Samwise Makers' News
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Mercedes-Benz Open-Sources ARDEP, Its Automotive Rapid Development Platform
Mercedes-Benz has released ARDEP (Automotive Rapid Development Platform) as open-source hardware under the Apache 2.0 license. The 109×69mm board is built around an STM32G474VE Cortex-M4F microcontroller running up to 170 MHz, with native CAN-FD and LIN bus support — core protocols of in-vehicle networking. Already deployed in the company's FlexCAR Rolling Chassis project, ARDEP is designed to give automotive engineers and makers a production-grade foundation for connected vehicle development without starting from scratch. Design files, schematics, and documentation are hosted on GitHub. This marks a notable moment: an OEM releasing automotive-grade open hardware for the broader maker community.
Sources: CNX Software Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
PocketMage: A Hackable ESP32-S3 PDA Now Crowdfunding on Crowd Supply
PocketMage is a pocket-sized personal digital assistant built around the ESP32-S3 microcontroller with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The device combines a 3.1-inch e-ink display, a 1.8-inch OLED secondary screen, and a full QWERTY keyboard, all running FreeRTOS. Designed for tinkerers who want a hackable handheld for notes, tools, and custom applications, PocketMage is now live on Crowd Supply as a campaign. It is available as a DIY kit for $185 or fully assembled for $235. The project targets developers wanting to write custom apps for an open firmware platform with retro PDA form-factor aesthetics and modern wireless connectivity built in.
Sources: CNX Software Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Mutiny Is an Open-Source Electric Kei Truck You Can Build From Plans
Andy Didorosi — known for the Bus Roots urban farming project — has announced Mutiny, a fully open-source electric kei truck designed to be built from publicly available plans. Intended as a Low Speed Vehicle, Mutiny is street-legal in many US states without full crash-test certification and uses hub motors at each wheel. The boxy, repair-focused body is designed to be simple to fabricate. All designs will be released under an open license, and Didorosi plans to manufacture initial units at a factory in Detroit. The project represents a maker-built alternative to expensive, software-locked commercial electric trucks.
Open-Source 80386 Gets a 39% Speed Boost via Early Memory Access
Developer [barotto] has released a significant performance update to z386, an open-source software implementation of the Intel 80386 processor. The central improvement is early start memory access — fetching data from RAM before an instruction is fully decoded — which reduces average cycle counts across many operation types. Benchmarked against DOOM, the standard retrocomputing performance metric, the update delivers a 39% speed improvement. Branch and jump instructions drop from 9.25 cycles to approximately 6 cycles. For makers building FPGA-based retrocomputers or developing open x86-compatible platforms, this update meaningfully improves z386's practical usefulness for running real legacy software at interactive speeds.
8,192 RISC-V MCUs Wired Up as a DIY “Ultracluster GPU”
Maker and YouTube creator [bitluni] has connected 8,192 WCH CH570 RISC-V microcontrollers — one per pixel, each driving its own RGB LED — into a massive parallel cluster he is calling an Ultracluster GPU. The CH570 chips run at 100 MHz with an RV32IMBC instruction set that lacks floating-point support, but the architecture is genuine: each MCU sits on a custom PCB blade connected to a backplane, with a 3 kW Corsair ATX supply providing the 655A the build demands. The first prototype currently functions as an addressable LED matrix; additional hierarchy planned in future updates will push it closer to actual graphics processing.
Your $30 Blood Pressure Monitor May Be Lying to You, Says Hackaday Europe Talk
At Hackaday Europe 2026, engineer Milos Rasic presented a technical examination of accuracy problems in cheap digital blood pressure monitors. The $30–50 oscillometric arm-cuff devices common in home use typically estimate systolic and diastolic pressures using fixed-percentage thresholds applied to an oscillation envelope — an approximation that can miss true readings by ±15 mmHg in up to 15% of measurements under Category A device standards. To investigate better algorithms, Rasic built the Open Cardiography Signal Measuring Device, an open-source platform simultaneously capturing cuff pressure, PPG, ECG, and digital stethoscope signals for comparative algorithm testing. Design files are published on GitHub under MilosRasic98.
Calixto's AM62L STAMP Is a 40×40mm Linux SOM for Industrial and EV Applications
Calixto Systems has launched the AM62L STAMP, a 40×40mm system-on-module targeting industrial automation, HMI panels, and EV charging equipment. Based on Texas Instruments' AM62L SoC with a dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 running up to 1.25 GHz, the module is designed to run embedded Linux. Its compact footprint makes it a direct replacement for legacy single-board solutions in space-constrained deployments including factory floor controllers and smart charger units. TI's long-term supply commitments for the AM62L add procurement stability that industrial customers prioritize. Calixto positions the STAMP as a carrier-board-ready module for custom hardware designs across automation and EV infrastructure markets.
Sources: CNX Software Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Crowd Supply
1. PocketMage ESP32-S3 PDA — $185 DIY kit, Crowd Supply (live)
2. CardputerZero by M5Stack — ~$1.4M raised, Kickstarter
3. Revopoint POP 4 3D Scanner — ~$2.1M raised, Kickstarter
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
1. velxio — Arduino/ESP32/Pi emulator in the browser
2. brannondorsey/packet-radio-chat — AX.25 radio protocol, 227★ today
3. earlephilhower/arduino-pico — Arduino core for all RP2040/RP2350 boards
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