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Open Hardware/Modding: Orange Pi, ESP32, and More
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CNX Software ☛ Orange Pi 5B SBC gets Ubuntu Desktop and Audio Production OS images with Bluetooth/Wi-Fi fix missed for 8 years
Joshua Riek’s ubuntu-rockchip project helped many run working OS images for their Rockchip SBCs, but due to burnout and lack of support, he decided to step away in late 2024, and the project is now archived. However, that doesn’t mean his efforts have gone to waste. Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub user defcom5-rockchip forked the project and released two Ubuntu 24.04-based distributions working on the Orange Pi 5B, notably integrating two fixes for the Ampak AP6275P WiFi and Bluetooth module, including one that Cypress apparently already fixed in 2018, but took a while to be integrated into Rockchip OS images.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ AI developer runs 28.9-million-parameter model on $10 ESP32-S3 microcontroller — uses Google's Per-Layer Embeddings technique, stores table on 16MB Flash memory
Getting a local language model running on a sub-$10 microcontroller is impressive despite its obvious limitations.
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CNX Software ☛ LILYGO T-Display C5 board features 1.9-inch IPS color LCD, battery support, Qwiic expansion connectors
LILYGO T-Display C5 is an ESP32-C5 board with a 1.9-inch IPS color LCD, a USB-C port for power and programming, Lithium battery support, and GPIO expansion via headers and two Qwiic expansion connectors. The main benefit of using an ESP32-C5 chip is support for dual-band WiFi 6 connectivity (2.4/5.0 GHz), and it also keeps Bluetooth LE 5.x and the 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee/Thread/Matter found in the ESP32-C6.
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CNX Software ☛ Open RC Spotter is an open-source ESP32 telemetry and data logger for RC cars and toys
Jake Wachlin (Energy Labs) has designed the Open RC Spotter, an open-source ESP32-based telemetry and data logger for RC cars, trucks, and other RC toys. The platform logs synchronized GPS position, acceleration, gyroscope, steering, throttle, battery voltage, temperature, and lap timing data to a microSD card, while also supporting live telemetry over Wi-Fi and ESP-NOW. We have previously written about telemetry and data-logging hardware designed for full-sized vehicles, such as the Macchina A0 ESP32 CAN board, which supports OBD-II diagnostics and RaceChrono integration.
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Raspberry Pi Weekly Issue #538 - New: 10" Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 and ‘AI Projects with Raspberry Pi’
Grab a new Humble Bundle of Raspberry Pi books while you can! Howdy, What's that? You're seeing double? Double launches? Yeah, you are! This week, we released the 10" variant of Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2, bringing a bigger screen and higher resolution to the Touch Display family. It's perfect for a wide range of applications, including dashboards, robotics interfaces, digital signage, gaming systems, equipment control panels, and more.
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It's FOSS ☛ Pironman 5 Pro Max Review: SunFounder's Most Capable Pi 5 Case Doubles as an Hey Hi (AI) Desktop
SunFounder's flagship Pironman case now ships with a 4.3" touchscreen, a camera mount, and room for an Hey Hi (AI) accelerator, built for Raspberry Pi 5 owners who want to experiment with local AI, not just add cooling and storage.
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CNX Software ☛ Jetway SMC-ARK1 – A Rockchip RK3588 SMARC 2.1 compliant system-on-module
Jetway has introduced the SMC-ARK1, a new SMARC system-on-module built around the Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor. Designed for embedded computing and edge Hey Hi (AI) applications, the board includes up to 16GB of LPDDR4x memory and up to 128GB of eMMC flash, dual GbE, and an Ampak AP6398SV Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 module, alongside a dedicated HDMI input via an I-PEX FPC connector. We’ve previously written about the Geniatech SOM-3568-SMARC module based on the Rockchip RK3568, but Jetway’s SMC-ARK1 appears to be the first SMARC module we’ve seen based on the Rockchip RK3588.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Disgruntled gamer builds booby-trapped Steam Deck with 3D-printed spikes and a built-in taser — Raspberry Pi powers speaker, camera, and alarm to stop family members draining his battery
A Steam Deck devotee was so fed up with their family borrowing their handheld and leaving it with a flat battery that they have resorted to quite extreme anti-sharing measures.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Framework Laptop 13 Pro review: It cleans up nice
This design is far and away better than its existing chassis, but launching a laptop based on repairability when parts for it are extremely expensive puts the Laptop 13 Pro out of reach for many.
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Thomas Buck ☛ Logitech MX Ergo switch replacement
After using a Logitech M570 trackball for a while I switched to their MX Ergo model while the pandemic was going on. I've been pretty happy with it, but after around three or four years, it had now developed the "doubleclick issue". Apparently it's a common problem with these devices. In my case, the switch in the left mouse button started to register false clicks when holding it down. This caused drag-and-drop or selecting text to become pretty much impossible.
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Linux Gizmos ☛ EDATEC ED-IPC1200 and ED-IPC1220 add DIN-rail I/O around Raspberry Pi CM0
EDATEC has expanded its family of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 0-based DIN-rail industrial computers with the ED-IPC1200 and ED-IPC1220. Both models provide Ethernet, USB, RS232, dual RS485, optional wireless connectivity, and isolated control interfaces, while the ED-IPC1220 includes additional digital I/O and analog inputs.
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Linux Gizmos ☛ ThingPulse Icon256 is a WLED-based word clock with 256 RGB LEDs
The ThingPulse Icon256 is a Wi-Fi-connected word clock that displays the time as illuminated phrases across a 16 × 16 RGB LED matrix. The finished unit includes an enclosure, an English-language front panel, preinstalled firmware, and USB-C power input. The display consists of 256 individually addressable RGB light points positioned behind a letter grid.
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Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
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Android Police ☛ Dear Google, I promise I don't need 16GB RAM on my next Pixel phone
Recently, we’ve seen mobile brands hiking the pricing of their mobile offerings after being impacted by the memory crunch from the AI boom [sic].
Samsung is the latest example, with the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra flexing an exorbitant price tag compared to their predecessors.
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Maroš Grego ☛ Using ThinkPad T480 as a mobile phone | maroš grego
ThinkPad T480 can be used as a fully featured mobile phone, supporting calls, SMS and mobile data. Here is a video of me receiving a phone call on mine (with the 25 year edition keyboard): [...]
This laptop already has a SIM card slot for LTE modems. However, the PCM pins for audio transmission are not connected.
Luckily, thanks to an bug in Intel Management Engine, we can flash Libreboot instead of the stock firmware. This removes the whitelist for wireless cards and lets us choose our own modem. [...]
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