CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

June 17, 2018November 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

ESP8266 RGB LED Strip Control with ANAVI Light Controller, Arduino, MQTT, and HTML5

Anavi-Light-Controller-Starter-Kit-Assembly

A few months ago I reviewed ANAVI Light pHat for Raspberry Pi which allows you to control an LED RGB strip from the popular development board. However, if all you need is to switch the RGB LED light on and off, or change the color, the hardware is clearly overpowered for the tasks. So Leon ANAVI designed another board based on ESP8266 – ANAVI Light Controller – which does the same thing with lower cost and more power efficient hardware. Leon sent me a sample for review, so let’s see what we’ve got. ANAVI Light Controller Starter Kit Unboxing I received a package for the Starter kit that’s offered for $39 on CrowdSupply. We’ve got the main board, a USB debugging, an acrylic enclosure with screws and spacers, a one meter RGB LED strip, and some stickers inside the package. If we have a close look at the board we […]

June 16, 2018June 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Allwinner T7 Automotive SoC Complies with AEC-Q100 Grade 3 Specifications

Allwinner T-series processors such as Allwinner T2 are designed for the transportation / automotive market for products like smart rear-view mirrors, infotainment systems, and navigation systems. While the company’s offered wide-temperature range support, AFAIK they did not have a part that had an actual automotive certification so far. This changes with their Allwinner T7 processor which is said to be the first Chinese processor achieving AEC-Q100 Grade 3 qualification. AEC-Q100 is a “failure mechanism based stress test qualification for integrated circuits” brought out by the Automotive Electronics Council. The chip must pass various tests within their specified temperature range (grade): Grade 0: -40°C to +150°C ambient operating temperature range Grade 1: -40°C to +125°C ambient operating temperature range Grade 2: -40°C to +105°C ambient operating temperature range Grade 3: -40°C to +85°C ambient operating temperature range Grade 4: 0°C to +70°C ambient operating temperature range Allwinner T7 comes with an […]

June 15, 2018June 15, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Xilinx Zynq-7020 based PYNQ-Z1 Arm + FPGA Board is Meant to be Programmed with Python

Xilinx Zynq-7000 series is a family of SoC based on Arm Cortex A9 processor coupled with FPGA fabric, and since the introduction in 2012, we’ve seen may board based on the entry-level Zynq-7010 or Zynq-7020 SoCs. Digilent PYNQ-Z1 is another Xilinx Zynq board from the company, but it does not differentiate itself by its hardware features, and instead the software part is the most interesting. The board is designed to be used with PYNQ, a new open-source framework that enables embedded programmers to exploit the capabilities of Xilinx Zynq SoCs without having to design programmable logic circuits, relying instead on Python programming. Digilent PYNQ-Z1 hardware specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq-7020 (XC7Z020-1CLG400C) dual core Arm Cortex-A9 processor with FPGA with 1.3 M reconfigurable gates System Memory – 512MB DDR3 Storage – Micro SD card slot, 16MB QSPI Flash with factory programmed globally unique identifier (48-bit EUI-48/64 compatible). Video – HDMI In […]

June 15, 2018July 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

ModBerry M500 Industrial Computer Upgraded to Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with PoE Support

TECHBASE has been making modular industrial computers based on hobbyist boards for several years with products like ModBerry M300 IoT Gateway. ModBerry M500 is another of their model, powered by a Raspberry Pi 3 board and launched in 2016. The company has now upgraded the industrial gateway to Raspberry Pi 3 B+ board, and added PoE support in the process. ModBerry M500 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837B0 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.4 GHz with VideoCore IV GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB micro SD card Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 and 3.5mm jack for CVBS (composite + stereo audio) Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet (max 300 Mbps) Dual band 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 LE Optional Zigbee, LTE/3G, GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth cards USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Expansion I/Os 2x RS-232/RS-485 4x digital inputs, 4x digital outputs up to 30V DC 1-wire […]

June 15, 2018June 26, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Wemos LOLIN D32 Pro ESP32 Board Supports TFT Displays, Comes with a micro SD Card Slot

Wemos is popular for their low cost WiFi board based on Espressif SoCs. Their most popular board is ESP8266 based Wemos D1 mini thanks to its compact form factor, low price ($5 shipped), and available add-on boards. But they’ve also launched some ESP32 in the last year or so with development boards such as Wemos LOLIN32 Lite. Their latest ESP32 board – LOLIN D32 Pro v2.00 – features ESP32-WROVER module, and beside exposing I/Os via breadboard compatible headers, also offers a micro SD card slot, a TFT display connector, and an I2C header. LOLIN D32 Pro specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth 4.1 LE module with 4MB Flash, 4MB PSRAM Storage – micro SD card slot supporting SPI mode Display I/F – TFT display connector USB – 1x micro USB port for programming and power Expansion 2x 16-pin headers with GPIOs, SPI, I2C, UART, ADC, DAC, […]

June 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

SPIDriver Tool Allows you to Control and Monitor SPI Devices from your Computer (Crowdfunding)

SPIDriver is an interested SPI debugging / programming tool that connect to your PC’s USB port to control SPI devices, such as LCD Displays or LED strips, while showing the SPI signals and voltage/current levels on a color display. The tool can also be used as an SPI flash programmer. SPIDriver hardware specifications: Headers 5-pin SPI header up to 500 Kbps + A/B auxiliary output signal 4-pin power header with 5V and 3.3V support Maximum power out current – up to 470 mA Signal current – up to 10 mA Device current – up to 25 mA Host interface – micro USB 2.0 port Color display showing signals Dimensions – 61 mm x 49 mm x 6 mm The board works with an open source program available in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS using either a GUI or a command line. It’s also possible to program the device using C/C++ […]

June 14, 2018June 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Hikey 970 Documentation, HiAI DDK, Linux Firmware Images, and Support Forums

Hikey 970 board has impressive specifications with Huawei Kirin 970 SoC featuring an octa-core Arm Cortex A73/A53 processor and an Arm Mali-G72-MP12 GPU, coupled with 6GB LPDDR4x and 64GB UFS storage. It’s also one of the first broadly available developer platforms equipped with a Neural Processing Unit for artificial intelligence applications. However when it launched in April, Hikey 970 documentation was lacking, and despite the board is supposed to run both Android (AOSP) and Linux distributions such as Ubuntu or Debian, so far only AOSP is shown in the download section, with Linux distributions “coming soon”. But if you want to start as soon as possible there are still some good news. First, some documentation for the board has been released on Github, including getting started guides, hardware documentation (schematics, user manual, etc..), and some instructions to build AOSP from source code, and flash it to the UFS storage. If […]

June 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Easythreed NANO Mini Fully Assembled 3D Printer Sells for $160

If you plan on getting started with 3D printing, you’ll already find some decent low cost 3D printers on the market such as Anet A8 that is now selling for around $150 plus shipping. However, most of those come in kits that you need to assemble yourself, and some people may feel uneasy about the process. But this morning, I’ve come across another option with Easythreed NANO Mini 3D printer that is fully assembly, and up for pre-order on Banggood for $159.99 including free shipping.. Easythreed NANO Mini 3D printer specifications: Print Technology – FDM Print Size – 90 x 110 x 110 mm Nozzle Diameter – 0.4mm Layer Thickness – 0.1-0.3mm Filament Support – PLA Filament Size – 1.75mm Rotary technology – Belt drive, linear bearing technology Print accuracy – 0.1-0.3mm Feed Technology – Proximal feed Nozzle Temperature – 180-230℃ Printing speed – 10-20MM/S File format – Input: .Stl, Transfer: .gcode One key printing technology Storage – micro USB card USB – 1x USB port Power supply – Input: 110~240V 50/60HZ Output: 12V, 60W Dimensions – 188 […]