Desk of Ladyada – OpenClaw, eInk Hacking & Vibe-Coding an Oscilloscope

This week at the Desk of Ladyada, we’re comin’ back from maternity leave and getting spun up with a bunch of projects. First, a fun mailbag item: the XTEInk ‘pocket’ reader running crosspoint open firmware on an ESP32-C3. Since it’s running an Espressif chip, we could also install CircuitPython or WipperSnapper on it…a great side-effect of more off-the-shelf goods coming with ESP32 chips! See also our Yoto-hacking guide on learn. Next, we’ve been really enjoying running OpenClaw on a Pi 5 and connecting it up to Adafruit hardware to do ‘full circle’ test-driven development. We have Anthropic Opus do the datasheet parsing and design document, then ‘farm’ out the coding work to OpenAI Codex. After the driver is written, we also have it design tests to verify hardware functionality, using other GPIO pins, NeoPixels, servos, etc., to exercise the chip capability. It’s able to run tests and then fix bugs all on its own, then text me when it needs help or to alert that it’s done. It’s very slick and fun! Finally, using that same system of coding, we had it ‘one-shot’ a miniature oscilloscope demo for the unreleased Stemma Friend from way back (well, it took a few back-and-forths to get it just how we like). Could we have coded it by hand? Probably! But we were able to guide the development and get the look and performance we wanted in about 30 minutes of prompting while also laying in bed and chillin’ with a newborn.