ESP32, Arduino, and More Open Hardware Picks

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 06, 2026

• Arduino ☛ What will you build next? Arduino Black Friday deals are here

  You have an idea. Maybe it’s a smart home device that solves an everyday annoyance, a robot you’ve been sketching for months, or an experiment that becomes something bigger. Now comes your first major decision: what hardware will you use to bring it to life?

• Linux Gizmos ☛ ESP32-S3 USB dongle adds microphone, IR and hardware security

  LILYGO has expanded its T-Dongle lineup with the T-Dongle S3 Plus, an ESP32-S3 development board housed in a transparent USB flash-drive enclosure. The device combines a 0.96-inch color display, 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, and microSD storage with additional features including a microphone, infrared functionality, and an optional hardware security chip.

• CNX Software ☛ Olimex UEXT-CH390 SPI to Ethernet module targets Raspberry Pi and ESP32 MCU boards running ESPHome

  Olimex UEXT-CH390 is a small open-source hardware module that adds 10/100 Mbps wired Ethernet connectivity to microcontroller boards through an SPI interface. It is designed for Raspberry Pi Pico and Pico 2 boards, as well as ESP32-S3, C3, C5, C6, and other microcontrollers without built-in Ethernet connectivity. The module is based on the WCH CH390 Ethernet controller and features an RJ45 connector, a standard UEXT connector, and a smaller 1.0mm-pitch pUEXT connector. It measures 50 x 21 mm and is supported in the Arduino IDE and ESPHome firmware, making it suitable for wired IoT sensors, Home Assistant devices, and other applications where WiFi is unreliable or unwanted.

• CNX Software ☛ P4 Launcher offers a PC-like and retro gaming experience on ESP32-P4 boards

  Gil Tal has developed the P4 Launcher, an open-source application platform designed to bring a PC-like experience to ESP32-P4 boards with an attached touchscreen display. The launcher boots directly into its interface, while applications (.papp files) are stored on a microSD card and loaded into PSRAM when launched. You can add, remove, and run applications without reflashing the firmware or rebooting the device by simply copying files to the microSD card.Gil says 21 PAPP (PSRAM APP) applications are available now, mostly emulators and games, including Neo Geo and Atari 2600 emulators, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and OpenTyrian, plus Clock and Files. Like ESPBrookesia, the P4 Launcher user interface runs on ESP32-P4, but it’s more flexible since it supports apps stored on the microSD card and targets mainly gaming for now.

• Hackaday ☛ Stunning Volumetric 3D Display Goes For A Spin

  [AncientJames] gives us a detailed look at Vortex, one of his impressive volumetric displays made with two back-to-back LED panels that spin at high speed with a Raspberry Pi 4 driving it all. Vortex generates a true 3D image hanging in space that one can move around, and look at from different angles independent of anything else. The software for Vortex is up on GitHub which includes a simulator as well as CAD models for the 3D-printed parts.

• Hackaday ☛ Translating An Old Display To A New One

  The display comes as part of a Samsung cash register that looks as though it comes from the 1990s, which is in keeping with it having a monochrome STN display. A replacement was going to cost a fortune, so some way of translating between the two was in order. It has a 4-bit data bus, so there’s a description of how they sampled the bus and identified the timing used. It’s hardly the highest resolution display by today’s standards, being a meager 320 by 240 pixels. Once the format is known it’s a case of transposing it to monochrome VGA in the microcontroller. Initial work was done with an STM series chip, later this was moved to the RP2040.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Hackaday ☛ A Tiny OS For A Tiny Board

    As microntrollers have become ever more powerful, we have started to see an increasing number of operating systems written to take advantage of this extra power. Usually they’re aimed at handheld or other similar devices with support for screens and input devices, but just what can be done if a developer eschews those niceties? KoaOS is a small OS for the ESP32-S3 on the Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V4, and it’s headless. You can only talk to it via a serial terminal on its USB port.

• Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Fairphone 1: Still going strong after 13 years

    With Black Friday right around the corner, it's nice to know that there are true legends out there who find ways to make their older smartphones truly last.