Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Nadhat is an Add-on Board for Raspberry Pi Boards with 2G GSM/GPRS Support

Nadhat is an Add-on Board for Raspberry Pi Boards with 2G GSM/GPRS Support

Making Raspberry Pi HATs for fun seems to have become a popular hobby, as after checking out Leon Anavi’s Infrared pHAT a little while ago, I’ve just come across Nadhat add-on board with GSM/GPRS and Bluetooth 3.0 made by Frederic Pierson in his spare time. Nad stands for “Network Access Device”, and the device comes with the following specifications: SIM800C module with 2G GSM/GPRS support, and Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR (but Bluetooth is not mentioned by the developer, so it may not work right now) SIM card slot + connector for GSM antenna CR1225 cell battery slot for RTC 40-pin header provided, but not soldered Dimensions – 65 x30 mm, compatible with Raspberry Pi Zero He explains that he made the board himself and the  PCBs “are leaded reflow processed and do not follow regulations in Europe”. You’ll also have to provide your own GSM antenna and CR1225 battery. He’s […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on BuildOne is a $99 WiFi 3D printer with Auto Bed-Leveling (Crowdfunding)

BuildOne is a $99 WiFi 3D printer with Auto Bed-Leveling (Crowdfunding)

3D printers have become more and more affordable with products like Anet A8 3D printer that sells for a little over $150, and now many models are below $200, such as the Prusa i3 clone just reviewed by Karl. But BuildOne is going a step further by bringing the price right below $100, at least during the Kickstarter campaign, and the basic model. BuildOne 3D printer specifications and key features: Print volume –  125 x 125 x 125 mm Minimum layer resolution – 50 microns (100 to 300 recommended for most prints) Horizontal position resolution – 20 microns / 0.02 mm Filament size – 1.75 mm Filament type – PLA (ABS, nylon, and more with a heated bed) Notable features – Auto-calibration, auto-leveling,  LED status, panic button to interrupt prints, modularity with easy to replace parts and optional add-ons Connectivity – WiFi to print from a web browser or smartphone […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Raiscube Prusa I3 3D Printer Review – Part 1: Assembly, First Prints, and Configuration

Raiscube Prusa I3 3D Printer Review – Part 1: Assembly, First Prints, and Configuration

Karl here. Today we are going to start looking a Raiscube Prusa I3 3D printer kit sent for review by GearBest. It’s very similar to most low cost 3D printer kits with one exception. The parts cooler is not like any similar kits that I have seen. In my short time researching these kits the parts cooler is one of the first upgrades I see people do. Typically the parts coolers are inadequate or nonexistent. We will find out that it is actually too good. In this review we are first going to outline the basic components and a mini build guide. Then we will look and see how it prints. Prusa I3 Desktop LCD 3D Printer Specs Main Features: Mainboard: Melzi V2.0 210 x 210 x 210mm build volume 12864 LCD screen shows your printing information directly and easy for you to manipulate 8mm-thick laser cut acrylic frame for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Flexible & Adhesive LEGO TAPE Could Be Useful for Makers / DIY Projects

Flexible & Adhesive LEGO TAPE Could Be Useful for Makers / DIY Projects

I remember when the Raspberry Pi board first launched, there was no case, and LEGO case designs were popular, and there are certainly various ways you could use LEGO in your projects. But I’ve just discovered LEGO tape that could bring much more flexibility to your design. It’s just like LEGO, but flexible, and with an adhesive flat side, so you can cut it to any size you want, and stick it anywhere. “Back to Realitee” shop sells those for $12.95 for 1 meter tapes. available in various colors. This allows kids to play differently with LEGO by sticking to wall, or making special shapes. If times are stuff, and you’d like to spend less, Aliexpress has similar LEGO tapes, with the cheaper ones without a sticky side, so you’d have to use you own double sided sticky tape. Prices start at $0.89 shipped for 25cm, and $3.79 for 1 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Intel To Make Thunderbolt 3 Royalty-free, Release Specifications

Intel To Make Thunderbolt 3 Royalty-free, Release Specifications

Intel Thunderbolt 3 is a single port connect that supports multiple standards (Thunderbolt, USB 3.1, DisplayPort, PCIe), leverages USB-C connector, and offers up to 40 Gbps throughput. So far, it’s mostly found in higher end computers and laptops, but Intel has now announced plans to make it royalty-free, and “release the  specifications to the industry” (so maybe not completely free/public) in order to increase adoption of the standard. Thunderbolt-3 main features: Thunderbolt, USB, DisplayPort, and power on USB-C USB-C connector and cables (small, reversible) 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 – double the speed of Thunderbolt 2 Bi-directional, dual-protocol (PCI Express and DisplayPort) 4 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3 8 lanes of DisplayPort 1.2 (HBR2 and MST) Supports two 4K displays (4096 x 2160 30bpp @ 60 Hz) USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) – compatible with existing USB devices and cables DisplayPort 1.2 – compatible with existing DisplayPort displays, devices, and cables […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on HiSilicon Hi3796M V200 UHD DVB + H.265 STB SoC Showcased at Broadcast Asia 2017

HiSilicon Hi3796M V200 UHD DVB + H.265 STB SoC Showcased at Broadcast Asia 2017

Broadcast Asia international digital multimedia & entertaiment technology exhibition & conference is taking place in Singapore on May 23 – 25, and I’ve been informed that Hisilicon showcased their latest Hi3796M V200 Set-top box SoC with support for 4K DVB, H.265, and high dynamic range technology such as HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision. Key features and specifications of Hi3796M V200 processor: CPU – Quad core ARM Cortex A53 GPU – ARM Mali-450MP Memory – DDR3, DDR3L, DDR4 Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0a Tx with HDCP 2.2 Video format – HEVC, H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4, VC1, VP9, AVS 2.0 HDR – HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision, HDR and SDR conversion HiVXE 2.0 VPU – Decoder – 4K60 10-bit; Encoder – HEVC/H.264 1080p30 or 2x 720p30 Ethernet – 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x Fast Ethernet USB 2.0 – 2x USB 2.0 ports SATA & PCIe & USB 3.0 – USB 3.0, SATA 3.0, PCIe […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Melon S3 FPGA Arduino & Raspberry Pi Compatible Board is Programmable over WiFi using ESP8266 WiSoC

Melon S3 FPGA Arduino & Raspberry Pi Compatible Board is Programmable over WiFi using ESP8266 WiSoC

Q-Wave Systems, an embedded systems company based in Thailand, has designed Melon S3 FPGA board powered by a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA with WiFi connectivity added through a ESP8266 module programmable with the Arduino IDE , and featuring two Raspberry Pi compatible headers. The FPGA bitstream can be updated over  WiFi, and does not require a JTAG debugger. Melon S3 FPGA specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan XC3S500E FPGA with 500K gates, 73Kb Distributed RAM, 4 Digital Clock Manager (DCM), 20 Multipliers (18×18), 360 Kb Block RAM WiFi module – WROOM-2 with Espressif ESP8266 32-bit MCU @ 80 MHz supporting 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. Storage – 4MB SPI flash in total with 1MB for ESP8266, 3 MB for FPGA Expansion – 2x 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible headers; 3.3V tolerant Debugging – Onboard USB-UART Silicon Labs CP2104 for configuration, debugging and power; 6-pin JTAG port for debugging/programming Misc – 8x Users LEDs, 4x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Getting Started with OpenCV for Tegra on NVIDIA Tegra K1, CPU vs GPU Computer Vision Comparison

Getting Started with OpenCV for Tegra on NVIDIA Tegra K1, CPU vs GPU Computer Vision Comparison

This is a guest post by Leonardo Graboski Veiga, Field Application Engineer, Toradex Brasil Introduction Computer vision (CV) is everywhere – from cars to surveillance and production lines, the need for efficient, low power consumption yet powerful embedded systems is nowadays one of the bleeding edge scenarios of technology development. Since this is a very computationally intensive task, running computer vision algorithms in an embedded system CPU might not be enough for some applications. Developers and scientists have noticed that the use of dedicated hardware, such as co-processors and GPUs – the latter traditionally employed for graphics rendering – can greatly improve CV algorithms performance. In the embedded scenario, things usually are not as simple as they look. Embedded GPUs tend to be different from desktop GPUs, thus requiring many workarounds to get extra performance from them. A good example of a drawback from embedded GPUs is that they are […]

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