news
Linux Devices, Open Hardware, and Mobile Gadgets
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Devices/Embedded
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Andrew Zonenberg ☛ Playing with the STM32MP2
Anyway, here we are. My long time readers will know that I like using STM32s and pairing them with FPGAs, and have got some pretty decent performance doing this, e.g. close to a Gbps of Ethernet bandwidth from the MCU to an FPGA-side RGMII MAC. There’s just one problem: the STM32H7 FMC needs a lot of pins - 30+ if you want all the chip selects and address lines. And they’re not nicely located all on one side of the package either, that would be too easy. They’re all over the place.
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Open Hardware/Modding
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CNX Software ☛ 280 MHz STMicro STM32G5 Cortex-M33 mixed-signal MCU targets digital power and motor control applications
The STM32G5 series is a family of 280 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 mixed-signal MCUs designed for industrial power supplies, photovoltaic inverters, EV chargers, robotics, and motor control systems. It doubles the performance of the older STM32G4 series unveiled in 2021. The new MCU family features up to 512KB flash, 112KB SRAM with ECC, a 111 ps high-resolution timer (HRTIM) with up to 12 PWM outputs on some variants, and 12-bit ADCs supporting up to 5 MSPS. Other features include position encoder interfaces, a 16-element programmable logic array, CORDIC and FMAC mathematical accelerators, and security features such as Arm TrustZone, secure boot, and post-quantum cryptography support.
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CNX Software ☛ SparkFun IoT RedBoard ESP32-P4 – Arduino UNO-like ESP32-P4 v3.x development boards with WiFi 6 or PoE options
SparkFun introduced two new development boards called IoT RedBoard, both based on the ESP32-P4 v3.x (ESP32-P4X) and compatible with the Arduino UNO R3 form factor. The main difference is that one features an ESP32-C5 for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 LE, Zigbee, and Thread connectivity, while the PoE version includes 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and Power over Ethernet (PoE) support. They also include MIPI CSI/DSI camera and display connectors, two USB-C ports, a microSD card slot, Qwiic expansion, Arduino R3-compatible headers, and LiPo battery charging and monitoring.
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CNX Software ☛ Seeed Studio XIAO STM32C5 development board features dual CAN FD and a 6-axis IMU with programmable heating
Seeed Studio XIAO STM32C5 is the company’s first XIAO development board based on an STMicroelectronics MCU, namely a 144 MHz STM32C5A3CG Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller. It features two CAN FD controllers and a 6-axis IMU with programmable heating for robotics, industrial control, and motion-sensing applications. The board also includes 16MB of external flash, a 48 MHz external crystal, a USB-C port, and battery charging circuitry. One CAN FD channel is connected to an onboard transceiver, while the second requires an external transceiver. The integrated IMU heater allows firmware to control sensor temperature and reduce measurement drift from temperature changes.
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Arduino ☛ WaterLens uses Hey Hi (AI) on the edge to detect water quality issues
According to a 2025 report from the WHO and UNICEF, approximately an entire quarter of the world’s population currently lacks consistent access to safely managed drinking water. The report also states that many people without safely managed drinking water had access to basic drinking water services.
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Arduino ☛ The easiest way to bring Arduino I/O into ROS 2 (Unveiled at ROSCon)
If you’ve ever built a robot with ROS 2, you know the classic architectural split: a powerful computer running GNU/Linux handles high-level navigation, mapping, and planning, while an external microcontroller handles the deterministic, real-time job of toggling GPIOs, reading sensors, and driving motors.
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Arduino ☛ Learn to make your own music – with the Arduino® UNO™ Q board
Arduino has always had a special relationship with musicians. Makers in the community have been wiring up theremins and building MIDI controllers from scratch for decades, driven by the simple idea that if you want to play an instrument, you should be able to build it. It worked for Brian May, right?
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Hackaday ☛ Reverse Engineering A 1960s Diode-Transistor Logic IC
Before transistor-transistor logic (TTL) took over, diode-transistor logic (DTL) was a common sight especially in pre-IC circuits where it was a major improvement over resistor-transistor logic (RTL). That said, it’s rare to see DTL used in ICs considering how e.g. TI’s 5400 and 7400 series set the trend in the 1960s. This makes the Signetics ST680a quad-NAND gate DTL DIP IC that [Ken Shirriff] ogled recently a bit of a treat.
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Hackaday ☛ Web Satellite Tracker Plays The Music Of The Spheres
Given your location, or at least an approximation of it, OrbitalWiki can determine which of the nearly 17,000 satellites it’s currently tracking are flying over you in real-time. When each satellite hits the highest point in the sky from your perspective, it will play a single note.
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Ken Shirriff ☛ Reverse engineering a vintage diode-transistor logic chip
Going through a collection of old parts, CuriousMarc encountered some ICs that he couldn't identify. He opened up one of these ICs, and I studied it under the microscope. After some reverse engineering, I determined that it was a logic chip that implemented four NAND gates using old-fashioned diode-transistor logic (DTL).1 The chip turned out to be the ST680A, a member of the Signetics 600 series of chips from 1965. In this article, I discuss the circuitry in this chip and how diode-transistor logic works.
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Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
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Raspberry Pi ☛ Self-sufficient mobile weather station
As Andrew Scott reminds us in the movie Pressure, the weather is not boring, so we were quite interested to hear about this mobile weather lab that is also completely self-powered.
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Hackaday ☛ From Phone, To SDR, No Extra Hardware
The phone is rooted and runs LineageOS as you might expect, and there’s a modem firmware update to supply the SDR baseband magic. There’s also a mod for an antenna wire. Where this becomes especially interesting is in its receive frequency range. The modem talks in the GHz, but this radio receives in the MHz, it can pick up shortwave. This is achieved by using the Bluetooth radio as a local oscillator, oddly in a similar manner to that we suggested a few weeks ago.
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