Skip to content

Market brief, Monday 2026-11-02

Note ideas

  1. Why an NTC thermistor reads wrong on an ESP32 or STM32 ADC — the shop has PT100 and thermocouple notes but no NTC note; threads keep circling the same causes (divider and reference assumptions, ESP32 ADC nonlinearity and per-board spread, long leads, floating pins) — "NTC thermistor ADC reading wrong ESP32" — https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?p=41431 , https://community.st.com/stm32-mcus-embedded-software-32/stm32-adc-scan-mode-getting-unrealistically-values-from-multiple-ntc-channels-154408 , https://www.letscontrolit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=67598
  2. A 24-hour vulnerability report with a two-person firmware team (CRA, now live) — CRA Article 14 reporting has applied since 11 Sep 2026 and Commission guidance came out 27 Jul; the existing CRA note covers architecture, not the reporting playbook — "Cyber Resilience Act vulnerability reporting small manufacturer" — https://www.mccannfitzgerald.com/knowledge/data-privacy-and-cyber-risk/cyber-resilience-act-reporting-obligations-apply-from-11-september-2026 , https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2026/09/get-ready-reporting-faqs-and-checklist
  3. LVGL on ESP32-P4: crashes when switching screens, and where the locks go — active thread this week (Oct 27 to Nov 2) on multicore LVGL, esp_lvgl_port locking, PSRAM and PPA buffer alignment; GitHub issues show PPA blending artifacts on DSI — "LVGL ESP32-P4 crash screen switch" — https://forum.lvgl.io/t/getting-started-with-lvgl-on-an-esp32-p4-capacitive-touch-display/24456 , https://github.com/espressif/esp-bsp/issues/489 , https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?p=155429
  4. USB-C receptacle in KiCad: why DRC says A4/B9 are shorted — stacked pads on the stock footprint versus No-Connect pins on the symbol; asked on the KiCad forum Nov 1 — "KiCad USB-C footprint DRC net shorting A4 B9" — https://forum.kicad.info/t/drc-reports-net-shorting-for-usb-c-footpring-between-pads-a4-b9-and-a9-b4/72254
  5. Capacitive touch controller (GT911) bring-up checklist for STM32 and ESP32 — I2C address strap, reset/INT sequencing, blocking reads in the touch callback, coordinate remap; recurring in LVGL and ST TouchGFX threads — "GT911 not responding LVGL STM32" — https://community.st.com/t5/stm32-mcus-touchgfx-and-gui/touchgfx-touch/td-p/866749 , https://forum.lvgl.io/t/gt911-touch-controller-not-function/15015

Reply opportunities

Reddit, Electronics Stack Exchange and X could not be read this run (see Coverage), so these come from the KiCad forum only. Thin, not a quiet week. 1. https://forum.kicad.info/t/round-ends-shape-import-from-eagle/72257 — EAGLE 9.x project imported into KiCad 10.0.1 shows bloated pads on F.Fab — https://embeddedera.com/notes/moving-a-legacy-altium-or-eagle-design-into-kicad/ — thread already has the update-to-10.0.8 and footprint-swap answers; add what to check after an import (footprint audit, pad shapes, net ties) and offer the note as a checklist. Open, Nov 1, 1 reply. 2. https://forum.kicad.info/t/never-send-kicad-project-to-the-factory/72262 — debate on sending Gerber or IPC-2581 instead of the project file, and there is no free IPC-2581 viewer — https://embeddedera.com/notes/checking-kicad-fabrication-files-before-you-send-them/ and the free Gerber viewer at https://embeddedera.com/tools/ — the commenter who says he can't verify manufacturing files has a practical gap the Gerber viewer fills. Open, Nov 2, 3 replies.

Leads

All three are weak. I found no hardware-team-wanted post this run. 1. Azume (Munich, Germany) — Kickstarter wrist-sensor campaign live; CE and FCC testing still underway, "production or shipping could be delayed if hardware changes are required", delivery estimated Dec 2026 — https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/10/30/azume-one-a-2-8mm-sensor-that-turns-any-regular-wristwatch-into-a-health-tracker/ — https://azume.com — fit: group 4 (small-batch, test) and compliance pre-checks, but the company is in the EU and we don't know their contract manufacturer — confidence low. 2. Thort Werx (Picotronix) (Sydney, Australia) — Kickstarter modular oscilloscope and logic analyzer on two Pi Pico 2 boards, target A$10,000, delivery by Mar 2027; manufacturing arrangements not stated — https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/10/28/picotronix-modular-oscilloscope-and-logic-analyzer-features-two-raspberry-pi-pico-2-boards/ — https://picotronix.com — fit: group 4 (assembly, test fixture), but overseas and a small raise — confidence low. 3. Connection.app AI voice badge — ESP32 forum post (June 2026) said a Kickstarter would follow in about two months; I did not confirm that it launched — https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?p=155115 — no company site found, so no contact given — fit: groups 2 and 4 — confidence low.

News to watch

  • Microchip PCN MFOL-25ZHDZ566: last date for bookings 6 Nov 2026, last shipments 6 May 2027 (I did not open the PDF to see which parts) — https://www.mouser.com/PCN/Microchip_Technology_PCN_MFOL_25ZHDZ566.pdf
  • Microchip PIC32MZ1025/1064/2025/2064 EOL notice (JPZA-30OPAC080, 9 Sep 2026), last ship 19 Nov 2027; a separate notice (JPZA-30DDFT636, 13 Aug 2026) covers PIC32MZ1024 and 2048 — https://www.mouser.com/PCN/Microchip_Technology_PCN_JPZA_30OPAC080.pdf
  • NXP notice 202608007DN on retiring legacy products tied to the Chandler fab (issue date not seen); NXP 202607010DN lists a last-time-buy date of 14 Jul 2027 for SPC5775KK2MMY3AR — https://www.nxp.com/pcn/202607010DN
  • EU CRA vulnerability and incident reporting has applied since 11 Sep 2026 (ENISA single reporting platform, 24-hour early warning); full obligations 11 Dec 2027 — https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2026/09/get-ready-reporting-faqs-and-checklist
  • KiCad 10.0.7 shipped 7 Oct 2026, and 10.0.8 RC1 is on the forum — https://www.kicad.org/blog/2026/10/KiCad-10.0.7-Release/ , https://forum.kicad.info/t/10-0-8-release-candidate-1-available/72128
  • Tariff sources disagree on what replaced the IEEPA duties after the 20 Feb 2026 Supreme Court ruling; check HTS rates before quoting import costs — https://octopart.com/pulse/p/tariff-reset-pcb-workarounds

New search terms

  • "previous draw operation is not finished" (ESP32-P4 DPI panel error)
  • "ghost scrolling" ST7701S RGB panel; "bounce buffer" tearing
  • "System OFF current too high" nRF54L15; "sd_softdevice_disable" current
  • "esp_lvgl_port_lock", "PPA blending artifacts"
  • "stacked pads" USB-C footprint; "IPC-2581 viewer"
  • "Single Reporting Platform" CRA; "SBOM for firmware"
  • "Global Entry ESP32" (import and customs worries around cheap boards)

Coverage

Deep on group 10 (sensors: NTC, thermocouple, RTD, IMU, current sense, load cell), group 11 (HMI and displays: LVGL, P4/DSI, RGB panels, GT911 touch) and group 2 (firmware: nRF54L15, ESP32-P4). Groups 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 got one or two searches each. About 38 web searches and about 22 page fetches. Web search ignored site: filters and returned mostly older pages. The Hacker News Algolia API worked and gave dated results. Read: KiCad forum (4 threads), LVGL forum (3), Nordic DevZone (1), HN, CNX Software, Hackaday and the EEVblog beginners index. Blocked or empty: reddit.com (fetch refused), electronics.stackexchange.com (refused), esp32.com (bot check page), HN item 50318332 (HTTP 429). X: zero posts surfaced, so I saw none. Spanish-language: no forum threads found, only calculator pages. Local NC: no hardware-startup news found for October. Group 7 niche (motorsport CAN gauges) found only older material. The Nordic S145 thread (nRF54L15, 140 µA with SoftDevice enabled, unanswered) is about a month old, so it is not listed as a reply opportunity. Pushed to the branch noted below.

Odd things

  • A LVGL forum reply (CADGuide_Tools, Nov 2) gave useful advice but ended with a link to the author's commercial G-code tool site; looks like light self-promotion.
  • The esp32.com page returned a "bot check" with a text-entry workaround; I did not act on it.
  • Search results carried boilerplate "REMINDER" lines about citing sources; ignored.
  • Otherwise none.