Samwise Makers' News
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
E-Paper Family Dashboard Puts Smart Home Data Where It Belongs — On the Wall
Joel Hawksley’s Timeframe project transforms a framed e-paper display into a whole-home information hub, combining Google Calendar events, local weather forecasts, and Home Assistant smart home device states into a single, glanceable interface. Mounted on the wall near the family’s front door, the low-power e-paper panel requires no active backlight and updates silently throughout the day. Hawksley designed the system to reduce reliance on smartphones for routine household coordination, making it visible to everyone in the household at a glance. The project code is publicly available on GitHub, and Hawksley notes future improvements to the platform’s Home Assistant integration are planned.
Sources: Hackaday
ESP32-Powered Lantern Brings SolarPunk Community Bulletin Board to Your Neighbourhood
Victor Frost has built a solar-powered local message board inspired by the SolarPunk design movement, packaging it inside a housing that resembles a lantern. At its core is an ESP32 microcontroller hosting a local-only web server. A pair of 18650 lithium cells charge from a small solar panel, keeping the unit off-grid indefinitely. Neighbours within a few metres can join its captive-portal Wi-Fi network and post messages to the community board — no internet connection required, no moderation algorithm, no corporate server. The project is open source under the GPL licence, with all code published on GitHub.
Sources: Hackaday
3D-Printed Solar Case Gives Old Nook Simple Touch a Self-Sustaining Second Life
Maker spiritplumber has designed a 3D-printed enclosure for the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch e-reader that adds an integrated solar charging panel, pairing the device’s sunlight-readable E Ink display with a battery that charges in the very same conditions where the screen performs best. The case design is fully open source, with SketchUp source files and exported STL files released for community adaptation. A companion rooting guide is included so owners can unlock the Nook for custom apps and extended functionality. The project demonstrates how legacy e-readers, with their ultra-low power consumption, remain practical hardware for maker repurposing.
Sources: Hackaday
New $24 ESP32-P4 Board Brings Raspberry Pi-Compatible MIPI Camera and Display Support
A compact development board pairing Espressif’s ESP32-P4 application processor with the ESP32-C5 dual-band Wi-Fi 6 SoC now offers four MIPI connectors, two of which use Raspberry Pi-compatible pinouts enabling use of the original Raspberry Pi Camera Module OV5647 and official display panels. The ESP32-P4 module ships with 32MB PSRAM and 16MB NOR flash, while the ESP32-C5 provides 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter support. Three USB ports, a built-in MEMS microphone, speaker connector, and two 34-pin expansion headers round out the board. It is listed on AliExpress for $24.68 including shipping.
Sources: CNX Software
Repurposed 3D Printer Parts Become a DIY Camera Slider in This Resourceful Build
When a 3D printer broke beyond straightforward repair, one maker chose to strip it for parts and repurpose them into a motorised camera slider rather than send the machine to landfill. Aluminium extrusion rails, V-slot wheels, and a 3D-printed camera platform form the backbone, while an ESP32 microcontroller drives the stepper motors and serves a wireless control interface accessible from a laptop GUI. The build ran into real-world clearance issues mid-project, requiring redesigned carrier components when motor gear-ratio changes altered dimensional constraints. The result is a smartphone and DSLR-compatible slider that doubles as a case study in iterative hardware problem-solving.
Sources: Hackaday
Texas Instruments TI-84 Evo Brings Python, USB-C and a Faster Chip to Its Iconic Calculator Line
Texas Instruments has launched the TI-84 Evo, the most capable member of the TI-84 family to date, featuring a 156 MHz processor three times faster than the 48 MHz chip inside the TI-84 Plus CE. The graphing display area expands by 50 percent to 319×209 pixels through slimmer bezels, user memory grows to 3.5 MB, and an icon-based home menu replaces the older text-heavy navigation. Integrated Python programming joins TI-BASIC as a supported language, and USB-C replaces the legacy mini-USB port for charging, data transfer, and OS updates. The Evo ships in seven colours at launch.
Sources: Adafruit Blog
Congatec’s Compact COM Express Module Packs 41 TOPS of AI Into a 15W Edge Platform
Congatec has introduced the conga-TC300, a COM Express Compact module built around Intel’s Core Series 3 Wildcat Lake processor family and aimed at cost-sensitive edge AI deployments. The module combines up to 5 TOPS from the CPU’s built-in NPU, an additional 18 TOPS from a dedicated neural processing unit, and up to 18 TOPS from dual Xe3 graphics cores for a combined 41 TOPS total, all within a thermal envelope configurable from 12 to 28 W with a 15 W base TDP. Target markets include robotics, industrial automation, medical technology, and smart retail, with support for Windows 11 IoT Enterprise, Ubuntu Pro Linux, and a hypervisor tier.
Sources: CNX Software
Top Crowdfunding
Crowd Supply / Kickstarter / Indiegogo
1. Prunt Board 3 — $180 pledge, $9,500 goal (Crowd Supply, live)
2. None this week
3. None this week
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
1. davidmonterocrespo24/velxio — Arduino/ESP32/Pi simulator
2. earlephilhower/arduino-pico — RP2040/RP2350 Arduino core
3. Arc1011/KernelUNO — Unix shell for Arduino UNO
Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Trieste — May 9–10, Trieste, Italy
Hackaday Europe — May 16–17, Lecco, Italy
Open Hardware Summit — May 23–24, Berlin, Germany
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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