🕹️ Retrocomputing restorations & vintage docs

Retrocomputer cheats (rubenerd​.com) . Retrocomputer storage, displays, upscalers, and the Web; OpenZFS, CD/DVD/CF storage, GOTEK, ZuluSCSI, ST2VGA, AppleII-VGA, RetroTINK, and HDMI adapters discussed

My Atari 1040 STE (thefoggiest​.dev) . ATARI 1040 STE restoration: PSU swap, MouSTer USB mouse, SIMM RAM upgrade, Blitter repair, SCART/HDMI setup, and GEMBench insights

MCS6500 Family Hardware manual 6500-10 and Programming Manual Synertek 6500-50 added (retro​.hansotten​.nl) . Rare first-edition MCS6500 manuals, 6500-10 hardware and 6500-50 programming manual scans, plus KIM-1 docs and related hardware notes

More work on bench testing for the 1130 MRAM core memory board (rescue1130​.blogspot​.com) . Bench testing a 1130 MRAM core memory board: backfeed protection, buffer replacement, Arduino interaction, and refined probing setup

Winchesterduino, version 1.1 update (boginjr​.com) . Update to Winchesterduino v1.1 adds microSD disk image storage via SPI, 32K cache RAM, and compatibility with v1.0

A win, sort of, but I’ll take it (maddox​.pro) . Booting a 4MHz CPU from a Grant Searle ROM; CPLD-based timing tweaks, FT245 serial, and serial terminal corruption in a DIY PCB project

🍓 Raspberry Pi builds: clusters, cameras and vintage screens

Revamping an Old TV as a Gift (2019) (blog​.davidv​.dev) . Repurposing a 1960s CRT TV with a Raspberry Pi and RF modulator to mimic channel switching via a GPIO-driven rotary switch

I regret building this $3000 Pi AI cluster (jeffgeerling​.com) . Jeff Geerling builds a $3000 Raspberry Pi Compute Blade AI cluster (CM5 Lite), benchmarks HPL, ponders AI practicality, and compares to Framework Desktop; discusses LLama.cpp, llama RPC, Exo, distributed-llama, and Plex related community notes

TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV (quarters​.captaintouch​.com) . Raspberry Pi 3A+ runs random 90s TV with VLC, pulseaudio, and a systemd service to auto-play videos from a local directory

The story of Musium (ruudvanasseldonk​.com) . Ruud van Asseldonk builds Musium, a Raspberry Pi web-controlled music player with Claxon, Hound, PureScript UI, custom DOM library, and SQLite-backed index

Umang Jain: Testing out libcamera Software-ISP on RPi3/4 (dev​.uajain​.com) . Testing libcamera Software-ISP on Raspberry Pi 3/4 with unicam support and simple pipeline integration

Light Up Your Builds with Render Webhooks (render​.com) . Turning Render webhooks into a glowing LED desk display using a Raspberry Pi and a microcontroller

🧰 Dev tools, languages and playful builds

Rust: Who, What and Why for ESA SW PA Workshop (ferrous-systems​.com) . Ferrous Systems presents Rust usage in space & safety-critical domains, including RTIC, RTOS options, Ferrocene toolchains, and ECSS qualification

framework mechanical keyboard (koaning​.io) . Framework laptop as a starting point for a gasket-mounted, kailh choc powered, enthusiast-grade custom mechanical keyboard with three rotary encoders

Using PSPICE Components in LTspice (shielddigitaldesign​.com) . Using PSPICE models in LTspice to simulate TI LM293 with a PSPICE import workflow

our #fallingblockgjam entry: PCB (surasshu​.com) . PCB-based block-dropping game by surasshu with ash and alex, featuring wiring mode and branded music concepts

Why I Still Reach for C for Certain Projects (dayvster​.com) . C chosen for low-level, efficient RSS daemon with DBus integration on Arch with swaync and Hyprland

📡 ESP32, IoT & wireless sensing

Project: A Poor-Man’s Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor (ABPM) ft. A&D UA-651BLE (goughlui​.com) . Ambulatory BP monitoring concept using UA-651BLE, RP2040 microcontroller, MicroPython, BLE, and a DIY low-cost setup

Easy esp32 s3 dev board (atomic14​.com) . Simple ESP32-S3 dev board with KiCad schematic, 3D render, and GitHub-hosted project

Building Smarter Camera Applications with esp-video (developer​.espressif​.com) . esp-video enables easy, high-performance camera apps on ESP32 with V4L2-style API, multi-camera support, and ISP/codec integration

Adding a USD 4.5 Xiaomi temperature sensor to Home Assistant via Zigbee (huey​.xyz) . Flashing ZigBee firmware to a $4.5 Xiaomi temperature sensor and integrating it with ZigBee2MQTT for Home Assistant

Build: ESP-01S Robustified Temperature Reporting (lyndonhill​.com) . ESP-01S with DHT11, MQTT, WiFi reconnect logic, and Home Assistant integration for robust temperature monitoring

The RSGB LoRa Balloon Challenge 2025 (ianrenton​.com) . Author builds and tests a 433MHz LoRa APRS tracker for RSGB Balloon Challenge, deploys on Hambledon Hill, includes azimuth/elevation calculator and POTA activations

🔌 Protocols, USB and RF hacking

Flipper Zero Explained: The Ultimate Guide to the Geek Multi-tool (ikkaro​.net) . Overview of Flipper Zero’s hardware, firmware, modules (RFID, NFC, Sub-GHz, iButton, HID), legal concerns, and community ecosystem

Tinkering with Dongles | Why Framework Needs the DongleHider+ Expansion Card (cubiclenate​.com) . Tinkering with Dongles: exploring the DongleHider+ expansion for Framework Laptop 13 and Logitech dongle integration

Extending Saleae Logic To Reverse Engineer LED Remote (robopenguins​.com) . Extending Saleae Logic 2 to decode a 433MHz LED remote with a custom Differential Pulse Position Modulation extension

How Serial Servos Work (and Why They’re Awesome for Robotics) (kevsrobots​.com) . Explains how serial servos differ from PWM, wiring, IDs, half-duplex UART, and a MicroPython example with LX-16A/Dynamixel-like commands

DIY AlterEgo (studium​.dev) . DIY AlterEgo: building a Silent Synth using subvocalization and PiEEG hardware, 16-electrode setup, and MIT-inspired concepts

⚡ Circuit simulation, power and high-speed debugging

Amiga Spice (edsa​.uk) . Explores Amiga SPICE versions, using SPICE 3f5 for AC analysis, interactive mode, and comparing LTspice/Ngspice on modern PCs

PokyPow Prototype Debugging (ajfriesen​.com) . PokyPow debugging reveals backflow current, 3.7V on mainboard, diode solution and switch to optocouplers for external power isolation

25 Mbps discrete logic transceiver – TX prototype debugging (helentronica​.com) . Debugging a 25 Mbps discrete-logic TX with PRBS, Manchester encoding, pre-emphasis, and 74AHC595 timing issues on a prototype board

Using LT SPICE to study back feed voltages from digital inputs when power supply not operating (rescue1130​.blogspot​.com) . LTspice study of back-feed voltages from digital inputs and MOSFET grounding isolation for IBM 1130 projects

📚 Academic Research

Protocol-Aware Firmware Rehosting for Effective Fuzzing of Embedded Network Stacks (arxiv:cs) . Pemu detects network protocols in firmware to generate valid packets, enabling deeper fuzzing of embedded network stacks

Characterizing Human Limb Movements Using An In-House Multi-Channel Non-Invasive Surface-EMG System (arxiv:cs) . In-house 8-channel non-invasive surface-EMG systemCharacterizes upper and lower limb movements using SVM classifiers

A neuromorphic continuous soil monitoring system for precision irrigation (arxiv:cs) . Energy-efficient neuromorphic irrigation control uses spiking networks on mixed-signal processors for autonomous soil moisture-based farming decisions

Comprehensive Evaluation of CNN-Based Audio Tagging Models on Resource-Constrained Devices (arxiv:cs) . Evaluates CNN-based audio tagging models on Raspberry Pi using PANNs, ConvNeXt, MobileNetV3, CNN9/ CNN13; ONNX deployment and 24-hour latency/thermal analysis

👋 Before you go

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