Open Hardware/Modding: LattePanda, Raspberry Pi 5, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 05, 2026

• CNX Software ☛ Altera Agilex 27 FPGA & SoC family features up to 17.6M logic elements, Cortex-A720/A-520 cores, 256 Gbps SerDes, PCIe 7.0

  Altera has introduced the Agilex 27 FPGA and SoC family designed for Hey Hi (AI) infrastructure, high-speed networking, 6G and satellite communications, and aerospace and defense applications. The family includes 14 device models, each available as either an FPGA-only device or an FPGA SoC with integrated Arm processors The new devices rely on Altera’s third-generation HyperFlex architecture, which the company claims delivers 1.8 times the performance per Watt compared to the previous-generation Agilex 7 FPGAs. Other features include up to 17.6 million logic elements, second-generation Hey Hi (AI) Tensor DSP blocks, an Arm Cortex-A720/A520 processor subsystem in the SoC FPGA variants, 256 Gbps transceivers, PCIe 7.0, 1.6TbE Ethernet, and LPDDR6 memory support.

• Linux Gizmos ☛ Panther Lake joins AAEON’s Pico-ITX SBC lineup

  Measuring just 100 × 72mm, the PICO-PTH4 is described by AAEON as the world’s first Pico-ITX SBC powered by defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors (Panther Lake). The board supports up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, PCIe 5.0 NVMe storage, dual 2.5GbE, and Ubuntu, with up to 180 TOPS of combined Hey Hi (AI) performance.

• CNX Software ☛ LattePanda Mu Ultra Review – An defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 7 256V Hey Hi (AI) Compute Module tested on Ubuntu 26.04

  Today, I’m going to review the LattePanda Mu Ultra, a compact x86 compute module designed for on-device Hey Hi (AI) applications. It comes in two versions, powered by either an defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 5 226V or a Core Ultra 7 256V processor. Both models feature 16 GB of high-speed LPDDR5X memory running at 8533 MT/s, with the higher-end model delivering up to 115 TOPS of combined Hey Hi (AI) computing power. In this review, I installed Ubuntu 26.04 and benchmarked the LattePanda Mu Ultra using various tools, including sbc-bench, Geekbench 7, and Geekbench AI. I also tested its CPU, GPU, and NPU performance with llama.cpp and YOLO26 to evaluate its capabilities for Hey Hi (AI) applications. Finally, I created a fun demo combining YOLO26, MediaPipe, and OpenCV to test real-time computer vision performance, including hand gesture-based image adjustments, using a USB webcam.

• Linux Gizmos ☛ Pocket-sized Linux AI box runs on 256-TOPS Axera chip

  Sipeed has recently shared additional details about the MaixStation, a Linux AI workstation powered by Axera’s AX8860P processor, which combines a 16-core Arm CPU with an NPU rated at 256 TOPS FP4. The system supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5X memory, 273GB/s memory bandwidth, 10G SFP+ networking, and PCIe 5.0 expansion for local AI inference and development.

• Olimex ☛ New Open Source Hardware UEXT module adds 100MB Ethernet to PICO, PICO2 and all ESP32 which have no wired Ethernet

  UEXT-CH390 is our new small open source hardware module that adds 100 Mbit Ethernet to any board with a UEXT or pUEXT connector. It uses the WCH CH390 SPI-to-Ethernet controller, measures only 50 x 21 mm, and has both the classic UEXT and the small 1.0 mm pUEXT connectors.

• PC World ☛ Ouch: The Raspberry Pi 5 just hit an eye-watering $385

  As the AI-powered RAM crunch increases, the 16GB version of the Pi 5 is now more than triple its introductory price less than two years ago.

• Hackaday ☛ Using A Cheap DC Motor To Make A Go-Kart Go

  With that done, the newly printed gearbox was installed, along with the single DC motor to drive it all. This actually managed to propel the go-kart, at a pace that would impress even a snail, so for the next phase instead of a single motor a total of fourteen were used, all adding their tiny bit of torque into the gearbox.

• Hackaday ☛ Beautiful Laser Harp Hides Some Neat Tricks

  First of all, the harp! Lasers, photodiodes, done, right? Not here! [DJ Baja Blast] kept it analog with photoresistors so that he could measure the rise and fall of the voltage as the laser light is occluded by the player’s hands — thus you can moderate the volume via faster, louder and quieter, slower plucks. More unique is the inclusion of an accelerometer. What can you do with an accelerometer in a harp? Well, here it’s being used as a tilt sensor, with the tilt acting as a control to ‘bend’ the note as it sounds, tuning it flat or sharp or altering it any other way you choose to define in software. There’s also an ultrasonic distance sensor so you can do the same thing — or any other thing, there’s no shortage of effects to chose from — theremin-style, and an encoder wheel sits on the side, so that’s five extra inputs beyond selecting a note by blocking a laser diode. Unless you count the optional looper pedal input, or the aux in.

• Hackaday ☛ It’s DOOM, On A Toy Camera

  In another clever move he was able to keep only the most-used piece of the doom code in memory and the rest in flash, allowing the game to run. A custom synthesizer completed the experience, and on the write-up there’s a chance to travel back to the early ’90s and hear that music again. All that was left were the controls, and with a few quirks, this thing becomes a playable DOOM console. It’s probably better at that than it is at being a camera.

• Hackaday ☛ Making A Wax Motor For Micrometer-Level Control

  Although not very glamorous, wax motors are a fairly common type of linear actuator. They use the thermal response of waxes and the resulting volumetric expansion or reduction to create a relatively fast, smooth, and highly predictable actuator that can work for decades. They can often be found operating valves and things like the door mechanisms of washing machines. As [BubsBuilds] demonstrates in a recent video, you can even build your own wax motor for very precise control.

• CNX Software ☛ $21 ESP32-P4X and ESP32-C61 full-featured board offers Ethernet, WiFi 6, RS485 CAN Bus, MIPI CSI/DSI, and more

  Wireless Tag WT99P461-S1 is an ESP32-P4X and ESP32-C61 board based on the same WT01P461-S1 module as found on the ESP32P4C61-TINY board introduced last June. The main differences are that the WT99P461-S1 is a full-featured development board, adding features such as Fast Ethernet, RS-485, CAN bus, an on-board microphone, and a speaker connector.