Ampisu is a compact pocket-sized USB lab power supply with SCPI and web control (Crowdfunding)

The concept of a USB-C-based power supply is not new, and we have previously seen projects like XIAO Powerbread and Axiometa BrodBoost-C. As USB PD-based power adapters and power banks have become much cheaper, adjustable power supplies like the PocketPD and BenchVolt PD have come out. Both have their own limitation: the PocketPD has only a single output channel, thus hardly a lab power supply, and the BenchVolt PD is not quite compact enough to be considered pocket-friendly. This is where the Ampisu comes in. It’s a compact, pocket-friendly, and isolated three-output lab power supply designed to fit in a pocket and includes features of...

CIX ClawCore Armv9.2 CPU family targets OpenClaw deployments

OpenClaw was just introduced a few months ago, but we’ve already seen several low-footprint implementations, and some companies even ship mini PCs preloaded with OpenClaw. But today, I was just informed that CIX had gone further, and introduced the ClawCore Armv9.2 CPU family specifically designed/optimized for OpenClaw. The family will be comprised of three main SKUs: ClawCore-P (勁螯芯  “Powerful Claw”) – High-performance model with 12-core CPU @ 3.2GHz, Immortalis-G720 GPU, 45 TOPS AI compute, and support for up to 64GB LPDDR5 RAM. Aimed at high-parallelism, large-capacity scenarios. Shipping starts now in March 2026. ClawCore-A (智螯芯  “AI/Smart Claw”) – Octa-core CPU...

ESP32-P4 revision 3.0 gains new power rail, requires new PCB design and firmware

Espressif’s ESP32-P4 revision 3.0 and greater converts pin 54 of the chip from NC (not connected) to a power rail (VDD_HP_1), requires a few extra passives, and an updated firmware. Espressif Systems first unveiled the 400 MHz ESP32-P4 dual-core RISC-V SoC in January 2023, and the official ESP32-P4-Function-EV development board was launched in August 2024, with commercial solutions slowly ramping up last year. You’d think the silicon and related hardware would now be frozen, but apparently not. The pin 54 was likely converted from NC (not connected) to VDD_HP_1 to improve the stability of the high-performance digital domain. The old...

M5StampS3 BAT Module Combines ESP32-S3 and Battery Management

M5Stack has added the M5StampS3 BAT, a compact embedded module based on the ESP32-S3 platform with integrated battery power management. The module is intended for IoT and low-power applications requiring wireless connectivity and flexible GPIO access in a small form factor. The module is built around the ESP32-S3-PICO-1-N8R8 system-in-package, featuring a dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor […]

Shuttle XB860G2 and XH810 Slim Systems Arrive with Intel Core Ultra 200 CPUs

Shuttle has added two systems to its XPC slim lineup, the XB860G2 and XH810, both based on Intel Core Ultra 200 series processors. The systems are offered as compact barebone platforms for embedded, industrial, and general-purpose computing applications. Both models use the LGA1851 socket and support Intel Core Ultra 200 series processors (Arrow Lake-S) with […]

BIO: The Bao I/O Coprocessor

BIO is the I/O co-processor in the Baochip-1x, a mostly open source 22nm SoC I helped design. You can read more about the Baochip-1x’s background here, or pick up an evaluation board at Crowd Supply.

In this post, I’ll talk about the origins of the BIO, starting by working through a detailed study of the Raspberry Pi PIO as a reference, before diving into the architecture of the BIO. I’ll then work through three programming examples of the BIO, two in assembly and one in C. If all you’re interested in is how to use the BIO, you can skip the...

The best laptop Apple ever made

Today I posted a video titled The best laptop Apple ever made, and tl;dw1 it's the 11" MacBook Air.

I acknowledge in the video my pick is slightly subjective, and I also asked a number of other YouTubers which Mac laptop they consider the best (or at least most influential). If you don't want to watch the video, I'll summarize their choices here:

Радио почти из ничего — самодельные радиодетали 1920-х годов. Резисторы

Рассматривая любительские рукодельные электронные лампы, например, [1, 2], интересно и полезно будет вспомнить и об остальных радиоэлементах, изготовлять которые ранним любителям приходилось самостоятельно и собственноручно. Кроме естественных корпусов-ящиков и контурных катушек, дросселей, трансформаторов, коллеги-предки часто были вынуждены делать и почти всё остальное — как установочные элементы — ручки, верньеры, шкалы, клеммы, включатели-переключатели, ламповые панельки, так и радиоэлементы пассивные — резисторы и конденсаторы переменные и постоянные, диоды (детекторы и выпрямители), элементы питания, в том числе и анодные (а это на минуточку — 40…80 вольт!) батареи.

Добавим — всё это предлагалось собирать обычному увлечённому гражданину, юношеству, часто школьнику и из самых чепуховых, буквально подножных...

Как разгоняется электричка? Запускаем блок регулировки ускорения

Приветствую всех!

Раннее летнее утро, пригородная платформа на вокзале одного неназванного города. Пассажиры садятся в стоящую на пути электричку, занимают места и достают обязательную для любой поездки на железной дороге еду. В это время машинист готовится к отправлению, закрывает двери, отпускает тормоза и, наконец, переводит ручку контроллера в ходовое положение.

Казалось бы, всё просто, но многие даже не подозревают, сколько интересного в этот момент происходит. Итак, сегодня разберёмся, как всё это работает, как устроены отвечающие за это блоки и как сжатый воздух помогает электричке плавно трогаться. Заодно запустим один из блоков и увидим его в работе.

Free Stuff - January 2026

The January 2026 recipient for the Great Scott Gadgets Free Stuff Program is Hank Fordham, a cybersecurity specialist and public speaker from Alberta, Canada! Hank, better known online as “Hank the Hacker” delivers live hacking demonstrations at conferences, higher education institutions, CTF competitions, and public sector events. We have sent Hank a HackRF One and YARD Stick One to use as core components of these demonstrations at upcoming conferences this year. He tells us that his presentations focus on demystifying wireless attacks by showing audiences how real-world RF threats work in practice. Rather than relying solely on slides, he builds...