Boardcon Compact3588S SBC Raspberry Pi 5 Alternative
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Boardcon Compact3588S SBC – A Raspberry Pi 5 alternative based on Rockchip RK3588S AI SoC with M.2 socket for SSD or 4G LTE module

Boardcon Compact3588S SBC is another Raspberry Pi 5 alternative powered by a Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC with a 6 TOP NPU for AI acceleration, up to 16GB RAM, up to 256GB eMMC flash, and all the features found in the Raspberry Pi 4, plus an M.2 socket supporting either an NVMe SSD or a 4G LTE module in conjunction with a Nano SIM card slot. It more closely follows the Raspberry Pi 4 form factor, but Rockchip RK3588S’ performance and capabilities make it a direct Raspberry Pi 5 competitor. Contrary to most credit card-sized single board computers, it follows a carrier board + soldered-on system-on-module design, rather than a single PCB. Boardcon Compact3588S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2,  OpenCL […]

Waveshare RP2350 GEEK Development Board
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Waveshare RP2350-GEEK USB development board doubles as a debugger for Raspberry Pi and other Arm boards

Waveshare has recently launched the RP2350-GEEK USB development board which can also be used as a debugger for Raspberry Pi boards and other Arm-based targets. Built around the Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU this development board/debugger features a 1.14-inch 65K color IPS LCD, a USB Type-A interface, a microSD card slot supporting SDIO and SPI communication, 16MB NOR-Flash, and multiple interfaces, including 3-pin SWD, USB to UART, and I2C ports. The board is compatible with standard CMSIS-DAP debugging tools like OpenOCD, which attaches to Raspberry Pi’s 3-pin debug connector for debugging. It also features open-source firmware for easy upgrades. Housed in a plastic case, the development board looks like a USB drive and is suitable for debugging, testing, and firmware development in IoT, embedded systems, and educational projects. Waveshare RP2350-GEEK Raspberry Pi debugger specifications Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2350A MCU CPU – Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 processor @ 150MHz Memory – 520KB internal RAM […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
Raspberry Pi Development Kit for CM5 Raspberry Pi OS
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A first look at the Raspberry Pi Development Kit for CM5

Raspberry Pi has just launched the Compute Module 5 (CM5) and the company sent me a “Raspberry Pi Development Kit for CM5” for review and to play around with the new Broadcom BCM2712 system-on-module succeeding the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) introduced in 2020. Today, I’ll have a first look at the development kit checking out the hardware, connecting accessories, booting it up to Raspberry Pi OS, and collecting some basic system information. I’ll do a more in-depth review in a few weeks. Unboxing of the Raspberry Pi Development Kit for CM5 I received the kit in a package reading “Raspberry Pi Development Kit” and “For Raspberry Pi CM5”. That’s a good start… The bottom side lists the package’s content which I will check out shortly, and a link to the documentation. Let’s see what we have with the Raspberry Pi Development Kit: a Raspberry Pi IO Case, a […]

Raspberry Pi CM5 Compute Module 5
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Raspberry Pi CM5 launched with Broadcom BCM2712 SoC, up to 16GB LPDDR4 ECC memory

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, or Raspberry Pi CM5 for shorts, is now available with up to 16GB LPPDR4 ECC memory, up to 64GB eMMC flash, and an optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE wireless module. It has the same form factor as the Raspberry Pi CM4 and CM4 Lite launched in 2020 but delivers a significant performance boost. The Raspberry Pi CM5 is basically a tiny version of the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC designed for embedded applications with a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A76 SoC, and offered with 2GB to 16GB RAM, optional 16GB to 64GB eMMC flash, and optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 module. As usual, there are also Raspberry Pi CM5 Lite versions without any eMMC flash meant to be booted from a microSD card or an SSD on the carrier board. Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Raspberry Pi CM5 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2712 […]

pimoroni LTE 4G for Raspberry Pi Clipper HAT Mini
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Clipper HAT Mini – A Raspberry Pi 4G LTE pHAT with Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector

Pimoroni Clipper HAT Mini – also called “CLIPPER LTE Mini HAT” – is a Raspberry Pi 4G LTE pHAT that can use mobile data for remote projects where WiFi connectivity is unreliable or unavailable. The HAT is built around a SIMCom A7683E LTE Cat 1 modem with support for frequency bands B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20/B28, offering uplink speeds up to 5 Mbps and downlink speeds up to 10 Mbps. Other key features of this HAT include a SIM card slot, an SMA antenna connector (antenna sold separately), two user buttons, indicator LEDs, and a Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector for I2C modules. The board is designed to attach to Raspberry Pi (Zero) via a pre-soldered socket header and includes introductory global data coverage via a 1NCE SIM card. These features make this device suitable for IoT projects, mobile data collection, and remote-controlled devices in varied environments. Raspberry Pi LTE 4G HAT Specifications Compatibility – Supports […]

Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ and AI camera review
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Getting Started with Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ (26 TOPS) and Raspberry Pi AI camera

Raspberry Pi recently launched several AI products including the Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ for the Pi 5 with 13 TOPS or 26 TOPS of performance and the less powerful Raspberry Pi AI camera suitable for all Raspberry Pi SBC with a MIPI CSI connector. The company sent me samples of the AI HAT+ (26 TOPS) and the AI camera for review, as well as other accessories such as the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 and Raspberry Pi Bumper, so I’ll report my experience getting started mostly following the documentation for the AI HAT+ and AI camera. Hardware used for testing In this tutorial/review, I’ll use a Raspberry Pi 5 with the AI HAT+ and a Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3, while I’ll connect the AI camera to a Raspberry Pi 4. I also plan to use one of the boards with the new Touch Display 2. Let’s go through a […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W access point
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$7 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W board launched with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module

As expected, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W – the wireless version of the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 – is now available with an extra 2.4GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module at an official price of $7. We’ll go through the specs and perform a mini review in this post trying out both WiFi and Bluetooth code samples. It’s not the first Raspberry Pi RP2350 with WiFi and Bluetooth we’ve seen, as Pimoroni introduced the Pico Plus 2 W board with an RP2350B MCU and Raspberry Pi RM2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and iLabs launched the Challenger+ RP2350 WiFi6/BLE5 board relying on ESP32-C6 wireless module. However, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is the official board, is cheaper, and will certainly be the most popular/widely used. Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W specifications Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W specifications: SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350 CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ […]

Raspberry Pi SSD Kit Class A2 MicroSD card review
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Raspberry Pi SSD Kit and Class A2 microSD cards review with Raspberry Pi 5

Selecting a microSD card, and to a lesser extent an SSD, for your Raspberry Pi may feel like walking through a landmine field with fake microSD cards that may perform poorly and severely impact the performance and/or reliability of your Raspberry Pi, and you’ll find plenty of articles helping you select a good microSD card for your Raspberry Pi. That’s probably why Raspberry Pi Holdings decided to launch its own Raspberry Pi-branded class A2 microSD cards and NVMe SSDs, so users can be sure they got a certified storage device that should perform as advertised as long as they purchase those from some authorized resellers. The company sent me 32GB and 64GB Raspberry Pi microSD cards and a 256GB Raspberry Pi SSD kit for testing, so I’ll test those in this review and compare them against other SSDs and microSD cards I’m currently using. Since we’ve not covered the new […]

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