Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - Comments Off on Sponsored: Recoverit 8.0 Data Recovery Software Works on Windows & Mac OS

Sponsored: Recoverit 8.0 Data Recovery Software Works on Windows & Mac OS

Recoverit 8.0 Recovered Photo Preview

You should always backup your data as it may become lost or corrupted due to hardware failure, user’s mistakes, or bad actors. However, if your data appears to be truly lost, and backup is not available, it’s possible to use data recovery software such as Wondershare  Recoverit Data Recovery available for Windows and Mac OS. The program will scan your computer or specific folder/storage device to locate any kind of deleted or corrupted files and ask you which files or/and folders to retrieve. This works on drives that have been corrupted due to a crash or power failure, formatted by mistake, and so on and the program can handle both internal and external drives. Wondershare has recently released Recoverit 8.0 version with various new features and improvements: Simpler and more user-friendly interface – Recoverit 8.0 comes with a simpler and more user-friendly design as shown above. The software will show drives including lost partitions as well as external devices, and …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments on Top 5 Raspberry Pi Alternatives in 2019

Top 5 Raspberry Pi Alternatives in 2019

Raspberry Pi Alternatives 2019

The Raspberry Pi boards are great little Arm Linux SBC’s with a low price and great community support. But the Broadcom processors used in the boards are also fairly old so they may not be suitable for some projects. If your application needs or would benefit from modern features such as memory over 1GB RAM, an actual Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 port(s), 4K video output, or H.265 hardware video decoding you’ll have to find Raspberry Pi alternatives. I’ll point out 5 alternative single board computers in this post from the point of view of existing Raspberry Pi users, who will want good software support and a board with the same or similar form factor as Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ in order to reuse their add-on boards and/or enclosures. Price has to be competitive as well, so nothing above $80 will be mentioned. The boards are not listed in any particular order. Pine64 Rock64 The Rock64 board is ideal …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on E-ALE is a Free & Open Source Linux Training Program for Embedded Engineers

E-ALE is a Free & Open Source Linux Training Program for Embedded Engineers

E-ALE official hardware kit

As I wrote about the Embedded Linux Conference 2019 schedule a few days ago, I found out one of talk planned to use E-ALE hardware kit for the session. I had never heard about this kit, but a quick search led me to e-ale.org website which explains E-ALE stands for Embedded Apprentice Linux Engineer. The training program is made for embedded engineers with experience designing firmware for microcontrollers, but now need to transition to embedded Linux. Training only happens in-person (no webinar) at existing Embedded Linux conferences and is comprised of 8 to 9 seminars over 2 to 3 days. It usually starts with a presentation on one subject, followed by lab time to practice the relevant learned skills. The training takes place on the E-ALE kit at each conference, but it does not refer to a specific hardware platform. In most conferences, the PocketBeagle and BaconBits add-on board are used to lab sessions, but for example this year at …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Arduino Introduces Four New Nano Boards with WiFi, BLE, Sensors, and/or HW Crypto

Arduino Introduces Four New Nano Boards with WiFi, BLE, Sensors, and/or HW Crypto

Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense

The Maker Faire 2019 is now taking place in San Mateo, California, United States, and Arduino has made an habit of announcing new products during the events. This year is no different as the company has announced a new Nano Family with four boards: Arduino Nano Every powered by a Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller Arduino Nano 33 IoT with secure internet connectivity thanks to a U-blox ESP32 WiFi module and ATECC608A HW crypto chip Arduino Nano 33 BLE with Bluetooth connectivity via U-blox NINA B306 module based on Nordic Semi nRF52480 Bluetooth 5.0 chip Arduino Nano BLE Sense with a design similar to Nano 33 BLE but some extra on-board sensors. Arduino Nano Every Specifications: MCU –  Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller @ 20 MHz with 48KB flash, 6KB SRAM, 256 Bytes EEPROM USB to Serial via Microchip ATSAMD11D14A Arm Cortex-M0+ USB MCU 2x 15-pin expansion headers with GPIO, SPI, I2C, USART, PWM, ADC, DAC, reset, and power signals (+5V, +3.3V, …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Embedded Linux Conference & Open Source Summit 2019 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference & Open Source Summit 2019 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference 2019 Schedule

In the last few years, I covered the Embedded Linux Conference and IoT Summit schedules since both were happening at the same time and in the same location. But the Linux Foundation have recently announced the Embedded Linux Conference will combine with the Open Source Summit, so the IoT Summit appears to have been phased out. The full schedule for the events taking place on August 21 – 23, 2019 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, USA, has also been released, so I’ll create a virtual schedule with some of the sessions most relevant to this blog. Wednesday August 21, 2019 11:30 – 12:05 – What’s New with U-Boot? by Simon Glass, Google LLC U-Boot is a widely used bootloader in embedded systems. Many users are unaware of the wide feature-set of U-Boot, particularly features added in the last few years. This talk aims to bring users (and prospective users) up to speed on the state of the art in …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on MBCFET Process Technology to Enable 3nm Chips in 2021

MBCFET Process Technology to Enable 3nm Chips in 2021

Planar FinFET GAA MBCFET Transistor

We often read new processor are manufactured with a FinFET process. The new process was created due to short channel effects in traditional planar transistors, and FinFET (Fin Field-effect transistor) was introduced to enable further voltage scaling but with the process node becoming smaller and smaller, electrostatics effects started to cause problem. A solution was to use GAA (Gate All Around) nanowires to limit those effects, but those are apparently really hard to integrate into silicon, so Samsung ended up using thin layers (nanosheets) instead of nanowires enabling greater current per track in their GAA implementation called MBCFET (Multi-Bridge Channel Field-Effect Transistor). While FinFET starts to encounter limitations under 4-5nm, MBCFET will enable manufacturing of chips using a 3nm process. Silicon designers can get started straight away as Samsung Foundry has recently announced the release of their 3GAE PDK (Process Design) version 0.1. Compared to 7nm FinFET technology, Samsung’s 3GAE / MBCFET process should provide up to a 45 percent …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Programmable-Air is an Arduino Nano Powered Pneumatics Kit (Crowdfunding)

Programmable-Air is an Arduino Nano Powered Pneumatics Kit (Crowdfunding)

Programmable-Air Arduino Nano Pneumatics Kit

Programmable-Air is a hardware toolkit that allows you to inflate and deflate objects. Powered by an Arduino Nano board, the kit comes with high pressure and vacuum pumps, valves, and a pressure sensor that enables users to experiement and learn about pneumatics and inflatables. Some of the potential applications include vacuum pick and place machines,  soft robots able to walk, soft robotics hands, using a syringe as a linear actuator, inflatable bras, arts projects and more. Programmable-Air specifications: MCU Board – Arduino Nano baord nased on Microchip ATMega328P microcontroller Pneumatics – Full channel control, i.e. high pressure through atmospheric pressure to vacuum output in the same tube. Max pressure – 0.5 atmosphere (7.5 PSI / 50 kPa) Min Pressure – -0.5 atmosphere (-7.5 PSI / -50 kPa) Flow rate: 2 liters per minute per motor Expansion Grove I²C connector to easily add sensors (Not shown in prototype photo above) Expandable for adding valves/sensors Power Supply – 12 V/1.2 A from …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Raspberry Pi based Hyper Keyboard Pi & hgTerm Handheld PCs, and RasPi Arcade Stick

Raspberry Pi based Hyper Keyboard Pi & hgTerm Handheld PCs, and RasPi Arcade Stick

hgterm DIY Raspberry Pi Handheld Computer

There are so many products and projects based on Raspberry Pi that it’s difficult to keep track, and many are often not that interesting, not because they are not useful, but instead because it just feels we’ve seen those before. But this week I’ve come accross three projects that looks to be newsworthy including two handheld computers with a 4″ display, and one retro-gaming console with standard arcade buttons and controls similar to what is found in Pandora’s Box/Key 5S. hgTerm DIY Raspberry Pi  Handheld Computer hgterm is a portable computer based on a stripped down Raspberry Pi 3 where the Ethernet port, HDMI port, and most of the USB ports have been removed. It features a 4″ touchscreen display, a Bluetooth keyboard all housed in a 3D printed case. It’s not actually a product that you can buy (yet), but a project made by Igor Brkić which you can reproduce by following the introduction on his website. The short …

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