Hackaday Podcast 393: E-Paper Speed, Tamagotchi UART Hacking and Long-Range Bluetooth
Episode 393 weighs the trade-offs of fast e-paper refreshes and surveys hardware reuse, retrocomputing, infrared links and more.
Fast e-paper refresh is becoming a practical experiment rather than just a display demo, and this episode asks the question that follows: what might repeated high-speed updates do to a panel over time? Elliot Williams and Jenny List use that thread to connect a varied set of projects, from UART access in a modern Tamagotchi to turning an old phone into an RC plane controller. The common theme is getting more out of hardware by understanding its interfaces, constraints and history.
The discussion also includes news about the upcoming Hackaday Supercon, with more speaker details available. List joins from Europe and opens with an apology for poor headset audio. The episode moves between longer project discussions, quick picks and two featured reads, so listeners can follow whichever subjects match their interests.
Display speed raises a durability question
E-paper’s appeal comes partly from how differently it behaves from a conventional screen. But the projects linked in the show notes push refresh rates into territory that invites a new engineering question: if a panel can update at 30 frames per second, does running it that way shorten its useful life? The episode treats that as an open question, following earlier work on a small display used for Game Boy-style play and a separate e-ink monitor reported at a 60 Hz refresh rate.
Those examples establish what experimenters have managed to display; they don’t, by themselves, settle the endurance question. A fast demonstration says little about how a particular panel will fare under sustained use. For builders, the useful next step is to distinguish a short test from a durability result and to look for evidence about the display after repeated operation. The linked InkBoy project and earlier display experiments give listeners a starting point for comparing approaches.
Old hardware, new jobs
Several of the week’s projects take existing devices in directions their makers likely didn’t plan. One turns an old phone’s motherboard into an RC plane controller. That idea shifts the challenge from buying a purpose-built flight system to figuring out whether a phone’s computing hardware can be repurposed for control. The show notes connect it with other examples of salvaging capable components, including a damaged Samsung Galaxy S23 turned into a gaming PC and a mouse containing a whole computer.
A modern Tamagotchi offers a different kind of access problem. The featured hack uses UART, a serial interface that can help a hardware researcher communicate with a device and investigate what it is doing. The show pairs that project with earlier work on the toy’s infrared connection, its classic design and other Tamagotchi experiments. Together, the links suggest a continuing line of inquiry: small consumer devices can hide useful interfaces and behavior that only become visible when someone probes them.
Another project asks how old a Windows application can be and still run on Windows 11. Compatibility across versions matters to anyone maintaining older software, and this example gives the episode a concrete way to revisit that question. The source doesn’t provide details about the app or the compatibility method, so the finding is best approached as a demonstration worth following through to its linked write-up.
Signals, television and small machines
The episode’s more unusual builds stretch beyond computers and handheld toys. An analog TV station is presented as something an individual can assemble, while another project pushes Bluetooth communication out to 12 kilometres. That distance is striking enough to prompt questions about the setup and conditions behind the result; the source gives the headline figure but no technical details, so the linked project is where the practical limits need closer inspection.
Quick hacks broaden the range further. Elliot’s selections include a swashplate-less helicopter rotor, a compact computer build called the Slurptop and a retrocomputing challenge involving a credit card reader. Jenny’s picks cover Commodore 64 keycaps, the history of the computer mouse and a power transistor. These items share little beyond hands-on curiosity, but that variety is part of the format: a mechanical design problem can sit beside a materials or interface question without needing to become a full-length feature.
Infrared and hardware afterlives
The featured reading on infrared communication looks at IrDA and other protocols, while a separate piece revisits what remains of Google’s VR headset efforts. The infrared topic is a useful reminder that wireless communication has a longer and more varied history than today’s familiar radio links. For hardware builders, older protocols can still offer useful lessons in how devices exchange data and what constraints shaped those designs.
The VR story, meanwhile, turns attention to the afterlife of a product line: what can still be examined, reused or learned from once a company’s hardware ambitions fade. The show notes also point to a Supercon talk on infrared work by Michael Ossmann and Dominic Spill, connecting the historical material to hands-on exploration.
The mailbag adds a practical battery question: a listener asks how lead-acid batteries perform at lower temperatures. The hosts discuss the subject and point to Battery University’s reference on charging in high and low temperatures. It’s a useful reminder that temperature affects how a component behaves, and that an answer can depend on whether the question concerns charging or operation.
Episode 393 is a broad tour rather than a deep technical teardown of any one project. Its strongest thread is the gap between making hardware work and understanding the trade-offs that come with it: e-paper needs endurance evidence, repurposed devices need interface work, and long-range wireless claims need their setup details. The linked projects and references give interested listeners a route from the headline idea to those practical questions.
Download the episode audio, or follow the show through iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, RSS, YouTube or the Libsyn page. Listeners can send thoughts to the mailbag.
Show notes
News
Mailbag
- Discussion of lead-acid batteries at lower temperatures, with a reference on charging in high and low temperatures: BU-410: Charging at High and Low Temperatures.
Featured projects
- Does Running An E-Paper Display At 30 FPS Destroy It?
- An Analog TV Station For Anyone
- Turning An Old Phone’s Motherboard Into An RC Plane Controller
- The Oldest Windows App To Still Run On Windows 11
- Hacking The Modern Tamagotchi With UART
- Pushing Bluetooth Out To 12 Kilometers
Quick hacks
- Elliot’s picks:
- Jenny’s picks:
