Samwise Makers' News
Friday, September 11, 2026
ESP32 Hack Turns E-Ink Display Into a Network Printer
A maker's firmware fork lets e-ink displays accept documents exactly as a real printer would. The hack, by Nishant Joshi, implements the Internet Printer Protocol (IPP) on an ESP32-C3-based Xteink X4 or X3 device, running a modified fork of CrossPoint firmware. Once configured, the reader advertises itself to any connected computer as a monochrome, single-sided printer outputting 300 DPI on A5 paper, accepting Apple raster and PWG raster formats. Users select it from the system printer dialog and press print — documents appear on the display without any custom software on the sending machine, making e-ink a first-class output device for standard operating systems.
Lensless Raspberry Pi Camera Achieves 3D Imaging With Scotch Tape and Math
A new maker project extends lensless photography into three dimensions using only a Raspberry Pi camera, a strip of Scotch tape, and computational deconvolution. With no lens installed, the tape acts as a diffuser across the sensor; specialized deconvolution math reconstructs a usable image from the blurred data. The technique pushes into 3D by applying directional bias to the point spread function used in reconstruction, producing results equivalent to shifting the camera slightly — revealing depth and parallax information without any moving parts or additional optics. The approach demonstrates that off-the-shelf hardware can achieve imaging effects normally requiring complex multi-lens rigs.
Arduino Releases Open-Source UNO Media Carrier Board With MIPI Camera and Display Connectors
Arduino has published the UNO Media Carrier (model ASX00083), an open-source hardware expansion board for the UNO Q and VENTUNO Q single-board computers. The board breaks out multimedia connectivity from the boards' 60-pin headers into dedicated standard ports: one 22-pin MIPI DSI connector supports Waveshare touch displays in 5-inch, 8-inch, and 10.1-inch sizes, while two 22-pin MIPI CSI connectors accept camera modules using the IMX219 sensor — including the Raspberry Pi Camera Module 2. Three audio jacks round out the connectivity. Arduino has released full documentation including pinout diagrams, a PDF datasheet, Altium schematics, and STEP 3D files. The board is available now for $19.25.
Sources: CNX Software
Anycubic Software 2.0 Brings Toggleable Spaghetti Detection and Third-Party Filament Support
Anycubic has released Software 2.0, a substantial update affecting both the Anycubic Slicer Next desktop application and the Anycubic mobile app. The release makes the spaghetti detection feature — which pauses prints when tangled filament is detected — toggleable directly within the app rather than requiring a settings dive. Materials settings now sync across devices, and the filament library has expanded to better accommodate third-party brands rather than only Anycubic-branded rolls. On the slicer side, users gain a file search function and access to a full print history log. The update is available as a free download for existing users of the Anycubic ecosystem.
Maker Tests Custom Nozzle Geometries to Push FDM Printing Past Its Flowrate Ceiling
As FDM printers reach higher speeds, the hotend nozzle has become a performance bottleneck — filament must melt completely before it exits. To address this, Thomas Sanladerer fabricated a series of experimental nozzles using SLS 3D printing, then finished them on a lathe to drill the final 0.4 mm output hole. The nozzles include a triple-path design that splits the filament stream into three parallel channels to maximize melt contact area, along with several variants featuring internal surface-area intrusions. Sanladerer benchmarked all designs on a Prusa Core One at high flow rates, comparing print quality and throughput against a standard nozzle.
Makers Build Functional Retro Console Inside a Hand-Soldered Brass Circuit Sculpture
Makers HVT Lab and Huy Vector have built a retro gaming console that doubles as a circuit sculpture, using an open framework of hand-soldered brass rods as the device's structural chassis. A small strip of 2 mm clear acrylic stabilizes the button assembly while the rest of the build remains an exposed lattice of bare conductors and components. The heart of the device is an ESP32-S3 microcontroller running the Retro-Go open-source emulation firmware, which supports multiple classic gaming platforms. The build demonstrates how the ESP32-S3's processing capabilities have made it a go-to chip for compact retro emulation, housed in an unusually elegant structural form.
Classic Tomb Raider Now Running on an Espressif ESP32-P4 Microcontroller
The classic Tomb Raider game is now running on an Espressif ESP32-P4 microcontroller via the open-source OpenLara engine. The ESP32-P4's dual-core processor, running at 400 MHz per core, provides sufficient performance to run the engine's software renderer at 320×240 resolution; the chip's built-in Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) then scales output up to 1024×600 for the connected display. Audio is handled by an ES8311 codec providing stereo output, with input via a USB HID keyboard. The project's creator notes the hardware setup can be cheaper than buying a used PlayStation and an original game disc to run the title natively.
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
RootBoard open-hardware Linux terminal — Kickstarter, ships Nov 2026
None confirmed this week
None confirmed this week
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
LCAV/LenslessPiCam — lensless imaging toolkit (active, trending with today's story)
OpenLara — open-source Tomb Raider engine (trending with ESP32-P4 port)
Retro-Go — multi-platform emulator for ESP32 boards
Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Bay Area — Sept 25–27, Vallejo CA (20th anniversary)
Maker Faire Coney Island — Oct 19, 2026
Hackaday Supercon — Nov 6–8, Pasadena CA
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency