Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: subscribe for free

The Python for Microcontrollers Newsletter is the place for the latest news involving Python on hardware (microcontrollers AND single board computers like Raspberry Pi).

This ad-free, spam-free weekly email is filled with CircuitPythonMicroPython, and Python information (and more) that you may have missed, all in one place!

You get a summary of all the software, events, projects, and the latest hardware worldwide once a week, no ads! You can cancel anytime.

11,496 subscribers and growing

Try our spam-free newsletter today

It arrives about 11 am Monday (US Eastern time) with all the week’s happenings.

And please tell your friends, colleagues, students, etc.

Please sign up > > >

Overclocking a Raspberry Pi 5 to 3.6 Gigahertz @skatterbencher

Pieter on Skatterbencher is a frequent overclocker and he’s taken on boosting the new Raspberry Pi 5 to unheard of clock speeds.

We tried everything to make our Pi the fastest Pi in the world. That includes changing the operating system, subzero cooling with liquid nitrogen, boosting the power circuitry, and even swapping out the crystal oscillator.In this blog post I try to share some of the findings and insights from the several weeks of Pi hacking in collaboration with ElmorLabs.

Various methods were used to be able to increase the frequency the Pi would run at:

See the video below and more in the article here.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists

Whenever you think something might not be connected, art has a way to show you it is. The Baltimore Museum of Art invites you to question the use of colors and patterns in art by combining the works of Matisse with Japanese woodcut artists in one exhibition.

In contrast to Matisse, Japanese woodcut artists working in the 19th century depicted their female subjects more often in public spaces clothed in layers of ornately decorated robes. Prints by some of Japan’s most popular woodcut artists—Kikugawa Eizan, Keisai Eisen, and Utagawa Kunisada—show glamorized courtesans and entertainers frequently depicted as though on parade. The exhibition also features a vibrant sash supplementing those shown in the prints.

Making a trading Gameboy: A pocket exchange and algo trading platform @QuestDb

Tancrede Collard of QuestDB has been tinkering with Raspberry Pi products with his child. Various projects ensued then a Raspberry Pi Pico powered display from Pimoroni came along.

It then occurred to me that a market-making game would be more interesting.

When market-making, you are quoting on both exchanges and over the counter, hedging in the underlying market and taking/managing risk. A large difference between market making and the previous game is that in market making, you are constantly quoting both sides, and other participants come and trade against you.

To manage your risk, you can trade in the underlying markets. For example, if you sell S&P 500 ETFs, you are short. To mitigate this risk, you can buy a hedge instrument (for example S&P500 futures) which are perfectly correlated to the ETF and therefore render yourself immune to market movements.

A custom PCB was made with the display, Pico, and eight buttons to control all the various actions. Software has been written in MicroPython. Various methods were employed to have the code work quickly and efficiently.

I am truly impressed by the Raspberry Pi Pico, and the micropython language. When I think microcontroller, I think toothbrush control or small RC remote. But seeing it run an exchange, orderbook, matching engine, and refreshing a display for a cost of around $8 is truly impressive.

They just released a new version with more cores, more memory, and other features, and I can’t wait to try it for other projects and to see what more skilled makers will make of it!

See this project in the post here.

Monday, November 11, 2024

Metro RP2350 – now with Bigger Better RP2350B!

01 metrorp2350.

We designed and prototyped an RP2350 Metro a few months ago, and it worked OK, but we were really short on pins, which meant a lot of annoying compromises – so we ended up only fabbing the RP2350 Feather to start.

With that design flying off the shelves, It’s time to revisit the Metro.

03 schematic.

We wanted to jam-pack this design, and with the extra GPIO on the B we have plenty of peripherals: the 22-pin HSTX for DVI output, Stemma QT port, NeoPixel, JST 3-SH SWD debug port, 16MB flash, an extra spot for PSRAM, MicroSD card with SPI or SDIO connections, and 5V buck converter that can give us 2 Amp easily, which we’ll need since we also have a USB Host port pinout for connecting USB peripherals.

04-design by committee.

We even managed to get a couple of niceties like switchable power for the USB host power, a USB boot button as user input, and an SD card detect GPIO.

Raspberry Pi Based AR Glasses

Friday, November 8, 2024

RGB Pixel Dust / Sand | Raspberry Pi Pico Project #piday #Raspberrypi

Tech Talkies shared this project on Youtube!

A Raspberry Pi Pico project, using Circuit Python. It is pixel sand that is controlled by an MPU6050 gyroscope module. It is rendered on a 64×32 RGB matrix panel.


3055 06Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!