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Open Hardware/Modding: 3D Printing, Raspberry Pi, and More
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CNX Software ☛ RuView project leverages ESP32 nodes for WiFi-based presence detection, pose estimation, and breathing/heart rate monitoring
RuView is an open-source “WiFi DensePose” implementation leveraging multiple ESP32 nodes to turn WiFi signals into real-time human pose estimation, vital sign monitoring, and presence detection without relying on video cameras. WiFi DensePose is a sensing technique, first explored in academic research, that leverages WiFi signals to reconstruct human pose. RuView implements this technique in Rust or Python, and relies on your WiFi router and several ESP32 nodes to track body pose, detect breathing rate, and measure heart rate even through walls. As we’ll discuss below, this project has its own controversy, as some claim it’s fake.
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CNX Software ☛ AngstromIO – A tiny 9.0 x 8.9 mm ATtiny1616 board that fits on top of a USB-C connector
Dieu-de-l-elec’s AngstromIO is an incredibly tiny open-source development board based on Microchip’s ATtiny1616 MCU. Measuring just 9.0 x 8.9 mm, the board is barely larger than the edge-mounted USB Type-C connector that powers it, making it ideal for highly space-constrained embedded projects. .
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CNX Software ☛ picoZ80 – A Z80 microprocessor drop-in replacement based on Raspberry Pi RP2350B and ESP32
The picoZ80 board is a drop-in replacement for the Z80 microprocessor based on the Raspberry Pi RP2350B dual-core Cortex-M33 microcontroller and an ESP32 wireless SoC for WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. My first computer was a ZX81 powered by a Zilog Z80 microprocessor, which was eventually phased out in 2024 after almost 50 years of production. But retro computing enthusiasts keep the platform alive, usually with softcore FPGA implementations such as MiSTer.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Print Becomes Cast Iron Wrench Via Microwave
The concept is simple. [Shake the Future] uses silicon carbide crucibles, which can heat up by absorbing microwave energy. Put one in an insulated container, dump some metal in, and throw it in a microwave, and soon enough you have a pot of molten metal you can use to cast stuff.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printed Wire Stripper Uses PLA Blades
As mentioned, the tool is mostly 3D printed and does require some metal parts: fasteners, heat-set inserts, and a couple springs. Metal nuts and heat-set inserts are easy enough to obtain, but springs of particular size and shape are a bit trickier.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Enthusiast ‘lands’ on the moon using hardware from the 1980s — ZX Spectrum home computer with 3.5 MHz CPU and 48KB of memory power Kerbal space flight
YouTuber Scott Manley demonstrated using a ZX Spectrum home computer launched in 1982 to land a spacecraft on the Kerbal Space Program spaceflight simulator.
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CNX Software ☛ Microchip SAM9X75 Hybrid automotive MCU – Surprisingly ARM9 is still a thing in 2026
When Microchip launched the SAM9X60 in 2020, we were surprised to see a new SoC based on a legacy ARM926EJ-S core. But we were even more surprised to see Microchip doubling down with the SAM9X75, a hybrid automotive-qualified (AEC-Q100 Grade 2) System-in-Package (SiP) with the same classic ARM9 core and integrated DDR2 or DDR3L memory.