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The Quantum Dispatch

Mini Computers — Page 3

349 articles in this category

Cover illustration for Comu Is a $6 RISC-V Board That Hides in a USB Port
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Mini Computers

Comu Is a $6 RISC-V Board That Hides in a USB Port

Icy Electronics' Comu packs a 144MHz CH32V203 RISC-V MCU, four touch buttons, and six GPIOs into a 13 x 9.4mm open-source board costing $5.99.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 11, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for PyBLE Programs MicroPython Boards Over Bluetooth LE
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

PyBLE Programs MicroPython Boards Over Bluetooth LE

PyBLE is an MIT-licensed MicroPython IDE for iPad and Android tablets that edits, runs, and debugs ESP32 boards wirelessly over Bluetooth Low Energy.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 11, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for RAK7392 Turns a Raspberry Pi CM5 Into an Edge Router
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Mini Computers

RAK7392 Turns a Raspberry Pi CM5 Into an Edge Router

RAKwireless' $535 WisGate Connect Router RAK7392 pairs a Raspberry Pi CM4 or CM5 with four Ethernet ports and over 4Gbps combined throughput.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 11, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for Raspberry Pi vs Mini PC: Picking a 2026 Home Server
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

Raspberry Pi vs Mini PC: Picking a 2026 Home Server

Memory prices reshaped this choice in 2026. Here is how a Raspberry Pi 5 and a 6W mini PC compare on cost, power, and what they can actually run.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 11, 20269 min read
Cover illustration for Antmicro Open-Sources a Thunderbolt Dual 10GbE Card
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Mini Computers

Antmicro Open-Sources a Thunderbolt Dual 10GbE Card

Antmicro released the full KiCad files for a Thunderbolt 3 to dual 10GbE adapter under Apache 2.0, measured at 9.4 Gbps while drawing under 9 watts.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 10, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for Raspberry Pi Bird Logger Identifies 11,000 Species
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Mini Computers

Raspberry Pi Bird Logger Identifies 11,000 Species

A Raspberry Pi and a USB microphone run BirdNET to identify over 11,000 bird species by sound, then render the day's visitors as an e-ink collage.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 10, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for ChronoWatch X2040 Is a DIY RP2040 Round-Screen Watch
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Mini Computers

ChronoWatch X2040 Is a DIY RP2040 Round-Screen Watch

The ChronoWatch X2040 turns a $23 Waveshare RP2040 board into a DIY wearable with a 1.28-inch round touchscreen, a 3D-printed case, and a 950mAh battery.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 10, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for LILYGO T-Echo Card Puts Solar LoRa Mesh in an IP66 Shell
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Mini Computers

LILYGO T-Echo Card Puts Solar LoRa Mesh in an IP66 Shell

The LILYGO T-Echo Card packs nRF52840, SX1262 LoRa, GPS and a solar panel into a 9.5mm IP66 card, starting around $60 with Meshtastic support.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 9, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for PICOTTY Turns Pi Picos Into a Networked Serial Console
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Mini Computers

PICOTTY Turns Pi Picos Into a Networked Serial Console

PICOTTY pairs a Pi Zero 2 W hub with Ethernet-connected Pico nodes to give four headless machines a browser-based serial console for under $100.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 9, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for Meshtastic vs MeshCore vs LoRaWAN Explained for 2026
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

Meshtastic vs MeshCore vs LoRaWAN Explained for 2026

A plain-English guide to the three LoRa networking options: which one suits hikers, which scales to a city, and which needs gateway infrastructure.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 9, 202610 min read
Cover illustration for Proxmox VE 9.2 Brings Official Arm64 Virtualization
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Mini Computers

Proxmox VE 9.2 Brings Official Arm64 Virtualization

Proxmox VE 9.2 adds official 64-bit Arm builds, with full support for NVIDIA Grace and Vera platforms and best-effort support for UEFI Armv8-A hardware.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 7, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for Token Monitor Shows AI Coding Usage on a 4-Inch Screen
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Mini Computers

Token Monitor Shows AI Coding Usage on a 4-Inch Screen

Token Monitor is an ESP32-S3 desktop display tracking Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Antigravity quota, starting at 99 euros with an Apache-2.0 local broker.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 7, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for ESP RainMaker Neo Open Sources the Full IoT Stack
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Mini Computers

ESP RainMaker Neo Open Sources the Full IoT Stack

Espressif released ESP RainMaker Neo under Apache 2.0, handing makers the cloud backend, firmware SDK, and phone app to self-host on their own AWS account.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 7, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for ZecTrix Note 4 Puts an AI Voice Notepad on E-Paper
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

ZecTrix Note 4 Puts an AI Voice Notepad on E-Paper

ZecTrix Note 4 pairs a 4.2-inch E-Ink display with an ESP32-S3, NFC, and a 2,000 mAh battery for $54.99 — and a four-color variant lands near $30.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 6, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for CtrlVibe AI Console Keypad Starts at $109 on Kickstarter
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

CtrlVibe AI Console Keypad Starts at $109 on Kickstarter

CtrlVibe AI Console packs nine hot-swappable keys, a rotary encoder, and a three-way permission toggle into a CNC aluminum keypad starting at $109.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 6, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for LoRaWAN QR Codes Replace Manual Key Entry at Scale
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

LoRaWAN QR Codes Replace Manual Key Entry at Scale

Three new LoRa Alliance specs turn LoRaWAN device onboarding into a QR scan and add relay guidance for coverage underground and behind thick walls.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 6, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for reComputer Mini J501 Puts 275 TOPS in a 119mm Cube
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Mini Computers

reComputer Mini J501 Puts 275 TOPS in a 119mm Cube

Seeed's reComputer Mini J501 pairs a Jetson AGX Orin module with 10GbE, dual CAN-FD and eight GMSL2 cameras in a 1.35kg box, from $2,399 early-bird.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20266 min read
Cover illustration for Espressif ESP32-C61-MINI Puts Wi-Fi 6 in a $2 Module
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

Espressif ESP32-C61-MINI Puts Wi-Fi 6 in a $2 Module

Espressif's ESP32-C61-MINI-1 brings 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.3 to a RISC-V module costing about $2 each in five-packs, with a $9 dev board.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for Silicon Labs BG2B Sleeps at 1.1uA on Bluetooth 6
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

Silicon Labs BG2B Sleeps at 1.1uA on Bluetooth 6

Silicon Labs' BG2B is its lowest-power Bluetooth LE part yet, holding 1.1uA deep sleep with RAM retention and cutting active MCU current by around 15%.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for Octopus 16 Puts 16-Channel EEG on a $250 Open Board
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Mini Computers

Octopus 16 Puts 16-Channel EEG on a $250 Open Board

The $250 Octopus 16 packs 16 EEG channels into a 26mm board and turns brain signals into BLE gamepad input, with fully open Arduino and Python code.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20265 min read
Cover illustration for Stream32 Builds an Open-Source Stream Deck on ESP32
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Mini Computers

Stream32 Builds an Open-Source Stream Deck on ESP32

Stream32 pairs an ESP32 with a 4-inch or 10.1-inch touchscreen to make a fully customizable open-source Stream Deck alternative you can reflash yourself.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for VIEWE 7.6-Inch Square HDMI Touch Displays Start at $85
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

VIEWE 7.6-Inch Square HDMI Touch Displays Start at $85

VIEWE's 7.6-inch square HDMI panels reach 1200x1200 at 1,000 nits and plug into a Raspberry Pi or Jetson over mini HDMI, starting at $85.29.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20264 min read
Cover illustration for ESP32-S3 Runs a 28.9M-Parameter LLM at 9 Tokens/s
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

ESP32-S3 Runs a 28.9M-Parameter LLM at 9 Tokens/s

A developer got a 28.9M-parameter language model generating 9 tokens per second on an $8 ESP32-S3, using 4-bit weights and per-layer embeddings in flash.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20266 min read
Cover illustration for ASUS UGen300 Puts 40 TOPS of AI on a USB-C Stick
AI-Generated|Opinion
Mini Computers

ASUS UGen300 Puts 40 TOPS of AI on a USB-C Stick

The $299.99 ASUS UGen300 pairs a Hailo-10H chip with 8GB LPDDR4 to deliver 40 TOPS over USB-C at 2.5W, adding local AI to Windows, Linux or Android hosts.

Alex Circuit
Alex CircuitAug 4, 20265 min read