Tooling

Make — Hardware, Maker, Creative & Media

3D printing, CAD, laser, CNC, microcontrollers, Pi, smart home, SDR, lab equipment, photo, audio, video, astronomy, and writing — making things outside the browser.

3D printing, CAD, laser, CNC, microcontrollers, Pi, smart home, SDR, lab equipment, photo, audio, video, astronomy, and writing — making things outside the browser.

For other areas of the site see Build, Make, Self-Host, Live, or Contribute. Cross-cutting picks: Self-Hosted Picks Index.

CAD & PCB Design

  • Mechanical / Parametric CAD — Solid and parametric modelers for mechanical parts, assemblies, and product design.
  • Programmatic / Code CAD — Code-driven CAD — describe geometry in Python, JS, or a DSL and check it into git.
  • 2D Drafting — 2D CAD for drawings, floor plans, schematics, and laser-cutter / CNC source files.
  • CAD Interop & Conversion — STEP, IGES, STL, 3MF, glTF — moving CAD geometry between tools without losing fidelity.
  • FEA & Mechanical Simulation — Finite-element analysis, CFD, and multiphysics for mechanical CAD parts and assemblies.
  • CAM & Toolpathing — CAM software for milling, routing, lasers, and non-FFF additive — converting CAD into machine G-code.
  • PCB / EDA Suites — Schematic capture and PCB layout — KiCad, LibrePCB, Horizon EDA, EasyEDA.
  • Circuit Simulation — SPICE-family analog/mixed-signal simulators, plus interactive teaching simulators.
  • Footprint & Symbol Libraries — Where to get schematic symbols, PCB footprints, and 3D models for the parts in your design.
  • Datasheet & Part Aggregators — Where to look up parts, find datasheets, and check stock — distributors, search engines, and APIs.
  • BOM, Sourcing & Costing — Generate, cost, and ship a bill of materials — interactive HTML BOMs, distributor APIs, JLC-friendly tooling.
  • Gerber & ODB++ Viewers — Inspect fab-output files (Gerber, drill, ODB++, IPC-2581) before sending to the board house.
  • PCB & 3D Model Viewers — Embed and preview PCB and 3D model files on the web, in docs, and in design reviews.
  • PCB Panelization — Combine multiple boards (or copies of one) into a single panel for cheaper, faster fabrication.
  • Fab-House Integration — PCB and assembly houses with developer-friendly upload, preview, and ordering flows.
  • Hardware CI/CD — Git workflows, automated builds, and renders for CAD, PCB, and 3D-printable hardware.
  • Assembly & Build Documentation — Hardware build guides, assembly instructions, and OSHW publishing toolchains.

3D Printing

3D Scanning & Photogrammetry

  • Photogrammetry Software — Desktop pipelines that turn a stack of photos into a textured 3D mesh — Meshroom, COLMAP, RealityCapture, Metashape.
  • Photogrammetry Mobile Apps — Phone and tablet apps for 3D capture — Polycam, KIRI, Luma AI, Scaniverse, RealityScan, plus iPhone Pro / iPad Pro LiDAR.
  • Gaussian Splatting — Train, edit, and display 3D Gaussian splats — the radiance-field representation that hit production in 2024–2026.
  • NeRF & Radiance Fields — Neural Radiance Fields — the older sibling of Gaussian splatting, still useful for some captures.
  • Handheld 3D Scanners — Structured-light and laser handheld scanners — Revopoint, Creality, 3DMakerPro, Shining 3D, Artec.
  • Industrial & Laser Scanners — Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS), SLAM scanners, and metrology systems for buildings and large sites.
  • Drone Mapping & Aerial Photogrammetry — Drone capture pipelines — OpenDroneMap, Pix4D, DroneDeploy, DJI Terra — for orthomosaics, DSMs, and 3D models.
  • OSS / DIY 3D Scanners — Open-hardware scanner rigs — OpenScan, OneShot, DIY photogrammetry turntables.
  • Scan Capture Hardware — Cameras, drones, and sensors that feed scan pipelines — DSLRs, mirrorless, 360, drones, LiDAR.
  • Scan Capture Accessories — Turntables, lighting, scan spray, markers, and calibration targets for clean captures.
  • Point Cloud Tools — Process, register, segment, and visualise point clouds — CloudCompare, Open3D, PDAL, Potree.
  • Mesh Processing (Scan Cleanup) — Clean, decimate, repair, and retopologize the raw mesh that comes out of a scanner.
  • Mesh Retopology — Convert a dense scan tri-mesh into a clean quad mesh — for animation, game engines, sub-d, or texturing.
  • Scan-to-CAD / Reverse Engineering — Convert a scanned mesh or point cloud into a parametric CAD model — Geomagic Design X, FreeCAD RE, Fusion 360 Mesh.
  • Scan Quality & Inspection — Verify scan accuracy, compare against CAD / golden mesh — GOM Inspect, CloudCompare, Geomagic Control X.
  • 3D Format Converters — Move scan and mesh assets between OBJ, PLY, STL, glTF, FBX, USDZ, and back — assimp, gltf-transform, MeshLab, FreeCAD.
  • PBR Texture Libraries — Free and paid PBR material libraries — Poly Haven, AmbientCG, Quixel Megascans — for texturing scans and props.
  • 3D Model Hosting & Display — Host, embed, and share scans — Sketchfab, model-viewer, Polycam web, Cesium ION.
  • Monocular Depth Estimation — Single-image depth — Depth Anything V2, MiDaS, ZoeDepth — and where it fits in a scan workflow.

Laser Engraving & Cutting

  • Diode Laser Machines — Hobby diode engravers and cutters: Ortur, xTool, Atomstack, Sculpfun, NEJE, Two Trees, Endurance, Creality.
  • CO2 Laser Machines — CO2 (10.6 µm) laser cutters and engravers: K40, OMTech, Glowforge, Boss, Trotec, Thunder, OneLaser, xTool P2.
  • Fiber & Galvo Laser Machines — Fiber (1064 nm) and galvo lasers for metal marking, deep engraving, and MOPA color: Raycus, MAX, JPT, OMTech, xTool, Cloudray.
  • Laser Design Software — Layout, vector prep, and job-sending: LightBurn ★, LaserGRBL, Meerk40t, K40 Whisperer, vendor stacks (XCS, RDWorks, Glowforge App).
  • Galvo / MOPA Software — EZCAD2/3 ★ and LightBurn Galvo for fiber/MOPA/UV/CO2-galvo systems.
  • Laser Firmware & Controllers — GRBL, grblHAL, FluidNC, Ruida DSP, Smoothie/Cohesion3D, Marlin laser, JCZ galvo cards.
  • Vector / Raster Prep for Laser — LightBurn / LaserGRBL image engines, Didder, Inkscape Trace, PhotoGrav.
  • Laser File Formats — SVG / DXF / G-code / RD / NRD / EZD / LBRN — interchange between design tools and laser controllers.
  • Materials Settings Databases — LightBurn .clb libraries, test patterns, community spreadsheets, "do not laser" lists.
  • Marking Compounds — CerMark, Thermark, MOLY for marking bare metal with diode/CO2 lasers (filling the metal gap to fiber).
  • Rotary Attachments — xTool RA2 Pro ★, Roly RotaryMax, chuck vs. roller vs. jaw, fiber rotaries.
  • Camera & Bed Alignment — LightBurn Camera ★, vendor cameras, print-and-cut workflows.
  • Workholding & Jigs — Honeycomb beds, pin tables, magnetic jigs, focus jigs.
  • Air Assist & Fume Extraction — HAILEA pumps, AC Infinity exhaust, BOFA filtration, ducting.
  • Safety & Enclosures — OD-rated goggles, enclosures, interlocks, StopFire, FDA/CE classes.
  • Maintenance & Alignment — Lens / mirror cleaning, mirror alignment, tube replacement schedules.
  • Finishing & Post-Processing — Masking, char cleanup, sealing, color-fill, flame polish, shou sugi ban.
  • Project File Libraries — Boxes.py ★, MakerCase, Glowforge Catalog, XCS, Etsy / Creative Fabrica.

CNC & Hobby Manufacturing

  • Machine Types — 3-axis routers, benchtop mills, plasma, waterjet, foam cutters, EDM, lathes, rotary axes — with the brand landscape.
  • Controllers & Firmware — GRBL, grblHAL, FluidNC, LinuxCNC, Mach3/4, PathPilot, Centroid Acorn, Buildbotics, Masso.
  • Sender Software — UGS, gSender, CNCjs, bCNC, Candle, OpenBuilds CONTROL, Carbide Motion, Easel.
  • Hobby CAM — Carbide Create, Vectric, Estlcam, MeshCAM, Carveco, Easel, Kiri:Moto, FreeCAD CAM, Fusion 360 Personal.
  • Toolpath Strategies — 2.5D / 3D / adaptive / trochoidal / V-carve, dogbones, ramping; CAMotics, NC Viewer.
  • Workholding — Vises, clamps, vacuum tables, fixture plates, soft jaws — how to actually hold the stock.
  • Tooling & Endmills — Helical, YG-1, Datron, Amana, Whiteside; HSMAdvisor, G-Wizard; tool libraries.
  • Touch Probes — XYZ blocks (BitZero, Triquetra, Mason, Sienci AutoZero), Renishaw / Tormach 3D probes, plasma ohmic.
  • Spindles & VFDs — Trim routers, water-cooled spindles, VFDs (Huanyang, Hitachi, Delta), stepper drivers, ClearPath servos.
  • Dust & Coolant — SuckIt/Sweepy dust shoes, Festool/Fein vacs, Oneida cyclones, Trico Fog Buster, MQL.
  • Plasma & THC — SheetCAM TNG, Proma/Hypertherm Sensor THC, FireControl, QtPlasmaC, Mach plasma stack.
  • PCB Milling on CNC — Bantam Tools, Carbide 3D Nomad, FlatCAM, KiCad → G-code pipelines, surface autoleveling.
  • Retrofitting Old Iron — Bridgeport / PM-25 / G0704 / Tormach retrofits, Mesa Electronics 7i96s/7i77, Centroid Acorn/Oak/Hickory.
  • Wiring & Electrical — Igus chainflex, Lapp Ölflex, drag chains, limit switches, EMI mitigation, ground loops.
  • Maintenance & Calibration — Vactra way oil, ball-screw care, V-wheel adjustment, backlash compensation, squareness checks.
  • Safety — E-stops, Pilz safety relays, door interlocks, fire watch, ANSI Z87.1, plasma helmets.
  • Files & Communities — GrabCAD, Printables, Vectric/Carveco clipart, DXF Fans, Etsy, CNCZone, vendor forums.

Microcontroller & Embedded

  • MCU Platforms — ESP32 family, RP2040 / RP2350, STM32, Nordic nRF, AVR / SAMD — what to reach for in 2026.
  • Dev Kits — DevKit-C, Feather, XIAO, Pi Pico, M5Stack, LilyGO, Teensy, Nucleo, Black Pill.
  • Modules — ESP32-WROOM / S3-MINI / C6-WROOM, RP2040 modules, nRF Raytac/u-blox/Fanstel, certified RF for production PCBs.
  • Arduino & PlatformIO — Arduino IDE 2.x, PlatformIO Core / IDE / Registry, Arduino-CLI, Cores, library managers.
  • ESP-IDF — Espressif's official C/C++ SDK plus ESP-MDF, ESP-Matter, ESP-RainMaker, ESP-Insights, ESP Web Tools.
  • Embedded Rust — Embassy 1.0, RTIC, esp-rs, embedded-hal 1.0, probe-rs, defmt, espflash.
  • MicroPython & CircuitPython — Thonny, Mu, MicroPico, mpremote, ampy, circup, ulab, OpenMV.
  • Embedded RTOS — Zephyr 4.x, FreeRTOS, NuttX, ChibiOS, Mbed OS (legacy), TinyGo, Mongoose OS, RT-Thread.
  • ESPHome & Tasmota — ESPHome, Tasmota, ESPurna, OpenMQTTGateway, OpenBeken / LibreTiny for non-ESP Tuya.
  • Other ESP Firmware — WLED, Pixelblaze, Meshtastic, QMK, ZMK, Vial, Betaflight, FluidNC, Flipper Zero forks.
  • Wireless Stacks — Wi-Fi (lwIP), BLE (NimBLE / SoftDevice / trouble), ESP-NOW, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, LoRaWAN, BT Mesh.
  • Debugging Probes & Software — picoprobe, Black Magic Probe, J-Link, ST-Link, OpenOCD, probe-rs, GDB, Cortex-Debug, RTT.
  • OTA & Fleet Updates — ArduinoOTA, ESP OTA, MCUboot, ESP-RainMaker, Memfault, Mender, hawkBit, secure boot.
  • Wokwi & Simulators — Wokwi (★ browser sim for ESP32 / RP2040 / Arduino), QEMU, Renode, embedded-test, HIL.

Raspberry Pi & SBCs

  • Pi Models — Pi 5 (4/8/16GB), Pi 4, Pi 500, Pi Zero 2 W, Pi 3, CM4/CM5, Pico 2 W — what to buy in 2026.
  • Alternative SBCs — Orange Pi 5+, Radxa ROCK 5B, ODROID, Khadas, Pine64, BeagleBone, RISC-V (BPI-F3, Star64, VisionFive 2).
  • AI-Focused SBCs — Jetson Orin Nano Super / Orin NX / AGX, Coral USB / M.2, Hailo-8 / 8L, Pi AI Kit, Pi AI Camera (IMX500).
  • SBC vs. Mini-PC — When a Pi 5 wins, when a Beelink eats it for lunch — honest 2026 buying advice.
  • OS Distributions — Pi OS Trixie, Ubuntu, DietPi, Armbian, HassOS, MainsailOS, RetroPie, LibreELEC, Volumio, Umbrel.
  • Imaging Tools — Pi Imager ★ (with --cli JSON), balenaEtcher, Rufus, dd, Ventoy, rpiboot, NVMe boot.
  • HATs & Accessories — NVMe HATs (M.2 HAT+, Pimoroni Base, Pineberry, Geekworm), AI HATs (Hailo-8L), PoE+, UPS HATs, audio HATs, GPS, Sense HAT v2.
  • Camera Modules — Camera Module 3, HQ Camera, Pi AI Camera (IMX500), Arducam family, libcamera / picamera2 stack.
  • GPIO Libraries — gpiozero ★, libgpiod, lgpio, pigpio, Adafruit Blinka, Rust gpiocdev / rppal — and the Pi 5 chardev transition.
  • Cooling & Power — Official Active Cooler, Argon ONE V3, Flirc, official 27W PSU, PoE+, UPS HATs, RTC battery.
  • Cluster Boards — Turing Pi 2, DeskPi Super6c, RackMate; k3s / k3sup / Talos / MicroK8s on arm64.
  • PiKVM & JetKVM — KVM-over-IP for headless servers — JetKVM ★ ($70 in 2026), PiKVM v4, TinyPilot, Sipeed NanoKVM.
  • Fleet Management — Pi Imager --cli + cloud-init, Ansible ★, balenaCloud, Mender / RAUC / hawkBit, Tailscale, monitoring stack.
  • Classic Pi Projects — Pi-hole, Home Assistant + Frigate, Klipper / OctoPrint, RetroPie, Umbrel, MagicMirror², SDR, Pwnagotchi.

Smart Home & IoT

  • Smart Home Hubs — Home Assistant ★, OpenHAB, Hubitat, Domoticz, ioBroker, FHEM — the brain of your smart home.
  • Voice (Local STT/TTS) — Wyoming Protocol, HA Voice PE, Whisper, Piper, openWakeWord, ESP32-S3 satellites, Apollo MS24.
  • IoT Firmware Platforms — Drop-in firmware for ESP32/ESP8266 — ESPHome ★, Tasmota ★, WLED, ESPurna, OpenMQTTGateway.
  • Zigbee Stacks & Coordinators — Z2M ★, ZHA, deCONZ, EFR32MG21 / CC26x2 / SkyConnect / ConBee III / ZigStar; OTA.
  • Z-Wave Stacks — Z-Wave JS ★, Z-Wave JS UI, 700/800-series sticks, Long Range, supported devices.
  • Matter & Thread — Matter standard, OpenThread Border Routers (SkyConnect, HomePod, Aqara M3), multi-admin.
  • Home MQTT Brokers — Mosquitto ★, EMQX, NanoMQ, Aedes; topic conventions, ACLs, bridging.
  • MQTT Explorers & Clients — MQTT Explorer ★, MQTTX ★, mqttui, mosquitto_sub/pub.
  • Bluetooth & BLE for Home — ESP32 Bluetooth Proxy ★, BTHome v2, Theengs, Govee/Xiaomi, ESPresense.
  • LoRa & LoRaWAN — ChirpStack ★, The Things Network, Helium, gateways, Meshtastic ★ for off-grid mesh.
  • Sub-GHz & RTL_433 — RTL_433 ★, RTL-SDR Blog v4, OMG, Sonoff RF Bridge + Tasmota, RFLink, TPMS.
  • Cameras & NVR — Frigate ★, Scrypted ★, Shinobi, ZoneMinder, AgentDVR, Synology / Unifi Protect.
  • Camera AI Add-ons — CodeProject AI Server, DOODS, CompreFace, Frigate+ paid models, ALPR, vision LLMs.
  • Lighting & LEDs — WLED ★, HyperHDR, Diyhue, Govee, QuinLED, xLights / Falcon Player.
  • Energy Monitoring — Shelly Pro 3EM, IoTaWatt, Emporia Vue, ESPHome+PZEM, Hildebrand Glow Stick.
  • HVAC — ESPHome IR climate, OpenTherm Gateway, MELCloud / Daikin / S21 integrations.
  • Presence & mmWave — LD2410 / LD2450 / Apollo MS24 / Aqara FP2 — the 2026 mmWave revolution.
  • EV / Solar / Storage — EVCC ★, OpenEVSE, SolarAssistant, Victron, Growatt/Deye/Fronius, TeslaMate.
  • Tuya Cloud Workarounds — LocalTuya, tuya-convert, CloudCutter, LibreTiny / bk7231tools, blakadder.com.
  • Industrial IoT Protocols — Modbus, BACnet, KNX, OPC UA, Apache PLC4X, Node-RED industrial.
  • Home Assistant Add-ons — Add-on store, must-haves, AppDaemon / NetDaemon, observability, remote access.
  • Home Assistant Dashboards — Lovelace + HACS, Mushroom Cards, Bubble Card, Mini Graph, ApexCharts, themes.
  • HA + LLM Integrations — Ollama (local) ★, OpenAI / Gemini / Claude Conversation, ha-llmvision, latency budgets.

SDR & Radio

  • SDR Receivers — RTL-SDR Blog v4, Airspy, SDRplay, KrakenSDR — receive-only software-defined radios from $30 to $1k.
  • SDR Transceivers — HackRF, LimeSDR, PlutoSDR, USRP, bladeRF, Hermes Lite — TX-capable software-defined radios for hacking and ham.
  • SDR Software (Host) — SDR++, SDRangel, GQRX, CubicSDR, SDR#, OpenWebRX — receiver and waterfall apps for desktop and web.
  • SDR Drivers & Frameworks — SoapySDR, UHD, librtlsdr, libhackrf, GNU Radio, gr-osmosdr — the layer between hardware and software.
  • Aviation Decoders (ADS-B, UAT) — dump1090, readsb, tar1090, dump978, PiAware, FR24, ADSBexchange — aircraft tracking with an RTL-SDR.
  • Marine AIS Decoders — AIS-catcher, rtl-ais, OpenCPN — decode ship AIS broadcasts and plot them on charts.
  • Trunked & Public Safety — SDRTrunk, Trunk-Recorder, OP25, DSD+ — listen to P25 / DMR / NXDN trunked radio systems.
  • Weather Satellites & APT — satdump, WXtoImg, raspberry-noaa-v2 — decode NOAA APT, METEOR M, GOES HRIT from a $30 dongle.
  • Side-Channel & TEMPEST — TempestSDR, Universal Radio Hacker, Portapack, gr-iridium — RF security research and protocol hacking.
  • Direction Finding & Passive Radar — KrakenSDR DOA, gr-doa, passive radar — find the source of a transmission with coherent multi-channel SDRs.
  • Ham Digital Modes (FT8, PSK31, RTTY) — WSJT-X, JS8Call, Fldigi, JTDX, MSHV — the killer apps that made HF popular again in 2026.
  • Ham Rig Control (Hamlib) — Hamlib, FLRig, OmniRig — the universal CAT-control layer that makes every other ham app talk to your radio.
  • Ham Logging Software — CQRLOG, Cloudlog, Log4OM, N1MM, KLog — log your QSOs and sync to LotW / eQSL / ClubLog.
  • Ham Contesting Software — N1MM Logger+, Skookumlogger, Win-Test — the contest-night control centers, plus integrations.
  • APRS & Packet Radio — Direwolf, Xastir, APRSdroid, aprx — the modem and map stack for AX.25 / APRS in 2026.
  • Digital Voice & MMDVM Hotspots — Pi-Star, WPSD, M17, AllStar, Echolink, BrandMeister — DMR / D-STAR / YSF / NXDN hotspots and ham-voice-over-IP.
  • CW & Morse Code Tools — LCWO, Morse Runner, CW Skimmer, Fldigi CW — learn, practice, and decode Morse.
  • Ham Satellite Tracking — Gpredict, SatPC32, SatNOGS, Hams.at — predict passes and run ground stations for amateur sats.
  • Antenna Modeling (NEC, EM Sim) — 4nec2, MMANA-GAL, xnec2c, openEMS — design and simulate antennas before you cut wire.
  • Propagation & Band Conditions — VOACAP, pskreporter, wsprnet, GridTracker — predict and observe HF propagation in real time.
  • SDR Linux Distros — DragonOS Focal / Pi64, Skywave Linux, Pentoo — pre-loaded SDR distros so you don't compile GNU Radio yourself.
  • Homebrew & Ham-Flavored SDRs — Hermes Lite 2, QDX, uBITX, Anan — open / kit-built ham transceivers that bridge SDR and the operating bench.

Test, Measurement & Lab Equipment

  • Oscilloscopes — Rigol DHO / Siglent SDS-HD 12-bit hobby tier, prosumer, PicoScope, Analog Discovery 3, sigrok / OpenHantek.
  • Logic Analyzers — Saleae ★, Cynthion / Glasgow ★, DSLogic, Kingst, FX2 clones, sigrok / PulseView.
  • Multimeters — Brymen BM235 / BM867s ★, Fluke 87V, Owon XDM2041, Siglent SDM3045X, Aneng cheap tier.
  • Power Supplies — Riden RD6006 ★, Korad KA, Rigol DP832, Siglent SPD3303X, EEZ BB3 (open hardware), Keithley.
  • Electronic Loads — Rigol DL3021A, Siglent SDL1020X, Itech, ZKE EBC battery loads, kW production loads.
  • Function Generators — Siglent SDG, Rigol DG, Feeltech FY6900, Analog Discovery 3 bundled AWG, AD9833 DDS modules.
  • Spectrum & VNA — TinySA Ultra ★, NanoVNA-H4 / SAA-2N / LiteVNA-64 ★, Siglent SVA1015X, RTL-SDR / HackRF as SA.
  • Frequency Counters — Rigol DM3068, used HP 53131A, Leo Bodnar GPSDO, Trimble Thunderbolt, LTZ1000 voltage references.
  • USB Power Testers — FNIRSI FNB48S/FNB58 ★, ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM003C, AVHzY CT-3 ★, RD UM34C, PD Buddy Sink.
  • Component Testers — LCR-T7 / TC1 ★ (the $10 magic tester), Atlas DCA Pro, DE-5000, ESR meters.
  • Soldering Stations — Pinecil V2 ★ (open hardware portable), Hakko FX-888D ★, JBC CDB pro, Pace ADS200, Metcal.
  • Hot Air Rework — Quick 861DW ★, Atten 858D, JBC TPA-A pro, Sugon, BGA stations (PDR / ZhuoMao).
  • Reflow Ovens & Hotplates — MHP30 ★, PCBite hotplate, modded T-962 (FOSS firmware), toaster + Inkbird, Reflow32 / ksolder.
  • Microscopes — Andonstar AD409 ★, AmScope SE / SM stereo ★, used B&L StereoZoom, Mantis eyepieceless.
  • PCB Bench Tools — PCBite ★ (flex probes), Stickvise, Panavise, Lehua stencil printer, ultrasonic cleaning, Vetus tweezers.
  • Debug Probes — Pico-as-debugprobe (free) ★, Black Magic Probe ★, J-Link EDU non-commercial, ST-Link, JTAGulator.
  • ESD Control — 3M mats, wrist straps, ionizers, ESD-safe tweezers, IEC 61340-5-1, the discipline that keeps MOSFETs alive.
  • Test Fixtures — PCBite for one-offs, DIY pogo-pin jigs, Tag-Connect TC2030, boundary scan, OpenHTF.
  • Scope Probes & Accessories — Passive / active / differential / current / HV probes, Tek THDP, Rigol RP1000D, BNC / SMA / SMP cabling.
  • Instrument Software — pyvisa ★, lxi-tools, sigrok, NanoVNA-Saver, BenchVue, TekScope, Jupyter / Marimo + pyvisa.
  • Battery Testers — Litokala Lii-500/600 ★, Opus BT-C3100, ZKE EBC, Vapcell, YR1035+ IR meter, Hioki BT-3554.
  • OSS Bench Instruments — EEZ BB3, Pinecil, Glasgow, Cynthion, NanoVNA, TinySA, Black Magic — the open-hardware bench under $1k.

Photo Workflow

Audio Production

  • DAWs Overview — How to choose a Digital Audio Workstation in 2026 — free, OSS, and paid flagships.
  • Free & OSS DAWs — Reaper, Ardour, Cakewalk, LMMS, Tracktion Waveform Free — the budget producer's toolkit.
  • Paid Flagship DAWs — Bitwig, Ableton, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase — the professional landscape.
  • Mobile DAWs — Logic Pro for iPad, GarageBand iOS, FL Studio Mobile, Cubasis, Zenbeats — the on-the-go pocket studio.
  • Music Notation Software — MuseScore Studio, LilyPond, Dorico, Finale (sunset), Sibelius — engraving and score editors.
  • Trackers & Module Software — Renoise, OpenMPT, MilkyTracker, Furnace, SunVox — pattern-based music software.
  • Audio Editors (Waveform / Multitrack) — Audacity, Tenacity, Ocenaudio, Adobe Audition — destructive waveform and multi-track editors.
  • Audio Plugin Formats — VST3, AU, CLAP, LV2, AAX, LADSPA — what your plugins actually are and where they run.
  • Audio Plugin Hosts — Carla, Element, AudioPluginHost, Patchage — run VST / AU / CLAP / LV2 plugins outside a DAW.
  • Free & OSS Synthesizers — Surge XT, Vital, Dexed, Helm, VCV Rack, Cardinal, Hydrogen — the free synth ecosystem.
  • Samplers & Sample Libraries — Decent Sampler, sforzando, Kontakt, SFZ format, Spitfire LABS, BBC Discover — sample-based instruments.
  • Free Audio Effect Plugins — Valhalla Supermassive, TDR Nova, Voxengo SPAN, MeldaProduction free, ChowDSP, Calf — the free FX collection.
  • Audio Routing on Linux (PipeWire / JACK) — PipeWire, JACK, ALSA, qpwgraph, Carla — connecting audio sources, sinks, and DAWs on Linux.
  • Audio Routing on Windows & Mac — VoiceMeeter, ASIO4ALL, BlackHole, Loopback, Audio Hijack — virtual audio devices and routing.
  • MIDI Routing & Utilities — MIDI 1.0 / 2.0, BLE-MIDI, RTP-MIDI, MIDI-OX, MIDI Monitor, Pizmidi — MIDI plumbing.
  • Live Coding & Generative Music — SuperCollider, TidalCycles, Sonic Pi, ChucK, Pure Data, Hydra — code-as-instrument environments.
  • Tablature, Tuners & Practice Tools — TuxGuitar, MuseScore tabs, Songsterr, Guitar Pro, gStrings, metronomes — guitar / bass / instrumentalist utilities.
  • Room Measurement & Speaker EQ — REW, HOLMImpulse, CARMA, Sonarworks, MathAudio Room EQ — measure your studio and correct it.
  • Vocal Isolation & Stem Separation — Demucs, Spleeter, Ultimate Vocal Remover, Moises, iZotope RX — pull vocals / drums / bass / other out of a mix.
  • Podcast & Voice Production — Auphonic, Descript, Riverside.fm, Cleanfeed, SquadCast — record, edit, level voice content.
  • Audio Tagging & Library Management — Picard, Beets, Mp3tag, MusicBrainz, ReplayGain — keep your music collection sane.
  • Audio Interfaces & Hardware — Focusrite, MOTU, RME, UA Volt, class-compliant USB, Dante / AVB / AES67 — picking the audio I/O.
  • Audio DSP Frameworks — JUCE, iPlug2, Faust, Cmajor, libpd, RNBO, VST SDK — write your own audio plugins and DSP.
  • Neural Amp & Cab Modeling — NAM, AIDA-X, Proteus, GuitarML, BYOD — the neural-network revolution in guitar / bass tone.
  • DJ Software — Mixxx, Traktor, Rekordbox, Serato, VirtualDJ — performance / mixing software.

Video Editing & Streaming

  • Video NLE Editors — DaVinci Resolve, Kdenlive, Shotcut, Premiere, Final Cut, Descript — non-linear video editors from free OSS to industry standard.
  • Color Grading & Color Management — DaVinci Resolve, ACES, LUTs, Rec.709 / Rec.2020 / DCI-P3, HDR10 / Dolby Vision / HLG — color from set to delivery.
  • VFX, Motion Graphics & Compositing — Blender, Natron, Fusion, After Effects, Nuke — node-based and layer-based compositing, keying, motion graphics.
  • Subtitles & Captioning — Subtitle Edit, Aegisub, SRT / VTT / ASS formats, broadcast CEA-608 / 708, manual subtitle authoring and shaping.
  • Auto Captions & Whisper-based Subtitles — OpenAI Whisper, whisper.cpp, faster-whisper, WhisperX, MacWhisper, Buzz — generate subtitles from audio with AI.
  • Live Streaming Software — OBS Studio, Streamlabs, vMix, Wirecast, Twitch Studio, Restream Studio — the encoder/switcher apps that push pixels to Twitch / YouTube / Kick.
  • Self-hosted Streaming Servers — Owncast, AntMedia, MediaMTX, SRS, NGINX-RTMP — run your own RTMP / SRT / HLS / WebRTC ingest and delivery.
  • Capture Cards & Video Hardware — Elgato, Magewell, AverMedia, Blackmagic — HDMI / SDI / NDI capture for streaming and recording.
  • Virtual Cameras — OBS Virtual Camera, NDI Virtual Input, Camo, EpocCam — software webcams that pipe a composite feed into Zoom / Teams / Meet / browser.
  • Streaming Protocols (NDI, SRT, RTMP, WebRTC, HLS) — NDI 6, SRT, RTMP, RIST, WHIP / WHEP, HLS, LL-HLS, DASH — what to use for ingest, contribution, and delivery.
  • Video Encoding & Codecs — FFmpeg, HandBrake, MKVToolNix, NVENC / QSV / VideoToolbox / VAAPI, H.264 / H.265 / AV1 / VP9 / ProRes / DNxHR.
  • AV1 Encoding — SVT-AV1, aomenc, rav1e, Av1an — the modern royalty-free codec, 2026 hardware support, and chunked encoding pipelines.
  • VTubing & Avatar Tools — VTube Studio, VRoid Studio, VSeeFace, Live2D / VRM avatars, mocap pipelines for streamers and presenters.
  • Streaming Overlays, Alerts & Chat Bots — StreamElements, Streamer.bot, Nightbot, OBS browser sources — the visuals, alerts, and automation around a stream.
  • Multi-streaming & Restreaming — Restream, StreamYard, Castr, OBS multi-RTMP plugin, NGINX-RTMP relay — push one stream to many destinations.
  • Video Archival & yt-dlp — yt-dlp, gallery-dl, TubeArchivist — download, archive, and organize video from YouTube and 1000+ other sites.
  • Live Production Switchers & Broadcast Graphics — Blackmagic ATEM, vMix, TriCaster, CasparCG, Companion — multi-camera live production for events, weddings, sports, broadcast.
  • Mobile Video Editing — CapCut Mobile, iMovie, LumaFusion, Splice, InShot — phone and tablet editors for short-form social and quick cuts.
  • Streaming Music & Licensing — YouTube Audio Library, Epidemic Sound, Pretzel Rocks, Stream Beats, NCS — DMCA-safe music for streams, vlogs, podcasts.

Astronomy & Astrophotography

  • Planetariums & Sky Maps — Stellarium, KStars, Cartes du Ciel, SkySafari — plan sessions, identify objects, drive scopes.
  • Mount & Session Control — KStars/Ekos, INDI, N.I.N.A, ASCOM/Alpaca — drive the scope, sequence the night, log everything.
  • Image Acquisition & Capture — SharpCap, FireCapture, oaCapture, Ekos Capture — turn the sensor on and write frames to disk.
  • Autoguiding (PHD2 & friends) — PHD2 — the universal OSS autoguider. Closed-loop tracking corrections via guide camera + ST4 / pulse guide.
  • Polar Alignment — SharpCap PolarAlign, N.I.N.A 3-Point, KStars polar align, PoleMaster — get the RA axis on the celestial pole.
  • Plate Solving — Astrometry.net, ASTAP, ANSVR, PinPoint — "where is the scope actually pointed?"
  • Deep-Sky Stacking & Processing — Siril, DeepSkyStacker, GraXpert, PixInsight — calibrate, register, integrate, and stretch deep-sky data.
  • Solar / Lunar / Planetary Stacking — AutoStakkert!, RegiStax, PIPP, WinJUPOS, ImPPG — "lucky imaging" planetary and solar processing.
  • Star Removal & AI Processing — StarNet++ V2, StarXTerminator, BlurXTerminator, GraXpert AI — neural-net deep-sky processing.
  • OnStep & DIY Mount Firmware — OnStep, AstroEQ, TeenAstro — open-source firmware that turns a stepper-driven mount into a goto.
  • Pi-based Astro Control — StellarMate, Astroberry, INDI on Pi, ASIAIR alternatives — small box at the mount runs the show.
  • Smart Telescopes — Seestar S30/S50, Vespera, Dwarf 3, Unistellar — point-and-image scopes for the rest of us.
  • EAA & Live Stacking — SharpCap LiveStack, N.I.N.A live stack, ASILive, JoCloud — see deep-sky objects on a screen tonight.
  • Meteor & All-Sky Cameras — RMS (Raspberry Meteor Station), AllSky, UFOcapture, GMN — Pi-based all-sky imaging and meteor detection.
  • Astro Cloud & Weather Forecasting — Astrospheric, Clear Outside, 7Timer!, Heavens-Above — clear-sky charts and pass forecasts.
  • Amateur Spectroscopy — ISIS, VSpec, BASS Project — Star Analyser, ALPY, LISA, eShel hardware and OSS reduction.
  • Satellite Tracking — Gpredict, Stellarium, Heavens-Above, ISS Detector, Hamlib rotctld — pass prediction and rotor control.
  • SatNOGS & Pro-Am Ground Stations — SatNOGS Network, SatNOGS Client, gr-satellites — open ground-station network and cubesat decoding.
  • Light Pollution & Filters — Light Pollution Map, IDAS NBZ, Optolong L-Pro/L-eXtreme, multi-narrowband — get usable data from urban skies.
  • Astro Cameras & Sensors — ZWO, QHY, Player One — IMX585, IMX678, IMX571, IMX455 sensors and how to pick.
  • Filter Wheels & Filter Sets — ZWO EFW, QHY ColorWheel, electronic filter wheels — and the LRGB / SHO / dual-band sets that go inside.
  • Citizen Science & AstroBin — AAVSO, ALPO, AstroBin, Hubble Asteroid Hunter, GLOBE at Night — contribute observations to real science.
  • Astro Catalogues & Data — Gaia DR3, NORAD TLEs, NGC/IC, Messier, MPC elements, JWST archive — the public data underpinning everything.

Writing & Authoring

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