct connection to target, […]

December 29, 2025December 29, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Open-source hardware USB to GPIB adapter connects legacy GPIB/IEEE-488 instruments to modern hosts

XyphroLabs’s UsbGpib is an open-source hardware, inexpensive, and portable USB to GPIB adapter aiming to provide “access to legacy GPIB/IEEE-488 instruments using contemporary hardware and software, with a focus on accessibility, openness, and ease of integration into current workflows”. Initially developed by Hewlett-Packard in the late 1960s/early 1970s, GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus), also known as IEEE-488 or initially HP-IB (Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus), is a short-range digital communications bus standard designed for connecting and controlling programmable electronic test and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, and power supplies to computers or controllers. The UsbGpib project helps connect GBIP-compliant equipment to modern host computers with a USB port. UsbGpib key hardware features and specifications: Microcontroller – Microchip ATMega32U4 8-bit AVR microcontroller for 5V I/O compatibility USB – USB Type-C port with full USBTMC (USB Test and Measurement Class) support 24-pin GPIB interface – Fully IEEE-488.1 and IEEE-488.2 enabled, including service request […]