Tux Machines
Posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 02, 2023
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=> ↺ More Unity: Dive deeper into 3D worlds, game design and programming
Reach the next level with your 3D game designs with the More Unity path from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. A perfect next step after completing our Intro to Unity path
=> ↺ C64 Cartridge on a Stripboard
People ask me why the Commodordion boots from a tape drive emulator, which takes a couple of seconds and involves manual key presses. In contrast, an autostart cartridge on the expansion port would get everything up and running instantly at power-on.
In the particular case of the Commodordion, there's a lack of space around the expansion ports. But in addition to that, the answer I usually give is that it's much easier to implement a tape drive emulator than a cartridge. The communication protocol is slow and needs only a few wires, whereas a cartridge interfaces directly with the buses of the computer (via dozens of signals) and needs to respond in a fraction of a microsecond. And I knew I could build a tape drive emulator using components that I already had at home, whereas making my own cartridge would involve designing and ordering a custom PCB.
Or would it? The question kept itching at the back of my head. Wouldn't it be a nice challenge to try to make an autostarting C64 cartridge on a humble stripboard?
The SID chip (Sound Interface Device) in the Commodore 64 has three channels, which means that it can play up to three sounds at the same time. A channel can be individually configured to play any one of the supported sounds, such as pulse wave, triangle wave, or white noise.
In contrast, the APU (Audio Processing Unit) of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) offers five fixed-function channels: Two pulse-wave channels, one triangle-wave channel, one noise channel, and one channel for sample playback.2
LILYGO T-Deck is a development kit with an ESP32-S3 WiFi and BLE module, a 2.8-inch display with touchscreen support, a Blackberry-like keyboard based on ESP32-S3, and optional LoRaWAN connectivity through an SX1262 LoRa module. It looks ideal for text-based messaging, but the devkit also includes two microphones and a speaker so audio communication must be possible. Other features include a MicroSD card slot, a Grove connector (UART) for expansion, and support for a LiPo battery with USB charging.
=> ↺ $26 WiFi 6 router board features Triductor TR6560 & TR5220 chips
Banana Pi BPI-Wifi 6 is an ultra-low-cost WiFi 6 router board with five Gigabit Ethernet ports based on Triductor Technology TR6560 dual-core Cortex-A9 router SoC and TR5220 WiFi 6 chipset and that sells for just $26.32 plus shipping on Aliexpress, or $39.99 as part of a kit with the board, four antennas, and a 12V power supply. The board is equipped with 512MB RAM and a 128MB SPI flash for OpenWrt, comes with four antenna connectors for WiFi, and can also take an optional 12V PoE module for power instead of relying on a 12V power adapter via a DC jack.
Mekotronics A58 7-inch smart display is powered by a Rockchip RK3588 SoC with up to 16GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, and ships with a DSLR camera mount to enable video broadcasting and live streaming on social platforms. In the past, we’ve covered several Rockchip RK3588-powered Arm mini PCs by Mekotronics such as the R58, R58X, and more recently the R58X-Pro and R58X-HDD models, but the company has now leveraged its experience with the platform by launching a 7-inch smart display that can be used for live-streaming, but as we’ll see from the specifications below can also find many other uses.
=> ↺ Toshiba “MH3 Group (2)” Arm Cortex-M3 MCU supports firmware updates without interrupting operation
Toshiba “MH3 Group (2)” Arm Cortex-M3 microcontrollers come with a 1MB flash memory partitioned into two 512KB partitions to enable firmware updates without interrupting microcontroller operation using an area swap function to rotate to the new firmware seamlessly. The new M3H Group (2) builds upon the M3H Group(1) by expanding the code flash memory up to 1MB, and the RAM capacity from 66KB to 130KB.
ANAVI Technology has launched two more open-source hardware mechanical keyboards based on the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller, equipped with an OLED display, and programmable with CircuitPython: the ANAVI Macro Pad 12 with 12 keys and the ANAVI Arrows with four keys and a rotatory encoder. The new mechanical keyboards follow ANAVI Macro Pad 10 & Knobs input devices equipped with the same Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040 MCU module running the KMK firmware written with CircuitPython, but with different form factors and features.
=> ↺ NEWRACOM NRC7394 WiFi HaLow SoC delivers higher power efficiency and cost-effectiveness
NEWRACOM has just introduced the NRC7394 Wi-Fi HaLow Arm Cortex-M3 SoC with higher power efficiency and lower cost than the previous generation NRC7292 Cortex-M3/M0 HaLow SoC and available in a 6x6mm package. I first wrote about the 802.11ah standard in 2014. Also known as the WiFi HaLow (consumers name), it operates in the 900 MHz band, offers a longer range and lower power consumption for items like IP cameras, and the first products came to market in 2021. I was expecting a flood of new WiFi HaLow devices in 2022 in my year 2021 round-up and it was not exactly a prescient prediction as it never happened. But maybe the new NRC7394 SoC will help make WiFi HaLow devices more popular by lowering the costs and further improving battery life.
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