Electromaker Show Episode 15: Raspberry Pi SNES Controller, NeoPixel Simulator, and More!

Welcome to the Electromaker Show episode 15! This week, the week of September 14, 2020 finds a ton of tech updates including a Raspberry Pi SNES controller, NeoPixel simulator, and more! Check out the latest maker, tech, DIY, IoT, embedded, and crowdfunded news stories and updates.

Electromaker Show Episode 15

There have been some awesome maker projects around the web. A clever DIYer managed to show a Raspberry Pi Zero into a SNES controller for what's essentially a plug-and-play portable retro gaming console. You could always buy the Pimoroni Picade (our review) or Picade Console, a RetroFlag GPi, Clockwork Pi, Odroid Go, or Odroid Go Advance. But this is a more cost-effective solution and one that you can say you built yourself.

Redditor u/aquamorty whipped up a Raspberry Pi brachiograph with a Pi Zero W. It's a cool, cheap, easy to build pen plotter with servos and a RasPi. The M5Stack has been put to good use as an OS-less (operating system-less) computer. TheMysticChicken, who previously impressed us with a biscuit dipper, has once again wowed us with a QR-controlled Malteaser dispenser that's 3D printable. Redditor u/okayElectronics shared a fantastic Adafruit NeoPixel library that's Arduino-compatible. It's pretty neat and features several different library examples.

On the crowdfunding front, Crowd Supply features a palm-sized open-source spider robot. Spider robot, spider robot, friendly open-source spider-robot, is palm-sized, has four built-in servo motors, sports two stylish RGB LED eyes, hey now, you should back the spider robot! While Android and iOS smartphones are most prominent in pockets, open-hardware devices offer increased security. Pine64 provides its PinePhone which I'm a huge fan of, and there's the Librem 5. Also on Crowd Supply is the Precursor, a mobile open-hardware RISC-V system-on-chip (SoC) development kit complete with FPGA. It's secure and boasts a QWERTY keyboard for a retro Blackberry aesthetic.

PlatformIO IDE has been updated! There's a new toolset for embedded C and C++ development, a task explorer, project environment switcher, and a bunch of other features. NeoPixel LEDs are awesome and can be incorporated into a variety of maker projects.

Although these were out favorite maker stories from the week, we may have missed something. Got a favorite story from this week's roundup? Have a story we missed? Comment below and let us know!