Samwise Makers' News
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
TN Deck Packs a Complete Cyberdeck Inside an Altoids Tin
Salim Benbouziyane has packed a complete cyberdeck into a standard Altoids tin, calling the result the TN Deck. At its core sits a Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero, whose castellated edge pads Benbouziyane soldered directly onto a custom PCB that handles power management and audio. The keyboard runs QMK firmware with 3D-printed TPU membrane keycaps for a tactile feel in the cramped chassis. To cut precise port holes in the metal tin, Benbouziyane built a custom 3D-printed drill guide and used a desktop IR laser engraver for layout marking. All design files, gerbers, and firmware are open-sourced on GitHub at github.com/sb-ocr/tndeck.
RP2350 Overclocked to 372 MHz Achieves First 1080p DVI Output
Aaron Gayle has demonstrated that the Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller can drive a full 1080p DVI signal when overclocked to 372 MHz, achieving what is believed to be a first for the chip. Because the RP2350 lacks sufficient on-chip SRAM for a complete 1080p framebuffer, Gayle’s firmware generates video one scanline at a time in real time — a technique reminiscent of 8-bit home computers from the 1980s. The output is part of Gayle’s TVtop project: a tabletop board game where gameplay runs on the RP2350 and players use ESP32-equipped smartphones as controllers over Wi-Fi. Firmware is open-sourced at github.com/aarongayle/tvtop-kiosk-firmware.
Modified Citi Bike Adjusts Pedal Resistance to Neighborhood Rent Burden
Artist and technologist Justin Blinder has built a modified Citi Bike that makes housing data physically felt. An ESP32S3 module paired with a GPS unit tracks the rider’s real-time location; a servo actuates the bike’s front brake to increase resistance whenever the rider enters a census tract with elevated rent-burden figures. The harder the area’s residents must work to afford housing, the harder the rider must pedal. Blinder calibrated the servo response carefully to keep resistance noticeable without triggering abrupt stops. The project, documented at groundtruth.justin.work, is a data-visualization experience designed to explore urban housing inequality through the body rather than a screen.
RC2014 Z80 Retrocomputer Gets a Vintage Alphacom Printer Terminal
Sheila Dixon has connected an RC2014 Z80 retrocomputer to a vintage Alphacom thermal printer — a third-party output device originally built as an alternative to Sinclair’s ZX81 system printer — creating a working computer terminal from two distinct 1980s hardware ecosystems. To interface the Alphacom with the RC2014’s Z80 bus, Dixon designed a custom card using an Intel 8255 parallel I/O chip to manage byte-level communication. A handmade keyboard fitted with retro typewriter-style keycaps completes the build. Custom ROM routines handle formatted output to the Alphacom’s thermal print head. The full build is documented on Hackaday.io at project 206469.
Gearotons M17 Is an Open-Source NEMA-17 Servomotor with Integrated Driver and Encoder
Move the Needle Limited has released the Gearotons M17, an open-source NEMA-17 form-factor servomotor that integrates the motor, driver, motion controller, and magnetic encoder into a single unit with no external protrusions. An STM32G0 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller runs a 32 kHz closed-loop PID control loop and communicates with a host over RS-485 at 230,400 baud, supporting daisy-chaining of multiple motors on one bus. Four models are offered — M17-34 through M17-60 — priced from $20 to $35. KiCad hardware files, 3D models, and Python and Arduino libraries are open-sourced on GitHub at github.com/tomrodinger/servomotor.
Sources: CNX Software
Nordic Semiconductor Announces nRF54LC10A Ultra-Low-Power BLE and 802.15.4 SoC
Nordic Semiconductor has announced the nRF54LC10A, a new member of its nRF54L Series fabricated on a 22nm process. The SoC pairs a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor with a RISC-V coprocessor for I/O offloading, 192 KB of RAM, and up to 1012 KB of non-volatile storage. Wireless support covers Bluetooth LE 5.4 with Channel Sounding and IEEE 802.15.4 for Thread, Zigbee, and Matter. Power consumption is 30 to 50 percent lower for Bluetooth LE than the nRF52 Series, and a sub-50 nanoamp hibernation mode limits battery drain during product storage and shipping. The nRF54LC10A DK development kit is expected to reach general availability in Q1 2027.
Sources: CNX Software
3D-Printed Radial Impellers Bring Quieter Flight Profile to DIY Quadcopters
A maker using the handle [quadmovr] has 3D-printed a set of radial impellers for a quadcopter and published the design on MakerWorld. The PETG impellers are a remix of a design by [Baba], modified to fit a 1750KV T-mount motor. The assembled drone weighs 189 grams without its battery pack using the impellers, compared to 141 grams with standard three-bladed propellers, adding roughly 12.8 grams per rotor. Trade-offs identified through flight testing include greater inertia, additional aerodynamic drag, and reduced maneuverability, though the impeller design produces a noticeably quieter and more pleasant noise signature than conventional props. The model is available on MakerWorld at model number 2809187.
Top Crowdfunding
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
InfiMaker K1 5-axis desktop CNC — $4.29M raised (Kickstarter, live)
HeyGears G1 full-color 3D+UV printer — $17.4M raised (Kickstarter, late pledge)
Beni 4K robot camera — $4.76M raised (Kickstarter, late pledge)
GitHub Trending
Makers & Hardware
aarongayle/tvtop-kiosk-firmware — newly released (RP2350 1080p board game)
sb-ocr/tndeck — newly released (Altoids tin cyberdeck build files)
tomrodinger/servomotor — newly released (Gearotons M17 open-source servo)
Upcoming Events
Maker Faire Bay Area — September 25-27, Vallejo, CA
None confirmed this week
None confirmed this week
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency