Open Hardware/Modding: Raspberry Pi, ESP32, and Lots More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 24, 2026

• peppe8o ☛ Raspberry PI OS Lite vs Desktop: Benchmarks & Performance Comparison (2026)

  People new to the Raspberry Pi computer board world often ask themselves which Operating System to use on their new board. When it comes to the default Raspberry PI OS (the official Raspberry PI Operating System), the second question is: what are the differences between Raspberry PI OS Lite and the Desktop version?

• Linux Gizmos ☛ Innodisk Releases EXEC-Q911 Development Kit with Qualcomm QCS9075

  Innodisk, in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, has released the EXEC-Q911, a ruggedized development kit built around a COM-HPC Mini module mounted on a dedicated carrier board for industrial edge workloads. Part of the company’s “AI on Dragonwing” series, the platform targets robotics, smart infrastructure, and edge LLM applications.

• RootKid ☛ Spectrum Slit (2026)

  Spectrum Slit is a sculptural installation that renders visible the otherwise imperceptible electromagnetic activity that permeates contemporary interior spaces. While a room may appear visually calm and silent, it is continuously traversed by dense fields of radio-frequency transmissions generated by wireless communication technologies. This work exposes that hidden layer of reality by translating radio wave activity into light(and sound) in real time.

• The Register UK ☛ Hacker taps Raspberry Pi to turn Wi-Fi signals into wall art

  Unless you live in a Faraday cage, you're surrounded at all times by invisible radio signals, from Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to cellular traffic. French artist Théo Champion has found a way to make that wireless noise visible, with an intense piece of Raspberry Pi-driven art that turns nearby radio activity into light.

• Hackaday ☛ Wired To Wireless: ESP32 Gives Your USB Keyboard Bluetooth

  The ESP32-S3 packs a ton of fantastic functionality into its small size and low price—including USB-OTG support, which is key here. Taking advantage of this, [KoStard] programmed an ESP32-S3 to host a keyboard over its USB port while connecting via BLE to devices like cellphones.

• PC World ☛ Raspberry Pi launches a USB flash drive that won't flake under pressure

  According to Raspberry Pi, the smaller 128GB model has a write speed of up to 75 MB/s while the larger 256GB model reaches up to 150 MB/s. To combine high performance with stability, the memory uses pSLC cache for fast writes in short bursts while long-term performance is measured without cache benefits. Design-wise, it has an easy-grip aluminum casing, a keyring hole, and a laser-engraved Raspberry Pi logo.

• Hackaday ☛ PLA Mold To Plaster Bust, No Silicone Needed

  3D printing is wonderful, but sometimes you just don’t want to look at a plastic peice. Beethoven’s bust wouldn’t look quite right in front of your secret door if it was bright orange PLA, after all. [Denny] over at “Shake the Future” on YouTube is taking a break from metal casting to show off a quick-and-easy plaster casting method— but don’t worry, he still uses a microwave.

• Martin Hähne ☛ An Update On Finding A New E-reader

  Some kind people answered and gave me their take on the product they liked. And I did a little of my own research and I wanted to share what I've found so far: [...]

• Ken Shirriff ☛ Notes on the Intel 8086 processor's arithmetic-logic unit

  In 1978, Intel introduced the 8086 processor, a revolutionary chip that led to the modern x86 architecture. Unlike modern 64-bit processors, however, the 8086 is a 16-bit chip. Its arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) operates on 16-bit values, performing arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction, as well as logic operations including bitwise AND, OR, and XOR. The 8086's ALU is a complicated part of the chip, performing 28 operations in total.1

• It's FOSS ☛ Espressif Launches "Radio Co-Processor" ESP32-E22

  The new SoC comes loaded with some utility-focused bits. Engineering samples are available right now.

• CNX Software ☛ M5Stack StickS3 ESP32-S3 Mini IoT Dev Kit features 1.14-inch color display, speaker and mic for voice interaction

  M5Stack StickS3 is a miniature ESP32-S3 WiFi and BLE IoT development kit/controller powered by an Espressif Systems ESP32-S3-PICO-1-N8R8 system-in-package with 8MB flash and 8MB PSRAM, and equipped with a 1.14-inch display, built-in microphone and speaker, as well as an integrated IR receiver and transmitter. It’s an update to the ESP32-PICO-V3 based StickC-Plus2 with a more powerful ESP32-S3 module, a USB Type-C OTG port, improved audio integrating an ES8311 mono audio codec, a slightly larger 250 mAh battery, as well as a 4-pin Grove connector and a 16-pin female GPIO header for expansion.

• CNX Software ☛ 3D printed breadboards optimized for Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP32 boards

  We’ve seen people try to make MCU development boards as breadboard-friendly as possible by leaving plenty of space to connect wires and components. lhm0 tackled the issue from the opposite direction and designed 3D printed breadboards optimized for Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP32 development boards. The Pico typically only leaves two rows of each side of a typical breadboard, and some ESP32 boards are wide enough to take all rows and, as a result, are unusable.

• CNX Software ☛ SpacemiT K3 16-core RISC-V SoC system information and (early) benchmarks

  SpacemiT K3 is an upcoming RVA23-compliant 64-bit RISC-V processor based on X100 cores clocked at up to 2.5 GHz. So far, we had limited information, but SpacemiT gave remote access to one SpacemiT K3-powered server to Sander, and he was kind enough to share some system information and early benchmarks.