Today, our epic autumn of product launches continues with Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, the wireless-enabled variant of this summer’s Pico 2. Built around our brand new RP2350 microcontroller, featuring the tried and tested wireless modem from the original Pico W, and priced at just $7, it’s the perfect centrepiece for your connected Internet of Things projects.

RP2350: the connoisseur’s microcontroller, redux

When we launched our debut microcontroller, RP2040, way back in 2021, we couldn’t have imagined the incredible range of products that would be built around it, or the uses that the community would put them to. Combining a symmetric pair of fast integer cores; a large, banked, on-chip memory; rich support for high-level languages; and our patented programmable I/O (PIO) subsystem, it quickly became the go-to device for enthusiasts and professional engineers seeking high-performance, deterministic interfacing at a low price point.

RP2350 builds on this legacy, offering faster cores, more memory, floating point support, on-chip OTP, optimised power consumption, and a rich security model built around Arm’s TrustZone for Cortex-M. It debuted in August on Pico 2, on the DEF CON 32 badge (designed by our friends at Entropic Engineering, with firmware and a gonzo sidewalk badge presentation by the redoubtable Dmitry Grinberg), and on a wide variety of development boards and other products from our early-access partners.

Wireless things

Many of the projects and products that people build on top of our platforms — whether that’s our Linux-capable Raspberry Pi computers, our microcontroller boards, or our silicon products — answer to the general description “Internet of Things”. They combine local compute, storage, and interfacing to the real world with connectivity back to the cloud.

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W brings all the power of RP2350 to these IoT projects. The on-board CYW43439 modem from our friends at Infineon provides 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and is supported by C and MicroPython libraries. Enthusiasts benefit from the breadboard-friendly Pico form factor, while our upcoming RM2 radio module (already in use on Pimoroni’s Pico Plus 2 W) provides a route to scale for professional products which have been prototyped on the platform.

More to come

We’re very pleased with how Pico 2 W has turned out. And, where the Pico 1 series ended with Pico W, we have a few more ideas in mind for the Pico 2 series. Keep an eye out for more news in early 2025.

The post Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W on sale now at $7 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.

As expected, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W – the wireless version of the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 – is now available with an extra 2.4GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module at an official price of $7. We’ll go through the specs and perform a mini review in this post trying out both WiFi and Bluetooth code samples. It’s not the first Raspberry Pi RP2350 with WiFi and Bluetooth we’ve seen, as Pimoroni introduced the Pico Plus 2 W board with an RP2350B MCU and Raspberry Pi RM2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and iLabs launched the Challenger+ RP2350 WiFi6/BLE5 board relying on ESP32-C6 wireless module. However, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is the official board, is cheaper, and will certainly be the most popular/widely used. Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W specifications Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W specifications: SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350 CPU Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ [...]

The post $7 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W board launched with 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

Hello everyone. Another light week here. Let’s go over everything.

BeagleY-AI SD Card support

While hacking on my BeagleY-AI, I found that my HP SD card did not work with BeagleY-AI for some reason. On digging a bit further, some SD cards were not working on BeagleY-AI due to some issues with signal voltage switching on the am62x platform. This has now been fixed, as seen in the following patch series. By switching out the Linux kernel to mainline, I was able to get the HP SD card to work. So, the SD card compatibility of BeagleY-AI will improve soon.

BeagleBoard Rust Imager

BeagleBoard Rust imager got lots of love this week.

AppimageLauncher Problem

As pointed out by Jason here, the BeagleBoard Rust imager appimage is not usable with AppimageLauncher. The issue seems to be that appimagetool uses ZSTD compression now, while AppimageLauncher does not support it yet. Moreover, it seems like AppimageLauncher makes the appimage unusable. For now, the recommendation is to either remove AppimageLauncher or at least deactivate it for the BeagleBoard Rust imager.

More information regarding the upstream issue can be found here.

SD Card Flashing Performance Improvements

While the SD card flashing worked, it was much slower than the original bb-imager. After some tinkering with the buffer size while flashing and using parallel decompression of xz images, SD card flashing should be much faster (flashing time decreases by 57%).

It is still a bit slower than the original bb-imager (about 1 min), but it seems related to the internals of QFile, so that would be much more work than just a day.

Debian Packages

BeagleBoard Rust imager now builds Debian packages in CI using cargo-deb. While the goal is to eventually have an upstream package using debcargo, there is not much point until bb-imager-rs hits v1.0.0. Additionally, since debcargo only seems to support building stuff already present in cartes.io, it does not seem suitable for experimental builds (although I could be wrong about that).

Experimental Builds

Builds from the latest main branch are now pushed to Package Registry rather than just being stored as build artifacts. This makes grabbing the latest development version of bb-imager-rs much simpler.

Note: Only the most recent build is kept around.

Ending Thoughts

This was it for this week. Hopefully, this helps bring transparency regarding where the development efforts are concentrated, and how the community can help. Look forward to next update.

Helpful links

• BeagleBoard
• BeagleBoard Imager Rust Port
• My Rust std for UEFI open PRs

The post This Week in Beagle #6 appeared first on BeagleBoard.

While the end of year holidays are fast approaching, my commitment to Linux hardware and open-source software remains and there still is a lot of interesting content to come this year still -- each and every day, without change for roughly a decade. Unfortunately though due to the (sad) state of the ad industry, many major companies focusing on the likes of Facebook/Meta ads, and the frequent use of ad-blockers by Linux/FLOSS readers make ongoing operations increasingly difficult. But if you'd like to show some love this holiday season, the Phoronix Premium "Cyber Week" / "Black Friday" special is now taking place so you can enjoy the site ad-free, native dark mode support, multi-page articles on a single page, and other benefits while hopefully allowing the site to continue for years to come...

The nRF54L15 DK is a development kit designed to evaluate the wireless SoCs of the nRF54L15, nRF54L10, and nRF54L05 wireless SoCs. These SoCs support multiple wireless protocols, including Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth Mesh, Matter, Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4GHz proprietary protocols, with data rates of up to 4Mbps. The kit integrates the nRF54L15 SoC and provides emulation capabilities for the nRF54L10 and nRF54L05, enabling flexible testing and development across the nRF54L Series. The nRF54L series SoCs differ in memory configurations to meet various application requirements. The nRF54L15 includes 1.5 MB of non-volatile memory (NVM) and 256 KB of RAM for high-performance applications. The nRF54L10 features 1.0 MB of NVM and 192 KB of RAM for mid-range use cases, while the nRF54L05 offers 0.5 MB of NVM and 96 KB of RAM for entry-level designs requiring fewer resources. The kit is supported by the nRF Connect SDK and tools, providing access to [...]

The post nRF54L15 DK: A Development Kit for nRF54L15, nRF54L10, and nRF54L05 SoCs with Bluetooth, Thread, and Zigbee appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

Don’t miss this opportunity to upgrade your CNC experience with the Genmitsu 4040-PRO MAX CNC Router and the Genmitsu APP with WiFi Module—a powerful duo designed for precision, performance, and convenience. 4040-PRO MAX: Revolutionizing Precision and Performance The Genmitsu 4040-PRO MAX is engineered to deliver top-tier CNC routing with exceptional accuracy and power. Its 400 x 400mm working area and 710W spindle make it perfect for both intricate woodworking and demanding metal engraving tasks. Enhanced Stability & Rigidity: This router’s upgraded Z-axis and linear guide rail system ensure unmatched precision and reduce vibrations for consistent results. Increased Z-axis Clearance: A 100mm pass height accommodates larger materials, making it versatile for diverse projects. Powerful Spindle: The 710W spindle cuts effortlessly through tough materials, earning rave reviews from users for its reliability and efficiency. Comprehensive Compatibility: This router offers endless customization and is compatible with most 4040 accessories, including routers, four-axis modules, [...]

The post Take Your CNC Projects to the Next Level with the Genmitsu 4040-PRO MAX and Genmitsu APP (Sponsored) appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

The T5 E-Paper S3 Pro is a compact development board featuring the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 microcontroller alongside advanced capabilities. Designed for low-power applications, it integrates wireless connectivity, e-paper technology, and peripheral support This specific board is powered by the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module, which includes 16MB of flash memory and 8MB of PSRAM, supporting 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and BLE […]

Waveshare has introduced a series of microcontroller development boards based on the RP2350 chipset designed by Raspberry Pi. These boards cater to diverse development needs, offering features such as GPIO expandability, 100 Mbps Ethernet, and compact LCD displays. The Waveshare RP2350-Plus Development Board is a versatile platform tailored for embedded development. Designed with compatibility in […]

ICP Deutschland recently introduced the TANGO-7010 series, a compact mini PC powered by Intel 12th-generation Core processors. Designed for demanding applications, the series features efficient thermal management with a system fan and supports various storage interfaces. The TANGO-7010 features the Intel H610 chipset and supports up to 64GB of DDR4 memory via two SODIMM slots, […]

SparkFun has released the Quadband GNSS RTK Breakout featuring the Quectel LG290P module designed for high-precision real-time kinematic (RTK) applications. It supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS, QZSS, and NavIC constellations, with the ability to simultaneously receive signals from L1, L2, L5, and L6/E6 frequency bands. The module includes support for SBAS augmentation systems (e.g., WAAS, EGNOS, GAGAN) and PPP services (e.g., BDS PPP-B2b, QZSS CLAS), delivering reliable positioning with fast convergence times for precision navigation tasks. The breakout board offers a compact design (43.2 x 43.2mm) and multiple expansion options including 24 PTH pins, dual 4-pin JST Qwiic connectors, three UART interfaces, a USB-C connector, and additional PTH pins for BlueSMiRF/Serial-to-UART. With its RTK support and advanced GNSS capabilities, the board is ideal for applications requiring high-accuracy positioning and robust navigation performance. Previously, we covered several GNSS boards including the SparkFun GNSS L1/L5, u-blox EVK-LEXI-R10, and Conexio Stratus Pro and [...]

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The AMDXDNA kernel driver for Linux systems that was made open-source in January for supporting the Ryzen AI NPU on laptop SoCs going back to the Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix" series is now one step away from appearing in the mainline Linux kernel in the near future...

Earlier this week was the main power management updates for Linux 6.13 that included switching AMD EPYC Turin to using the amd_pstate driver on supported systems. Sent out this weekend was another set of power management updates that also includes a notable addition: the virtual CPUFreq driver...

Following all of the MM patches earlier this week sent in by Andrew Morton, on Sunday morning he sent out all of the non-MM patches that he manages for the Linux kernel. Notable for Linux 6.13 with this pull request is presenting the hung task counter as well as finishing off the folio conversion in the NILFS2 code...

In this off-topic post, I’m going to discuss some behind-the-scenes “fun” that may happen when managing the web server used to host the CNX Software website. From time to time, the server becomes unreachable, but I can still access its console, and notice a very high CPU load (over 100) on a VPS with four cores, while the CPU load is typically 0.5 to 2 under normal circumstances. That’s usually due to a DoS (denial of service), DDoS (distributed denial of service), or some bug I can’t identify. An easy way to solve this issue is to log in to Cloudflare and set the “Under Attack Mode” to on. It will show all visitors a JavaScript challenge the first time they visit the website, and the CPU usage typically drops back to normal level within a minute or so. That means I can access my website and so do regular [...]

The post Mitigating a DoS attack with GoAccess and Cloudflare appeared first on CNX Software - Embedded Systems News.

Ahead of FreeBSD 14.2 hopefully releasing in just over one week, FreeBSD 14.2-RC1 is out this weekend as the last planned development release for testing ahead of that much anticipated point release...

The UCM-iMX95, a compact System-on-Module by Compulab, is built around the NXP i.MX 95 processor, leveraging ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at up to 2.0 GHz. Optimized for industrial applications, it delivers robust performance in graphics, image processing, and artificial intelligence workloads. This ultra-compact System-on-Module, measuring just 28 x 40 mm, integrates up to six Cortex-A55 […]

The Milk-V Megrez, first announced in August this year, is recognized as one of the first RISC-V hardware hypervisors available in the market. It features a compact Mini-ITX form factor, support for up to 32 GB of LPDDR5 memory, multiple storage interfaces, and dual LAN Ethernet ports. The Milk-V Megrez incorporates the ESWIN EIC7700X system-on-chip. […]

A Microsoft Research project that was quietly announced a few years ago to some fanfare but not hearing much about since has been Demikernel as their library OS architecture for kernel-bypass I/O. A Phoronix reader brought up Demikernel this week and while it hasn't been talked about much in recent years it does remain under active development with the most recent commits as of hours ago...

IBM isn't formally releasing Power11 processors until next year, but their software engineers continue being quite busy preparing the Linux kernel and other open-source software for Power11. The newest on the kernel side is enabling support for KVM nested guests on IBM Power11 platforms...

For those still running a 1st Generation Xeon Scalable "Skylake" era server, support for it within the open-source Coreboot firmware may continue to improve all these years later thanks to firmware consulting firm 9elements...