The Razer Nari is a decent wireless headset, but it’s a little oddball—because it uses a bespoke USB dongle for pairing. This is all well and good if you’re using a supported configuration; plug it into a Windows PC, run the utility, and you’re good to go. If you’re a Linux user, though, you were out of luck—but [JJ] has just solved that problem.

The tool was created by reverse engineering the pairing protocol used by Razer’s own proprietary software. [JJ] figured out the necessary pairing command, and how to send it to both the dongle and the headset. The headset itself must be connected by a USB cable when initiating the pairing process.

[JJ] believes the tool should work with any Razer Nari and dongle variant. However, the Nari Ultimate and Nari Essential models are yet to be tested, with verification still required. However, the pairing commands were extracted from Razer’s own tool and don’t appear to differ so it should probably work across the board. Setup is still a little fussy, particularly to get both the Game Audio and Chat Audio outputs working under Linux. However, [JJ] has helpfully provided the necessary detail to get everything up and running with PulseAudio and PipeWire setups.

Proprietary hardware can be frustrating to work with at times, but that’s never stopped hackers from reverse engineering their way to success before. If you’ve got your own projects in this vein, don’t hesitate to notify the tipsline!

hackaday.com/2025/10/21/open-s…

Sometimes it’s fun to bring props from video games into the real world. [Hulk] has done just that with their latest Halloween build—creating a working replica of the lantern from Minecraft.

Key to the build is the 3D printed enclosure, which faithfully mimics the look of the in-game item. By virtue of Minecraft’s simplistic visual style, it’s a relatively straightforward print, without a lot of quirky geometry or difficult overhangs that might otherwise trip up your printer. It’s printed in six parts and assembled with acrylic lenses which act to diffuse the light coming from inside.

Electronically, an Arduino Nano runs the show. It’s hooked up to a pair of NeoPixel addressable LED rings, which provide rich RGB colors on demand. Rotary pots are installed on the enclosure to enable the color to be tuned to the user’s desire. Power is courtesy of an 18650 lithium-ion cell and a TP4056 module ensures the battery is kept happy when charging.

It’s a fun prop build, and one that would be the perfect addition to any Minecraft costume. Except for maybe a chicken jockey, because they don’t use lanterns. In any case, we’ve seen similar work before, too.

youtube.com/embed/8wauoKaCeak?…

hackaday.com/2025/10/21/buildi…

So much news, so little time left until Supercon! We hope you all have your tickets. If not: Workshop and general admission tickets are on sale now. We’re getting down to the last slightly-more-than-two-handfuls, so if you’re thinking of coming, the time for procrastination has passed.

First up, we have two late-addition workshops, and tickets were just made available. Maybe you noticed that Arduino was bought by Qualcomm, and they kicked off the union with a brand-new board? You can get yourself one, and learn how to use it. And not to be outdone, the CEO of Framework, makers of modular laptop computers, is coming with a grab-bag of parts for you to play with.

Leonardo Cavagnis & Tyler Wojciechowicz

Arduino x DigiKey Presents – From Blink to Think: Discover Arduino Uno Q

Explore the power of Arduino Uno Q, the new board combining a microcontroller and a microprocessor. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to get started with Uno Q and unlock its dual-core capabilities for intelligent and connected projects.

Nirav Patel
Framework Mystery Boxes: Swap & Build

This workshop is hosted by Framework’s Founder and CEO, Nirav Patel. You’ll receive a box of assorted returned/refurbished Framework Laptop parts at the start of the workshop. You can then trade parts with other attendees and work together to try to build a functioning computer of some kind. You’ll pick up some tips and tricks on debugging and repair along the way.

New-Space Panel

There is so much going on in space these days that we thought we’d do a break-out panel just to catch you up. Moderated by [Sirina Nabhan], a systems engineer at NASA’s Deep Space Network, [Joey Jefferson] and [Celeste Smith] will be on hand to get us up to speed on future Moon and Mars missions.

Costume Party and Thursday Night Pre-Event Meetup

Friday night is Halloween, and we’ve got Supplyframe headquarters to party in. In honor of our fantastic keynote panel this year, chock-full of the people who bring the Star Trek universe to life, we’re thinking Sci-Fi themed. Of course, we won’t turn you away no matter what your costume (or lack thereof) but if you do have a replica phaser kicking around in your closet, you will want to bust it out for the party.

So after a mellow day of badge hacking, attending workshops, or just hanging out with 511 of your new Hackaday friends, why not slip into something less comfortable for the evening? It’s catered and open bar, but we’ll also keep a zone open full of hot soldering irons.

And if you’re already in town on Thursday night, the 30th, meet up with us for an off-the-official-schedule pint at Kings Row. We’ll be there from 7 pm until, if history is any guide, they close down and send us home.

Lightning Talks

Finally, as we have for the last few years, we’re hosting Lightning Talks on Sunday morning. This is your chance to present seven minutes’ worth of hacking to our rapt audience. If you’ve got something to say, register your talk here!

The first generation of real-time train information screens for British railways came in the form of suspended color CRTs in familiar rounded fiberglass housings. They were a ubiquitous sight across the network for years, until of course suddenly, they weren’t. Can they be brought back? [Heliomass] has come about as close as it’s possible to be, with a modern emulation that runs from live data feeds.

The screens were recognizably using the same graphics standards as Teletext, and thus it was no surprise back in the day to see from time to time an Acorn boot screen in a railway station.

We remember some debate at the time as to whether they were running Archimedes of BBC Micro hardware behind the scenes, though it seems likely it might have been the industrial BBC Micro derivative.

The modern recreation uses an emulated BBC Micro for the signage, with a serial connection to a server component running in Python on more modern hardware. This handles grabbing the data and sending it to the Beeb for display. The result is an unexpected bit of nostalgia for anyone who spent the 1980s or ’90s in south east England.

hackaday.com/2025/10/21/britis…

We will hold a Pirate Meetup at the Boston Anarchist Book Fair on November 1-2 at the Cambridge Community Center. We will start at noon on both days and want you to join us!

We will meet at the 5 Callender Street entrance to the Cambridge Community Center. As part of the meetup, we will divide up the area around the Community Center and go searching for Ring and other cameras to add to our Surveillance Camera Map. We mapped some of the cameras in the area and expect there will be more.

Fill out our form to tell us you will be there.

The Cambridge Community Center is an eleven minute walk from the Central Square, Cambridge. Central Square is accessible by the Red Line MBTA stop and multiple bus routes.

masspirates.org/blog/2025/10/2…

Ahoy Pirates,

Our next PPI board meeting will take place on 28.10.2025 at 20:00 UTC. The prior board meeting did not make quorum, and so we expect a fruitful meeting with high attendance.

All official PPI proceedings, Board meetings included, are open to the public. Feel free to stop by. We’ll be happy to have you.

Where: jitsi.pirati.cz/PPI-Board

Minutes of the past meeting: wiki.pp-international.net/wiki…

Agenda: Pad: etherpad.pp-international.net/…

All of our meetings are posted to our calendar: pp-international.net/calendar/

We look forward to seeing visitors.

Thank you for your support,

The Board of PPI

pp-international.net/2025/10/u…