Samwise Makers' News
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Xerxes Pi 2026 and Xerxes Nano Carrier Boards Launch on Kickstarter
Rapid Analysis is crowdfunding its Xerxes Home Lab ecosystem on Kickstarter, including the Xerxes Pi 2026 and the larger Xerxes Nano carrier boards, CNX Software reported. The Xerxes Pi 2026 supports Raspberry Pi CM4, CM5 and compatible modules, adding an M.2 PCIe Gen 2 x1 socket for NVMe SSDs, Gigabit Ethernet with optional PoE+, and a Qwiic connector for I2C and I2S peripherals. The Xerxes Nano takes NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano or Turing RK1 modules and adds an OCuLink connector and an SFP+ cage. Both boards fit 1U racks. The campaign has passed its $6,996 goal, with rewards starting at $49. KiCad files are on GitHub.
Sources: CNX Software
Year-Long Burial Test Finds 3D-Printed PLA Does Not Compost
A year-long experiment by the maker behind the channel I built a thing found that buried 3D-printed PLA showed no meaningful breakdown, Hackaday reported. Three sample sets were used: a control, one buried in soil and one in compost, enduring a European winter and a hot, dry summer. Visual inspection showed no major difference, and tensile tests found no statistically significant change. Isothermal microcalorimetry at the University of Basel found nothing in the PLA to feed soil microbes. Many commercial composting facilities contacted in Switzerland, Germany and the USA accept PLA, but none would take 3D-printed PLA parts, apparently because composting them takes too long to be economical.
iFixit Gives Fairbuds 2 a 10/10 Repairability Score After Teardown
A teardown of the new Fairbuds 2 earbuds by iFixit shows a design built for repair, Hackaday reported. The rechargeable 3.6 V LIR1054 lithium-ion coin cell comes out simply by pulling on the battery door, with no glue, yet the earbuds still carry an IP54 rating. Plastic clips and a few dabs of glue hold the enclosure together, and inside sits a PCB built around the Airoha AB1577S, a Cortex-M4F-based IC that handles Bluetooth Low Energy and touch control. Only the driver section uses real glue. The charging case opens with bolts. iFixit faulted the soldered USB-C port but still awarded a 10/10 repairability score.
TAKTO Open-Source Hand Tracker Uses Magnetic Encoders and Actuators
Sebastian Molano has released TAKTO, an open-source hand-tracking device that was the subject of his thesis, Hackaday reported. Camera-based tracking in VR and AR headsets suffers when fingers are covered, intertwined, or out of the headset camera’s view. TAKTO instead uses magnetic encoders to determine where the device is and the position of each finger inside it, while actuators can pull on the fingers to give the user feedback. The project website, TAKTO.one, hosts a digital twin console of the live device with status information, plus clear step-by-step assembly visuals. Build details are on GitHub, and a cheaper sensing-only version is available.
Braino Turns the Cheap Yellow Display Into an Offline Learning Device for Kids
Ankush Pandit has released Braino, a suite of educational applications that can be flashed onto a common Cheap Yellow Display to create a low-cost learning device for children, Hackaday reported. Combined with a 3D-printed case, the build is cheap enough that parents need not worry about handing it to rough youngsters. Users buy a compatible CYD and install Braino through a web flashing application. The software is released under the GPLv3 license and contains no ads, user accounts or cloud connectivity. During setup, parents choose which of the 40 games are available, tailoring the device to a child’s age and ability. With Bluetooth enabled, some games support wireless multiplayer.
First-Time Badge Maker Ships 1,750 Working Units for Canadian Hackathon
Nicholas Ficara has published the full story of producing 1,750 units of his first event badge for Canada’s Hack The North hackathon, Hackaday reported. While most makers can hand-assemble a microcontroller, buttons, a battery and a screen, making sure hundreds or thousands of badges arrive fully working on the first day of an event is an enormous step up. Ficara used a well-planned series of prototype and release candidate steps to catch problems, and several surfaced: wrong footprints, misplaced components, power supply issues and rotated parts. All were fixed, the badges were delivered in time, and they were well received and well used at the event.
RP2040-Zero Powers a Cheap DIY Gamepad with a 3D-Printed Case
A maker known as Lazy_Duck has built a cheap, basic game controller after growing dismayed at the cost and complexity of commercial gamepads, Hackaday reported. The build skips a dedicated PCB in favor of a protoboard carrying an RP2040-Zero, a joystick, a few buttons and a microswitch, all housed in a 3D-printed case. Heat-set threaded inserts in the printed parts should make for a very sturdy build. The GP2040-CE firmware handles controller duties and manages configuration through a web page, making good use of the dual-core RP2040. The firmware also supports extras such as OLED displays and RGB LEDs for builders who want to expand the design.
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
Xerxes Home Lab (Rapid Analysis) — past $6,996 goal, Kickstarter
Romu RP2354A USB board (Bitmerse) — $5,000 goal, Crowd Supply
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
None this week
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