news
Linux Devices and Open Hardware, Projects
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Devices/Embedded
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Hackaday ☛ ESP32 Weather Display Runs Macintosh System 3
The weather app is his own creation, written with the Retro68k cross-compiler, but it looks like something out of the 80s even if it’s getting its data over WiFi. The WiFi connection is, of course, thanks to the whole thing running on an ESP32-S3. Mac Plus emulation comes from [evansm7]’s Micro Mac emulator, the same one that lives inside the RP2040-based PicoMac that we covered some time ago. Obviously [likeablob] has added his own code to get the Macintosh emulator talking to the ESP32’s wireless hardware, with a native application to control the wifi connection in System 3.3. As far as the Macintosh is concerned, commands are passed to the ESP32 via memory address 0xF00000, and data can be read back from it as well. It’s a straightforward approach to allow intercommunication between the emulator and the real world.
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Vidit Bhargava ☛ Young people crave uni-taskers and it's not that deep
They also see its benefits. It's not got apps, services, notifications, etc. so they can listen to the music they like in peace. After all, dedicated hardware will always be better at certain things than general purpose hardware. So the iPod is coming back.
This is what happens when you raise a generation on nothing but touch screens. They get tired of them. They see the negatives more clearly than those who invented them.
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Open Hardware/Modding
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Hackaday ☛ 3D-Printed Parts Nearly Sink RC Submarine
Before building the full version, [James] made a test prototype. These submarines use large syringes as ballast tanks, pulling water in and out of the submarine body. The plungers are driven by a lead screw, and have a linear potentiometer for feedback. This can be wired in the same way as a servo motor, making it compatible with the RC controller. The controller receives its signal from an antenna in a buoy tethered to the submarine. Since initial tests worked well, [James] moved on to the full-scale model.
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Hackaday ☛ Reverse-Engineering An Amazon Blink Gen 3 Camera
As for why this outdoors-rated camera failed after a few years in the outdoors, the reason appears to be water intrusion via the speaker opening. As for why a camera needs a speaker and not just the microphone is left as an exercise to the reader, but maybe it could be useful for yelling at the local kids to get off your darn lawn?
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BoingBoing ☛ John Deere settles right-to-repair lawsuit for $99 million
The settlement builds on a 2023 memorandum of understanding Deere signed with the American Farm Bureau, which gave third parties limited diagnostic access. That agreement was voluntary. This one is legally binding.
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HowTo Geek ☛ I turned my potato PC into a $0 homelab in 45 minutes—and I didn't even use the terminal
Building a homelab might sound like the kind of project that requires a big budget or an entire weekend, but it doesn’t have to. Any old PC or laptop collecting dust at home can be repurposed into a surprisingly capable homelab. With the right tools, the setup can be quick and beginner-friendly. Here’s how I turned my spare computer into a fully functional homelab for $0 in under an hour.
For context, the machine I’m using is fairly modest—an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G (released in February 2018), paired with 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 250GB SATA SSD, a 500GB HDD, and a 100Mbps Ethernet connection. If this setup can handle a homelab, yours probably can too.
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