Off the grid on Burgundy: things you'd wish you learned before AI took over.
Make it last, Oct 7
A thin night with one thread: keeping the things around you working, and knowing them well enough to rebuild when they break.
Featured
A Headset Fit For A Hackaday Writer
Hackaday writer Jenny List designed and began 3D printing her own headset after commercial models kept breaking at the same thin plastic joint.
Fireplace Tips To Keep Your Home Warm and Safe This Winter
A chimney sweep's cleaning and maintenance habits for a safe wood-burning season are the subject of a Family Handyman article by Ally Childress, published 5 October 2026.
That Stamp on Lumber Tells You More Than the Price Tag
Family Handyman published two articles on 6 October 2026 about reading the marks on lumber before buying a board.
Latest
Building a Modern Scientific Calculator From Scratch
Inevati Systems has built a scientific calculator from scratch, with graphing, matrix math and a custom keyboard, Hackster.io's Nick Bild reported on 4 October 2026.
RFOXiA Picks STMicroelectronics' STM32 to Build a Long-Range, Mesh-Capable Bluetooth LE Module
RFOXiA has built a long-range, mesh-capable Bluetooth Low Energy module called the MultiNav Pro+ around an STMicroelectronics STM32 chip, Hackster.io's Gareth Halfacree reported on 6 October 2026.
A Piece of Internet History Goes Up for Auction: A Packet Transmitted by RFC 1149 "Avian Carrier"
A data packet that was carried by pigeon under RFC 1149, the 'Avian Carrier' internet standard, is going up for auction, Hackster.io's Gareth Halfacree reported on 5 October 2026.
Protect Your Raspberry Pi 5 From Sudden Power Losses
Geekworm has released a Supercapacitor UPS HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5 that holds just enough power for the computer to shut down safely when the supply is cut, according to Hackster.io's Nick Bild…
Why Wind Is More Dangerous When the Leaves Are Still on Trees
Wind puts more strain on trees while the leaves are still on them, and the risk rises further when rain has soaked the soil, according to a Family Handyman article by Alex Shoemaker published 6…
USB-C PD Tamed with this Analyzer
Marco Tabini has built Dr. PD, an open-source analyzer that sits between a USB-C Power Delivery source and sink and records what the two negotiate.
Failing to Make a Fanless PC
Hackaday's Fenix Guthrie wrote on October 5 about an attempt by the builders at Billet Labs to make a silent, fanless gaming PC.
How to Grow a Giant Crystal from Copper Sulfate
Hackaday writer Maya Posch, in a post published October 5, described how the YouTube channel and blog Crystalverse grows large copper sulfate crystals at home.
Visible planets and night sky guide for October
EarthSky published its October 2026 visible planets and night sky guide on October 5, written by Marcy Curran.
Reading the sky, Oct 6
Three hands-on threads for one thin night: the dawn planets, a blue crystal grown over months, and a fanless PC that ended up needing one fan.
AVR Laptop Pushes the Limits of 8-Bit
It plays video, sound and a game on so little power it runs overnight without being measured.
I Hope You Ruin This Book
On paper, annotated and worn to pieces, it keeps working when the internet is gone.
Tearing Down a Heavy Oscilloscope
Seventy pounds of tubes and glass, built to be opened up and fixed by hand in the field.
Tools Built to Be Repaired, Ruined, and Run on Almost Nothing
A 70-pound oscilloscope that carries its own solder, a cookbook meant to fall apart, and a laptop built on a single 8-bit chip.
Sew You Want to Add a Patch…
A rusty needleworker shows that basic mending takes competence, not expertise.
The Big Moon Plot
Elevation data becomes ink lines, the same trick behind any relief map you'd draw by hand.
A Good DIY Solder Stencil Begins With a Cleanly-Sliced Soda Can
A rotating blade opens the thin can without kinking it, leaving flat aluminium a laser can cut to shape.
The ESP32, An SDR In Itself
An undocumented mode in the ESP32 exposes the raw signal stream, so salvaged boards can pick up radio.
Fixing a Power Grid That Loses Over Half Its Power to Inefficiency and Theft
Insulated cables, simpler billing and trained crews turned a failing grid around, with lessons for rebuilding one.
From a megacity's grid to a patch on a hat
Five makers' notes tonight, from a city's power distribution to a hand-sewn patch, and what each leaves you able to rebuild.
SDR Lets You Patch Together Your Setup
Antenna, demodulator, speaker: a patch-cable tool lays out the stages you need to picture before building or fixing a receiver.
Vacuum Drying and Making Stuff Hot in a Vacuum
Low pressure alone won't pull moisture from inside a material, and in a vacuum only radiation can carry the heat that does.
A Mechanical Radio, Sort Of
A maker's water-and-air transmitter strips radio down to its bare principles: modulation, a slotted disk, and a horn to listen.
Building a Radio When the Grid Is Gone
Three workshop notes on seeing a machine as parts simple enough to make by hand.