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Groups > comp.os.linux.misc > #75743 > unrolled thread

Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs

Started byc186282 <c186282@nnada.net>
First post2025-10-06 23:07 -0400
Last post2025-10-07 09:36 +0100
Articles 5 on this page of 25 — 4 participants

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  Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-06 23:07 -0400
    Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-07 06:25 +0000
      Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-07 09:38 +0100
      Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-08 02:13 -0400
        Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-10-08 07:50 +0100
          Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-10-08 08:11 +0100
          Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-08 09:46 +0100
            Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-08 16:41 +0000
              Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-08 17:56 +0100
            Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-09 01:54 -0400
          Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-08 16:24 +0000
            Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-08 17:38 +0100
            Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-09 02:51 -0400
          Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-09 01:29 -0400
            Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-10-09 09:29 +0100
              Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-09 13:12 +0100
                Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-09 21:20 -0400
              Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-09 21:16 -0400
                Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-10-10 08:41 +0100
                  Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-10 19:45 +0000
                  Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2025-10-11 00:26 -0400
                    Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-11 06:42 +0000
        Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-08 09:42 +0100
        Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2025-10-08 16:22 +0000
    Re: Russian Attack Drones Using UK CPUs The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2025-10-07 09:36 +0100

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#75917

Fromc186282 <c186282@nnada.net>
Date2025-10-11 00:26 -0400
Message-ID<g-ecnY2NGMbwQXT1nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d@giganews.com>
In reply to#75877
On 10/10/25 03:41, Andy Burns wrote:
> c186282 wrote:
> 
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>> >> c186282 wrote:
>>>
>>>> As mentioned in these groups before, do not be so quick to
>>>> discount "old" tech.
>>>
>>> Newer stuff seems to have come along and eaten its lunch, if it's 
>>> coming back we'll see ...
>>
>> A lot of the time it doesn't have to "come back" because it's still
>> here, heavily embedded, doing its thing like it always did.
> 
> Fair enough, arduino hasn't gone away, just gone down in popularity.

   Didn't really mean that sort of "embedded" - just good
   old boxes doing what they've always done. However Ards
   are not going to go away anytime soon, they have a good
   solid niche and loads of support/docs. Still good for a
   lot of (esp low-power) projects and for students. Too
   much of the "newer/better" chips/boards in that rough
   category are very complex, operating systems even, and
   burn power like mad.

   I remember the PIC16(c/jw/f)84 chips fondly - and did
   lots of useful things with them. Programming almost
   entirely in ASM. Incredibly versatile if you read
   the docs. When I think "embedded" that's what I tend
   to think of first, my 'reference'. Came to love
   the 12fxxx chips too - if you didn't need super speed
   they were easier, cheaper, more versatile, than the
   old 4xxx/7xxx logic chips. Need a Div5 chip ?  :-)

>> So, unless you and/or employer is just rolling in spare cash, don't
>> be in a hurry to buy the 'latest greatest' until, if, it's
>> NECESSARY. "Latest/greatest", "New And Improved" - is a MARKETING
>> SCAM.
> 
> You mentioned the UNO Q?

   Even the lowly UNO's have their niche - and will
   for quite awhile. I have a couple in one of my
   boxes ... contemplating use for an electronic
   door lock employing a sort of "Morse" one-button
   code to make the door open. Tap tap pause Tap
   pause Tap ... easy with an Uno and you don't
   need anything more complex.

> Lots of products seem to embed various forms of Pi, I'm sure some do the 
> same with arduino, but I'd struggle to name one, vs several Pi ones I 
> can think of (Brennan B2/B3 jukebox, piKVM, HomeAssistantYellow) ...

   Ard offers (offered ?) a 'dual processor' model.
   I think the hotter CPU would run a very basic
   Linux. The two CPUs could, kind of awkwardly,
   talk to each other.

   But I'm not sure this is the way to go for Ards.
   Different universes. If you need a PI then you
   go with a PI. If you need really simple stuff
   then you go with an Uno or 2560.

   There is a corp that still sells "RuggedDurino",
   all the I/O pins have voltage clamps. Kind of
   intended for students who tend to fuck things
   up they'd also be just great for more "industrial"
   apps where voltage spikes might happen.

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#75933

Fromrbowman <bowman@montana.com>
Date2025-10-11 06:42 +0000
Message-ID<mkucjgF6f3dU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#75917
On Sat, 11 Oct 2025 00:26:23 -0400, c186282 wrote:

>    Ard offers (offered ?) a 'dual processor' model.
>    I think the hotter CPU would run a very basic Linux. The two CPUs
>    could, kind of awkwardly, talk to each other.

https://www.arduino.cc/pro/hardware-product-portenta-x8/

It's pricey and aimed at industrial applications. The Q has a Cortex-A and 
a Cortex-M and is much less expensive. 

The Portenta H7 has a STM32H747 

https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32h747-757.html

That's an odd duck, two cores but one is a Cortex-M7 and the other is a 
Cortex-M4. No Cortex-A MPU, only the two MCUs. It uses the Arm Mbed RTOS 
that Arm dropped. The Q uses Zephyr for the MCU.

The old Atmel UNOs will be around for a long time but even the UNO R4 went 
to a Cortex-M4.

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#75784

FromThe Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Date2025-10-08 09:42 +0100
Message-ID<10c586c$1fgv6$3@dont-email.me>
In reply to#75777
On 08/10/2025 07:13, c186282 wrote:
> As for Russia ... as said, the EXACT UK tech
>    being used was not included in the article.
>    The govt WILL look into it. However some
>    chips, like the ARMS, are almost ubiquitous
>    and can be salvaged/reprogrammed from a
>    zillion devices.

Of course. Its misinformation. Like 99.99% of all the brushless motors 
made, are made in China.

The stuff that goes into drones is being sold off at rock bottom prices 
on ali-express.

China outcompetes and undercuts the market in neodymium magnets and 
lithium batteries.

I can buy RP2040 based devices made in china cheaper than I can buy them 
in the UK.

All sanctions are leaky. When I was in a South Africa under sanction my 
bosses brother filled a teddy bear with semiconductors and sent it as a 
christmas gift.

Amazing how much you can stuff in a big German teddy bear.

It's not too hard to stop a majority of - say - oil exports from Russia. 
  Its a damn sight harder to stop a tonne of RP2040 chips in the back of 
a  Toyota pickup wrapped in am Iranian  carpet  being driven up to Moscow.

The software in those drones will be made by  100% US based toolchains. 
Russia has very little by way of native hi tech industry at all, and 
less every day, thanks to Ukraine and Europe's ability to generate long 
range precisions fires that can outfly jamming and still hit their targets.

It's a globalised world. Live with it. Russia thought they could go it 
alone. They were wrong.


-- 
  “A leader is best When people barely know he exists. Of a good leader, 
who talks little,When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,They will say, 
“We did this ourselves.”

― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

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#75801

Fromrbowman <bowman@montana.com>
Date2025-10-08 16:22 +0000
Message-ID<mknhedF1dhpU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#75777
On Wed, 8 Oct 2025 02:13:56 -0400, c186282 wrote:

>    Ards still have their place ... but don't expect laptop-scale
>    performance. They're basically micro-controllers. A Pico would be a
>    better starting point for new projects.

Don't write off Arduinos quite yet; Qualcomm just announced the 
acquisition of Arduino. It must have been it the works for a while since 
Arduino is shipping the UNO Q at the end of the month. It has a Qualcomm 
Dragonwing MPU and a ST STM32 MCU. The top side is physically compatible 
with the UNO and the bottom side has additional connects.

https://www.arduino.cc/product-uno-q

The Dragonwing runs Debian rather than the Debian derived Raspberry Pi OS. 
The initial offering has 2GB of RAM but it will be followed by a 4GB 
version. 

It's an interesting design. The RPi 5 is a Cortex-A76 and brings out the 
GPIO lines almost as an afterthought, often with a Pico hung off the side 
for real time processing. The Dragonwing is a quad-core Cortex-A53 with 
the builtin ST with a Cortex-M33. The MCU has Arduino Core running on the 
Zephyr RTOS. That seems to be the way to go since Arm phased out their 
RTOS.

There's a new IDE too, although the current Arduino IDE will work too. 
That will make life a lot easier. STM parts are used in a lot of realtime 
systems but configuring the IDE is an arcane process as is their C++ SDK.

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#75749

FromThe Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Date2025-10-07 09:36 +0100
Message-ID<10c2jf1$qofe$7@dont-email.me>
In reply to#75743
On 07/10/2025 04:07, c186282 wrote:
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5e9zlpz6eo
> 
> British microcomputers were among more than 100,000 foreign-made
> parts contained in Russian missiles and drones used in Sunday's
> deadly strikes on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
> 
> The Ukrainian president called for further "effective" sanctions
> after saying parts originating in allied countries including
> Germany, Japan and the US have been identified in Russian weapons.
> 
> The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said it had
> recently undertaken efforts to crack down on UK firms whose
> products have continued to make their way into Russia's
> military supply chain.
> 
> "We take reports of goods from UK companies being found
> in Russian weaponry incredibly seriously," a government
> spokesperson said.
> 
> . . .
> 
>    The article did not name the exact chip-maker(s).
> 
>    PROBABLY it's ARM.
> 
>    So, are Russian attack drones built around old
>    model rPIs ??? Do they use Linux ? Hmmm ...
>    RED Hat ???  :-)
> 
>    The Pi-5 uses a USA, Broadcom, chip but vast
>    quantities of older chips/boards are out there.
>    ARM chips are almost ubiquitous in small devices.
> 

It would be extremely surprising if drone makers were *not* using ARM 
chips, probably RP2040 style one - in drones. Back around 2010 many 
modellers were flying autonomous aircraft using Arduinos and public 
domain code.

But that chip is available direct from the far east.

I don't know how one would stop them being bought by intermediaries and 
shipped off to Moscow.

-- 
"It was a lot more fun being 20 in the 70's that it is being 70 in the 20's"
Joew Walsh

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