The courage to explore OpenHW Lab

Stay curious, explore boldly

Give dusty hardware a second life

OpenHW Lab is an open hardware community focused on repurposing and innovation.
From TV-box repurposing to LLM dev boards, robots, drones and smart home.
Hobbyists, makers and engineers — join us and explore together, making tech serve life.

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Make · Share · Document

TV-Box Repurpose Series4 ready-to-use kits

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Ready
🎮

TV Box → Game Console

8 native mini-games + study/exam/tutorial games. Control by remote / gamepad / mouse / keyboard / phone-as-controller. 1–9 players on one screen, fully offline.

  • Offline
  • Multiplayer
  • Phone gamepad
Download (.zip · 296K)
SHA-256 checksum353323a08889fcfa6c88737293e9d2741f22e2f1a6a32edb281796512b74aa2a
Ready
🖥️

TV Box → Mini PC

Turn the box into a light desktop: desktop + browser + Chinese IME + LAN file transfer + USB drive, with storage used as extra memory and self-healing boot.

  • Desktop
  • Browser
  • File transfer
Download (.zip · 596K)
SHA-256 checksum696949c0950608d9e5e1931ae332cf6cb4d973451689101c8f151b04388aa9cc
Ready
📹

TV Box → Surveillance NVR

Plug in one USB camera to get a recorder: live view + 30s loop recording + phone remote + motion detection + object detection + push alerts.

  • Loop recording
  • Remote
  • AI detection
Download (.zip · 11M)
SHA-256 checksum269736c83cd1e4ea653d169ec03cfa3de80b0e3bc7f15b76acef526fe3704cf2
Ready
🖨️

TV Box → Print Server

Turn an old USB printer into a network printer: print from phone/PC via web, AirPrint, IPP — with automatic model detection and driver install.

  • Network print
  • AirPrint
  • QR code
Download (.zip · 392K)
SHA-256 checksuma2228cd2fe8a5780b1b77848b01ddc19dcf9c1d1a7ee1151173187f8ef5842ff
Ready
⬇️

TV Box → Download Box + NAS

Idle box + USB drive = download box + home NAS: aria2 (magnet/BT/direct), Samba share, scan-to-add — boots into the panel.

  • Download
  • NAS
  • QR
Download (.zip · 348K)
SHA-256 checksumd49080887612ecd9b1a1d4e21799349c9213b5b22ea4315de7ac6b0a61f2cb4b
Ready
🛡️

TV Box → Ad-blocking DNS

Idle box = a LAN DNS (AdGuard Home): ad/tracker blocking for every device, configured once for the whole home.

  • Ad-block
  • DNS
  • Bypass router
Download (.zip · 280K)
SHA-256 checksum7afbc5af738ca76da4263725e5270b5739cc84720a2baff61e28a1d4cc885881
✨

More kits coming

Download center, media center, travel router… Tell us what you want repurposed on GitHub.

View all →

Every .zip includes: install files (apk / scripts / one-click install) + Install-Guide.pdf (plus md/txt/html) + developer docs (with source). Unzip and go.

Hardware & MCUESP32 / STM32

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Source
🕹️

ESP32-P4 Physical Joystick Pad

Build a real gamepad from an ESP32-P4 + analog joystick, relayed to the TV-box arcade. Short press = A, long press = exit.

  • ESP32
  • Relay
Details →
Source
🔦

ESP32-P4 Laser Tripwire

Laser/photo sensor + ESP32-P4 detects beam interruption and shows it live on a web page — anti-theft or counting.

  • ESP32
  • Sensor
Details →
Source
👆

STM32 Knock / Tilt Sensor

STM32F103 Blue Pill starter: reads a knock sensor and a tilt switch, reports over serial with web visualization.

  • STM32
  • Starter
Details →

Open-source reposall source is open

GitHub · OpenHWLabcom →
🐈‍⬛

All repos

Follow OpenHWLabcom — more projects coming.

Open GitHub →

How it works

  1. Download the kit .zip you want and unzip it.
  2. Read the included Install-Guide.pdf (illustrated, ~30–60 min).
  3. Connect the box (enable ADB) and run install/one-click-install.sh <box-ip>, or follow the guide manually.
Requires: a rooted Android TV box with ADB enabled.
We do not flash firmware or touch system partitions — uninstall the apk / re-enable disabled apps to fully revert.
Read the guides →

FAQ

Does it phone home / upload my data?

Everything runs locally on the device, nothing goes to the cloud. Only features you set up yourself (file transfer, remote view, alerts) use your own network.

Which boxes are supported?

Rooted Android TV boxes (Android 4.4+, armv7 / arm64). Tested on HiSilicon Hi3798MV100 and ZTE ZX296715. Other models will likely work.

Is it free?

Completely free and open source (MIT).

What if I mess it up?

No flashing and no partition changes — just uninstall the apk / re-enable the apps you disabled.

Can I contribute / build on it?

Absolutely. Each kit ships a developer-docs/source folder; the repos host source and guides too. Issues and PRs welcome.