Turning an ESP32 into a Thermal USB Webcam Last time I faked a webcam on an ESP32; this time I built a real one. The ESP32-S3âs native USB + UVC with MJPEG makes a normal camera dead simpleâgrab JPEG frames and stream. The fun bit is turning an MLX90640 (32Ă24 thermal) into a proper USB camera: read over I2C, color-map, scale up to 320Ă240 (nearest or bilinear), JPEG encode, and streamâworks in any camera app, no drivers. Bonus lesson: if an I2C scan finds nothing, stop blaming software; mine was a bad 3.3 V regulator solder joint. 15 February 2026
When âSoftware Bugsâ Are Actually Bad Soldering A quick MLX90640 IR camera test turned into a dead-on-I2C mystery. I ran the usual checksâaddresses, pull-ups, voltages, wiringâand even fixed my forgotten UART/I2C jumper, but still nothing. A peek under the microscope revealed sketchy solder on the 3V3 LDO; a quick reflow and the sensor sprang to life. Lesson relearned: donât trust factory soldering, look early with a microscope, and stop blaming software when the hardwareâs silent. 25 January 2026
Connecting up the MCP23S17 and HD44780U based LCD Ever wondered how to hook up an LCD display with your Raspberry Pi without using up all your GPIO pins? With the right tools, such as the MCP23S17 and wiringPi, you can effortlessly keep your I2C, UART, and SPI functionalities free for other worthwhile endeavors. This blog post truly proves that the GPIO is quite flexible with the I2C or SPI pins and setting up the MCP23S17 is as simple as connecting the pins. And with support for 5v LCD modules, I can assure you that this setup is definitely lit! 11 May 2014