Open Hardware: Raspberry Pi, RISC-V, Arduino, and More
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Tom's Hardware ☛ This Raspberry Pi Pico W-powered Inky Frame display will help keep you organized
Jaeheon Shim is using a Raspberry Pi Pico to power this Inky Frame display with a custom organizer setup that integrates with Todoist.
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Arduino ☛ Control your volume with a wireless rotary encoder, as you deserve
An Arduino Nano ESP32 board monitors the remote rotary encoder and communicates the detected position (via pulse-counting) to another ESP32 board by the DAC over ESP-NOW. That second board attaches to the DAC’s built-in rotary encoder pins and simulates pulses that match the remote. So as far as the DAC knows, Tischer is rotating the built-in encoder. In reality, he’s sitting comfortably on the couch spinning that handheld knob instead of pushing buttons dozens of times per commercial break.
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SparkFun Electronics ☛ Introducing the IoT Node for LoRaWAN®
Hello, everyone and welcome to the first full week of 2025! Today, we are proud to announce another new collaboration with Digi International® to release a new board and two new kits, each capable of working for LoRaWAN®. Aimed at accelerating end-node creation and deployment via a number of streamlined hardware and software features, these products are designed to simplify LoRaWAN® setup for developers and professionals, and are perfect for applications that require reliable communication in challenging environments. without further ado, let's take a closer look at each of today's new products!
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Doug Brown ☛ Easy repair of a defective NZXT Signal 4K30 capture card
The last couple of electronics repairs I’ve written about on this blog were both quite involved. Fixing stuff doesn’t always involve crazy rabbit holes though! Here’s a quicker fix that I recently performed.
Fitting in with my recent trend of repairing video capture/camera devices, this time I found a non-working NZXT Signal 4K30 HDMI capture device on eBay. The description of the item was: Tested and the unit powers on, but is not detected by NZXT Cam software. Unable to test further due to this.
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Deseret Media ☛ 86-year-old in California one of only antique-slot-machine repairmen
"I needed repair," said Jasinsky. "And at the time I asked the fella, I said, 'You know anybody who can do repairs?'"
Treacher puts it more bluntly. "I would bet dollars to donuts there's only maybe two or three other guys in the whole country," he said.
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Old VCR ☛ Refurb weekend: Atari Stacy
The Stacy shipped with Rainbow TOS 1.04 in 192K of ROM, newly introduced with the Stacy and provided as an upgrade for the original Megas, 520ST and 1040ST. Like all STs TOS uses Digital Research's GEM and, underlying it, GEMDOS. 1.04 provided many bug fixes and a new file selector, and a DOS-compatible (or at least more compatible) disk format, but also introduced a small yet noticeable number of incompatibilities with older software. The "Rainbow" name comes from the rainbow Fuji logo that appears in this about-dialogue when using one of the colour lower resolution modes, but those video modes can't be displayed on the LCD.
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[Repeat] Tom's Hardware ☛ Commodore 64 gets a true Full-HD HDMI plus stereo sound daughterboard
Commodore 64 devotee Side Projects Lab has released a video teaser showcasing a "true Full-HD HDMI" adaptor for the iconic 8-bit home computer. Apparently, the development of this slick HDMI solution with stereo sound routed through the HDMI cable has taken a full year. If you are interested in the new HD-64, there is still some wait time though, as the first production batch won't be ready until later in Q1.
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[Repeat] Tom's Hardware ☛ Linux-powered handheld computer connects to Raspberry Pi HATs, snap-on modules
Sure, your phone is fun, but if you want the fun and power of a full-fledged Linux computer in your pocket, you'll need to look elsewhere. The Mecha Comet is a 3.4-inch rectangular handheld that vaguely resembles a BlackBerry, but runs Debian Linux OS with a custom, touch-friendly UI on top. Launching soon on Kickstarter for $159, the device has a pogo pin interface where you can attach various extensions, including a gamepad, a Blackberry-style keyboard and a GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output) connector with 40 female pins.
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SCMP ☛ Chip war: Chinese scientists vow to launch breakthrough RISC-V open-source CPU in 2025
Efforts by the Chinese Academy of Sciences form part of Beijing’s push to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductor technology