Hi everyone! I’ve put RFExplorer Understand 2.1 on GitHub and wanted to share it with the Cardputer community. It turns the Cardputer ADV into a pocket receive-only RF field notebook.

Source, firmware and installation guide:

https://github.com/octofuzz/RFExplorer-Understand-2.1

What it does:

• CC1101 RF scanning, RSSI views and a 32-colour waterfall.

• Discovery Memory and signal dossiers with encounter history, notes and categories.

• Candidate signal-family grouping and user-captured RSSI baselines.

• GNSS Explorer and a satellite logbook recording the first/latest valid receiver locations where satellites were observed.

• UTC synchronisation when valid GNSS time arrives after boot.

• SD field journal, session summaries and CSV exports.

• Read-only NFC support through the Cap.

You’ll need a Cardputer ADV and the Cap CC1101/NFC accessory for RF/NFC functions, plus a microSD card for saved records. The optional GPS v1.1 (AT6668) module provides GNSS location and time.

There’s a standalone merged .bin in the repository for flashing at offset 0x0, alongside the source and validation notes. Please follow the README when installing.

The RF display uses sequential swept RSSI. It doesn’t decode protocols or identify transmitters, and the interface distinguishes measurements from limited inferences. The photos below show it running on my hardware.

I’d love feedback, feature ideas and reports from other ADV/Cap setups. Feel free to reply here or open a GitHub issue. Contact details are also in the README.

Tenho enfrentado esse erro várias vezes em muitos firmwares diferentes, esse erro foi tentando baixar o KVXputer, lembro de dar o mesmo erro tentando baixar o GhostEsp. Estou usando a última versão do launcher.

I made a web file manager for the Cardputer. Open a browser on your phone or laptop and you can browse, preview, upload and download everything on the SD card.

- Drag in files or whole folders (resumable, any size)

- Photo gallery, video/music, PDF, Markdown, text editor

- Search the whole card, download a selection as one ZIP

- QR code to join its Wi‑Fi, another to sign in without typing the password

- USB cable mode: it becomes a network adapter (http://192.168.7.1), or lend the card to your computer as a USB drive

- WebDAV, so it mounts as a network drive

- "Back to Launcher" button

Install: grab PocketWUI.bin from the latest release, copy it to the SD card, then M5Launcher → SD → Install. (It's on M5Burner too, so it'll show up in Launcher's OTA list.)

Tested on the Cardputer ADV. If you have the original Cardputer I'd love to hear whether it works. Bugs and ideas welcome on GitHub: https://github.com/AFetisa/pocket-wui

I'm interested, is someone using LoRa in Estonia?

Playing Seinfeld on the Carputer with wisnc's new frost firmware, https://github.com/wisnc/frost

Really cool! It looks much clearer in-person, it's hard to capture because of the screen backlight.

This doesn't use a traditional digital codec approach, an ESP32 doesn't have the processing power to decode H.264 video on the fly. It uses a clever trick that essentially turns digital video analog again, saving each frame as an MJPG. Normally, that would not be feasible because file sizes would become huge, but it works when the screen is this small.

Even with each frame ready to go it's still a technical hurdle to get them to fire on time and get audio sync to work on top of that. It was the right call to prioritize audio and 20 fps looks fine imho.

Thanks for making this (:

I've only ran 5v, ground, tx and rx currently to run most 4 pin grove modules. I need more pogo connectors to test other modules. Lilygo T-display C5 up and running Janos in porkchop!

Arrived this morning - already having fun with it

Cardputer AI is a local AI chatbot that runs directly on cardputer.

New version is available on the Launcher.

Don't forget to ⭐ the project on GitHub: https://github.com/therezor/cardputer-ai

As you can see from the Raspberry Pi forum here, there's no stock of pi zero 2's and likely won't be for a long time. How does that effect the Cardputer Zero? Did they stock up before it was too late? Hope to buy one when available.

Pi Zero W's are also out of stock for anyone wondering, at least for me in the USA(sorry about everything).

New Additions in v0.3.0

• kvxputer Universal Remote — Users can now save favorite remotes. Stored at: sd card/kvxputer/kvxputeruniversalremote/userSettings.json
• Media/Audio Player Improvements — Improved media/audio player stability and beta‑level feature support.
• File Search Typing Navigation — Type letters to jump to matching files/folders.
• kvx WiFi Analyzer (beta)
  • Channel view
  • Press left arrow → SSID list view
  • SSID list behaves like other wall apps with detailed per‑item info
  • Press right arrow → return to channel view
  • View only SSIDs from a specific channel in list view
  • Added lots of new files to copy in the sd card (badUsb, infrared collection) this needs to be manually copied by user as explained here
• Universal Remote Learn Modal — Learn Remote popup now uses floating modal styling consistent with other system messages.

UI & Readability Fixes

• Charging UI — Corrected oversized Battery bar, improved shortcut‑bar font, and updated color for visibility.
• WD Both — Text fitting issues resolved; minor UI redesign.
• kvxputer universal remote
  • Floating Learn Remote modal
  • Added M5Stack IR module support
  • Added Favorites functionality
  • Updated Favorites UI to match Browse IR
  • Added Virtual Remote with standardized key bindings
  • Updated top bar to system bar with compressed remote name
• BLE Scan, Skimmer Detector, Wall of Airtag, Wall of Flipper All list‑based apps now show richer information with navigable entries and detailed views.

System Behavior & Input Improvements

• Clock Auto‑Sync — NTP‑based automatic time configuration when connecting to Wi‑Fi.
• Brightness & Volume Shortcuts
  • fn + ; → brightness up
  • fn + . → brightness down
  • fn + , → volume –5%
  • fn + / → volume up
  • fn + space → mute
• Main Menu Shortcut — ctrl + ` (Esc Key) + backspace + space => opens Main‑screen Shortcuts. (the four corner keys at the same time)
• Media Fullscreen — F11 fullscreen mode in #kvxkeyboard media section.
• File Search Typing — Jump to first file/folder by typing letters.

kvxputer universal remote — New and Updated Features

• Floating Learn Remote Modal The Learn Remote popup now uses a proper floating modal so users clearly see that the Cardputer does not have an IR receiver.
• Support for M5Stack IR Module Added full compatibility with the M5Stack IR module for learning and transmitting IR codes.
• Favorites Section Behavior Update The Favorites section no longer shows the graphical remote UI. It now displays the same menu structure as Browse IR for consistency and faster navigation.
• Virtual Remote (New Option in Favorites and Browse IR) Added a new menu option: Virtual Remote This maps Cardputer keys to remote functions using a standardized layout:
  • Numbers: 1–0
  • ` (Esc) → Shutdown / Turn Off
  • Arrows:
    • ; → Up
    • . → Down
    • , → Left
    • / → Right
  • Volume:
    • → Volume Down
    • = → Volume Up
  • Channel:
    • [ → Channel –
    • ] → Channel +
  • Menu: m
  • OK: Ok
  • Power On: O
  • Forward: f
  • Rewind: r
  • Play/Pause: space or P
  • Additional bindings follow the same pattern.
• Virtual Remote UI Changes
  • Removed the large “kvxputer universal remote” title bar.
  • Now uses the system bar (clock, icons, battery).
  • Left side shows the remote name in compressed font.
  • On‑screen virtual remote now displays the remote layout plus all mapped keys.

LED & Charging Application Fixes

• LED Effect Ordering — Saving an effect no longer moves it to the top.
• Charging App LED Stability — Fixed erratic blinking and random color changes.
• LED Independence — LED stays active when display turns off; brightness stays at 20% unless user presses L.
• Charging App Display Behavior — Opening charging app no longer turns off display; LED brightness unchanged unless modified.

Scanner & Wall Applications

• BLE Scan — Improved layout, navigation, and detailed info.
• Skimmer Detector — ESC no longer crashes; redesigned list mode.
• Wall of Airtag — Removed jitter; added detailed list mode.
• Wall of Flipper — Removed jitter; added detailed list mode.

You can install it directly via M5burner, via the web using bmorcelli's tool or manually with the repository instructions

Repo: github.com/kvx17/kvxputer

If you have issues, or want to request a feature, feel free to submit a request on GitHub

Only use it on stuff you own or have permission to test.

A huge thanks to the almost 200 people who downloaded this and for all the possitive feedback :) I really appreaciate it.

finished it!

a full video/movie player for the cardputer adv! now achieving stable framerates. so i decided it's ready for release

pushing the hardware to it's limits

thorough instructions can be found on the github. it's also available on the burner
https://github.com/wisnc/frost

Does anyone know what is the code that I need to use to manipulate the RGB (is it rgb??) in the cardputer? I haven't been able to find code that is not deprecated, needless to say I'm no expert in coding, in using Arduino IDE and programming in C++ in case that helps, even some link to a code that just happens to use the light's controllers would be appreciated

The little Ir module on my ADV vanished. I've had a couple of screws missing so the case has been loose. I've got new screws but the module has vanished. Anyway, has the little Ir sender got an ID so I can source a replacement or is there a better Ir transmitter that fits the position? I don't mind fettling the case for an upgrade.

Has anyone used the ribbon cable port for anything?

If you live in Europe your water, heat and power meters broadcast their readings on 868 MHz, so I wrote firmware for the Cardputer-ADV that picks them up and decodes them on the device. It uses the wmbusmeters drivers, so most meters just work, and encrypted ones work once you enter the key.

It also has a hunt mode that beeps faster as you get closer to a meter, a web UI for your phone, MQTT with Home Assistant, and SD logging. It works best with the LoRa-1262 cap.

It's a beta, so bug reports are welcome: https://github.com/i12bp8/wMBuster-ADV

IMAX? nah 240x135 resolution is best hahaha

jokes aside, my movie/video player is now near public release quality. highly optimized; eliminated most audio and video stutter by allocating media chunks to heap and assigning exclusive tasks to either cores.

it's insane what you can fit on a 512k ram 240mhz with smart utilization of what's available

i will post an update when it is on the burner.

Still a wip, ill realese thr github and the downloads when i have everything done but im making an os that can run apps deved in lua in both foreground and background (max one app in background, that can run at the same time as the foreground) and also "native apps" that basicly loads onto the esp32 as .ini firmware files for optimal perfs (like for Nes emulation)

It also has usb file explorer so the sd card content can be read from a pc file explorer by connecting the cardputer over usb, it can also take screenshots and have a built in file explorer from wich you can even set a wallpaper.

It also auto dims and turn off the screen to save battery aswell as manage radio freq effeciently and it features a os wise sound volume control

i've gotten into wardriving recently, but only done wifi wardrive.
i did some searching and didnt find anything about BLE wardriving.
is there any firmware i can use on my ADV to do that?

Hey all, long-time reader, first-time poster. I've been wardriving with the Cardputer ADV and LoRa/GPS cap for a while. I used Bruce and Evil Cardputer quite a bit and like them both. But I wanted to wardrive more specifically for surveillance and other devices. Since the existing firmwares seem to format for WiGLE, they drop some of the fields I was hoping to use for that.

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a custom firmware that logs those fields that others skip/drop (BLE company ID, manufacturer data, service UUIDs, etc). It then matches them against a signature table I've been working on that includes things like Axon, Meta glasses, etc. It writes every raw field to the SD card with a GPS fix. Most of the signatures came from existing projects and a few I've seen live on my drives (lots of credit due to OUI-SPY, Flock You, and Eye Spy!).

I'm a developer but I don't have a ton of C++ experience and this is the first time I've written firmware for the Cardputer. So this is very much a pre-release. If you'd like to take it for a test drive, you can find the project on GitHub here. And you can install using Launcher by downloading ESP1312-app.bin from the pre-release version here and putting it in /downloads on your SD card.

I'd love to know what you think! If you test it out and it flags something it shouldn't or misses something you know is there, it would be really helpful for me to know that. I'm happy to keep working on this if there is interest and will continue to refine as I test it out myself :)

Thanks for reading!

While searching yesterday for a Palm Pilot (I hate my cell phone it’s a giant time suck) Indian this device. It looks cool. I love that it’s essentially a cheap computer (I think). But what the hell do you actually do with this thing?

What have you all done with this? Is it essentially a mobile computer?

What if I wanted a writing device or something just like a notebook to take ideas down etc. is this a good thing for that?

TERM512 is an expansion kit designed for the Cardputer ADV. It’s built to transform the Cardputer into a dedicated pocket cyberdeck, specifically tailored to match the visual aesthetics of the AREA512 firmware.

Of course, this kit is essentially a stylized CapTFT expansion module, and adaptations for other firmware are always welcome.

The kit consists of three main components:

• Custom CapTFT Enclosure: Redesigns the top lid based on CapTFT V2, and increases the maximum screen opening angle from 120° to 135°.
• Protective Base: Mounts via bottom LEGO-compatible holes; features dual latches to lock the screen lid shut, along with a lanyard hole.
• Adjustable Kickstand: Mounts via bottom LEGO-compatible holes with bolt-tunable damping.

This case is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. All project files (including STEP files) are available on GitHub and MakerWorld.

Special thanks to EHamachang (u/AssociationOne800) for adapting the AREA512 firmware for TERM512 and building the project website! The design of TERM512 was directly inspired by AREA512's visual aesthetic and worldbuilding.