Electronics

Qualcomm's buying Arduino – what it means for makers (jeffgeerling​.com). Qualcomm acquires Arduino; Uno Q SBC+Arduino microcontroller integration; Linux on Dragonwing QRB2210; Arduino App Lab; open schematics

How We Built a 100-Watt Soldering Iron During Supply Chain Hell (ifixit​.com). iFixit builds a 100W USB‑C portable soldering iron with Intercreate, detailing design, supply-chain hell, and repairability

I Replaced My Toaster's Firmware and Now I'm a Fugitive (jxself​.org). Fugitive tale of a DRM-locked OmniCorp toaster, LibreToast firmware, CEU raid, and a hacker collective called the Glitch

Silicon Evolution: Qualcomm's Arduino Acquisition Sparks Debate on Microcontroller and IoT Revolution (eliza-ng​.me). Qualcomm acquires Arduino; Uno Q SBC with Dragonwing SoC and STM32; tension between education-friendly Arduino ethos and high-tech AI/IoT potential

Qualcomm Acquires Arduino: Open Source Community Watches With Caution (emsi​.me). Qualcomm to acquire Arduino; UNO Q with Dragonwing QRB2210 processor; open-source transition concerns for the maker community

How much radiation can a Pi handle in space? (jeffgeerling​.com). Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and Pixel 7 Pro radiation testing in a 5mm aluminum SatGus enclosure, using cyclotron and Cobalt-60 gamma sources

Brain dump, October 2025 (dmitrybrant​.com). Explores repurposing old Android phones and a USB LTE/WiFi dongle for testing, including battery removal, power modification, and DIY hardware tinkering

Using a Laptop as an HDMI Monitor for an SBC (danielmangum​.com). Using a laptop with HDMI capture cards (USB) and VLC/FFplay to display SBC output; optional OBS, KVM switch, headless setup, and hardware like Raspberry Pi, BeagleV Starlight, and System76 Linux

Linux SBCs for development + RE (zetier​.com). Linux SBCs for development and RE: ARM64/riscv64 native development on budget SBCs, NVMe, DietPi, OPi Ultra/RPi 5, Orange Pi RV2, and benchmarks

A constraint language, bedframe, and air handling trouble (kevinlynagh​.com). Explores a constraint language prototype, bedframe build in plywood with Ikea parts, and airflow testing for a powered fan

I've built a tiny hand-held keyboard (github​.com). Tiny handheld KEYER: one-handed chorded keyboard with DIY build steps and firmware workflow

Catalog of Custom 3D Prints (peterlyons​.com). Survey of custom CAD projects in FreeCAD (.FCStd), Fusion, TinkerCAD; early belt clips, ErgoDox posts, iPhone 13 Pro-specific phone holder, SqueezeBox Keyboard, TP Tube Tube, index card holder, and community Prints on Printables

Keyboard Holders, Generation 1 (cceckman​.com). Parametric laser-cut keyboard holders built in Cuttle; iterations, kerf tuning, and plywood prototypes for Voyager and Atreus keyboards

Testing of Feetech STS3215 Servomotor: Backlash, Repeatability, and Torque (robonine​.com). Evaluation of Feetech STS3215 backlash, repeatability, torque, and stall behavior with 12‑bit encoder, 10 cm lever, and preload compensation

MissChanger Klipper Configuration (fpaynter​.com). Klipper calibration, dock calibration, toolhead docking, neopixel LED troubleshooting, and firmware tweaks for MissChanger project

Turbo car upgrades (philsworkbench​.blogspot​.com). Model railway Turbo car with reproduction stickers and DCC control installed on a Tri-ang Battlespace Turbo

3D Printing the Smartspin 2k with an Ender 3 v2 (blog​.matthewbrunelle​.com). Building an Ender 3 v2 auto-bed leveling with CR Touch and printing SmartSpin2k parts for a bike ERG conversion

I made a really small LED panel (stavros​.io). Building a tiny 8x8 WS2812 LED panel with WLED, diffusion, and an ESP8266 (WeMos) glued to the back

LED Strips (revk​.uk). Overview of LED strips: voltage options, power supply considerations, diffusers, diffusion housings, wiring, and WS2815 backup data line

Magic LEDs (revk​.uk). Magic LEDs: Xinglight 1x1mm to 2x2mm RGB LEDs enabling compact status indicators on 3.3V boards

Review: Thermal Master P3 Android/iOS/Windows USB-C Thermal Camera (256×192/25Hz/35mK) (goughlui​.com). Thermal Master P3 review across Android, iOS, Windows with 256x192 sensor, X³ super-resolution, macro 8mm focus, USB-C, and Temp Master app

Remote-controlled night-light (fpaynter​.com). Using IR receiver/transmitter pairs to create a TV remote–controlled night light with a Teensy-based lamp driver

Should the Sett Thermostat switch to an e-ink screen? (sett​.homes). Evaluates e-ink vs. TFT for Sett Thermostat, considering 2.13" e-ink modules within a 75 mm circle and 2.48" round TFT, glare, refresh, and bezel design

I built physical album cards with NFC tags to teach my son music discovery (fulghum​.io). DIY album cards with NFC tags to deep-link PlexAmp and spark active music discovery for a child

A Side Project Story: Music Player (frantic​.im). A DIY RFID-based music player using Raspberry Pi, RFID cards, and Spotify API with a React admin panel

A new Bucket Brigade Delay chip just dropped, the first in decades (cdm​.link). New SSI2100 bucket-brigade analog delay chip from Sound Semiconductor announced, featuring a modern process, smaller die, and added features while preserving mojo

Polyphonic pickup, mixed signal (wreckage​.link). Polyphonic pickup in a mixed-signal USB guitar interface: dual-coil in parallel, fully differential amp, TLV320ADC3140 ADCs, I2C, I2S, USB-C, and 4-layer PCB with coil-based sensing

Pdm microphone mystery (atomic14​.com). Explores PDM mic I2S behavior, LR pin usage, stereo with single data line, and ESP-IDF timing details

Unbricking an ESP8266 with esptool.py on Linux (cubiclenate​.com). Unbrick an ESP8266 NodeMCU on Linux using esptool.py, including pipx setup, USB permissions, bootloader entry, and flash erasing

Extending idf.py: Create custom commands for your ESP-IDF workflow (developer​.espressif​.com). Extend idf.py with project-specific and reusable Python-based commands for ESP-IDF workflows

Floating-Point Units on Espressif SoCs: Why (and when) they matter (developer​.espressif​.com). FPU presence across Espressif cores, software emulation vs hardware, and performance benchmarks for ESP32 variants

PillBot: Saving lives one pill at a time (societyforscience​.org). eighth-grader Gregory Shechter designs PillBot, an Arduino-controlled, 3D-printed pill dispenser with audible/visual alerts to improve medication adherence at reduced cost

An E-Ink Desk Companion With M5Paper (twocentstudios​.com). Building an M5Paper-based desk companion with MicroPython, Dropbox integration, and a custom deployment workflow

Meshtastic, solar nodes (disk91​.com). Meshtastic solar relay options: Gitfos on AliExpress and SenseCAP Seeed Studio with MPPT and large 13.4 Ah battery

ESP32 – Creating a WiFi Driver with ESP-IDF (shawnhymel​.com). ESP32 WiFi driver tutorial using ESP-IDF: build a modular wifi_sta component with event-driven handling and Kconfig integration

Back to the Southern Hemisphere Commodore 128DCR (oldvcr​.blogspot​.com). Repair journey of a Commodore 128DCR: diagnosing colour RAM U19, testing with a clone 785260 diagnostic kit, CIA interventions, and PSU/IEC drive disassembly in Sydney

The CV-1000 returns, but at what cost? (nicole​.express). Explores recreating the CAVE CV-1000, its slowdown behavior, hardware details, ROM hacks, and the practicality of owning original boards for Dodonpachi and related titles

It’s almost like I have a new radio (kb6nu​.com). Dinesh AB3DC and KB6NU have IC-7610s serviced at SARTS in Michigan for image retention, then enjoy two park activations and a firmware/clock battery upgrade

Sony PlayStation 2 fixing frenzy (retrohax​.net). PS2 fixing frenzy: cleaning, replacing thermal pads and batteries, laser module, HDD setup with FMCB/FHDB, memcards, and controller testing

Arcade Hardware Hacking: Part III (zdziarski​.com). Spy Hunter hardware hack: steering/accelerator emulation with NE555, 74LS191/LS157, dual-counter cascade, absolute-position board emulation, lamp driver board, and LED lamp indicators

Side project - MV864A meter restoration - simulating the DC Modulator Driver that produces 94Hz chopper signal (rescue1130​.blogspot​.com). Simulating the MV864A DC Modulator Driver (94 Hz chopper) in LTspice to diagnose oscillator behavior with germanium transistors and photoisolator components

IBM 1130 MRAM memory board - root cause of the unwanted stream of pulses from the board being corrected (rescue1130​.blogspot​.com). MRAM memory board fixes: triggering timer pulses via +Storage Read and +Storage Use with a hacks/rewire on U14 and U5 to correct pulses

RFSoC receiver calibration system for 21-cm global spectrum experiments from space: The CosmoCube case (arxiv:astro). CosmoCube uses RFSoC-based VNA and source-switching sub-systems for a 10–100 MHz lunar-orbit 21-cm global spectrum receiver calibration

Modulation Discovery with Differentiable Digital Signal Processing (arxiv:cs). Differentiable DSP for modulations: extracting and constraining control signals to discover modulation structures in DDSP-based sounds

Systematic Assessment of Cache Timing Vulnerabilities on RISC-V Processors (arxiv:cs). Porting an Intel x86-64 cache-timing benchmark to RISC-V and evaluating C910, U54, and U74 cores for microarchitectural leakage

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