Silvio Werner writes that Banana Pi has announced the BPI-CM7, a compact compute module intended as an alternative to Raspberry Pi compute modules. It is not a standalone board and requires a carrier board, which makes it well suited for ultra-compact custom devices that only need a few breakout interfaces. It uses an Allwinner H618 with four Cortex-A53 cores and an ARM Mali-G31 GPU, and pricing and availability have not been announced.
- 55 x 40 mm form factor with two 100-pin high-density connectors
- Confirmed variant has 2 GB LPDDR4 and 32 GB eMMC
- Integrated Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0
- Supports 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and USB 2.0
- Exposes GPIO, UART, SPI and draws power from 5 V
- 55 x 40 mm form factor with two 100-pin high-density connectors
- Confirmed variant has 2 GB LPDDR4 and 32 GB eMMC
- Integrated Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0
- Supports 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and USB 2.0
- Exposes GPIO, UART, SPI and draws power from 5 V
A repository of bug-fixed and patched software projects for DEC PDP-11 systems, targeting real hardware, SimH, and PiDP-11 emulators running RT-11 and RSX-11M-PLUS. The two main projects are FIG-FORTH v1.4, which corrects garbled terminal output and a corrupted screen file, and FOCAL-11 V11-01C, which fixes an infinite recursion crash in the FEXP function.
- FIG-FORTH originally marked dictionary names with a high bit that modern terminals rendered as a literal "?" character; the patch strips it before display without affecting the dictionary
- The FORTH.DAT file was distributed with a VARIABLE RMS record format, embedding 2-byte length headers every 512 bytes that appeared as stray characters in screens
- FOCAL-11's XFEXP computed e^x by recursively halving the exponent until it fell below -8, but zero's exponent never decreases, so the recursion ran the stack into memory; all other math functions already had a depth guard
- FOCAL is a BASIC-like language from the late 1960s; Lunar Lander was originally written in it
- FIG-FORTH originally marked dictionary names with a high bit that modern terminals rendered as a literal "?" character; the patch strips it before display without affecting the dictionary
- The FORTH.DAT file was distributed with a VARIABLE RMS record format, embedding 2-byte length headers every 512 bytes that appeared as stray characters in screens
- FOCAL-11's XFEXP computed e^x by recursively halving the exponent until it fell below -8, but zero's exponent never decreases, so the recursion ran the stack into memory; all other math functions already had a depth guard
- FOCAL is a BASIC-like language from the late 1960s; Lunar Lander was originally written in it
Waveshare offers a long-wave infrared thermal imaging camera module designed for Raspberry Pi and other platforms, featuring an 80×62 pixel array using hybrid microbolometer and thermopile technology. The device can generate thermal images by converting field of view data into surface temperature readings and is suitable for various industrial and intelligent control applications like motion detection or heat trend analysis. It is available in two main formats: a HAT version with a 40-pin GPIO header and a USB version with a Type-C port, both offering options for basic (45° FOV) or wide-angle (90° FOV) lenses.
- Features an 80x62 pixel array with a shutterless design for continuous video streaming up to 25 FPS.
- Provides a Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) of 150mK RMS at a 1Hz refresh rate.
- Supports temperature measurements ranging from -20°C to 400°C with an accuracy of ±2℃ in ambient temperatures between 10-70°C.
- Compatible with Raspberry Pi boards (including Zero and 5), Windows PCs, and Android phones via the respective connector versions.
- Features an 80x62 pixel array with a shutterless design for continuous video streaming up to 25 FPS.
- Provides a Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) of 150mK RMS at a 1Hz refresh rate.
- Supports temperature measurements ranging from -20°C to 400°C with an accuracy of ±2℃ in ambient temperatures between 10-70°C.
- Compatible with Raspberry Pi boards (including Zero and 5), Windows PCs, and Android phones via the respective connector versions.
bebechien writes about DinoDesk AI, a LEGO dino desk companion built on a Raspberry Pi that pairs a local Gemma 4 model (via LM Studio) with cloud Gemini Flash through a unified OpenAI-compatible gateway, giving users a camera-free, privacy-first chat robot with three switching modes (local, cloud, and auto-hybrid routing). The physical body uses LEGO Technic lever mechanisms for neck and tail movement, a Pimoroni Pirate Audio shield for the 1.3" LCD eyes and 8-bit I2S beeps, and a 5-state finite state machine to coordinate expressions, sound, and motor action across Sleeping, Idle, Listening, Thinking, and Speaking states.
- Auto-hybrid mode uses a complexity classifier that detects multi-step reasoning keywords like "explain," "compare," and "write code" to transparently escalate prompts to the cloud engine
- The project is open-sourced at github.com/google-gemma/dinodesk-ai-companion
- Full voice chat is still a work in progress; current interaction is triggered by a physical red push button
- A commenter noted that absence of a camera does not guarantee voice data stays local, and suggested an explicit retention boundary for audio transcripts would strengthen the privacy claim
- Auto-hybrid mode uses a complexity classifier that detects multi-step reasoning keywords like "explain," "compare," and "write code" to transparently escalate prompts to the cloud engine
- The project is open-sourced at github.com/google-gemma/dinodesk-ai-companion
- Full voice chat is still a work in progress; current interaction is triggered by a physical red push button
- A commenter noted that absence of a camera does not guarantee voice data stays local, and suggested an explicit retention boundary for audio transcripts would strengthen the privacy claim
>"Orange Pi is an open source single-board card computer, a new generation of arm64 development board, which can run operating systems such as Android TV 12, Ubuntu and Debian. The Orange Pi Zero 2w development board uses the Allwinner H618 system-on-chip, and can optionally have 1GB or 1.5GB or 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 memory."
This article explores the question of whether we've reached a point of diminishing returns in computing power. It notes historical mispredictions about computer demand and highlights the rapid increase in processing capabilities, comparing modern smartphones to 1980s supercomputers. The author discusses how software engineers will always utilize available resources and questions if the continued pursuit of ever-increasing compute power is truly beneficial. It suggests that for many personal projects, existing hardware is more than sufficient, and that the "enough" threshold is highly dependent on individual needs and tasks.
Raspberry Pi's share price surged after an X post linked the AI agent OpenClaw to increased demand. The article discusses the reasons behind the surge, the current state of Raspberry Pi hardware, and the security concerns surrounding OpenClaw.
Paris-based Open Tools is developing an open-source inkjet printer that uses standard mechanical components and refillable ink cartridges, controlled by a Raspberry Pi Zero W. It can print on both sheets and rolls of paper, automatically cutting the latter to size, and aims to provide a repairable, upgradeable alternative to traditional printers.
* **Compatibility:** Supports both Raspberry Pi 5 and Jetson Orin Nano.
* **Compact Design:** Space-efficient with integrated cooling fan(s).
* **1.3” OLED Screen:** Displays system status and information.
* **Interface Retention:** Maintains access to original USB, HDMI, Ethernet, and GPIO ports.
* **Storage Expansion:** Raspberry Pi 5 version includes a PCIe M.2 socket for SSDs (2230, 2242, 2260, 2280).
* **Cooling:** Equipped with 3 cooling fans.
* **RTC Support:** Raspberry Pi version supports Real Time Clock functionality.
* **Material:** Aluminum alloy and acrylic construction.
* **Compact Design:** Space-efficient with integrated cooling fan(s).
* **1.3” OLED Screen:** Displays system status and information.
* **Interface Retention:** Maintains access to original USB, HDMI, Ethernet, and GPIO ports.
* **Storage Expansion:** Raspberry Pi 5 version includes a PCIe M.2 socket for SSDs (2230, 2242, 2260, 2280).
* **Cooling:** Equipped with 3 cooling fans.
* **RTC Support:** Raspberry Pi version supports Real Time Clock functionality.
* **Material:** Aluminum alloy and acrylic construction.
