FPGA

Building and optimizing technology with your own hands is a satisfaction that never gets old. This week, we're looking at a wild intersection where retro hardware meets modern space exploration, and where the DIY community is finding clever ways to bypass the limitations of aging software. Whether it's landing a simulated rocket with a 40-year-old British computer or building the "ultimate" hybrid console from spare parts, the hardware landscape is proving that old silicon still has plenty of fight left in it. We also have to face the hard reality of the current market—AI-driven hardware demands are finally trickling down to the hobbyist level, and it's hitting our wallets where it hurts most. Scott Manley lands on the moon with a ZX Spectrum There is a specific kind of magic in seeing a machine designed for bedroom coding in 1982 take control of a modern space simulator. Space enthusiast and YouTuber Scott Manley recently demonstrated this by using a ZX Spectrum 48K to successfully land a lunar module in Kerbal Space Program. While it sounds like a novelty act, it actually highlights a fascinating technical truth: the Spectrum's Z80 CPU, running at 3.5 MHz, is objectively more powerful than the original Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) used in 1969. To make this work, Manley had to bridge the gap between 1980s serial ports and modern Windows PCs. Since the Spectrum lacks USB, he utilized the Interface 1 add-on, which provides an RS232 serial port. By using a specialized mod for Kerbal Space Program that allows remote control via Python, he was able to feed real-time telemetry from the game into the Spectrum. The 8-bit machine then calculated the necessary attitude and acceleration adjustments, sending commands back to the simulator to execute a soft landing. It’s a testament to efficient programming; when you only have 48K of RAM, every byte of code has to earn its keep—a philosophy modern software developers seem to have largely abandoned. N64 Recomp Launcher streamlines Nintendo PC ports The world of game preservation has taken a massive leap forward with the rise of static recompilation. Unlike traditional emulation, which tries to mimic hardware in real-time, recompilation transforms original game binaries into native code for modern systems. This has resulted in flawless PC ports of classics like Mario 64. However, keeping track of these independent projects on GitHub has been a chore. Enter the N64 Recomp Launcher, a new tool by Noah Capetsky and Sir Diablo designed specifically to manage these native ports. This launcher is a godsend for Steam Deck users. It provides a clean UI to download and organize recompilations for titles like Banjo-Kazooie, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, and even the recent Animal Crossing GameCube project. The technical advantage here is massive: because these are native ports, they support high frame rates, ultra-wide resolutions, and modern modding tools that emulation simply can't touch. You still need to provide your own legally dumped ROM files—as Nintendo remains famously litigious—but the barrier to entry for high-fidelity retro gaming has never been lower. DLSS 5 versus the technical wizardry of V-Rally 3 There is a growing divide in the graphics world between AI-generated fidelity and raw software engineering. Nvidia is pushing DLSS 5, which uses AI to upscale images and even generate entire frames. While it looks sharp on paper, it often lacks consistency, creating "hallucinated" details that the original artists never intended. Contrast this with V-Rally 3 on the Game Boy Advance. In 2002, developers at Eden Games performed what can only be described as black magic, squeezing a fully textured 3D engine out of a 16 MHz processor that was never designed for polygons. The GBA was built for 2D sprites, yet V-Rally 3 delivered a 3D experience that rivaled early PlayStation titles. This is a reminder that art direction and engineering efficiency often trump raw pixel counts. While DLSS 5 might make Cyberpunk 2077 look like a high-end film, it doesn't necessarily make the game feel better. The ingenuity required to make a dinky handheld render 3D rally cars is the kind of hardware-level optimization we should be celebrating, rather than relying on AI filters to clean up unoptimized modern codebases. AI demand triggers massive Raspberry Pi price hikes It’s not all good news in the DIY world. The global obsession with AI is wreaking havoc on the supply chain for hobbyist components. Eben Upton, founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, recently revealed that LPDDR4 RAM prices have increased sevenfold over the last year. This is largely due to AI companies vacuuming up the world's memory supply for data centers. As a result, the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 are seeing significant price increases across the board. To mitigate this, the foundation has introduced a weirdly specific 3 GB model of the Raspberry Pi 4 for roughly $84, attempting to keep a mid-tier option available for those who don't need the full 4 GB or 8 GB versions. For those in the UK, seeing a Raspberry Pi retail for over £150 is a massive shock to the system. If you're working on low-power projects like a Pi-hole or basic retro gaming, it might be time to look at the Raspberry Pi Pico 2. At under £10, it remains the last bastion of affordable DIY computing in an era where high-end RAM has become a luxury commodity. Building the ultimate hybrid PlayStation 1 The modding community is currently peaking with projects that take original silicon and give it modern amenities. A modder known as Secret Hobbyist has developed a custom PCB that combines the best parts of various PS1 revisions. It uses the more efficient CPU and GPU from later models but pairs them with the highly coveted Asahi Kasei DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) found only in the earliest "audiophile" units. This isn't just about Frankenstein-ing old parts; it’s a total modernization. The board includes native HDMI output via an onboard FPGA and is designed to work seamlessly with the XStation optical drive emulator. Because the board is significantly smaller than the original motherboard, it opens the door for high-quality handheld builds that use original Sony chips rather than software emulation. It represents the pinnacle of the "No Compromise" philosophy—original hardware accuracy with the convenience of 2026 connectivity. Linux reaches a historic 5% Steam market share For the first time in history, Linux has crossed the 5% market share threshold on the Steam hardware survey. This is a massive milestone that places Linux firmly ahead of macOS for gaming. While 5% might sound small, it represents millions of users who are actively choosing open-source platforms over Windows 11. Much of this growth is driven by the Steam Deck, but there’s also a growing movement of desktop users fleeing Microsoft's increasingly bloated operating system. Recent benchmarks on mini-PCs like the Geekom A5 Pro show that Linux distributions like Bazzite can offer up to a 40% performance increase in GPU-bound tasks compared to Windows 11. With AMD hardware becoming the standard for Linux gamers (accounting for 70% of the user base), the drivers have matured to the point where the "Linux tax" on performance is officially dead. We are entering an era where the best way to play Windows games might actually be on a Linux machine. It’s a strange, wonderful time to be a hardware enthusiast—as long as you can afford the RAM. Whether you’re voting for a fan-made LEGO PSP on LEGO Ideas or scavenging old Atari gear from eBay, the message this week is clear: don't let the corporate roadmaps dictate your tech experience. Take the hardware you have, optimize it, mod it, and keep it alive. I’m heading off for a skiing break in the Alps, but I expect you all to have something new built by the time I get back.