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Electronics: 23rd September 2025

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Published 23rd September 2025

🕹️ Retrocomputing restorations & vintage docs

Retrocomputer cheats (rubenerd​.com). Retrocomputer storage, displays, upscalers, and the Web; OpenZFS, CD/DVD/CF storage, GOTEK, ZuluSCSI, ST2VGA, AppleII-VGA, RetroTINK, and HDMI adapters discussed

My Atari 1040 STE (thefoggiest​.dev). ATARI 1040 STE restoration: PSU swap, MouSTer USB mouse, SIMM RAM upgrade, Blitter repair, SCART/HDMI setup, and GEMBench insights

MCS6500 Family Hardware manual 6500-10 and Programming Manual Synertek 6500-50 added (retro​.hansotten​.nl). Rare first-edition MCS6500 manuals, 6500-10 hardware and 6500-50 programming manual scans, plus KIM-1 docs and related hardware notes

More work on bench testing for the 1130 MRAM core memory board (rescue1130​.blogspot​.com). Bench testing a 1130 MRAM core memory board: backfeed protection, buffer replacement, Arduino interaction, and refined probing setup

Winchesterduino, version 1.1 update (boginjr​.com). Update to Winchesterduino v1.1 adds microSD disk image storage via SPI, 32K cache RAM, and compatibility with v1.0

A win, sort of, but I’ll take it (maddox​.pro). Booting a 4MHz CPU from a Grant Searle ROM; CPLD-based timing tweaks, FT245 serial, and serial terminal corruption in a DIY PCB project

🍓 Raspberry Pi builds: clusters, cameras and vintage screens

Revamping an Old TV as a Gift (2019) (blog​.davidv​.dev). Repurposing a 1960s CRT TV with a Raspberry Pi and RF modulator to mimic channel switching via a GPIO-driven rotary switch

I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster (jeffgeerling​.com). Jeff Geerling builds a $3000 Raspberry Pi Compute Blade AI cluster (CM5 Lite), benchmarks HPL, ponders AI practicality, and compares to Framework Desktop; discusses LLama.cpp, llama RPC, Exo, distributed-llama, and Plex related community notes

TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV (quarters​.captaintouch​.com). Raspberry Pi 3A+ runs random 90s TV with VLC, pulseaudio, and a systemd service to auto-play videos from a local directory

The story of Musium (ruudvanasseldonk​.com). Ruud van Asseldonk builds Musium, a Raspberry Pi web-controlled music player with Claxon, Hound, PureScript UI, custom DOM library, and SQLite-backed index

Umang Jain: Testing out libcamera Software-ISP on RPi3/4 (dev​.uajain​.com). Testing libcamera Software-ISP on Raspberry Pi 3/4 with unicam support and simple pipeline integration

Light Up Your Builds with Render Webhooks (render​.com). Turning Render webhooks into a glowing LED desk display using a Raspberry Pi and a microcontroller

🧰 Dev tools, languages and playful builds

Rust: Who, What and Why for ESA SW PA Workshop (ferrous-systems​.com). Ferrous Systems presents Rust usage in space & safety-critical domains, including RTIC, RTOS options, Ferrocene toolchains, and ECSS qualification

framework mechanical keyboard (koaning​.io). Framework laptop as a starting point for a gasket-mounted, kailh choc powered, enthusiast-grade custom mechanical keyboard with three rotary encoders

Using PSPICE Components in LTspice (shielddigitaldesign​.com). Using PSPICE models in LTspice to simulate TI LM293 with a PSPICE import workflow

our #fallingblockgjam entry: PCB (surasshu​.com). PCB-based block-dropping game by surasshu with ash and alex, featuring wiring mode and branded music concepts

Why I Still Reach for C for Certain Projects (dayvster​.com). C chosen for low-level, efficient RSS daemon with DBus integration on Arch with swaync and Hyprland

📡 ESP32, IoT & wireless sensing

Project: A Poor-Man’s Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor (ABPM) ft. A&D UA-651BLE (goughlui​.com). Ambulatory BP monitoring concept using UA-651BLE, RP2040 microcontroller, MicroPython, BLE, and a DIY low-cost setup

Easy esp32 s3 dev board (atomic14​.com). Simple ESP32-S3 dev board with KiCad schematic, 3D render, and GitHub-hosted project

Building Smarter Camera Applications with esp-video (developer​.espressif​.com). esp-video enables easy, high-performance camera apps on ESP32 with V4L2-style API, multi-camera support, and ISP/codec integration

Adding a USD 4.5 Xiaomi temperature sensor to Home Assistant via Zigbee (huey​.xyz). Flashing ZigBee firmware to a $4.5 Xiaomi temperature sensor and integrating it with ZigBee2MQTT for Home Assistant

Build: ESP-01S Robustified Temperature Reporting (lyndonhill​.com). ESP-01S with DHT11, MQTT, WiFi reconnect logic, and Home Assistant integration for robust temperature monitoring

The RSGB LoRa Balloon Challenge 2025 (ianrenton​.com). Author builds and tests a 433MHz LoRa APRS tracker for RSGB Balloon Challenge, deploys on Hambledon Hill, includes azimuth/elevation calculator and POTA activations

🔌 Protocols, USB and RF hacking

Flipper Zero Explained: The Ultimate Guide to the Geek Multi-tool (ikkaro​.net). Overview of Flipper Zero’s hardware, firmware, modules (RFID, NFC, Sub-GHz, iButton, HID), legal concerns, and community ecosystem

Tinkering with Dongles | Why Framework Needs the DongleHider+ Expansion Card (cubiclenate​.com). Tinkering with Dongles: exploring the DongleHider+ expansion for Framework Laptop 13 and Logitech dongle integration

Extending Saleae Logic To Reverse Engineer LED Remote (robopenguins​.com). Extending Saleae Logic 2 to decode a 433MHz LED remote with a custom Differential Pulse Position Modulation extension

How Serial Servos Work (and Why They’re Awesome for Robotics) (kevsrobots​.com). Explains how serial servos differ from PWM, wiring, IDs, half-duplex UART, and a MicroPython example with LX-16A/Dynamixel-like commands

DIY AlterEgo (studium​.dev). DIY AlterEgo: building a Silent Synth using subvocalization and PiEEG hardware, 16-electrode setup, and MIT-inspired concepts

⚡ Circuit simulation, power and high-speed debugging

Amiga Spice (edsa​.uk). Explores Amiga SPICE versions, using SPICE 3f5 for AC analysis, interactive mode, and comparing LTspice/Ngspice on modern PCs

PokyPow Prototype Debugging (ajfriesen​.com). PokyPow debugging reveals backflow current, 3.7V on mainboard, diode solution and switch to optocouplers for external power isolation

25 Mbps discrete logic transceiver – TX prototype debugging (helentronica​.com). Debugging a 25 Mbps discrete-logic TX with PRBS, Manchester encoding, pre-emphasis, and 74AHC595 timing issues on a prototype board

Using LT SPICE to study back feed voltages from digital inputs when power supply not operating (rescue1130​.blogspot​.com). LTspice study of back-feed voltages from digital inputs and MOSFET grounding isolation for IBM 1130 projects

📚 Academic Research

Protocol-Aware Firmware Rehosting for Effective Fuzzing of Embedded Network Stacks (arxiv:cs). Pemu detects network protocols in firmware to generate valid packets, enabling deeper fuzzing of embedded network stacks

Characterizing Human Limb Movements Using An In-House Multi-Channel Non-Invasive Surface-EMG System (arxiv:cs). In-house 8-channel non-invasive surface-EMG systemCharacterizes upper and lower limb movements using SVM classifiers

A neuromorphic continuous soil monitoring system for precision irrigation (arxiv:cs). Energy-efficient neuromorphic irrigation control uses spiking networks on mixed-signal processors for autonomous soil moisture-based farming decisions

Comprehensive Evaluation of CNN-Based Audio Tagging Models on Resource-Constrained Devices (arxiv:cs). Evaluates CNN-based audio tagging models on Raspberry Pi using PANNs, ConvNeXt, MobileNetV3, CNN9/ CNN13; ONNX deployment and 24-hour latency/thermal analysis

👋 Before you go

I've got a big favor to ask - keeping Blaze running isn't expensive, but it does all add up, so I'm asking readers like you to help, if you can.
That's why I'm launching a Patreon page!. Nothing flashy, just a way for folks who find value in these newsletters to chip in a little each month. In return, you'll get:

  • Real say in how Blaze evolves — vote on new topics, features, topic curation ideas
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If you are getting value from blaze, checking this out would mean the world. And if you can't contribute, no worries—the newsletters keep coming either way, and you can follow along on patreon for free.
Thanks for reading and being part of this nerdy corner of the internet. All the best - Alastair.

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