Open Hardware/Modding: ESP32, Raspberry Pi, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on May 30, 2025

• CNX Software ☛ NXP MCX W72x Cortex-M33 wireless SoC supports Bluetooth 6.0 with Channel Sounding, Zigbee, Thread and Matter

  NXP MCX W72x series Cortex-M33 wireless SoCs support for Bluetooth 6.0 and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter. The MCX W72x family also implements Bluetooth Channel Sounding for accurate distance measurements with the help of a Localization Compute Engine (LCE) to reduce latency.

• CNX Software ☛ xMEMS µCooling fan-on-a-chip adds solid-state active cooling to SSDs for laptops and data centers

  xMEMS Labs µCooling fan-on-a-chip solution now supports solid-state drives (SSDs) used in NVMe M.2 SSDs used in laptop PCs and enterprise E3.S form factor SSDs used in Hey Hi (AI) data centers with a temperature reduction of as much as 30%. The solution is based on the same technology as the xMEMS XMC-2400 1 mm-thin micro cooling fan-on-a-chip introduced last year, and aims to replace passive heat spreaders and flow from system fans with a hyper-localized active cooling directly to the NAND flash and controller ICs from within the SSD itself, making it mostly invisible to the user and enabling thinner and more dense designs.

• Raspberry Pi ☛ Raspberry Pi does the heavy lifting in this elevator simulator

  Now, it has to be pointed out that Alan didn’t crack on with the task of building a real, working elevator for his home. That would be a disruptive endeavour costing many thousands, which is why he decided to produce a much smaller replica instead. To do this, he made use of a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B computer and some Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W microcontrollers. He also created an impressive hydraulic system. “And it was all a lot less expensive than the real thing,” he tells us.

• CNX Software ☛ OBJEX Link S3LW ultra-low-power ESP32-S3 LoRaWAN board takes up to 100W DC input

  OBJEX Link S3LW is a small development board based on the ultra-low-power ELPM-S3LW module with ESP32-S3 MCU and LoRaWAN connectivity and the ability to take 100W input via USB-C or a 2-pin terminal block for driving motors, controlling RGB LED strips, and other high-power projects. It’s compliant with the USB PD standard, features two 28-pin headers and a STEMMA I2C connector for expansion, as well as a built-in CP2102/CP2104 USB to serial bridge for debugging, and a few buttons.  The company also offers an OBJEX ELPM-S3 module and OBJEX Link S3 board with the same features, minus LoRa/LoRaWAN support.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Elegoo launches automatic filament switching for color 3D printing, first open-source RFID system could revolutionize filament management

  Elegoo has confirmed that full color printing is coming to the Centauri Series of FDM 3D printers by the 3rd quarter of 2025.