Open Hardware and Linux Devices

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 11, 2023

• reTerminal uses Raspberry Pi to alert caregivers when falls happen

  The Raspberry Pi camera captures a live stream of whoever it is who needs an extra eye to check on their welfare. The video is relayed back to the Raspberry Pi-powered reTerminal, which runs it through TensorFlow machine learning software which has been modified to detect falls.

• Radxa ROCK 5B SBC goes fanless with metal case

  The Radxa ROCK 5B was one of the first Rockchip RK3588 SBCs, and when we reviewed the developer edition of the board in July 2022 it came with an heatsink and 5V fan that was always on. That’s probably fine for testing, but many people will prefer a fanless solution. It turns out a metal case turning the ROCK 5B SBC into a fanless device has been available since the end of last year, but I’ve only come across it today. The black part is made of metal and the front and back plates are made of green plastic. As with all cases, there are always questions about .

• Raspberry Pi CM4-powered outdoor gateway supports GbE, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G LTE, LoRaWAN, and GPS connectivity

  EDATEC ED-GWL2110 is an IP24-rated outdoor gateway based on Raspberry Pi CM4 and supporting Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G LTE cellular, LoRaWAN, and GPS connectivity, as well as Power over Ethernet (PoE).

• Raspberry Pi Pico to Arduino Uno adapter relies on “FlexyPins” for castellated holes

  Solder Party’s “Raspberry Pi Pico to Uno FlexyPin Adapter” transforms the Raspberry Pi Pico into an Arduino UNO without soldering the board directly or using headers, but instead relying on FlexyPins flexible pins to attach the Pico board to the adapter using its castellated holes. The end result is basically the same as for the WisdPi ArduPico board, except the Raspberry Pi Pico is soldered to the main PCB on the latter, but it can be easily removed from the Solder Party’s Uno adapter board to be replaced with another compatible model, e.g. Raspberry Pi Pico vs Pico W. The FlexyPins can be used with any board or module with castellated holes, but it’s obviously especially useful for castellated modules without through holes, for example, to easily program a bunch of ESP32 modules.

• Turning a Barbie dreamhouse into a screamhouse with the Arduino UNO R4

  The duo started by disassembling the interior and repainting the structural components, outside walls, and several other movable objects such as the door and various props. Once this had been completed, the next step involved finding LED filament, many small, discrete LEDs, and a miniature fog machine for creating an additional spookiness factor. The individual LEDs were placed into SLA printed skull lighting fixtures, custom-made clay candles, and inside of the previously pink chandelier where they could then be controlled by an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi.

• Over a Decade at SparkFun with Jennifer Mullins

  My first day at SparkFun was joining our Customer Service team eleven years ago, who also happened to share space in our old building with our Tech Support team. I was so nervous to be moving from my prior jobs in property management to stepping into a world of electronics I knew next to nothing about. I was lucky enough to have a few very good friends that already worked with the team though! The immediate acceptance and inclusion into an incredibly tight knit team was absolutely incredible. From day one I always felt like I belonged and had an important role with the team and the company.

• Amiga 4000 Restoration x2: Part 5

  In part 4, I had the motherboard for the Amiga 4000 #2 mostly working. But it required a new buffer chip for the Fast RAM. That chip arrived, so let’s continue…

• Pine64’s RISC-V Tablet Gets KDE-Powered Desktop Image

  When Pine64 launched its RISC-V tablet earlier this year they were clear from the start: software support, particularly usable desktop Linux distros, would be lacking at first.

  But not for long, it seems.