Linux Devices, Open or Flexible Hardware, Going Back to Landlines

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 10, 2026

• Devices/Embedded

  • Linux Gizmos ☛ RealSense ID Pro F500 Combines Depth Sensing and On-Device Biometrics

    RealSense has introduced the RealSense ID Pro F500, a facial authentication module designed for access control, kiosks, and identity verification systems. The solution combines depth sensing, vision processing, and local computation to support secure biometric authentication without relying on cloud-based processing.

  • Larry Bank ☛ ESP32-P4 SIMD Explained

    Like the ESP32-S3 before it, the ESP32-P4 includes SIMD instructions - Espressif calls them 'PIE' - processor instruction extensions. Before getting into the details of the P4, it's necessary to go over the history of the ESP32 family. The original ESP32, ESP32-S2 and ESP32-S3 all use Cadence's Xtensa LX CPUs. The release of the ESP32-C3 marked a turning point for Espressif with the use of RISC-V CPUs (no license fee). The ESP32-S3 is the last MCU in their lineup to use an Xtensa CPU. Espressif decided to add SIMD instructions (PIE) to the S3 to support more advanced imaging and machine learning tasks. The PIE instructions on the ESP32-S3 look a lot like Cadence's other SIMD instruction sets on their other CPUs. The ESP32-P4 however, has two 32-bit RISC-V CPUs inside. The RISC-V is an open source CPU design that is unrelated to Cadence's Xtensa CPUs. RISC-V's instruction set has advanced rapidly over the last few years and the working group has ratified several powerful sets of SIMD instructions; even the lowest level of these (1.0) would be quite impressive to have on a low cost microcontroller, but...they are not what Espressif used in the ESP32-P4 😒. I assume the decision to not use the RISC-V Vector instructions was due to the amount of silicon it would require to be compliant with the rvv1.0 standard. Instead, Espressif created a set of custom RISC-V instructions that closely match the ones used in the ESP32-S3. The result is an instruction set that initially will be a bit confusing to people familiar with writing SIMD code on the S3 - it uses RISC-V scalar instructions and ESP32-S3 vector instructions. Luckily both instruction sets are load/store type and manage registers in a very similar way. For someone used to writing SIMD code for the S3, transitioning to the P4 will be very easy.

• Open Hardware/Modding

  • CNX Software ☛ Open-source hardware DAB+ receiver combines ESP32 SoC with Skyworks SI4684 digital radio chip

    When I wrote about a DIY ESP32-S3 internet radio last week, “raspbeguy” commented he’d rather choose an ESP32-based DIY DAB+ receiver kit, such as the one offered by the PE5PVB project based on a Skyworth SI4684 receiver. I first heard about DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) in 2003 when we considered adding it to a CD player. It’s basically the digital equivalent of analog FM/AM radios, and I haven’t heard much about it since DAB and the “new” DAB+ standard are mostly a European story (see coverage map below).

  • CNX Software ☛ Raspberry Pi SBC gets (analog and) digital radio HAT with AM, FM, DAB, DAB+, HD radio

    Yesterday, I wrote about a 2-year-old open-source hardware ESP32-based DAB+ receiver project, but it turns out there’s also a digital radio project for the Raspberry Pi that was released about three weeks ago. Raspiaudio’s Digital Radio V1 HAT adds AM/FM, DAB/DAB+, and HD Radio support to any Raspberry Pi SBC with a 40-pin GPIO header and is supported by CLI or web-based software for configuration and control.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ RISC-V chip design startup SiFive nabs $400M investment

    SiFive was founded in 2015 by the creators of RISC-V, a popular open-source ISA. It includes not only a library of prepackaged computing operations, or instructions, but also supporting components such as memory management modules.

    RSIC-V can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to develop a custom CPU. However, the task is still highly resource-intensive and requires specialized skills. SiFive sells ready-to-use RISC-V processor designs that customers can use to speed up their semiconductor projects.

  • Pimoroni ☛ Tiny Screens, Big Ideas! Show Us Your Badgeware Projects.

    At the start of 2026, we released three new wearable boards under the heading of Badgeware! This squad of Raspberry Pi RP2350 powered wearable tech is made up of...

  • Scott Lawson ☛ Audio Reactive LED Strips Are Diabolically Hard

    I also had to implement adaptive gain control almost immediately. If you set a fixed volume threshold, the visualizer either saturates in a loud room or barely flickers in a quiet one. My favorite way to do this was with exponential smoothing a simple and effective filter that I used over and over in various parts of the code.

    Although the time domain visualizer was okay, I found the limited output channels made the result unsatisfying. There is only so much information you can display on three color channels. Eventually, I switched to WS2812 addressable LEDs so that I'd have many more output features to work with.

  • CNX Software ☛ Sipeed T256s – A USB thermal camera with 256×192 LWIR sensor, 640×480 Hey Hi (AI) super resolution

    Sipeed T256s is a portable USB thermal camera equipped with a native 256×192 Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) sensor and a built-in 2.4 TOPS NPU for hardware-level Hey Hi (AI) super-resolution (ISR) up to 640×480 resolution in real time, effectively suppressing image noise without external software. The UVC camera device supports standard output (Y16 raw and MJPEG) and features both male and female USB Type-C ports on opposite ends for connection to PCs and smartphones.

• Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • The Barents Observer ☛ Russians urged to return to landline phones

    Russians are trying to come to terms with a new reality: the country’s censorship authorities are shutting down mobile internet access. Millions of people across the country are affected by the digital clampdown, which the authorities describe as a “security measure”.

    Judging by statements from Rostelecom — Russia’s largest telecommunications company — the situation may be long-term.