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Top 23 C Hardware Projects
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MicroPython
MicroPython - a lean and efficient Python implementation for microcontrollers and constrained systems
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Project mention: Antenna port needs better protection · Issue #541 · hackrf (2018) | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-03-18
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Project mention: Ask HN: Are There Any Fully-Documented Computers | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-11-02
Most popular modern SoCs are not fully documented - one part that usually lacks any documentation is the GPU. For most ARM-based SoCs, it's either one of ARM's Mali series or an Imagination Technologies product, most RISC-V based SoCs (e.g. the JH7110) also use Imagination Technologies GPUs.
Additional components also have documentation that's hard to find, especially those based on Synopsys' DesignWare IP. These are sometimes at least... strange (or should I say buggy?) effects such as with their "standard" 16550-compatible UART: https://lupyuen.github.io/articles/plic
The Vivante GPU in Freescale's i.MX8 SoCs was reverse engineered and is probably the closest you can find to a somewhat documented GPU (STM32MP SoCs also have a Vivante GPU). In general, the i.MX8 is well documented - one of the reasons why it is used in Purism's Librem 5 phone.
You can "cheat" and improve the GPU situation a bit by using a RISC-V board with a PCIe slot and an old AMD GPU.
When there's no documentation available, all you can do is reverse engineer the functionality of existing open source drivers. Linux drivers are often quite complex, I recommend looking at Net/OpenBSD and Plan9 drivers instead. For some RISC-V SoCs (SiFive Freedom U740 on the Unmatched board and JH7110), Haiku is also worth looking at.
An alternative which provides documented hardware is to use an FPGA-based SoC builder, e.g. LiteX: https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex
Of course, this results in a significant degradation of performance...
Another option would be to use a regular x86-based PC and rely on the documented interfaces, such as VESA graphics, but then you have to deal with x86 and all the baggage of almost 45 years of PC evolution...
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Project mention: HyperDbg: A debugger designed for analyzing, fuzzing and reversing | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-11-15
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InfluxDB
InfluxDB high-performance time series database. Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-resolution data to power real-time intelligent systems.
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> I wish Yubico had some serious competition, but sadly they don't.
This likely wouldn’t qualify as “serious competition” but I have a few solokeys and they work fine for my use.
https://solokeys.com/
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The Tulip Creative Computer[1][2] hits a lot of your points (I'm just a customer). It is definitely not a retro computer with an 8 bit processor, limited memory etc. Instead, it uses modern technology (ESP32S3 microcontroller with megabytes of flash memory and RAM, color touch screen etc.) and runs a modern programming language (MicroPython) that also serves as the operating system.
This particular product might not be exactly what you want, but it shows that you can use these technologies to build a computer that is much simpler than a modern PC in both hardware and software, but is still very capable, and intriguing to use.
1. https://github.com/shorepine/tulipcc
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Project mention: A note on the USB-to-PS/2 mouse adapter that came with Microsoft mouse devices | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-03-27
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
C Hardware discussion
C Hardware related posts
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Antenna port needs better protection · Issue #541 · hackrf (2018)
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Bruce: Predatory ESP32 Firmware
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Show HN: I Made an Open-Source Laptop from Scratch
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Bruce: Predatory ESP32 Firmware (OSS Flipper Zero Clone)
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Ask HN: Are There Any Fully-Documented Computers
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Busy Status Bar from Flipper Devices
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Greatscottgadgets – Hackrf
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A note from our sponsor - CodeRabbit
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Index
What are some of the best open-source Hardware projects in C? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MicroPython | 20,244 |
| 2 | hackrf | 6,973 |
| 3 | openwifi | 4,134 |
| 4 | litex | 3,281 |
| 5 | HyperDbg | 3,219 |
| 6 | Bruce | 2,470 |
| 7 | u2f-zero | 2,438 |
| 8 | solo1 | 2,320 |
| 9 | NyuziProcessor | 2,073 |
| 10 | ubertooth | 2,005 |
| 11 | emgo | 1,083 |
| 12 | node-rpio | 861 |
| 13 | RetroESP32 | 632 |
| 14 | hwloc | 616 |
| 15 | thinkfan | 597 |
| 16 | Winterbloom_Castor_and_Pollux | 543 |
| 17 | tulipcc | 489 |
| 18 | elixir_ale | 344 |
| 19 | WinRing0 | 340 |
| 20 | qmk_firmware | 338 |
| 21 | HIDman | 330 |
| 22 | BFree | 269 |
| 23 | usb-relay-hid | 260 |
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