As the calendar turns a leaf into September, Elliot Williams is joined by Jenny List for our weekly look at all things Hackaday.

In the news, our retrocomputing competition is well under way, but there’s plenty of time to get an entry in if you’ve got a cool old-style project to show us. And then Elliot’s been chasing seismic surveyors in Munich, where they’re looking for geothermal energy.

In the stand-out hacks there’s a discussion of smoothing 3D prints using frickin’ lasers, the effect of unreasonably high RAM and storage prices on the single board computer ecosystem, and an unfortunate air conditioning system that’s tricked into believing it’s a hot day. Finally, we look in depth at PETG, and take a dive into reverse Polish notation.

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Episode 384 Show Notes:

Mailbag:

In out mailbag this week we had [Kevin Opalka] asking about roadtrip hacks and [Matthew Rowberry] explaining that most versatile yet underrated prototyping medium: the humble Lego brick. Which in turn gives us the chance to mention Lego House: Right Next To Denmark’s Legoland, But Way Cooler, a trip we made back in 2019.

Got something to say? Send an e-mail or an audio clip to mailbag@hackaday.com.

News:

  • Announcing The 2026 Hackaday Retrocomputing Challenge
  • Seismic investigation for Munich’s geothermal project.

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

  • Laser Your Way To Smoother FDM 3D Prints
    • Has FDM 3D Printing Hit Its Peak?
  • Has the time of esoteric operating systems arrived?
    • Haiku OS Releases Beta 6
    • ReactOS Gets An Upgrade
    • Amiga-Inspired AROS Goes Bare Metal On Raspberry Pi
  • Tricking An Air Conditioner Into Cooling
  • Wikipedia On A Cheap Yellow Display
  • HDMI For The Color Computer 2
  • RAM And EMMC Prices Are So High, Pine64 Has Stopped Linux Device Production

Quick Hacks:

  • Elliot’s Picks:
    • Doubling Thermal Printer Resolution By Wiggling
    • A Defrag Simulator In Your Browser
    • Reactive Heat And Wind Come To VR, Thanks To Smart Plugs
    • Get Your Monitor Transmitting VHF With A Browser Tool
  • Jenny’s Picks:
    • Digital “Film” For Your Pi Camera
    • Giving The NES An Optical Data Storage Add-On
    • How A 1981 RAM Expansion Worked

Can’t-Miss Articles:

  • PETG: The PLA Filament Alternative That Just Works
  • “I’m Not Dead Yet!” Reverse Polish Notation Calculators You Can Still Buy
    • Teardown With A Twist: 1975 Sinclair Scientific Calculator
    • Reverse Polish Notation And Its Mildly Confusing Elegance