Open Hardware/Modding/Hacking: Raspberry Pi 5 SBC, Arduino, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 25, 2025

• CNX Software ☛ Firefly CAM-3576 series – Tiny Rockchip RK3576 SBCs for commercial, industrial, and automotive applications

  Firefly Technology has introduced the CAM-3576 series of tiny (38 × 38 mm) SBCs based on the Rockchip RK3576 processor with a 6 TOPS NPU for AIoT, edge AI, smart vision, industrial, and automotive applications.

• CNX Software ☛ CrowPi 3 Hey Hi (AI) Learning Kit is powered by a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC, works with Arduino Nano, BillBC Micro:bit, and Raspberry Pi Pico boards

  Elecrow CrowPi 3 is the latest CrowPi learning and development kit featuring 41 built-in modules and over 150 lessons, and offering compatibility with Raspberry Pi 5, Arduino Nano, BillBC Micro:bit, and Raspberry Pi Pico single board computers and development boards.

• Arduino ☛ Arduino speaks teletype to an old Lorenz 15

  Brian got his hands on an old Lorenz 15 teletype machine, which was made in the 1950s. He also managed to snag an appropriate teletype modem. But the modem couldn’t seem to understand recorded teletype messages, so Brian used an Arduino Mega 2560 to “speak” teletype and get the Lorenz 15 printing.

• Yorick Peterse ☛ I'm returning my Framework 16

  In contrast, Framework laptops has many supposed benefits: they're upgradable, repairable, actively work on Linux and even FreeBSD support (or at least sponsor developers working on this), allow you to customize the keyboard using QMK/VIAL. In fact, on paper it sounds like the perfect developer laptop. In reality, I'm not so sure.

• Hackaday ☛ Building A High-Performance Shifter For Sim Racing

  These days, sim racing is more realistic than ever. There are better screens, better headsets, and better steering wheels with better force-feedback, all of which help make you feel like you’re driving the real thing. If you’re looking for a stick shifter to complete such a setup, [DAZ Projects] might have just what you’re looking for. 

• Hackaday ☛ Printing With Metal On The Ender 3 Using Only A Friction Wheel

  Printing metal as easily as it is to printed with thermoplastics has been a dream for a very long time, with options for hobbyists being very scarce. This is something which [Rotoforge] seeks to change, using little more than an old Ender 3 FDM printer and some ingenuity. Best of all is that the approach on which they have been working for the past year does not require high temperature, molten metals and no fussing about with powdered metal.

• Hackaday ☛ Mesh “Lens” Lets Your Camera Make Weird Pixel Art

  We seldom talk about 3D printing lenses because most techniques can’t possibly produce transparent parts of optical quality. However, you can 3D print something like a lens, as [Luke Edwin] demonstrates, and get all kinds of crazy pictures out of it. 

• Hackaday ☛ Disposable Camera Viewfinder Becomes 3D Printed Lens

  Disposable cameras are a fun way to get into classical photography. However, they can also be a valuable source of interesting parts that can be put to other uses. For example, as [Billt] demonstrates, their viewfinders can be repurposed into a rather interesting lens for more serious cameras.

• Hackaday ☛ Abusing X86 SIMD Instructions To Optimize PlayStation 3 Emulation

  Key to efficient hardware emulation is an efficient mapping to the underlying CPU’s opcodes. Here one is free to target opcodes that may or may not have been imagined for that particular use. For emulators like the RPCS3 PlayStation 3 emulator this has led to some interesting mappings, as detailed in a video by [Whatcookie].

• Hackaday ☛ DIY E-Reader Folds Open Like A Book

  There are plenty of lovely e-readers out on the market that come with an nice big e-paper display. There aren’t nearly as many that come with two. [Martin den Hoed] developed the Diptyx e-reader with such a design in order to better replicate the paper books of old. 

• Hackaday ☛ Roll Your Own Hall Effect Sensor

  If you read about Hall effect sensors — the usual way to detect and measure magnetic fields these days — it sounds deceptively simple. There’s a metal plate with current flowing across it in one direction, and sensors at right angles to the current flow. Can it really be that simple? According to a recent article in Elektor, [Burkhard Kainka] says yes.

• CNX Software ☛ Lattice Semi MachXO4 FPGA family offers up to 9400 LUTs, 448 kb user flash, improved “hot socketing”

  Lattice Semiconductor has recently launched the MachXO4 low-power FPGA family featuring 896 to 9400 LUTs, fabric performance of up to 150 MHz, and improved “hot socketing” with a low leakage current of 350 μA.