ppoinha writes a project for the ESP32 Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) that functions as a real-time aircraft tracker, rendering a live radar Plan Position Indicator (PPI) on its 2.8-inch touchscreen. The application displays nearby aircraft details such as callsigns and flight levels, provides weather information via Open-Meteo, and includes a built-in web server for remote configuration of location and search radius.
- Utilizes the ESP32's dual-core architecture to handle API calls on Core 0 while maintaining smooth UI rendering on Core 1.
- Integrates data from OpenSky Network for ADS-B states and hexdb.io for ICAO route lookups.
- Features a scrollable list of the five closest flights along with real-time system statistics like WiFi RSSI and free RAM.
- Utilizes the ESP32's dual-core architecture to handle API calls on Core 0 while maintaining smooth UI rendering on Core 1.
- Integrates data from OpenSky Network for ADS-B states and hexdb.io for ICAO route lookups.
- Features a scrollable list of the five closest flights along with real-time system statistics like WiFi RSSI and free RAM.
Tom Nardi writes that Mateusz Juszczyk has created a desktop gadget called ESP32-Plane-Radar, which uses an ESP32-C3 Super Mini and a round GC9A01 display to visualize aircraft movement. Rather than using actual radar hardware, the device connects via WiFi to adsb.fi to pull crowdsourced Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) flight data, creating a professional-looking circular radar display that reflects real-world local airspace activity.
- The project features a minimalistic 3D printed enclosure for its components.
- A web-based configuration interface is included for easier setup via WiFi.
- Despite the name, it does not sniff ADS-B signals directly from radio waves but uses internet data instead.
- The project features a minimalistic 3D printed enclosure for its components.
- A web-based configuration interface is included for easier setup via WiFi.
- Despite the name, it does not sniff ADS-B signals directly from radio waves but uses internet data instead.
Tyler August writes that the Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) ESP32 dev boards can be transformed into a Portable Digital Assistant, reminiscent of 1990s Palm devices. Rather than using an emulator, user sau412 developed custom firmware for the CYD that includes features like a Gopher browser, RSS and Wikipedia readers, various games, a BASIC interpreter, a calendar, calculator, contact list, ebook reader, and translator.
- The project can be set up in approximately five minutes using a web-based flasher.
- An SD card is required to test all the available applications.
- This project provides an alternative for those looking for Palm OS-style functionality on modern hardware without needing x86 or ARM emulators like Pumpkin OS.
- The project can be set up in approximately five minutes using a web-based flasher.
- An SD card is required to test all the available applications.
- This project provides an alternative for those looking for Palm OS-style functionality on modern hardware without needing x86 or ARM emulators like Pumpkin OS.
bebechien writes about DinoDesk AI, a LEGO dino desk companion built on a Raspberry Pi that pairs a local Gemma 4 model (via LM Studio) with cloud Gemini Flash through a unified OpenAI-compatible gateway, giving users a camera-free, privacy-first chat robot with three switching modes (local, cloud, and auto-hybrid routing). The physical body uses LEGO Technic lever mechanisms for neck and tail movement, a Pimoroni Pirate Audio shield for the 1.3" LCD eyes and 8-bit I2S beeps, and a 5-state finite state machine to coordinate expressions, sound, and motor action across Sleeping, Idle, Listening, Thinking, and Speaking states.
- Auto-hybrid mode uses a complexity classifier that detects multi-step reasoning keywords like "explain," "compare," and "write code" to transparently escalate prompts to the cloud engine
- The project is open-sourced at github.com/google-gemma/dinodesk-ai-companion
- Full voice chat is still a work in progress; current interaction is triggered by a physical red push button
- A commenter noted that absence of a camera does not guarantee voice data stays local, and suggested an explicit retention boundary for audio transcripts would strengthen the privacy claim
- Auto-hybrid mode uses a complexity classifier that detects multi-step reasoning keywords like "explain," "compare," and "write code" to transparently escalate prompts to the cloud engine
- The project is open-sourced at github.com/google-gemma/dinodesk-ai-companion
- Full voice chat is still a work in progress; current interaction is triggered by a physical red push button
- A commenter noted that absence of a camera does not guarantee voice data stays local, and suggested an explicit retention boundary for audio transcripts would strengthen the privacy claim
mogenson wrote a Rust application that lets a Flipper Zero write to a Waveshare e-Paper Tag over NFC, effectively turning the passive paper tag into a programmable display.
Dennis Morello writes about Defrag98, a free browser-based simulator that recreates the Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter. Unlike scripted animations, each run simulates the defragmentation process from the current disk state, so no two runs look alike. It features four virtual drives with different sizes and speeds, authentic period hard-disk audio, and exact color palettes sampled from the original utility. The app runs entirely offline as an installable progressive web app and never touches real files on the device.
- Realistic mode mimics Windows interrupting the defrag mid-run, causing the progress bar to drop back; after the first completion the run never finishes again, just like the original
- Each pass can make one of three moves: consolidate a run in place, drag a chunk forward from further down the disk, or shove a run out of the way to clear space ahead
- The project has been written up by PC Gamer, heise online, Boing Boing, and kottke.org, and discussed on Hacker News and Lobsters
- On mobile devices it displays a period-accurate "Windows 98 is not supported on mobile devices" warning that users can dismiss before the simulator runs normally
- Realistic mode mimics Windows interrupting the defrag mid-run, causing the progress bar to drop back; after the first completion the run never finishes again, just like the original
- Each pass can make one of three moves: consolidate a run in place, drag a chunk forward from further down the disk, or shove a run out of the way to clear space ahead
- The project has been written up by PC Gamer, heise online, Boing Boing, and kottke.org, and discussed on Hacker News and Lobsters
- On mobile devices it displays a period-accurate "Windows 98 is not supported on mobile devices" warning that users can dismiss before the simulator runs normally
This GitHub repository serves as a comprehensive collection of community-contributed resources for the Uxn virtual machine and its Uxntal programming language. It includes links to learning materials, documentation, emulators across various platforms (including desktop, web, and other hardware systems), creative applications, utilities, games, and specialized development tools like assemblers and disassemblers.
- Includes support for multiple languages targeting Uxn, such as C via chibicc-uxn and B via Crust.
- Features emulators for retro-style hardware including Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and PlayStation Vita.
- Provides a list of community forums and IRC channels for discussion.
- Includes support for multiple languages targeting Uxn, such as C via chibicc-uxn and B via Crust.
- Features emulators for retro-style hardware including Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and PlayStation Vita.
- Provides a list of community forums and IRC channels for discussion.
This repository features a generative AI image generator designed to run on the RP2350 microcontroller (Raspberry Pi Pico 2). The model uses a latent flow diffusion transformer (DiT) architecture, similar to Flux, but scaled down significantly with only 1.7 or 2.9 million parameters—thousands of times smaller than typical local diffusion models. It can generate $128 times 128$ RGB images of human faces in approximately 5-20 seconds and supports conditional generation for five classes based on gender, smile, and neutral expressions.
- The model architecture includes a VAE decoder and a DiT component.
- Hardware output can be displayed via a VGA monitor or streamed over USB.
- Includes an int8 pipeline involving calibration, distillation-QAT (Quantization-Aware Training), and folding.
- Two variants are provided: a high-quality flagship model and a faster build version.
- The model architecture includes a VAE decoder and a DiT component.
- Hardware output can be displayed via a VGA monitor or streamed over USB.
- Includes an int8 pipeline involving calibration, distillation-QAT (Quantization-Aware Training), and folding.
- Two variants are provided: a high-quality flagship model and a faster build version.
eenk is a custom firmware for Xteink ESP32-powered e-ink reader devices that turns them into dedicated interactive fiction players. Stories are written in inkle's Ink scripting language, compiled via the eenky IDE (a fork of Inky), and run on-device using the inkcpp C++ runtime. The project includes a browser-based web flasher for firmware installation and library management over USB with no drivers or WiFi required.
- Supports three hardware models: X3 (ESP32-C3, 792×528), X4 (ESP32-C3, 800×480, USB-C), and X4 Pro (ESP32-S3, 800×480, touchscreen, backlight)
- Uses Papyrix firmware's text layout and rendering pipeline for custom fonts that can be applied per story or globally
- Images (cover art, thumbnails, inlined) are bundled with stories using the same pattern as Inky's web export
- Supports three hardware models: X3 (ESP32-C3, 792×528), X4 (ESP32-C3, 800×480, USB-C), and X4 Pro (ESP32-S3, 800×480, touchscreen, backlight)
- Uses Papyrix firmware's text layout and rendering pipeline for custom fonts that can be applied per story or globally
- Images (cover art, thumbnails, inlined) are bundled with stories using the same pattern as Inky's web export
>"reverse engineering process of a real-world hardware implant discovered inside of a Ledger Nano X cryptocurrency hardware wallet."
