Samwise Makers' News
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Giving A Power Mac G4 A USB Upgrade, For Free!
Pierre Dandumont has unlocked USB 2.0 on a Power Mac G4 — something Apple never delivered in the early 2000s when they backed FireWire 800 instead. The hardware was hiding in plain sight: Apple had already installed an NEC USB 2.0 controller in these machines but constrained it to USB 1.1 via the BIOS ROM. Running PowerPC Linux automatically uses USB 2.0, but Mac OS refused. The fix: replace the BIOS ROM with an image from a G4 variant that shipped without FireWire 800. The operation cures the limitation — but Dandumont describes it as irreversible, so choose your G4 carefully before flashing.
Sources: Hackaday
The Secret Wattcycle LFP Battery Downgrade
Battery reviewer Will Prowse has uncovered a troubling discrepancy in the LFP battery market: the internals of Wattcycle batteries sold to regular customers differ significantly from the review unit sent by the manufacturer. Retail units feature standard cables that show measurably higher voltage drop, varied LFP cell types, and less substantial busbars — unlike the braided wire and thick solid metal construction in the review sample. Prowse emphasizes that Wattcycle is not alone and advocates for transparent battery cases as a practical accountability measure. The finding raises serious questions about how much any review of a manufacturer-supplied sample can be trusted.
Sources: Hackaday
How The 2020s Chip Crisis Led To A Buggy Saleae Analyzer In 2026
A YouTuber known as Playduino opened a secondhand Saleae logic analyzer to investigate severe channel crosstalk — and found two cut traces and bodge wires that looked like unauthorized modifications. When he contacted Saleae, their CTO eventually confirmed the full story. During the 2020–2023 global chip shortage, Saleae redesigned around available FPGAs. A first batch used PCBs from a different supplier that introduced ground fill issues requiring rework. Despite passing initial tests, insufficient crosstalk testing meant 406 defective units entered circulation. Serial numbers 00200026245 through 00200026675 are affected. Saleae offered replacement units to affected owners.
Sources: Hackaday
Print Your Own Robby The Robot
Ogrinz Labs has released a Creative Commons-licensed set of STL files for a 3D-printable version of Robby The Robot, the science fiction icon from Forbidden Planet. To achieve accuracy, the designer examined an actual Robby at auction — the same piece that sold for $5,375,000 — photographing it extensively. The design combines original modeling with contributions from other open-source Robby projects. Some creative liberties were taken: feet are enlarged to accommodate a human wearer, and joint rotation mechanisms are still in development. Parts connect via dowel inserts for clean external surfaces. The assembled version is large enough to function as a wearable costume.
Sources: Hackaday
ESPHome 2026.4.0 Brings a Big Performance Boost for the ESP32
ESPHome 2026.4.0 delivers a significant performance upgrade for ESP32 users: the default CPU clock has been raised from 160 MHz to 240 MHz — a 33% speed increase — with 40 KB of additional IRAM now available for firmware code. The release introduces signed OTA firmware updates for enhanced security; devices will reject unsigned firmware by default once updated. The LVGL graphics library has been upgraded to version 9, a breaking change requiring configuration updates. ESP8266 users gain a new crash handler that logs fault details on every boot after a reset. The release also adds support for a range of new devices and platform components.
Sources: Hackster.io
Custom FM Radio Station Powered By Shell Scripts
Wanting to reduce screen time while still consuming fresh audio content, maker [Trwmato] built a personal radio station using a Raspberry Pi Zero, shell scripts, and an FM transmitter. The system polls RSS feeds for podcasts and news using the podget tool, mixes downloaded content with locally stored audio, then builds a dynamic playlist prioritizing fresh material without repeating recent tracks. The entire logic — download scheduling, playlist generation, and mixing — runs in shell scripts without a graphical environment. Output reaches a Bluetooth receiver, which drives an FM transmitter for over-the-air broadcast. The creator sees it as a template for small organizations wanting an internal broadcast channel.
Sources: Hackaday
Deep Dive Into Sputnik
Sixty-nine years after its launch, a video by [Hoog] revisits the engineering story behind Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The original plan was a massive space laboratory, but engineering realities and Cold War urgency forced a radical simplification. The final 84 kg sphere relied on a 1-watt transmitter — whose viability for Earth-to-orbit radio was unproven at the time — and had to survive an orbital environment no engineer had yet characterized. Politically, the US government publicly stoked fear while privately welcoming the precedent Sputnik set for satellite overflight rights, triggering the space race that led, within twelve years, to the first moon landing.
Sources: Hackaday
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
1. XGIMI TITAN Noir Series — ~$15.5M (Indiegogo)
2. Lumos Ultra — ~$4.6M (Kickstarter)
3. xTool WonderPress — ~$4.2M (Kickstarter)
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
1. esphome/esphome — ESPHome 2026.4.0 just released
2. DangerousPrototypes/Bus-Pirate-5-esp32-s3 — multi-protocol hacker tool
3. tr3x-hive/trail-mate — off-grid Meshtastic firmware for ESP32
Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Moldova — June 13, 2026
Maker Faire Switzerland — June 20–21, 2026
Maker Faire Bay Area — Sep 25–27, 2026 (20th anniversary)
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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