Tiny Keyboards Raspberry Pi RP2040 or ESP32-C3

Mini keyboards launched with ESP32-C3 or Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU

Last week, when I saw LilyGO T-Keyboard based on ESP32-C3, I didn’t think much of it and did not expect many people to be interested, so I skipped it. But earlier today I also noticed Solder Party launched a very similar-looking product – the BB Q20 Keyboard with Trackpad – based on Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU. So after all, it might be worthwhile to look into those mini keyboards for makers. LilyGO T-keyboard Hardware specifications: SoC – ESP32-C3 single-core RISC-V processor with Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Display – 0.99-inch TFT color LCD QWERTY keyboard Battery – 400mAh built-it battery Power Supply – 5V via USB port Dimensions – 6.9 x 5.3 x 1.7 cm The company promotes it as a mini Bluetooth keyboard for iOS and Android smartphones, as well as Windows machines, but also has plans to make it work with their T-Echo LoRa messaging hardware.  […]

Wisblock LoRaWAN & NFC Reader wireless modules

RAKwireless introduces 16 new WisBlock modules with LoRaWAN, NFC reader, etc…

RAKwireless will add new modules to its WisBlock IoT modular system every quarter. Last July, WisBlock family welcomed 14 new modules, and in September 2021, RAK11310 Raspberry Pi RP2040 LoRaWAN core was introduced together with a new baseboard and various sensor modules. This time around, the company launched 16 new Wisblock modules with two wireless modules, one adding LoRaWAN to an ESP32 core module, the other acting as an RFID and NFC card reader, as well as six sensor modules, and eight “interface” modules ranging from barcode scanners to keypads. WisBlock Wireless modules RAK13300 WisBlock LPWAN module based on Semtech SX1262 transceiver extends the communication abilities of the RAK11200 ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth LE module with LoRa / LoRaWAN. RAK13600 WisBlock NFC Reader enables reading and writing of NFC tags like RFID cards and other NFC enabled devices using NXP PN532 chip. WisBlock Sensor modules RAK12013 WisBlock Radar Sensor – […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Industrial IoT gateway 5G quad antennas

5G IoT/AIoT industrial gateway ships with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4

WPC-632-Pi CM4 is an industrial IoT gateway based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with optional 5G or 4G LTE cellular connectivity, that joins other Raspberry Pi CM4 industrial gateways such as CompuLab IOT-GATE-RPI4, CatsPi Industrial Lite, Modberry M500 CM4, among others. The Linux gateway features two Ethernet ports, RS232/RS485 and other I/Os via terminal blocks, mPCIe and M.2 sockets for expansion with 5G modem 4G LTE mode, AI accelerator, or an NVMe SSD, as well as support for 9V to 32V wide-range input power. WPC-632-Pi CM4 industrial gateway specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex A72 processor with VideoCore VI GPU, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB flash, optional wireless module Storage – Optional PCIe SSD via M.2 key M socket Video and audio output – 1x micro HDMI port up to 4Kp60 with audio Camera – 1x MIPI CSI-2 connector Connectivity […]

Clusberry Rack

ClusBerry Rack houses up to four hot-swappable Raspberry Pi CM4 modules

TECHBASE ClusBerry Rack supports up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 based modules which can be added and removed on the fly thanks to a lockable mechanism that reminds me of hot-swappable drives found in NAS. Using the same ClusBerry I/O mainboards as found in the earlier ClusBerry 9500-CM4 and ClusBerry-2M industrial systems, each Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 inside the ClusBerry Rack offer one Gigabit Ethernet port, one USB host, one micro USB service port, and an RS-232/485 serial port. TECHBASE is not the best company when it comes to describing its products, possibly because those are customizable, and in this case, they don’t show the other side of the enclosure with all ports… But based on the PDF we’ve received, you should be able to create a system with four modules offering the following features each: Optional video output – HDMI Networking – 1x Gigabit Ethernet port (option for […]

USB LoRaWAN GPS tracker adapter

TTGO T-Motion USB adapter offers LoRa and GPS for under $30

USB adapters are one of the easiest ways to add new features to existing hardware, and if you’d like to add LoRa connectivity and GPS tracking to any device or board with a USB board TTGO T-Motion USB adapter offers just that. Manufactured by LilyGO, the USB dongle is based on AcSiP S76G system-in-package that integrates an STM32 MCU with a Semtech SX1276 LoRa transceiver and GPS into a single. The GPS antenna is placed on the board inside the enclosure, while the external LoRa antenna is connected through an SMA connector. TTGO T-motion specifications: SiP – AcSiP S76G system-in-package with STMicro STM32L073x Arm Cortex M0+ MCU with up to 192 KB of Flash memory and 20 KB of RAM, Semtech SX1276 supporting global 868 MHz or 915 MHz ISM-Bands, Sony CXD5603GF GNSS receiver. Antenna Internal GPS antenna External LoRa antenna Host interface – USB 2.0 male port Misc – […]

Nokia E63 LoRa messenger

Nokia E63 phone converted into LoRa messenger for secure, off-the-grid communication

While LoRa radios are mostly designed to transmit data from sensors and to actuators, there have been attempts to leverage LoRa for messaging in the past with, for instance, the Meshtastic Mesh Networking Project to help hikers exchanged their GPS coordinates or other short messages, the Raspberry Pi Pico powered PICOmputer with QWERTY keyboard, display, and a LoRa module, and Pine64 is also working on developing LoRa hardware for messaging. Trevor Attema decided to repurpose his Nokia E63 Blackberry-like phone with a custom STM32H7 board with a LoRa radio while keeping the enclosure, display, backlighting, keyboard, and speaker which he calls the Off The Grid Messenger, or OTG Messenger for shorts. The custom board also adds Microchip ATECC608 crypto authentication chip for encrypted messages, and the LoRa Messenger would allow a theoretical transmission range of 16 kilometers in line of sight which would allow a small group of people to […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Gas sensor & DC-Motor Wisblock Modules

RAKwireless announces 14 new WisBlock modules for IoT prototyping

Rakwireless has added 14 new Wisblock modules to the WisBlock IoT modular system introduced last year, plans to soon release a Raspberry Pi RP2040 based LoRaWAN Wisblock Core module, and will give away some Wisblock starter kits this week. As a reminder WisBlock IoT modular system is comprised of four block types: WisBlock Base – A carrier board with connectors for other block types, power supply, some ports WisBlock Core – Module with a microcontroller/processor WisBlock Sensor – Modules with environmental sensors, motion sensors, ambient light sensors, or others WisBlock IO – Adds more inputs, outputs, or connectivity options including  LTE-M / NB-IoT, cellular and Wi-Fi modules, NFC reader, and interfaces for I2C, UART, ADC, and GPIO. New WisBlock IO and Sensor modules Some modules are available right now, while others have been announced, but just coming soon Here’s a list of the 10 modules available now: RAK12002 – RTC […]

BatsWAN

BastWAN Feather-compatible LoRaWAN board features RAK4260 Microchip R34 module

We’ve previously written about a Feather-compatible LoRaWAN board equipped with RAK4260 module based on Microchip R34 LoRa SIP called Penguino Feather. It appears somebody, namely Electronic Cats based in Mexico, decided to design an almost identical board with BastWAN. Let’s see if there are any differences besides the cheaper price. BastWAN specifications: LoRa module – Rak wireless RAK4260 module with: SiP – Microchip SAML21 Arm Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz, 32 KB RAM, 256 KB Flash, Semtech SX1276 LoRa Connectivity Frequency Range – 862 to 1020 MHz High level of accuracy and stability (32MHz TXCO) Max Tx Power: 20dBm; Max Sensitivity: -148dBm; Rx Current: 17mA (typical) Compliant with LoRaWan 1.0.2 Antenna – SMA and u.FL (IPEX) antenna connector I/Os – Feather headers with 20x IO pins including PWN, serial, I2C, SPI, 6x 12-bit ADC, 1x 10-bit DAC HW security – ATECC608A crypto authentication chip Programming and debugging 10-pin 4-pin […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications