Is it a Pet? No, it’s a Teacher’s Pet!

Here at Hackaday we cover the world of retrocomputing, which means that we see all manner of older computers in our everyday work. We might even claim that we’ve seen them all, were it not that every now and then something comes along which surprises us. [Tynemouth Software] has done just that, with an unexpected Commodore. It’s a Commodore 4064, something that was new to us, but which is best described as a Commodore 64 in a PET case. He’s bringing this one back to life.

For those with weak early-Commodore-fu, maybe it’s worth a quick recap. The PET was Commodore’s...

ESP-FLY micro drone kit offers ESP32-S3-based flight control and ESP-NOW support

The ESP-FLY DIY Kit is a compact micro drone platform built around the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3, developed as a collaboration between Seeed Studio and Max Imagination. The kit targets educational and hobbyist use, combining a small airframe with wireless control options and a customizable firmware environment. The system is delivered as a DIY kit […]

$4,290+ Unitree R1-A5 and R2-A7 humanoid robots features grippers or dexterous hands, fixed or wheeled base

Unitree has extended its R1 dual‑arm humanoid robot family with new R1-A5 and R1-A7 models, which can be fitted with 2-finger grippers or 3 or 5-finger dexterous hands, and attached to a fixed base or a wheeled base for indoor mobility. The new robots appear based on the low-cost Unitree R1 platform launched last year, which can dance, walk, run, perform kung-fu moves, and chat with users, but is otherwise not overly useful since it lacks dexterous hands. The R1-A5 and R1-A7 won’t be able to dance, since they don’t come with legs, but the upper body comes with a...

NVIDIA phases out several Jetson modules due to high LPDDR4 RAM prices and tight supplies

Following the well-advertised Raspberry Pi 4/5 price hikes, we’ve just written an article about some SBCs quadrupling in price since 2024 due to RAM price increases, and another victim appears to be NVIDIA Jetson modules relying on LPDDR4 memory. That’s according to a lifecycle update by Connect Tech that claims that “due to changes in global DRAM market dynamics, NVIDIA has indicated that supply and pricing for LPDDR4-based modules have become increasingly constrained. As a result, NVIDIA is accelerating End-of-Life (EOL) timelines for” specific modules. Four families are impacted: NVIDIA Jetson TX2 NX (4GB and 8GB) NVIDIA Jetson TX2i (all...

Forlinx UP4 – A 40×40 mm LCC + LGA system-on-module family with Rockchip, NXP, and Allwinner CPU options

Forlinx Embedded UP4 is a new family of pin-to-pin compatible system-on-modules currently offered with Rockchip RK3568J/RK3562J, NXP i.MX 9352, or Allwinner T527N/T536 processors. The UP4 modules measure just 40×40 mm and expose 487 pins through a hybrid LCC (Leadless Chip Carrier) and LGA (Land Grid Array) design with 1.0mm contact pitch and 1.27mm ball pitch, respectively. This should allow companies to design a single carrier board for multiple CPU variants. Forlinx UP4 specifications: SoC FET-MX9352-UP4 – NXP i.MX 9352 with 2x Arm Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.7 GHz, Cortex-M33 real-time core @ 250 MHz, 2D GPU only, 0.5 TOPS...

M5Stack Cardputer goes off-grid with new Mesh Kit featuring LoRa, GNSS, and Meshtastic support

M5Stack has just launched the Cardputer Mesh Kit, a portable, card-sized Meshtastic communication terminal built around the ESP32-S3-powered Cardputer-Adv controller and a new LoRa expansion module (CapLoRa-1262). The kit is essentially a modular upgrade to the original Cardputer, where the base unit handles the UI via a 56-key keyboard and a 1.14-inch LCD. The added “Cap” module adds a Semtech SX1262 transceiver and an AT6668 GNSS module, allowing for off-grid text messaging and GPS location tracking without relying on cellular networks. Cardputer Mesh Kit specifications: Core Controller (Cardputer-Adv): Wireless MCU module – M5Stack M5Stamp S3A with SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3FN8 CPU Dual-core...

STMicro VD65G4 and VD55G4 0.56MP global shutter image sensors enable ultra-low-power always-on event-driven vision

STMicroelectronics VD65G4 and VD55G4 are ultra-low-power 0.56-megapixel global shutter CMOS image sensors designed for battery-operated edge AI and always-on vision applications. The main difference between the two sensors is that the VD65G4 features a color RGB Bayer pattern, while the VD55G4 is a monochrome sensor designed to capture visible to near-infrared (NIR) light. Both sensors use a compact 1/9-inch optical format and a 2.16 µm pixel pitch, utilizing Back Side Illuminated (BSI), CDTI, and 3D stacking technologies to achieve a tiny 2.73 x 2.16 mm bare-die footprint. STMicro VD65G4 and VD55G4 specifications: Resolution – 0.56 MP (804 x 704) Chroma...

Raspberry Pi Connect may control Windows soon

Support for remote controlling Windows PCs may be added to Raspberry Pi Connect, Raspberry Pi's free remote access service.

When they announced Pi Connect in 2024, I speculated the service was launched in response to RealVNC's sluggish adoption of Wayland, leading to Pi users lacking a solid remote access solution after Pi OS 12 'Bookworm' was launched.

The service was helpful for those who had one or more Raspberry Pis to access, but the Pi Connect daemon didn't run on Windows or macOS at the time, so a true competitor to RealVNC (at least for basic use cases) it was not.

Name that Ware, April 2026

The Ware for April 2026 is a little bit different. Instead of showing a circuit board, I thought it’d be interesting to go inside the chips themselves and try to identify what’s happening on at the silicon level.

Since chip reading isn’t a widely spread skill, we’ll start with a gentle introduction. For this series of wares, I’ll tell you exactly which chip these images are from: they’re from the Baochip-1x. It’s unique in that at least some of the source code is available – enough of it to give significant hints as to what’s going on. It’s also unique in...

Winner, Name that Ware March 2026

The Ware for March 2026 is a Elecom DST C30SV 6 in 1 USB “docking station”. I’ll give the prize to tayken – the ware itself wasn’t terribly hard to guess on its own, so this month I’m just going with the first interesting response. Congrats, email me for your prize!

As other readers commented, the device has a lot of similarity to other products in this class. I’m guessing there is a common board design that OEMs use to make variants of the product.

Here’s additional context of the ware, for completeness!

This one claimed to have “PD” capability, such that one...