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Open Hardware: SBCs, Arduino, OrangePi, and More
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Hackaday ☛ Turning Old Cellphones Into SBCs
[David] sent us a tip about a company in Belgium, Citronics, that is looking to turn old cellphones into single-board computers for embedded Linux applications. We think it’s a great idea, and have long lamented how many pocket supercomputers simply get tossed in the recycling stream, when they could be put to use in hacker projects. So far, it looks like Citronics only has a prototyping breakout board for the Fairphone 2, but it’s a promising idea.
One of the things that’s stopping us from re-using old phones, of course, is the lack of easy access to the peripherals. On the average phone, you’ve got one USB port and that’s it. The Citronics dev provides all sorts of connectivity: 4x USB 2.0, 1x Ethernet 10/100M, and a Raspberry Pi Header (UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO). At the same time, for better or worse, they’ve done away with the screen and its touch interface, and the camera too, but they seem to be keeping all of the RF capabilities.
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The DIY Life ☛ Introducing Lab Rax: A 3D Printable & Modular 10″ Rack System
Today, I’m excited to introduce Lab Rax, my latest 3D-printable project—a fully modular and customizable 10-inch server rack system for homelab enthusiasts. Whether you’re managing Raspberry Pi setups, mini PCs, or networking gear, this rack is designed to keep everything organized, adaptable to your needs, and look great on your desk.
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The Register UK ☛ TSMC may face $1B+ penalty for suspected Huawei exports
It was alleged Huawei, after being banned from working with TSMC, passed its AI chip designs to Sophgo, which in turn gave the blueprints to TSMC manufacture to order as if they were Sophgo's designs.
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Arduino ☛ Using a racing sim rig with a real RC car
Traditional RC cars relied on fairly rudimentary analog signals, but complete digital control is common today. The transmitter simply sends encoded digital data containing whatever information is necessary, such as the steering angle and throttle position. Typically, that is a standard protocol that the receiver can understand and translate into motor movement.
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Arduino ☛ Introducing the Image Map widget: A smarter way to visualize your data
We’re excited to introduce the new Image Map Widget in Arduino Cloud! This powerful feature allows you to overlay live data onto an image, creating interactive and highly visual dashboards. Whether you’re managing a factory floor, an office space, or a piece of industrial equipment, this widget brings your data to life in a whole new way.
In case you’re wondering how to use it, we’ve put together a few examples using some of our existing dashboards to help you understand how this feature can make your data easier to visualize.
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Canonical ☛ Ubuntu developer images now available for OrangePi RV2: a low-cost RISC-V SBC
The OrangePi RV2 offers impressive performance in a low-cost, power-efficient form factor. This platform is powered by the KY-X1 octa-core SoC (system-on-chip), supporting RVA22 and vector extensions. The SoC includes a 2 TOPS AI accelerator, meaning that it can perform intensive computational operations, making it an appealing platform for developers focused on AI and machine learning at the edge. By integrating RISC-V technology, the OrangePi RV2 expands the possibilities for creative projects in robotics, IoT, education, and beyond.