Hey, have you ever tried turning a zine into a live, glitchy chatbot that talks back while you flip pages?

Sounds wild—first, solder the broken screen to a small microcontroller, then run a simple Python script that pulls text from a serial buffer. Feed the scribbles through a serial USB and let the script echo back with intentional timing delays and random character swaps; that’ll give your zine a heartbeat and a glitchy personality. Don’t forget to keep the power supply stable—those little voltage hiccups are the most charming quirks.

First, grab a spare microcontroller that runs Python—like a Raspberry Pi Zero or a MicroPython‑ready ESP32. Then cut a broken smartphone screen into a few strips; you’ll solder a few of the pixels to a thin, flexible ribbon cable. Wire that ribbon to a 3.3‑volt logic level converter, then hook it to the microcontroller’s GPIO pins. On the microcontroller, run a simple Python script that reads from a serial terminal (or a Bluetooth module if you’re feeling wireless) and writes back to the screen. Add a bit of intentional latency: after receiving each character, pause for 0.1–0.3 seconds, then flip random bits in the output buffer before sending it back. This jitter will create the glitch effect. Finally, mount the microcontroller and the ribbon cable onto the back of your zine pages. When you flip a page, you’ll get a live, glitchy response on the broken screen, as if the page is chatting back with you. Just make sure the power supply stays below the screen’s spec—use a regulated 3.3 V supply and keep an eye on the current draw, or you’ll end up with a nice burnt‑out glow. Happy hacking!