Open Hardware/Modding: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 23, 2026

• CNX Software ☛ LilyGO T-Display S3 Pro LR1121 devkit adds Sub-GHz and 2.4GHz LoRa, audio support

  LilyGO has recently released the T-Display S3 Pro LR1121, a new ESP32-S3 development kit with a Semtech LR1121 transceiver for universal LoRa connectivity across the sub-GHz and 2.4GHz bands. The board is an update to the earlier T-Display S3 Pro, which features a slimmer design and a 2.33-inch touchscreen display, but this new LR1121 variant adds sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz LoRa/(G)FSK support along with a voice communication kit that includes a MAX98357A I2S speaker amplifier, a PDM/I2S digital microphone, vibration motor, and a RTC.

• CNX Software ☛ Arduino UNO Q 4GB board with 4GB RAM, 32GB storage is now available for $59

  When the Arduino UNO Q was first unveiled in October 2025, the specifications of the Qualcomm DragonWing SBC listed the ABX00162 SKU with 2GB RAM and 16GB eMMC flash, and the ABX00173 SKU with 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash. So far, only the 2GB variant was available, and Arduino has now announced the availability of the Arduino UNO Q 4GB with 4GB of RAM and 32GB eMMC storage for more complex projects.

• CNX Software ☛ ESPHome 2026.1.0 optimizes memory usage on ESP32/ESP8266, adds Zigbee support on nRF52, WiFi roaming, and more

  ESPHome 2026.1.0 open-source firmware has just been released with new features like automatic WiFi roaming and Zigbee support for Nordic Semi nRF52 targets, as well as memory optimization for ESP32/ESP8266 hardware, among many other changes. Other notable changes include security updates with the project replacing API password authentication with API encryption and requiring SHA256 authentication for OTA updates, better support for non-ASCII configuration, and updates to LibreTiny platforms (BK72xx, RTL87xx, LN882x), which received thread-safe WiFi, atomics, and deep sleep support.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Alien fan builds a better Raspberry Pi cyberdeck — The MU/TH/UR of all homages to a classic movie series

  It's been a while since we've covered cyberdecks, and so, when this Alien-inspired cyberdeck crossed our path, we had to take a look. Powered by the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, Jeff Merrick's slab of 1970s/1980s aesthetic screams the "charm" of the worn and broken Alien universe that belies the powerful single-board computer within.

• Raspberry Pi ☛ Raspberry Pi Flash Drive available now from $30: a high-quality essential accessory

  This cache does, however, make benchmarking challenging. For this reason, the USB 3.0 performance figures we quote are sustained figures, where writes are measured when the cache is forced to do write‑through due to the volume of writes already committed, and reads are measured with the cache empty.

• The Register UK ☛ Raspberry Pi flashes USB drives that promise speed

  Over the past few years, Raspberry Pi has released a slew of peripherals and accessories that offer great build quality and premium features, whether you’re using them with everyone’s favorite single-board computer or not. Today’s entry: a USB flash drive that promises high speeds, good looks, and strong durability.

  [...]

  According to Raspberry Pi, the cache allows the drive to “be almost as fast as USB 3.0 can go” in sequential writes, but when a workload saturates the cache and it has to write straight to the QLC, the drive operates at speeds of 75 MB/s (128 GB capacity) and 150 MB/s (256 GB capacity). The company does not tout a sequential read speed but estimates random read and write speeds in terms of IOPS (Input / Output Operations per second) at a 4K block size.

• Hackaday ☛ Silica Gel Makes For Better 3D Prints

  If you’re unfamiliar with silica gel, it’s that stuff that comes in the “DO NOT EAT” packet when you buy a new pair of shoes. It’s key feature is that it’s hygroscopic—which means it likes to suck up moisture from the atmosphere. When it comes to 3D printing, this is a highly useful property—specifically because it can help keep filament dry. Over time, plastic filament tends to pick up some moisture on its own from the atmosphere, and this tends to interfere with print quality. This can be avoided by storing filament in a sealed or semi-seaeled environment with silica gel. The gel will tend to suck up most of the moisture from the air in the sealed container, helping to keep the filament drier.

• Hackaday ☛ STL Editing With FreeCAD

  Unlike native CAD formats, STLs are meshes of triangles, so you get very large numbers of items, which can be unwieldy. The first trick is to get the object exactly centered. That’s easy if you know how, but not easy if you are just eyeballing it.

  If you use the correct workbench, FreeCAD can analyze and fix mesh problems like non-manifold parts, flipped normals, and other issues. The example is a wheel with just over 6,000 faces, which is manageable. But complex objects may make FreeCAD slow. [Kevin] says you should be fine until the number of faces goes above 100,000. In that case, you can decimate the number of faces with, of course, a corresponding loss in resolution.

• Jamie Montgomerie ☛ Rescuing vintage microcontrollers part 2: Can it work?

  In this series of posts, I’m rescuing vintage microcontrollers from their decades-long purgatory in a drawer in my local makerspace. To this end, I’m attempting to use them to drive a LED sign made of WS2812 strips