Open Hardware/Modding: Caligra c100 Developer Terminal, Minimalist Home Computer, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 08, 2025

• Tom's Hardware ☛ New computing platform is ‘Made for Making’ — Caligra c100 Developer Terminal targets creators with distraction-free ‘computer for experts’

  The Caligra c100 Developer Terminal is a brand-new computer platform with retro-licious metal wedge case and productivity focused GNU/Linux OS.

• Hackaday ☛ Anatomy Of A Minimalist Home Computer

  There are plenty of well-known models among the 8-bit machines of the 1980s, and most readers could rattle them off without a thought. They were merely the stars among a plethora of others, and even for a seasoned follower of the retrocomputing world, there are fresh models from foreign markets that continue to surprise and delight. [Dave Collins] is treating us to an in-depth look at the VTech VZ-200, a budget machine that did particularly well in Asian markets. On the way, we learn a lot about a very cleverly designed machine.

• CNX Software ☛ AQEX qUPS-P-BC-2.0 UPS HAT works with large capacity, multi-chemistry batteries (Li-Ion, LiFePO4, Sodium-Ion)

  Developed by Hungary-based AQEX, qUPS-P-BC-2.0 is a Raspberry Pi-compatible UPS HAT that supports multi-chemistry batteries, including Li-Ion, LiFePO₄, Sodium-Ion, and even supports large, high-capacity packs up to 300Ah. It is designed for applications that require long backup times and reliable 5V power. It features an offline UPS-like architecture with a highly efficient boost converter, adjustable input voltage and energy thresholds, as well as AUTO/ON/OFF operating modes to prevent reboot loops or unsafe restarts.

• Hackaday ☛ Emulate ROMs At 12MHz With Pico2 PIO

  Nothing lasts forever, and that includes the ROMs required to make a retrocomputer run. Even worse, what if you’re rolling your own firmware? Period-appropriate EPROMs and their programmers aren’t always cheap or easy to get a hold of these days. [Kyo-ta04] had that problem, and thanks to them, we now all have a solution: Pico2ROMEmu, a ROM emulator based on, you guessed it, the Raspberry Pi Pico2.

• Hackaday ☛ A Touchscreen MIDI Controller For The DIY Set

  MIDI controllers are easy to come by these days. Many modern keyboards have USB functionality in this regard, and there are all kinds of pads and gadgets that will spit out MIDI, too. But you might also like to build your own, like this touchscreen design from [Nick Culbertson].

• Hackaday ☛ Bridging RTL-433 To Home Assistant

  If you’ve got an RTL-SDR compatible receiver, you’ve probably used it for picking up signals from all kinds of weird things. Now, [Jaron McDaniel] has built a tool to integrate many such devices into the world of Home Assistant.

• Hackaday ☛ Lessons Learned After Trying MeshCore For Off-grid Text Messaging

  [Michael Lynch] recently decided to delve into the world of off-grid, decentralized communications with MeshCore, because being able to communicate wirelessly with others in a way that does not depend on traditional communication infrastructure is pretty compelling. After getting his hands on a variety of hardware and trying things out, he wrote up his thoughts from the perspective of a hardware-curious software developer.

• Hackaday ☛ The Key To Plotting

  Plotters aren’t as common as they once were. Today, many printers can get high enough resolution with dots that drawing things with a pen isn’t as necessary as it once was. But certainly you’ve at least seen or heard of machines that would draw graphics using a pen. Most of them were conceptually like a 3D printer with a pen instead of a hotend and no real Z-axis. But as [biosrhythm] reminds us, some plotters were suspiciously like typewriters fitted with pens.