Getting Started with Quectel EC200U 4G LTE Cat 1 IoT board using the QNavigator and the QuecOpen SDK

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Eicut showing how to get started with a Quectel EC200U 4G TLE Cat 1 IoT development board using QNavigator and the QuecOpen SDK. In IoT projects—and across embedded systems in general—we’ve seen a growing demand for higher data exchange rates, along with broader frequency band coverage. These advancements are critical for enhancing the reliability of a device’s communication link with the network. As a result, 4G modules with fallback capability to 2G and 4G networks have emerged as a leading solution in this space. But the key question remains: Which modules should we...

Banana Pi BPI-M4 Super with Rockchip RK3568B2 and Dual Ethernet

Banana Pi has shared more hardware details about the upcoming BPI-M4 Super, a single-board computer designed for multimedia and IoT applications. The board integrates dual Ethernet (1 GbE and 2.5 GbE), PCIe expansion, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and 4K HDMI output. The board is built on the Rockchip RK3568B2, a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor running at […]

TrueNAS is now (unofficially) available for 64-bit Arm platforms with UEFI support

TrueNAS Scale NAS platform was designed to work on x86-64 computers only, but there’s now an unofficial port for 64-bit Arm (Aarch64) targets running a UEFI bootloader, including the Raspberry Pi 4/5 SBCs and other higher-end Arm boards. Previously known as FreeNAS, the community edition, FreeBSD-based TrueNAS Core was phased out in 2022 and replaced with the Linux-based TrueNAS Scale. iXsystems also provides TrueNAS Enterprise, a paid version with more advanced features, but all versions only work on 64-bit x86 machines. TrueNAS forum user Joel0 decided to change that and patched TrueNAS Scale to run on ARM (aarch64). The main...

TrueNAS on Arm is finally a thing

TrueNAS on Arm is finally a thing

A few years ago, I admit it was rare to find someone running Arm hardware more powerful than a Raspberry Pi in a homelab (or more serious) setting, outside of cloud providers running Ampere or custom Arm CPUs.

But as Pis and Rockchip boards have become more powerful (and efficient), and Apple's M-series silicon has become more interesting (the M4 mini being an excellent value proposition for a quiet, tiny server), and even Ampere Altra pricing coming down a bit since it's an...

Build log: Macintosh Classic

Build log: Macintosh Classic

Continuing the retro computer series, I've recently completed the first part of a restoration of my Aunt's old Macintosh Classic.

This Classic was handed to me alongside my Uncle Mark's Apple II, which I'll probably cover later (we've played a game of whack-a-mole with issues on that machine! Well worth it but I haven't hit a point where enough things are working to cover it well, heh).

The Classic is a strange Mac—it was introduced in 1990 as a budget version of the 1986 Macintosh Plus, with...

ArmSoM RK3588 AI Module7 system-on-module follows NVIDIA Jetson Nano form factor (Crowdfunding)

ArmSoM RK3588 AI Module7 (AIM7) is a Rockchip RK3588 system-on-module compatible with NVIDIA Jetson Nano and other 260-pin SO-DIMM Jetson modules, so you should be able to use it with a wide range of Jetson carrier boards.  It is designed for edge computing, AI inference, VR/AR, smart NVR systems, and general-purpose applications. The RK3588 AIM7 ships with 4GB to 32GB RAM, 32GB to 128GB eMMC flash, and integrates a Rockchip RK806-1 PMIC, but no Gigabit Ethernet controller as found on the competing Mixtile Core 3588E. While the RK3588 SoM should work on most Jetson carrier boards, ArmSoM has also designed...

TIG сварка в домашней мастерской. Текущее дооснащение

Любое совершенствование личного места силы — домашней мастерской — бальзам на душу самоделкина, плюс открывающиеся дополнительные возможности, либо повышение комфорта в работе. Простой сварочный инвертор для работы штучными покрытыми электродами (ММА) — уже большое подспорье в этом хозяйстве, сварка же электродом неплавящимся в среде аргона, она же «аргоновая», она же TIG, даёт возможности куда как шире, позволяя при этом делать неразъёмные соединения высокого класса. Удешевление и компактность нынешних сварочных источников, доступность расходных частей, материалов и малолитражных баллонов высокого давления позволило TIG процессу уверенно осваивать любительские мастерские. Дело это, однако, сравнительно сложное и многогранное [1]. Здесь речь пойдёт о ряде модернизаций своей домашней сварочной установки, после пробных корявых швов,...

Почему не бывает лифтов на Arduino? Как работает плата от станции управления

Приветствую всех!
Месяц назад тут очень активно обсуждали довольно колхозно сделанный лифт с контроллером на Arduino. И вот, посмотрев на всё это, мне захотелось показать, как же вообще собраны нормальные лифты и как они работают.

Итак, в сегодняшней статье на примере одной из самых распространённых станций управления посмотрим на работу электронных лифтов. Заодно посмотрим, из каких компонентов она сделана и что в ней примечательного. Как водится, будет много интересного.

Renesas RA4C1 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU targets Smart Meters and energy-efficient IoT applications

Renasas RA4C1 microcontroller (MCU) group is based on an 80-MHz Arm Cortex M33 core and designed for utility meters and battery-powered IoT applications. It’s especially suited to devices that require advanced security and segment LCD support, such as smart locks, thermostats, building controls, and industrial user interfaces. The RA4C1 is very similar to the Renesas RA4L1 MCU designed for HMI applications, but it comes with more RAM (96KB vs 64KB), and being optimized for Smart Meters lacks features like capacitive touch and audio output. The new MCU group still comes with up to 512KB code flash, 8KB data flash, plenty...

Game Bub Fully Open-Source FPGA Handheld Launched on Crowd Supply

Game Bub, an open-source FPGA handheld designed for retro gaming, has just launched on Crowd Supply. Built to natively support Game Boy and Game Boy Advance cartridges, it also features link cable compatibility for multiplayer gaming with other Game Bub units or original Nintendo handhelds. Game Bub is built around an AMD Artix-7 XC7A100T FPGA, […]