Open Hardware: RISC-V, Orange Pi, Raspberry Pi, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 08, 2023

• The Drone Girl ☛ These are the best drone light shows of 2023

  And this year, I had the pleasure of judging the single greatest event in recognizing the best of all those shows: the 4th International Drone Show Competition from SPH Engineering.

• Jeff Geerling ☛ Raspberry Pi 5 and RP1 X-ray scans

  The board layout has some radical departures from the earlier Pi 4—besides the Ethernet port and PoE pins swapping sides back to a Pi 3 and earlier arrangement, the majority of the middle of the board is dominated by expanded IO: 5 total PCIe lanes, LPDDR4x memory channels, and HDMI signals all routed through the SoC.

• CNX Software ☛ Renesas’ first 32-bit RISC-V CPU core delivers up to 3.27 CoreMark/MHz

  Renesas has recently announced its first homegrown 32-bit RISC-V CPU core based on the open-standard instruction set architecture (ISA). This CPU core is compatible with Renesas’ e2 studio IDE and supports other third-party IDEs for RISC-V MCUs. According to Renesas, the CPU achieved a remarkable 3.27 CoreMark/MHz performance outperforming similar RISC-V architectures in this category. RISC-V, an open ISA, is rapidly gaining popularity in the semiconductor industry. Many MCU providers have formed joint investment alliances to expedite their RISC-V product development.

• CNX Software ☛ Add WiFi connectivity to older USB printers with Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A and UoWPrint print server

  I previously used an inexpensive CHIP board as a GNU/Linux printer and scanner server for the Canon MP250 USB multi-function printer. It took a while to make it work with a long list of instructions and even then the scanner function was not working very reliably. ValdikSS’s UoWPrint driverless printing and scanning server aims to simplify the process for older USB printers and also supports AirPrint and Mopria standards over WiFi. The older Orange Pi 3G-IoT-A board was the hardware of choice for this project due to its ultra-low price.

• Purism ☛ Controlling You by Smartphone Is A Reality, but Not with Purism!

  There is a good reason why Purism does not require PureOS end users to click “I Agree” to accept intrusive terms of use that give up all control to either Surveillance Giant Google (for Android) or Fashion Company Apple (for iOS). When you buy a smartphone manufactured by Purism, such as the Liberty Phone ...