Welcome to our maker news where we wrap up some fun and interesting stories in the maker world from the last few weeks. The video will come out on Fridays, but we are posting a topic here on Wednesdays to post the video’s sources and to collect any news from the community to potentially include in next week’s as well as just open up general discussion.
This week we looked at:
Command & Conquer Running on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2
EA Games has recently open-sourced a collection of their older titles including Command and Conquer: Red Alert. Since then, the game has been dissected by the community and in an impressive feat of miniaturization, Fosstodon user Charlie Burks has successfully ported the legendary 1996 game to the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 - yes, as in the full game is running on the Pico. While it’s not using a standard Pico 2 - Burks used the Pimoroni version with expanded flash memory along with a Pimoroni VGA board for display output—the project is nonetheless incredible.
This is quite a step up from previous gaming feats on a microcontroller, such as running Doom on the original Pico. For those interested in compiling and running your own version of this, the project is available on Github, but keep in mind it remains a work in progress.
A DIY Antenna for Small ESP32s
If you’ve ever been frustrated by the underwhelming wireless performance of those tiny ESP32-C3 boards with their diminutive SMD antennas, Peter Neufeld has shown an elegantly simple solution on his blog.
Neufeld documents how adding a homemade quarter-wave antenna—fashioned from just a few centimetres of wire—can dramatically improve connectivity. His testing revealed that this straightforward modification effectively doubled the wireless range with a 6 Dbm signal boost, while significantly enhancing connection stability.
Though the fix might appear somewhat improvised, the performance improvements are substantial. Neufeld provides a comprehensive write-up on his implementation, making this an essential read for anyone working with these popular but reception-challenged boards.
DIY Benchtop Machinery Revolution Led by 3D Printing
Something that has slowly been growing in the background of the 3D printing community is the ability to create your own benchtop machinery. At the forefront of this movement is Chris Borge, whose who is putting in some solid work to enable makers to fabricate an impressive array of workshop equipment (for cheap as well).
Borge’s build projects cover everything from CNC mills and lathes to tapping devices, drill presses, magnetic vices, and numerous other workshop essentials.
He’s got this awesome technique of filling 3D prints with concrete to provide the necessary mass and stability, his build videos are a great to watch, and the fact that you can recreate them all yourself is even better - just go check it out!
And if you have any news from the maker world, feel free to post it below and we may include it in next week’s video, until then we will see you next week!
