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Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to O'Reilly Hardware - Peter Hoddie on JavaScript for embedded computers

You don't need to write C or Assembly to create electronics

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. O'Reilly Hardware - Peter Hoddie on JavaScript for embedded computers launched in 2016; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Discovering unexpected sophistication in everyday objects

    2016 · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    Arduino▲111

    Build your own electronics

    2014 · its alternatives →

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  4. 4IB

    A while back I wrote a CHIP-8 emulator (which is considered the Hello, World! of emulators and is more accurately a virtual machine since historically CHIP-8 was an interpreted language running on top of the COSMAC VIP to make game programming easier). But a few months ago I got really interested in embedded software, so decided it would be neat to port my emulator to a STM32 MCU and design a console around it as a learning experience, since CHIP-8 never existed as a physical system. I didn't know much about embedded software when I began, and even less about electronics, but I managed to…

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5CF
  6. 6

    Hardware prototyping, as simple as vibe-coding

    Jul 2026 · easycircuit.app · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Autodesk's CEO talks about the future of design

    2016 · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Hi! me and my friends together built an 8 bit CPU implemented in Logisim purely from scratch. The control unit of this system does not implement the generic microcode ROM or any kind of RAM. This was made purely from discrete logic gates and coded the system to run different programs. key features: Custom 16-instruction Harvard ISA, 8-bit fixed format, 4 general purpose registers Hardwired control unit built entirely from AND/OR gate logic matrix Dual-phase clocking to eliminate race conditions Bootstrap Control Unit that cold-boots via ROM-to-RAM transfer Early-exit conditional…

    Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

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  12. 12MF
  13. 13OR

    Hi HN! This is an SDK for ESP32s (microcontrollers) that runs against OpenAI's new WebRTC service [0] My hope is that people can easily add AI to lots of 'real' devices. Wearable devices, speakers around the house, toys etc... You don't have to write any code, just buy a device and set some env variables. If you have any feedback/questions I would love to hear! I hope this kicks off a generation of new interesting devices. If you aren't familiar with WebRTC it can do some magical things. Check out WebRTC for the Curious[1] and would love to talk about all the cool things that does also.…

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14CC

    Hi! I've been working on the flipjump project, a programming language with 1 opcode: flip (invert) a bit, then jump (unconditionally). So a bit-flip followed by more bit-flips. It's effectively a bunch of NOT gates. This language, as poor as it sounds, is RICH. Today I completed my compiler from C to FlipJump. It takes C files, and compiles them into flipjump. I finished testing it all today, and it works! My key interest in this project is to stretch what we know of computing and to prove that anything can be done even with minimal power. I appreciate you reading my announcement, and be…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15SH
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    Adventures in Making and Breaking Hardware

    2016 · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Gorgeous PCBs, DIY mineral water, video game code injection

    2016 · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Learn digital hardware design in the browser: write VHDL and SystemVerilog, simulate, read waveforms, and synthesize to a netlist. No installation required.

    Jul 2026 · risingedge.pro · its alternatives →

  19. 19AH
  20. 20WN

    * OPEN TO CONTRIBUTIONS * NandToTetris is a course which has you build a full computer from: Logic gates -> Chips -> RAM -> CPU -> Computer -> Assembler -> Compiler -> OS -> Tetris All this is done via software defined hardware emulation. I'm building an emulator for this entire stack in C. How is my approach different to other projects that build emulators? - No external dependencies (so far) - Start with a single software defined NAND gate in C - EVERYTHING is built from this base chip - Don't use certain programming utilities: boolean logic operators, bitwise logic operators etc Instead…

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Measuring and interpreting audio data, and data sonification

    2016 · its alternatives →

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    I've never posted on ShowHN before, but I wanted to share my Xmas 2025 project; to try a new approach to controlling our kids screen time. This also involved massively over-engineering a solution in order to play with a shiny new gadget (and avoid the in laws at Christmas, obviously) I've shared some learnings on AI coding with embedded devices, and how I approached the product design/hardware selection side of things. The Web App is at https://screenie.org - and I'm Open Sourcing the device and web app code later today (links to follow on that site)

    Jan 2026 · partridge.works · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Hi, everyone! I built SHDL (Simple Hardware Description Language) as an experiment in stripping hardware description down to its absolute fundamentals. In SHDL, there are no arithmetic operators, no implicit bit widths, and no high-level constructs. You build everything explicitly from logic gates and wires, and then compose larger components hierarchically. The goal is not synthesis or performance, but understanding: what digital systems actually look like when abstractions are removed. SHDL is accompanied by PySHDL, a Python interface that lets you load circuits, poke inputs, step the…

    Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24FA

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →