Open Hardware: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, RP2040, and More
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A simple single-axis sun tracker to maximize solar output
Solar power is awesome, but it takes a long to recoup the investment on hardware. The more output you can squeeze from a solar panel, the faster you’ll cross that line into actual monetary savings on energy.
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Raspberry Pi releases RP1 peripheral controller datasheet and block diagram
The Raspberry Pi 5 was recently introduced with the Broadcom BCM2712 CPU and the RP1 chip handling I/Os designed in-house by the Raspberry Pi just like they did for the RP2 (RP2040) microcontroller, and we now have more details about the Raspberry Pi RP1 including a (draft) datasheet and a block diagram. The RP2040 came out before the RP1 peripheral controller as the design for the latter started 7 years ago with a total R&D budget to develop the Raspberry Pi 5 of around 25 million dollars.
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Cost-effective Tiny Code Reader powered by RP2040
The distributor OKDO recently featured a low-cost device which incorporates an image sensor and the RP2040 microcontroller. The Tiny Code Reader can be used in projects that involve QR codes and it’s also compatible with open-source programming platforms such as Arduino, CircuitPython and more.
The Tiny Code Reader, developed by Useful Sensors, is specifically designed for reading QR codes from a variety of sources, including screens, paper, and e-ink displays. It efficiently captures and transmits encoded text information to a connected microcontroller via the I2C interface.
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Barebone M4 fanless mini PC features Intel Processor N100 for $106 and up
I thought it would be hard to beat the price of the Processor N100 ZX05 mini PC, but the Topton M4 fanless mini PC does just that for just $106.53 plus shipping. The trick for that price is that the M4 is a barebone mini PC without any RAM, storage, or wireless module, but some may see it as an advantage preferring to purchase RAM, storage, and/or a WiFi module separately, or simply having the ability to replace or upgrade them when needed.