7688

7688 commonly refers to the MediaTek MT7688 system-on-chip and the Seeed Studio LinkIt Smart 7688 development board family. The MT7688 is a 580 MHz MIPS-based SoC designed for networked embedded devices. It includes a 802.11b/g/n Wi‑Fi radio on a single chip, enabling wireless Internet connectivity without a separate wireless module. The design targets compact, low-power IoT devices and supports a Linux-based software environment through OpenWrt-compatible firmware and development kits.

The LinkIt Smart 7688 board, introduced in the mid-2010s, packages the MT7688 and is marketed as an accessible IoT development platform. Common features on the board include a USB interface, a micro‑USB power input, a microSD slot, and a set of general purpose I/O lines accessible through headers. It supports standard hardware communication interfaces such as UART, SPI, and I2C, enabling interfacing with sensors and actuators. The platform runs OpenWrt-based firmware and is accompanied by a software development kit from Seeed Studio, along with community resources for building device control and cloud connectivity applications.

In use, 7688 boards have been employed for rapid prototyping of home automation, remote sensing, and other IoT projects, leveraging the combination of built‑in Wi‑Fi and Linux-based software. The term remains a shorthand for either the MT7688 chip or the LinkIt Smart 7688 hardware family in hobbyist and early commercial IoT contexts.