Posted on

Silicon Labs partners with Nabu Casa to support Home Assistant development

Silicon Labs has entered an official partnership with Nabu Casa, the company behind the popular Home Assistant home automation software, to support the development of Home Assistant open-source software and Silicon Labs-based hardware platforms. Most open-source embedded software projects start as a one-person (or a small team) effort as the vendor-provided firmware and related software may not have the features set needed by this user or group of users. So they hack existing hardware to build something that better fits their requirements often without input/help from the silicon vendor or product manufacturer. But sometimes the project becomes popular enough that large companies start to help it with support and funding. That’s apparently the case for Home Assistant project with Silicon Lans and Nabu Case entering an official partnership. The announcement does not provide details about the partnership but explains this should lead to better support and improvements for both Home […]

Posted on

Review of SONOFF BASICR4 Smart Switch and S-MATE2 Smart Remote Control

We’ve received two new devices from SONOFF for testing, namely the BASICR4 Smart Switch and the S-MATE2 Smart Remote Control. For those familiar with SONOFF devices, the Basic series is well-known as it was one of the initial products SONOFF introduced to the Smart Home market. It’s a Wi-Fi switch that can be used for various purposes, including controlling lights, fans, and other electrical devices. The BASICR4 model enhances capabilities while reducing costs compared to its predecessor. The S-MATE2, on the other hand, is the second version of a simple Remote Controller powered by batteries. It wirelessly connects to other SONOFF devices that support the eWeLink Remote Gateway feature, enabling full control within the same ecosystem. This expands its usability across different devices. Let’s delve into the details. SONOFF BASICR4 Introduction The Basic series has been a long-standing Wi-Fi Switch family allowing control of electrical devices through the eWeLink app […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
Posted on

Linux 6.6 LTS release – Highlights, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

The Linux 6.6 release has just been announced by Linus Torvalds on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): So this last week has been pretty calm, and I have absolutely no excuses to delay the v6.6 release any more, so here it is. There’s a random smattering of fixes all over, and apart from some bigger fixes to the r8152 driver, it’s all fairly small. Below is the shortlog for last week for anybody who really wants to get a flavor of the details. It’s short enough to scroll through. This obviously means that the merge window for 6.7 opens tomorrow, and I appreciate how many early pull requests I have lined up, with 40+ ready to go. That will make it a bit easier for me to deal with it, since I’ll be on the road for the first week of the merge window. Linus About two months ago, […]

Posted on

SONOFF SNZB-06P Zigbee human presence sensor is based on a 5.8GHz microwave radar

ITEAD has launched a new Zigbee sensor with the SONOFF SNZB-06P designed to detect human presence using a 5.8GHz microwave radar whose main advantage over a traditional PIR motion sensor is the ability to detect stationary persons since this type of sensor can detect breathing. You’ll need a Zigbee Hub from SONOFF such as the NSPanel Pro or SONOFF iHost, or from other manufacturers, for instance, the Amazon Echo Plus 2nd generation, or simply use a Zigbee USB dongle such as the SONOFF ZBDongle-E connected to a host like a Raspberry Pi. Configuration and control is done through the usual eWelink app for Android or iOS. SONOFF SNZB-06P specifications: MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG22 wireless microcontroller Human presence sensor 5.8GHz microwave radar Sensitivity configurable from 2.5 meters to 4 meters Wireless – Zigbee 3.0 (router type) up to 30 meters Misc – Red LED, magnetic base, button Power Supply – […]

Posted on

SMLIGHT SLZB-07 – A low-cost, compact Zigbee 3.0 USB adapter

SMLIGHT SLZB-07 is a low-cost, compact Zigbee 3.0 USB adapter based on Silicon Labs EFR32 microcontroller and CP2102 USB to serial chip designed to work with multi-vendor software systems such as Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant ZHA. The adapter lets you easily integrate any Zigbee devices into Smart Home automation systems such as Home Assistant, OpenHub, or HomeSeer and offers an alternative to products like the official SkyConnect USB stick and SONOFF ZBDongle-E. It’s also Thread and Matter ready. SMLIGHT SLZB-07 specifications: Wireless SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 80 MHz with 352KB flash, 1024KB ROM for protocols and library functions,  96KB SRAM, integrated power amplifier, Bluetooth 5.2 Low Energy and 802.15.4 radios (Zigbee and Thread) Connectivity Zigbee 3.0 support, including Zigbee Green Power. Thread/Matter ready +3dB SMA antenna included USB – USB Type-A port for data and power Power Supply Input – 5V/60mA via USB-A Overvoltage protection […]

Posted on

Review of the first Matter device by SONOFF – MINI Extreme Wi-Fi Smart Switch (MINIR4M)

We have just received the first Matter product from SONOFF for review, which is the Mini Extreme Switch (MINIR4M) model. Its external appearance closely resembles the Mini Extreme Switch Wifi (MINIR4) which we reviewed previously. They have different colors to distinguish between WiFi (Orange) and Matter (Green). In this review, we have experimented with various Smart Home platforms that support Matter, such as Home Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and even their own eWeLink app. Let’s see how their operations and features differ to some extent. Quick intro for Matter. We have heard Matter/Thread together in the news. Matter is a control protocol, while Thread is a communication protocol. Both protocols can work together, or separately. Matter can operate on the top of various communication protocols, including WiFi, Ethernet, BLE, or Thread, with subtle differences such as energy efficiency, network, and resiliency. What’s crucial to note is that Matter acts […]

AAEON Intel Arc
Posted on

EDATEC ED-IPC2100 industrial computer offers 4x RS485/RS232 ports

EDATEC has launched four more Raspberry Pi CM4-powered industrial computers with the ED-IPC2100 Series that mostly differ from the earlier ED-IPC2010 model with an extra M.2 Key-B socket for an SSD, an extra Gigabit Ethernet port, and four COM ports with RS232 or RS485 interfaces depending on the exact model. The new ED-IPC2100 series industrial computer family ships with a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with up to 8GB RAM, 32GB flash, optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, and offer a full-size HDMI video output, two Gigabit Ethernet port, and a few USB ports. The ED-IPC2120 model looks to offer some extra features such as an HDMI Touch FPC connector, MIPI CSI camera and DSI display connectors, and audio interfaces. ED-IPC2100-series specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5GHz with VideoCore VI GPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDRR4-3200 RAM […]

Posted on

Home Assistant Green – A $99 Home Assistant gateway with a Rockchip RK3566 processor

The developers of the popular Home Assistant open-source automation framework have introduced the Home Assistant Green gateway based on a Rockchip RK3566 processor providing a lower-cost alternative to the Raspberry Pi CM4-based Home Assistant Yellow gateway. The Home Assistant Green was created to cater to the needs of people who did not need all of the advanced features enabled in the Home Assistant Yellow gateway and also because of the supply and pricing issues with the Raspberry Pi CM4. Just like its predecessor, the new gateway ships with Home Assistant OS and comes with everything that beginners may need to get started with Home Assistant in just one box.   Home Assistant Green specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE GPU NPU – 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator, VPU – 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoding, 1080p100f H.265/H.264 video encoding System […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC