Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Android 10 on Xiaomi Mi A2 (Lite) or When Firmware Updates Go Wrong

Android 10 on Xiaomi Mi A2 (Lite) or When Firmware Updates Go Wrong

Xiaomi Mi A2 Android 10

I’ve been using Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone since December 2018. At the time, it shipped with Android 8.0, but I soon got an update to Android 8.1, and later to Android 9.0. I’m quite satisfied with the phone as it receives (almost) monthly security updates, works reasonably faster, features a decent camera, and overall does the job. The biggest complaint I have so far is about storage. It comes with 32GB eMMC flash and no MicroSD card slot, and it’s constantly full, so I have to clear the cache often, and sometimes I need to uninstall an app and reinstall it in order to install an update. Sometimes in January, I got a notification about Android 10 updates, but since I was out of space, I only installed it late February after some serious storage cleaning… The update went smoothly, and after some adjustment to the settings I was back to a usable phone, but I soon noticed a warming …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Gumstix Raspberry Pi Zero Battery Board Takes AA Batteries, Offers Two-hour Battery Life

Gumstix Raspberry Pi Zero Battery Board Takes AA Batteries, Offers Two-hour Battery Life

Raspberry Pi Zero AA Battery Board

Gumstix Raspberry Pi Zero Battery IMU board is a “pHAT” add-on board for Raspberry Pi Zero that includes a holder for two AA rechargeable batteries providing up to two hours of battery life, as well as 6-axis motion sensor. Raspberry Pi Zero Battery IMU board key features and specifications: Storage – 256 Kbit I2C Serial Board EEPROM to store RPi HAT settings Sensor – Bosch BMI160 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope IMU Battery holder for 2x AA batteries Battery Charger – Linear Technology LTC4060 fast battery charger for single, 2-, 3- or 4-series cell NiMH/NiCd batteries. (See PDF datasheet for details) Switch slide for On/Off The battery can be charged through the Micro USB port found in Raspberry Pi Zero (W) board. This board would allow people to make a portable camera by adding the official RPi camera. It would be a nice board to use as UPS for short power failures, but there’s no mention of such features so …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Raspberry Pi Power Management HAT Adds RTC, Battery Management, Software On/Off

Raspberry Pi Power Management HAT Adds RTC, Battery Management, Software On/Off

Raspberry Pi Power Management HAT

If your Raspberry Pi project runs on battery, but may not need to be turned on 24/7 in order to lower power consumption, you’d have to find a way to schedule on and off times, and power off the board cleanly either when the battery is almost depleted, or your timer requires it There’s no built-in support for this in any of the Raspberry Pi boards, but Waveshare Power Management HAT can help you do just that since it adds an RTC, and enables software-controlled power timers and battery monitoring via an Arduino compatible ATmega328 MCU. Power Management HAT specifications: MCU – Microchip ATmega328P-AU MCU Storage – CAT24C32 EEPROM USB – 1x micro USB port for serial communication via CP2102 UART to TTL chip RPi Interface – 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header Misc NXP PCF8523 RTC & calendar chip + CR1220 battery holder DEBUG switch (9) to either: Power directly Raspberry Pi board Let the “Arduino” MCU manage the power …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on SKA100 Power Bank Supports 220/110V AC, 12V, and USB PD 3.0 / QC Outputs

SKA100 Power Bank Supports 220/110V AC, 12V, and USB PD 3.0 / QC Outputs

SKA100 portable 100W power bank

Power banks are normally comprised of a battery that you can charge from the mains, and then delivers power over USB when you connect it to your smartphone, tablet or camera while on the go. Some devices like laptops, TVs, or fans are usually powered directly by the mains, or a power brick connected to the mains, and if you’d like to charge your devices on the go, you could do so with a portable AC power station. Those are often fairly bulky, but recently I’ve seen Arun showcase an AC 100 watt portable power station at IFA 2019 that looks fairly compact. It’s not available yet through, and there are few technical details. There are however several such power banks on Aliexpress including Sungzu SKA100 power bank that offers DC outputs and one 220V/110V AC output delivering up to 100 watts. SKA100 power bank specifications: Input Voltage Range – 15-30V DC up to 3A via power adapter or solar …

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Posted on by Ayo Ayibiowu - 8 Comments on PiVoyager is a UPS for the Raspberry Pi With a Real-Time Calendar Clock

PiVoyager is a UPS for the Raspberry Pi With a Real-Time Calendar Clock

PiVoyager: the smart UPS for the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi is a powerful SBC (Single Board Computer), and aside from being used for everyday computing stuff, the Raspberry Pi can be embedded as the brain of various projects. Using the Raspberry Pi for standalone projects do create some concerns about power. How do I power the Pi? Should I get a power bank? Or maybe I need a longer wired connector. If powering your Raspberry Pi based project has always being a concern to you, then you don’t have to worry about it again with the introduction of the PiVoyager. The PiVoyager is an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for the Raspberry Pi specially designed to work with standard Li-Ion or LiPo batteries. It is shaped in the form a Pi Zero HaT making it fully compatible with PiZero form factor, but nevertheless, it will still work with any Raspberry-PI having the conventional 40-pin header found in the Pi 2,3, B+, and 4. The PiVoyager was made by Omzlo, …

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Posted on by Stephen Vicinanza - 12 Comments on MakerPower Solar Power Supply/Charger for IoT & Embedded Systems Supports Lead-acid Batteries (Crowdfunding)

MakerPower Solar Power Supply/Charger for IoT & Embedded Systems Supports Lead-acid Batteries (Crowdfunding)

Danjuliodesigns llc. A boutique embedded systems design firm run by engineer and inventor Dan Julio has set up crowdfunding for the makerPower Solar power supply/charger for intelligent power supply just about anywhere and in any climate. A comprehensive device structured to IoT and embedded systems, where sometimes a remote camera or other device needs power all the time. The power source is a solar panel which can charge a standard lead-acid battery (USA availability only) We reported on a solar input board PiJuice battery HAT and although there are other solar input devices on the market, such as the PiJuice, for use with SBC’s such as Raspberry Pi, the makerPower Solar functions at a higher level, incorporating intelligent power control and functioning. The board can be source powered by solar panel through a standard lead-acid battery, rather than a Li-Po or Li-Ion. The inventor felt a source should carry as much power as possible and the Li-Po or Li-Ion battery …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Lenovo Project Limitless 5G Laptop and Snapdragon 8cx Benchmarks

Lenovo Project Limitless 5G Laptop and Snapdragon 8cx Benchmarks

Snapdragon 8cx PCMark 10 Application benchmark

Last December, Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon 8cx processor for laptops, or as the company calls them “always-on always connected mobile PCs”. Only 4G LTE was mentioned at the time, but a few months later it was confirmed that the processor would find its way into 5G always-connected mobile PCs. Qualcomm made two main announcements at Computex 2019 about their new Arm processor for laptops. First, they announced a partnership with Lenovo for Project Limitless, the first 5G PC powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform, and the company released some benchmarks to demonstrate the high performance and long battery life of their solution. Lenovo Project Limitless 5G Laptop The press release did not reveal that much information, but we do know Project Limitless features Qualcomm Snapdragon 8C 5G compute platform with Snapdragon X55 5G modem enabling download speed of up to 2.5 Gbps, and it will be the first 5G laptop available once it becomes available in early 2020. …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments on Low Power TinyPICO ESP32 Board Ships with Micropython (Crowdfunding)

Low Power TinyPICO ESP32 Board Ships with Micropython (Crowdfunding)

TinyPICO ESP32 Micropython

There are so many ESP32 boards available now, so why bother with another ones. Some of the key selling points of TinyPICO are that it is really small at 32 x 18 mm, it’s easy to use out of the box with MicroPython firmware pre-loaded, and supports LiPo batteries with an optimized power path for low-power battery usage. The developer, named Unexpected Maker, also provides various shields for TinyPICO adding a display, sensors, an audio amplifier, an RTC, Grove headers, and more. TinyPICO board specifications: System-in-Package – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with ESP32 dual-core processor operating at 240 MHz, 4 MB SPI flash External System Memory – 4 MB PSRAM Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, 3D antenna Expansion – 14x GPIO broken out to standard pitch headers Debugging / Programming – USB + serial/UART for programming Misc – Power (red) & charge (orange) LED’s, APA102 RGB LED Power Supply 5V via micro USB port 700 …

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