The great thing about tech is that things never stand still. It wasn't long after the previous newsletter went out, that I started playing with the new $4 Raspberry Pi Pico. It is a cheap and cheerful microcontroller board that can be programmed in C/C++ and MicroPython. But that isn't all. Read on to find out if AMD's RDNA GPU can save the Samsung Exynos processor, plus take a look at an HDMI to USB-C video capture device from ATEN.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation seems to be searching for a new vision and so has decided to get into the crowded microcontroller market with the Raspberry Pi Pico. Based on a dual-core Cortex-M0+ microcontroller, it runs MicroPython or C/C++ and is designed for makers, enthusiasts, and hobbyists. Here is my review and getting start guide.

In my previous video, I showed you how to use the Raspberry Pi Pico with MicroPython. In this video I take a took at using C or C++ and cover how to run code on the second Cortex-M0+ core.

Which Raspberry Pi model is best for you? Way back there was just one model but over the years the number of options has increased, now including microcontrollers and desktop computers. Let’s take a look at what is available, so you can pick the right Raspberry Pi for your needs.

Samsung signed a deal with AMD in 2019 for AMD to provide custom graphics tech based on the RDNA graphics architecture, for Samsung to use in mobile devices, including smartphones. This deal is due to come to fruition any day now, but can AMD provide what is needed? Let’s find out.

Coming Soon!

My PINE64 PinePower desktop power supply has arrived! I plan to make a short video about it next week.

I Found These Things Interesting, So Might You!

• Free eBooks on Haskell, Lisp, and Artificial Intelligence Programming With Java.
• A look back at Zork – In the early 1980s, as the personal computer revolution reached into more and more homes, a Zork disk was a must-buy for first-time computer owners.
• Apple Silicon M1 as-a-service – M1 in the cloud.
• The Rust Cookbook is a collection of simple examples that demonstrate good practices to accomplish common programming tasks, using the crates of the Rust ecosystem.
• The first edition of the Unix Programmer’s Manual, dated November 3, 1971, is available here in image, Postscript, and PDF format.
• Computer Graphics from Scratch demystifies the algorithms used in modern graphics software with basic programming and high school math.
• Guy buys 200+ Raspberry Pi Model B’s and he is going to fix them!
• Rust for Windows – The “windows” crate lets you call any Windows API past, present, and future.

Smartphone speakers have limits: Size, position, excursion, and thermals. However, that doesn’t mean they need to sound bad. With the right tech smartphone speakers can be made to sound BIG!

The ATEN Camlive+ is a HDMI to USB-C video capture device with Power Delivery (PD) power pass-through. Is it complicated to use? Let’s find out.

One More Thing

So a question for you all good folks! I have been thinking about the @garyexplains Twitter account. I have nearly 200K subs here on YouTube, but only 4K followers on Twitter. Is that normal? Any thoughts? Please vote in the poll and leave a comment. Thx!!!