Like many people who solder regularly, I decided years ago to upgrade from a basic iron and invest in a soldering station. My RadioShack digital station has served me well for the better part of 20 years. It heats up fast, tips are readily available, and it’s a breeze to dial in whatever temperature I need. It’s older than both of my children, has moved with me to three different homes, and has outlived two cars and one marriage (so far, anyway).

As such, when the new breed of “smart” USB-C soldering irons started hitting the scene, I didn’t find them terribly compelling. Oh sure, I bought a Pinecil. But that’s because I’m an unrepentant open source zealot and love the idea that there’s a soldering iron running a community developed firmware. In practice though, I only used the thing a few times, and even then it was because I needed something portable. Using it at home on the workbench? It just never felt up to the task of daily use.

So when iFixit got in contact a couple weeks back and said they had a prototype USB-C soldering iron they wanted me to take a look at, I was skeptical to say the least. But then I started reading over the documentation they sent over, and couldn’t deny that they had some interesting ideas. For one, it was something of a hybrid iron. It was portable when you needed it to be, yet offered the flexibility and power of a station when you were at the bench.

Even better, they were planning on putting their money where their mouth is. The hardware was designed with repairability in mind at every step. Not only was it modular and easy to open up, but the company would be providing full schematics, teardown guides, and spare parts.

Alright, fine. Now you’ve got my attention.

Best of Both Worlds

Before we get too much farther, I should clarify that the FixHub is technically two separate devices. Officially iFixit calls the combo a “Portable Soldering System” in their documentation, which is made up of the Smart Soldering Iron and the Portable Power Station. While they are designed to work best when combined, both are fully capable of working independently of each other.

Smart Soldering Iron

The star of the show is, of course, the Smart Soldering Iron. It’s a 100 watt iron that comes up to operating temperature in under five seconds and can work with any suitably beefy USB-C Power Delivery source. The size and general proportions of the iron are very close to the Pinecil V2, though the grip is larger and considerably more comfortable to hold. The biggest difference between the two however is the absence of a display or configuration buttons. According to iFixit, most users don’t change their settings enough to justify putting the interface on the iron itself. That doesn’t mean you can’t tweak the iron’s settings when used in this stand-alone configuration, but we’ll get back to that in a minute.

The only control on the iron is a slide switch on the tail end that cuts power to the heating element. I like this arrangement a lot more than the software solution used on irons like the Pinecil. The click of the switch just feels more reliable than having to hold down a button and hoping the iron’s firmware understands that I want to turn the thing off and not adjust some setting. Of course, this is still a “smart” iron, so naturally there’s also support for accelerometer based idle and sleep modes that you can enable.

While there’s no display, the illuminated ring behind the grip does provide a visual indicator of what the iron is doing: solid blue means it has power but the heating element is off, a pulsing blue indicates the iron is heating, and orange means it has reached the desired temperature. If you flick the heater switch off, the ring pulses purple until it cools back off and returns to blue. It’s a simple and effective system, but the visual distinction between the blue and purple isn’t great. Would love to see the ability to customize these colors in a future firmware update.

The iron has a couple of clever portability features for those who often find themselves hacking on the go. The magnetic cap can be placed over the tip even when it’s hot, which means you don’t need to wait for the iron to cool down before you pack it away in your bag. The included USB-C cable also comes with a locking collar that mates with the groves in the tail of the iron — this keeps the cable from pulling out if you’ve got yourself contorted into some weird angle, but doesn’t prevent you from using your own cable should you want.

As for the tip, it can be easily removed without tools and uses a 3.5 mm TRS plug like the Miniware TS80, although I don’t have a TS80 handy to test if the tips are actually compatible. For their part, iFixit says they plan on offering an array of styles and sizes of tips in addition to the 1.5 mm bevel that the Smart Soldering Iron ships with.

Portable Power Station

While it’s not required to use the Smart Soldering Iron, for the best experience, you’ll want to spring for the Portable Power Station. It’s essentially a 5,200 mAh battery bank capable of powering devices at 100 W, with a single USB-C port on the back for charging and two on the front for whatever devices you want to plug into it.

The trick is, once the Station detects you’ve plugged a Smart Soldering Iron into it, you’re given the ability to configure it via the OLED screen and rotary encoder on the front of the device. There’s even support for connecting a pair of Smart Soldering Irons to the Station, each with its own independent configuration. Though in that case, both would have to share the total 100 W output.

Assuming a single Smart Soldering Iron, iFixit says you should expect to get up to eight hours of runtime from the Portable Power Station. Of course there are a lot of variables involved, so your mileage may vary. If you’re spending most of your time at the bench, you can keep the rear USB-C port connected to a Power Delivery charger and use it more or less like a traditional station.

The Internet of Irons

Plugging the Smart Soldering Iron into the Power Station is the most obvious way of tweaking its various settings, but as I mentioned earlier, it’s not the only way.

Maybe you don’t want to buy the Station, or you left it at home. In either event, you can simply plug the iron into your computer and configure it via WebSerial.

You’ll need a browser based on Chrome to pull this trick off, as Mozilla has decided (at least, for now) to not include the capability in Firefox. In testing, it worked perfectly on both my Linux desktop and Chromebook.

Unfortunately, plugging the iron into your phone won’t work, as the mobile version of Chrome does not currently support WebSerial. But given the vertical layout of the interface and the big touch-friendly buttons, I can only assume that iFixit is either banking on this changing soon or has a workaround in mind. Being able to plug the iron into your phone for a quick settings tweak would be incredibly handy, so hopefully it will happen one way or another.

The WebSerial interface not only gives you access to all the same settings as plugging the iron into the Power Station does, but it also serves as the mechanism for updating the firmware on the iron.

Incidentally, the Power Station has it’s own nearly identical WebSerial interface. Primarily this would be used for upgrading the firmware, but it’s not hard to imagine that some users would prefer being able to change their settings on the big screen rather than having to squint at an OLED not much larger than their thumbnail.

Solder At Your Command

But wait! I hear those gears turning in your head. If the Smart Soldering Iron into the Power Station both feature WebSerial interfaces that let you play around with their settings, does that mean they might also offer a traditional serial interface for you to poke around in?

Hell yeah they do!

There was no mention of this terminal interface in any of the documentation I received from iFixit, but thanks to the built-in help function and tab completion, I was able to make my way around the various tools and functions. I never knew how badly I yearned to adjust the temperature on my soldering station from the command line before this moment. There’s clearly a lot of potential here, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the community can come up given this level of control.

A Look Under the Hood

iFixit offered to give me a peek at the in-development repair guides for the Smart Soldering Iron and the Power Station, but I passed. For one thing, there’s no doubt in my mind that the finished product is going to be phenomenally detailed. Just look at any of their in-house guides, and you’ll know what to expect. But more to the point, I wanted to see how hard it would be to take the two devices apart without any guidance.

I’m happy to report that the iron and its base station are some of the most easily dissembled devices I’ve ever come across. No glue, weird tape, or hidden fasteners. No little plastic tabs that break if you look at them the wrong way. Just two pieces of hardware that were designed and assembled in a logical enough way that you only need to look at them to understand how it all goes together.

Of course, this should come as no surprise. Imagine the mud that would have been slung had iFixit had dropped the ball here. You can’t very well campaign for repairability if you don’t hold your own products to the same standards you do for everyone else. Presumably they designed the Smart Soldering Iron and the Power Station to hit a perfect ten by their published standards, and from what I’ve seen, they nailed it.

I also got a look at the schematics, exploded diagrams, and parts list for both products. Like the repair guides, these won’t be made public until the hardware ships in October. But don’t worry, this isn’t some crowdsource bait-and-switch. They’ve got the goods, and it’s all very impressive.

Now to be clear, we’re not talking open source hardware here. Don’t expect to pull Gerbers from a GitHub repo so you can crank out your own Power Station. But the documentation they’re providing is remarkable for a consumer device. The schematics especially — they’re filled with all sorts of notes in the margins from the engineers which were fascinating to go through.

Investing in the Future

If I’ve not made it abundantly clear so far, iFixit really blew me away with the Portable Soldering System. I knew they would put a solid effort into the product from their reputation alone, but even still, I wasn’t expecting the hardware and software to be this polished. iFixit didn’t just raise the bar, they sent it into orbit.

But all this comes at a price. Literally. The Smart Soldering Iron alone will set you back $79.95, and if you want to get the Power Station along with it, the combo comes in at $249.95. You could get a nice soldering station from Weller or Hakko for half the price. Then again, it’s hard to compare what iFixit is offering here to anything else on the market.

In the end, this is one of those times when you’ve got to decide what’s really important to you. If you just want a quality soldering station, there are cheaper options that will meet all of your needs and then some. But if you want to support a company that’s working to change the status quo, sometimes you’ve got to reach a little deeper into those pockets.

Recently Raspberry Pi released the 2GB version of the Raspberry Pi 5 with a new BCM2712 SoC featuring the D0 stepping. As expected, [Jeff Geerling] got his mitts on one of these boards and ran it through its paces, with positive results. Well, mostly positive results — as the Geekbench test took offence to the mere 2 GB of RAM on the board and consistently ran out of memory by the multi-core Photo Filter test, as feared when we originally reported on this new SBC. Although using swap is an option, this would not have made for a very realistic SoC benchmark, ergo [Jeff] resorted to using sysbench instead.

Naturally some overclocking was also performed, to truly push the SoC to its limits. This boosted the clock speed from 2.4 GHz all the way up to 3.5 GHz with the sysbench score increasing from 4155 to 6068. At 3.6 GHz the system wouldn’t boot any more, but [Jeff] figured that delidding the SoC could enable even faster speeds. This procedure also enabled taking a look at the bare D0 stepping die, revealing it to be 32.5% smaller than the previous C1 stepping on presumably the same 16 nm process.

Although 3.5 GHz turns out to be a hard limit for now, the power usage was interesting with idle power being 0.9 watts lower (at 2.4 W) for the D0 stepping and the power and temperatures under load also looked better than the C1 stepping. Even when taking the power savings of half the RAM versus the 4 GB version into account, the D0 stepping seems significantly more optimized. The main question now is when we can expect to see it appear on the 4 and 8 GB versions of the SBC, though the answer there is likely ‘when current C1 stocks run out’.

A spare monitor and keyboard are handy things to have around, but they’re a bit of a hassle. They are useful for hardware development, plugging in to headless servers, or firing up a Raspberry Pi or similar single-board computer (SBC). If that’s something you do and portability and storage space are important to you, then you may be interested in the CrowView Note.

I got an opportunity to test and provide feedback on an early version of this unusual device, which is functionally a portable spare monitor plus keyboard (and touchpad) without the bulk and extra cables. Heck, it’s even giving me ideas as the guts of a Cyberdeck build. Let’s take a look.

What It Is

It really looks like a laptop, but it’s actually a 14″ 1920 x 1280 monitor and USB keyboard in a laptop form factor.

There is also an integrated trackpad, speakers and mic, and a rechargeable battery. That makes it capable of providing its own power, and it can even function as a power bank in a pinch. There’s an HDMI input on one side, and on the other is a full-featured USB-C port that accepts video input via the DisplayPort altmode.

The CrowView Note is a pretty useful device for a workbench where one is often plugging hardware in for development or testing, because there’s no need to manage a separate monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

It is not a laptop, but attaching an SBC like a Raspberry Pi makes it act like one. The three ports conveniently located on the left-hand side (HDMI in, USB-C out for power to the SBC, and USB-A in for peripherals like keyboard and trackpad) are all that are needed in this case. Elecrow offers a “cable eliminator” PCB adapters to make the process of connecting a Raspberry Pi 5 or a Jetson Nano as simple as possible. The result is something that looks and works just like a laptop.

Well, almost. The SBC will still be a separate piece of hardware, whether connected by cables or by one of Elecrow’s PCB adapters. The result is OK for bench work, but especially in the case of the PCB adapter, not particularly rugged. Still, it’s a nice option and makes working on such boards convenient and cable-free.

What It Isn’t

Visually the CrowView note looks so much like a laptop that it bears repeating: this is not a laptop. There are no processing brains whatsoever inside. It’s a portable and rechargeable monitor, keyboard, mic, and speakers in a laptop form factor.

Also, it is not a laptop kit. It’s got all the right hardware to act like one, but there’s no way to truly securely or semi-permanently attach an SBC. Attaching an SBC like a Raspberry Pi 5 can be done with cables or one of Elecrow’s PCB adapters, but the result is more a convenience than something that would survive being loaded into a bag or backpack and carried around.

Use Cases, and Video Input Options

A device like this is handy for any situation that would require a spare monitor and keyboard, like configuring headless systems or working with development kits. An HDMI and USB cable are all that’s really needed to provide monitor and keyboard/touchpad functionality in this way, and the built-in rechargeable battery means it can power itself as well as attached hardware.

The USB-C port on the left is a 5 V output for exactly this purpose, but the one on the right side is a full-featured port that supports modes such as power delivery (PD) and DisplayPort video over USB-C. Devices that support video in this way include some mobile phones, and portable devices like Valve’s Steam Deck (shown here.)

The only catch for video over USB-C is that both the device and the cable must support it. The DisplayPort altmode is one of USB-C’s high-speed interfaces and requires the cable to have the right pairs connected, or it won’t work. (Since cables all look the same from the outside, this is where a USB cable tester comes in handy.)

The Electrow Note is rechargeable, light, and charges and handles just like a laptop. It’s far less bulky than a standalone monitor and keyboard/mouse. This makes it attractive for use on a crowded workbench, or in field work where portability is key.

Limitations and Quirks

In my testing of an early version of the device, I found a couple quirks that are worth keeping in mind.

One is that this device is a monitor and keyboard/mouse all in one, and they aren’t really completely independent devices. That is to say, if the monitor isn’t getting a useable video signal, the display goes to sleep and seems to take the keyboard and touchpad functionality with it.

For example, pressing CAPS LOCK won’t toggle the caps lock indicator light because the keyboard isn’t “awake” without a video signal. I was unable to use the device just as a USB keyboard/mouse and ignore plugging in the monitor. Similarly, with no valid input video signal functions like brightness adjustment or using the monitor’s OSD menu are inaccessible. (Input switching and battery level display do work, however.)

Related to the above, the interface for adjusting monitor functions is basic, and understanding how it works may save time and frustration. As with many laptops, the function key row doubles as device controls with F1 for video input selection, F5 and F6 adjusting brightness down and up, and so on. On the version I tested, the default configuration is to have the function key row act as monitor controls. To send a literal F1 keypress from the keyboard, one must press Fn+F1. It’s possible to swap this behavior, but the setting reverts at the next power cycle, which led to some head-scratching on my part while troubleshooting.

The CrowView Note’s interface — while functional — isn’t completely obvious at first. On a workbench, one might be plugging a device like this into hardware that may not be working as it should, and its quirks can compound troubleshooting headaches unless one knows what to expect.

Does It Have a Place On Your Workbench, Or In Your Next Project?

Tabletop space and storage space are at premiums for most of us. The CrowView Note is an attractive all-in-one alternative to separate devices, especially with its rechargeable battery. That it includes speaker and mic and can work as a USB power bank in a pinch is a nice touch.

Honestly, it is also giving me DIY cyberdeck build ideas. Monitor, keyboard, speaker, mic, touchpad, and a 5000 mAh battery with charging circuitry built-in? It’s not a bad bundle of hardware for $169 USD. Elecrow is currently accepting pre-orders for the CrowView Note via a crowdfunding campaign if you’re interested.

How often do you find yourself needing to break out a monitor and keyboard, and what’s your favorite solution? Do you see a device like this as a space-saving tool, or more the basis of a hardware project like a cyberdeck build? Could you or have you DIYed something like this on the cheap? Let us know in the comments.

We live in a time where there’s virtually no excuse not to have some kind of oscilloscope. As [IMSAI Guy] shows in a recent video, for what you might expect to pay for a decent meter, you can now get one that includes a scope. There are several options out there but it is hard to know how much to spend to get the best possible product. The Zoyi ZT-702S that he looks at costs under $80. But is it worth it?

Scopes that connect to your PC are often very inexpensive. You can also find little toy scopes that use a microcontroller and a little LCD screen. Even though the specs on these are usually appalling, they will still let you visualize what’s happening in a circuit. Sure, you want an expensive bench scope with lots of channels sometimes, but often, you just need to see a signal in broad strokes. Having a scope and a meter together is very handy.

The little meter claims 10 MHz bandwidth and 48 megasamples per second in scope mode. The meter claims true RMS and 9999 counts. The internal battery charges from USB-C. As you might expect, the meter portion works well enough for a basic meter. The scope reacts well up to 5 MHz. It isn’t necessarily the best scope in the world, but for $80 it seemed quite adequate. The probe compensation wasn’t able to quite make a square wave square, but you still got the idea.

As commenters on the video pointed out, there is a newer model that has two channels (at a slightly higher price tag). They also point out that there are dozens of similar devices at different price points, and everyone has their favorite.

If you have hobby-level cash, we’d suggest a higher-end scope meter like an OWON or Hantek since the professional brands are still very expensive. We wonder what the designer of 1983’s Pocket-O-Scope would think of these modern devices.

Poco después de que varios medios y creadores de contenido publicaron sus previews y videos de gameplay de Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft ha detallado los requisitos oficiales de PC para 1080p, 1440p y 4K a través de su sitio oficial.

Tal como habían anunciado Ubisoft y Nvidia previamente, el juego contará con soporte para DLSS, Frame Generation, Ray Tracing (RTX Direct Illumination), Reflex y Ray Reconstruction. Seguramente también tenga soporte para XeSS 1.3 de Intel y FSR 3.1 de AMD en su lanzamiento.

Requisitos Mínimos para 1080p/30 FPS/Bajo con Escalado en Modo Calidad:

• SO: Windows 10, Windows 11 (versiones de 64 bits)
• Procesador: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 3.6 GHz, Intel Core i7-8700K @ 3.70 GHz o superior
• Memoria: 16 GB (en modo Dual-Channel)
• Gráficos: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB), AMD RX 5600XT (6 GB), Intel Arc A750 (8 GB, con ReBAR activado) o superior
• DirectX: Versión 12
• Almacenamiento: 65 GB de espacio disponible

Requisitos Recomendados para 1080p/60/Alto con Escalado en Modo Calidad:

• SO: Windows 10, Windows 11 (versiones de 64 bits)
• Procesador: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X @ 3.7 GHz, Intel Core i5-10400 @ 2.9 GHz o superior
• Memoria: 16 GB (en modo Dual-Channel)
• Gráficos: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (8 GB), AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB) o superior
• DirectX: Versión 12
• Almacenamiento: 65 GB de espacio disponible

Requisitos para 1440p/60/Alto con Escalado en Modo Calidad:

• SO: Windows 10, Windows 11 (versiones de 64 bits)
• Procesador: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X @ 3.8 GHz or Intel Core i5-11600K @ 3.9 GHz
• Memoria: 16 GB (en modo Dual-Channel)
• Gráficos: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB)/NVidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB), AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16 GB) o superior
• DirectX: Versión 12
• Almacenamiento: 65 GB de espacio disponible

Requisitos para 4K/60/Ultra con Escalado en Modo Calidad:

• SO: Windows 10, Windows 11 (versiones de 64 bits)
• Procesador: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D @ 3.4 GHz or Intel Core i7-12700K @ 3.8 GHz
• Memoria: 16 GB (en modo Dual-Channel)
• Gráficos: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (16 GB), AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (24 GB) o superior
• DirectX: Versión 12
• Almacenamiento: 65 GB de espacio disponible

Star Wars Outlaws se lanzará para Xbox Series X|S, PS5 y PC a través de Ubisoft Connect el 30 de agosto y se podrá jugar hasta tres días antes, a partir del 27 de agosto, con una suscripción a Ubisoft+ Premium o al reservar las ediciones Gold o Ultimate. Por tiempo limitado, los nuevos suscriptores obtienen cuatro meses gratis con Ubisoft+ Premium – Anual y juegan la Edición Ultimate de Star Wars Outlaws.

La oferta dura hasta el 11 de julio y se puede adquirir aquí. Es posible reservar Star Wars Outlaws ahora en la Ubisoft Store y recibir el Kessel Runner Bonus Pack, que incluye elementos cosméticos para el speeder de Kay y su nave Trailblazer. Para más noticias de Star Wars Outlaws, ve nuestras opciones de accesibilidad y visita el sitio web oficial del juego.

Edición Standard – US$ 69.99

• Juego base.

Edición Gold – US$ 109.99

• Juego Base.
• Pase de temporada (con dos DLCs: la misión exclusiva «Jabba’s Gambit», en el lanzamiento, y el paquete cosmético de Kessel Runner.

Edición Ultimate – US$ 129.99

• Juego Base.
• Pase de temporada (con dos DLCs: la misión exclusiva «Jabba’s Gambit», en el lanzamiento, y el paquete cosmético de Kessel Runner).
• Paquete Sabacc Shark (incluye elementos cosméticos para Kay, su pistola, Nix, el speeder de Kay y la nave Trailblazer).
• Paquete Infiltrador Rebelde (cuenta con elementos cosméticos para Kay, Nix, el speeder de Kay y la nave Trailblazer).
• Libro de arte digital: una selección de arte conceptual y visuales del juego, incluyendo storyboards cinematográficos exclusivos.

Acerca de Star Wars Outlaws 

Disfruta del primer juego de mundo abierto de Star Wars, ambientado entre los acontecimientos de El Imperio contraataca y El retorno del Jedi. Explora planetas diversos de todos los rincones de la galaxia, tanto nuevos como emblemáticos.

Arriésgalo todo como Kay Vess, una bribona que anhela la libertad y los medios para comenzar una vida nueva con su compañero Nix. Pelea, roba y engaña a todos los sindicatos del crimen de la galaxia y termina en la lista de los más buscados.

Características principales:

• Explora un mundo abierto con ubicaciones nuevas y emblemáticas – Explora lugares únicos con ciudades y cantinas bulliciosas. Recorre paisajes exteriores vastos en tu speeder. Cada ubicación trae aventuras nuevas, desafíos únicos y recompensas tentadoras si te atreves a arriesgarte.
• Vive la historia original de una bribona – Vive la vida arriesgada de una forajida. Revierte cualquier situación con ayuda de Nix, lucha con tu bláster, derrota a los enemigos con sigilo y artilugios o encuentra el momento adecuado para distraerlos y ganar ventaja.
• Emprende misiones de alto riesgo – Embárcate en misiones arriesgadas de los sindicatos del crimen de toda la galaxia y obtén grandes recompensas. Roba objetos valiosos, infíltrate en ubicaciones secretas y engaña a tus enemigos jugando como una de las forajidas más buscadas de la galaxia. Todas las elecciones que tomes influirán en tu reputación.
• Lucha en el espacio mientras viajas por el Borde Exterior – Conduce tu nave, la Pionera, en combates espaciales emocionantes contra el Imperio y otros enemigos. Encuentra el momento oportuno para perseguir, esquivar, atacar y ganar ventaja.

La entrada Star Wars Outlaws – Requisitos Oficiales de PC para 1080p, 1440p y 4K & Nuevos Videos de Gameplay apareció primero en PC Master Race Latinoamérica.

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GummySearch is an AI-based audience research tool for Reddit. It allows you to systematically research what people are talking about, and how they feel about your competition and your industry. You can use it to find pain points and solutions asking to be built, content ideas to create, or sales leads to connect with. GummySearch […]

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