$6.99 Waveshare’s ESP32-C6-Pico Board resembles Raspberry Pi Pico board

Waveshare ESP32 C6 Pico Devlopment Board

Waveshare’s ESP32-C6-Pico and ESP32-C6-Pico-M development boards are equipped with the ESP32-C6-MINI-1 module supporting Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax), Bluetooth 5, Zigbee 3.0, and Thread 1.3, and inspired by the Raspberry Pi Pico form factor. They can be powered either through USB Type-C or an external 5V DC supply connected to the pins. Previously we have written about similar ESP32-C6-based boards like the SparkFun Thing Plus, ePulse Feather C6, and WeAct ESP32-C6 dev board. However, these boards are priced way over the $6.99 that Waveshare is offering. One exception is the DFRobot’s FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6 board, which cuts costs by using the IC directly instead of the fully shielded ESP32-C6-MINI-1 module. Waveshare’s ESP32-C6-Pico board specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-C6-MINI-1 SoC – ESP32-C6H4 32-bit RISC-V microprocessor up to 160 MHz with 320KB ROM, 512KB HP SRAM, 16KB LP SRAM, 4MB flash Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 with Target Wake Time (TWT) support, Bluetooth 5.3 LE and […]

Waveshare PCIe to USB 3.2 HAT+ adds four USB ports to Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare's PCIe To USB 3.2 Gen1 HAT for Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare ‘PCIe to USB 3.2 HAT+’ is an expansion hat that adds four USB 3.2 ports to the Raspberry Pi 5. The HAT+ features real-time power status monitoring and software-controlled USB power management, along with an onboard EEPROM for storing HAT ID and product data. The HAT is mounted on top of the Raspberry Pi cooler and has an airflow vent to help keep the Pi cool. This new module leverages the HAT+ standard to add 4 additional USB 3.2 ports to the Raspberry Pi 5. Previously, boards like PineBerry Pi HAT+, Geekworm X1003/X1004, and Mcuzone MPW7 have used the HAT+ standard for various attachments, such as converting the Pi 5’s PCIe into an NVMe SSD adapter, enabling access to Google’s TPU, or adding a PCIe x16 socket. Waveshare  PCIe to USB 3.2 HAT+ Specifications PCIe x1 Gen2 mode Only supports Raspberry Pi 5 Model B. Equipped with VL805 original […]

Radxa Penta SATA HAT adds up to five SATA drives to the Raspberry Pi 5 for NAS applications

Raspberry Pi 5 NAS HAT

The Radxa Penta SATA HAT leverages the PCIe interface on Raspberry Pi 5  SBC to add up to five 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives through four SATA connectors and an eSATA connector and enables NAS designs with the latest SBC from Raspberry Pi Limited. The Radxa’s Penta SATA HAT was initially launched in 2019 as an accessory for the Rock Pi 4 SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3399 processor and an M.2 PCIe socket since Raspberry Pi competitors have been exposing PCIe interfaces for years. It turns out the exact same Penta SATA HAT design can be reused with the Raspberry Pi 5 by providing a new PCIe FPC cable and updating the configuration scripts. Radxa Penta SATA HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 specifications: 4x SATA interfaces + 1x eSATAp for up 100TB storage via 5x 2.5″ or 3.5″ HDD/SSD Host Connection – Flat cable with 2-lane PCIe 2.1 via […]

SB Components’ Trekko Pico is an open-source, RP2040-powered GPS logger with multi-GNSS support

trekko pico gps logger front

After the success of their Kickstarter campaign, SB Components has now made the Trekko Pico GPS logger available for pre-order. The Trekko Pico is a small location logger for travelers and outdoor enthusiasts that makes it easy to track routes and record their travels. A Raspberry Pi RP2040 powers the Trekko Pico, providing the programming, connectivity, and data logging functionality. The Quectel GNSS L76K module supports the concurrent reception of GPS, GLONASS (or BeiDou), Galileo, SBAS, and QZSS signals, with 32 tracking and 72 acquisition channels. There is a JST 2-pin connector that can be used to attach an external battery, and the Microchip MCP73831 controller is responsible for battery charging and management. Also, users can slot a coin cell into the holder at the back of the board to power a real-time clock for data backup purposes. Potential applications for the Trekko Pico GPS logger include surveillance, telematics, Geographic […]

Review of Purple Pi OH – A Rockchip RK3566 SBC tested in 2GB/16GB and 4GB/32GB configurations

Review of Purple Pi OH and Purple Pi OH Pro

Hello, I am going to review the Purple Pi OH boards from Wireless-Tag. The Purple Pi OH is a single-board computer (SBC) mechanically compatible with the Raspberry Pi. They are designed for personal mobile Internet devices and AIoT devices, which can be used in various applications, such as tablets, speakers with screens, and lightweight AI applications. The manufacturer sent me two models. The first model is the Purple Pi OH, which is equipped with 2GB of memory and 16GB of storage space and supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. The second model is the Purple Pi OH Pro, equipped with 4GB of memory and 32GB of storage space. This board supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi. The other components of both devices are almost the same. They are powered by the Rockchip RK3566 chip, which integrates a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor up to 1.8 GHz, a Mali-G52 GPU from Arm for 3D graphics acceleration, […]

Make a Raspberry Pi 5 Game Boy lookalike with the PiBoy DMGx handheld gaming console kit

PiBoy DMGx

Experimental Pi’s PiBoy DMGxis is a kit that converts the Raspberry Pi 5 into a handheld gaming console that looks like a Game Boy with a 3.5-inch color display and all the controls found on the original Game Boy. The company has launched several PiBoy portable game console kits for Raspberry Pi SBCs over the years, so the new PiBoy DMGx for the Raspberry Pi 5 should come as no surprise, and the company says it should be able to run emulators for N64, PSP, Dreamcast, Wii, Gamecube, PS2, and others.   PiBoy DMGx kit specifications: Supported SBCs – Raspberry Pi 5; with adapters: Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 Storage – MicroSD card slot (11) Display – 3.5-inch display with 640 x 480 resolution (3) Video Output – Micro HDMI port from RPi 5 Audio – Speaker (5), 3.5mm audio jack (7) User inputs – D-Pad (10), analog stick (9), […]

Some Raspberry Pi 5 boards can be overclocked up to 3.14 GHz (and run just fine)

Raspberry Pi 5 overclocked 3.14 GHz

The Raspberry Pi 5 is advertised as a single board computer with a CPU clocked up to 2.4 GHz, but some of the boards can run stably at a higher frequency, and Jeff Geerling found out one of his boards could be overclocked up to 3.14 GHz with no issues when running a stress test. The Raspberry Pi 5 already delivers a two to three-times jump in performance against the previous generation Raspberry Pi 4 SBC when clocked at 2.4 GHz, but some already overclocked their up to 3.0 GHz, and many thought it was the maximum limit. But a recent firmware release proved them wrong, as it turns out some Raspberry Pi 5 boards can boot at 3.2 GHz and run stably at 3.14 GHz with an adequate cooling solution. The voltage was also adjusted in the config.txt to more or less safe settings. Contrary to the photo above, […]

7-inch Raspberry Pi CM4-based industrial HMI offers gigabit Ethernet, RS485 Modbus, digital and analog inputs

NORVI RPI-HMI Industrial Controller

NORVI RPI-HMI is an industrial controller with a 7-inch touchscreen screen display powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 and equipped with a range of interfaces including a gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, a few USB ports, and several terminal blocks for RS485 (Modbus), digital and analog input, transistor outputs, and 24V DC power input. The new Raspberry Pi CM4-based HMI announcement follows the NORVI ESP32-HMI controller that was launched last December with an ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller and a 5-inch LCD display with resistive touch. The NORVI RPI-HMI builds on that with a much faster Arm processor, a larger display with a capacitive touchscreen, gigabit Ethernet, and a wider range of I/Os that makes it suitable for various industrial HMI and PLC applications. NORVI RPI-HMI Industrial Controller specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi CM4 SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor with VideoCore GPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 […]