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October 4, 2020October 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

DT71 smart tweezers review – 3-in-1 tweezers, multimeter, and signal generator

Earlier this year, I discovered a new (to me) category of devices that look useful for electronics projects with smart tweezers Colibri ST-5S that integrate an LCR meter and can help quickly identify SMD components. I also noted some cheaper, but bulky models selling on Aliexpress for $15 and up. I’ve now received another compact model, yet affordable, as Seeed Studio sent me Miniware DT71 smart tweezers for review. As we’ll see in this getting started guide, DT71 can be used both as a multimeter and a signal generator and sells for around $59 plus shipping. Miniware DT71 Smart Tweezers Unboxing Let’s first see what I received. the tweezers are stored in a plastic box that contains three parts. First, the arms fitted with replaceable tips clearly marked as positive (red) and negative (blue). There’s a 3.5mm audio jack that allows us to connect the microcontroller unit with a display, […]

August 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Embedded Linux Conference (ELC) Europe 2019 Schedule – October 28-30

Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2019 Schedule

I may have just written about Linaro Connect San Diego 2019 schedule, but there’s another interesting event that will also take place this fall: the Embedded Linux Conference Europe on October 28 -30, 2019 in Lyon, France. The full schedule was also published by the Linux Foundation a few days ago, so I’ll create a virtual schedule to see what interesting topics will be addressed during the 3-day event. Monday, October 28 11:30 – 12:05 – Debian and Yocto Project-Based Long-Term Maintenance Approaches for Embedded Products by Kazuhiro Hayashi, Toshiba & Jan Kiszka, Siemens AG In industrial products, 10+ years maintenance is required, including security fixes, reproducible builds, and continuous system updates. Selecting appropriate base systems and tools is necessary for efficient product development. Debian has been applied to industrial products because of its stability, long-term supports, and powerful tools for packages development. The CIP Project, which provides scalable and […]

August 7, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

STMicro Launches $10 STLINK-V3mini Mini Probe for STM32 MCUs

Last year, we reported STMicroelectronics launched STLink-V3 debugger & programmer for STM8 & STM32 microcontrollers that added I2C, SPI, and CAN interfaces compared the previous STLink-V2 model. It’s not particularly expensive either at $35, but if you ever wanted something more compact and cheaper, the company has now introduced STLink-V3mini debugger going for under $10. STLINK-V3Mini key features and specifications: JTAG / serial wire debugging (SWD) specific features: 3 V to 3.6 V application voltage support and 5 V tolerant inputs JTAG communication support SWD and serial wire viewer (SWV) communication support Virtual COM port (VCP) specific features: 3 V to 3.6 V application voltage support on the UART interface and 5 V tolerant inputs VCP frequency up to 15 MHz USB – Micro USB 2.0 connector for power and connection to host computer Misc – 2x color LEDs: communication, power; STDC14 signals protection Dimensions – 30 x 15 mm […]

July 26, 2019July 29, 2019 by Sponsored Post - Comments Off

AFRd Auto Frame Rate Daemon Works with 64-bit Amlogic Processors

Automatic frame rate switching in TV box ensures video output matches the video frame rate in order to avoid skipped frames (judder) from time to time, and makes the videos much smoother to watch, especially to trained eyes. The problem is that the feature is not always implemented, and/or does not work for all apps. AFRd auto frame rate daemon aims to solve this issue by automatically switching video output to match the video framerate – e.g. 23.976 fps or 59.94 fps – on Android TV boxes powered by one of Amlogic 64-bit processors, be it S905, S905X, S905X2, S912, S905W and other more recent Armv8 processors from the company. Developed by Andrey Zabolotny (anpaza), AFRd is Linux daemon can be linked to either bionic for Android, or glibc for Linux operating systems, and the source code can be found on Github. It relies on two techniques to detect the […]

July 16, 2019July 16, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - No Comments

PicoLog 6 Beta supports Raspberry Pi 4, 3B and 3B+

One of the most popular computer platforms, Raspberry Pi has not been supported for Pico’s advanced datalogging software, up until now. The PicoLog 6 datalogging software is now compatible with Raspbian Stretch or later OS. The software has been designed for quick access to simple or complex acquisitions, and enabled to record, analyze or view data of almost any type. TC-08 Thermocouple Datalogger with Raspberry Pi 3 board Real Power It is essentially the same software that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a few differences to take advantage of the capability of the lower-powered Arm processors. Producing a powerful datalogger for the Raspberry Pi SBC platform. The PicoLog 6 is optimized for Raspbian Stretch and runs the Raspberry Pi 4, 3B and 3B+ SBC’s. The core of the utility is an easy to use visual interface that allows for an almost out-of-box use to the program. Features Making […]

July 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Linux 5.2 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 5.2 last Sunday: So I was somewhat pre-disposed towards making an rc8, simply because of my travels and being entirely off the internet for a few days last week, and with spotty internet for a few days before that [*]. But there really doesn’t seem to be any reason for another rc, since it’s been very quiet. Yes, I had a few pull requests since rc7, but they were all small, and I had many more that are for the upcoming merge window. Part of it may be due to the July 4th week, of course, but whatever – I’ll take the quiet week as a good sign. So despite a fairly late core revert, I don’t see any real reason for another week of rc, and so we have a v5.2 with the normal release timing. There’s no particular area that stands […]

July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$10 Is it me or is it is just USB? Board Quickly Tests your USB Cables

USB 2.0 and 1.1 cables are supposed to come with four signal: GND and 5V for power, and D-/D+ for data. Some chargers come with cables without the data cables. It may “work” for charging, but if for some reasons you decided to use that USB cable for tasks requiring data this won’t work, and you may not find out easily the reason at first. Importantly the data lines can also be used during charging to request more power from the host device, so if they are missing slower charging may ensue. You could always use a multimeter to check your cables, but “iUSB cable testers it me or is it just USB? ” board provides a simpler and faster solution by indicating which wires are connected in your cable with LEDs. The developer, named nerfhammer, separate cables with and without data lines as follows: Basic USB cables cannot transfer […]