Open Hardware/Modding: Right to Repair, ESP32, RISC-V, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 17, 2026

• Software Freedom Conservancy ☛ Right to Repair Fundraiser Goal Reached

  In May, Software Freedom Conservancy announced a comprehensive response to Bambu Lab's AGPL violations. This included a fundraiser to support specific Right to Repair work that would help protect the rights enshrined in copyleft in the 3D printing community. A few days remain in the fundraiser, yet we happily announce that we've already hit our goal of raising US$250,007! Thanks to everyone who has supported us during this fundraiser. This success highlights that our community understands how critical copylefted firmware and software is for 3D printers (and elsewhere).

• CNX Software ☛ pico-usb-wifi firmware converts the Raspberry Pi Pico W into a driverless USB WiFi adapter

  pico-usb-wifi is an open-source firmware project that converts the Raspberry Pi Pico W into a driverless USB WiFi adapter that works with Windows, Linux, macOS, and other operating systems with USB CDC-NCM support.

• Linux Gizmos ☛ HackRF Pro SDR covers 100kHz to 6GHz with FPGA-based processing

  The HackRF Pro is an open-hardware software-defined radio platform from Great Scott Gadgets that supports transmission and reception from 100kHz to 6GHz. The half-duplex transceiver maintains backward compatibility with software and accessories developed for the earlier HackRF One.

• It's FOSS ☛ This E-Paper PDA Wants You to Ditch Your Smartphone for a Keyboard and Two Tiny Screens

  It runs a custom open source OS on an ESP32-S3, has a physical keyboard and dual displays, and starts at $185 on Crowd Supply.

• CNX Software ☛ OpenInfrared Point is an ESP32-S3 powered universal remote hub with Infrared, BLE, NFC, audio streaming (Crowdfunding)

  OpenInfrared Point is a universal remote hub built around ESP32-S3 that lets users control compatible devices from a smartphone by scanning a QR code or tapping an NFC tag, eliminating the need for dedicated remote controls.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Modder builds 8,192-core GPU at home out of RISC-V microcontrollers — full "graphics card" draws over 2,000 watts of power, requires a 3D printer to program

  Well-known engineer Matthias Balwierz (aka Bitluni) designed and created an 8,192-core RISC-V GPU at home.

• CNX Software ☛ ESP32-C5 devkit offers 2.8-inch capacitive touch display, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 LE, LiPo battery support

  Last week, I wrote about the ESP32-C5-LCD-1.47 as one of the first ESP32-C5 devkits with a built-in display enabling dual-band WiFi 6 connectivity for IoT and HMI projects. However, one reader lamented the lack of touch-capable screens, at which point kwchow pointed to the ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-2.8 model offering just that by pairing an ESP32-C5 with a 2.8-inch IPS  display with capacitive touch and 320×480 resolution.

• Hackaday ☛ Bad Apple On A Karaoke Machine

  In the end, his demo has audio, triple-buffered video, and lyrics at 16.3 FPS. It’s slower than the fastest video-only version, but it looks so good, and [Adam]’s explanation of all of the graphics tricks he uses to get there is the real star of the show.

• Olimex ☛ New Industrial Grade Open Source Hardware board: PICO-EVB enables your Raspberry PI PICO to drive relays and sense High voltage inputs

  PICO-EVB is our new evaluation board that turns your Pico into a real-world automation controller. Plug in a Pico, Pico 2, Pico W, Pico 2W, or our own PICO30 — and you’re ready to switch loads and read signals.

• Arduino ☛ This CNC hot wire cutter was created specifically for making airplane wings

  Almost all of the parts of the machine are identical to what you’d find on a 3D printer: aluminum extrusion, stepper motors, a RAMPS 1.4 controller on an Arduino Mega 2560 board, and TMC2209 stepper drivers. That receives G-code created with an online tool called RC Airplane Wing Designer, which was built specifically for this kind of work.

• Marco Nett ☛ Getting an old doorbell onto Home Assistant, powered by the bell itself - Marco Nett

  I live in an old building, and I cannot hear the doorbell from my home office, which is a huge pain.

  So the goal was to connect something to my doorbell that would wirelessly transmit a signal that I would then be able to integrate into Home Assistant.

  Knowing nothing about how the bell is wired, first idea was to try and somehow attach an ESP32 to the bell that would then transmit a Zigbee signal. Looking online, I found a lot of solutions similar to my idea.

  But after finding the schematics of the bell, I realized that the bell is powered by a bell transformer (which outputs 8-12 V AC) and the voltage at the gong is only present while someone presses the button.

  Looking into batteries powered / deep-sleep solutions, and how long it takes for a Zigbee device to boot and join the network, I realized that this was a bad idea.

• CNX Software ☛ Olimex PICO-EVB automation board adds high-voltage terminals to Raspberry Pi Pico family

  Olimex PICO-EVB board for the Raspberry Pi Pico and compatible boards is designed for high-voltage automation with four 3.3-30V DC or 110-220V AC inputs and four 15V DC/220V AC relays. It features two 20-pin headers enabling users to connect their preferred Pi Pico-compatible board, a USB-C port for power and programming, a UEXT connector for I2C, UART, and SPI expansion, and status LEDs for the high-voltage signals.