iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I'm determined to figure out how to do a 4-wire XY capacitive sensing trackpad. This is attempt 3.

A grid of red, yellow, green, and blue rectangles. The red rectangles get larger as you move to the right, the yellow get larger as you move to the left, the blue get larger as you move to the top, and the green get larger as you move to the bottom.

A render of a PCB using different sized rectangles to make up a capacitive sensing surface.

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Happy Pi day & Happy 5th Birthday to Piper Make! @playpiper.bsky.social We're still going strong and it's still one of my favorite tools to use personally. I believe deeply in the mission of our company - to bring fun, quality STEM/STEAM education to kids through stories and exploration.

A chromebook showing the Piper Make website behind educational kits made from laser-cut wood and electronics, including a 8x8 RGB LED matrix, a walking robot, a rover robot, a Hot Wheels ramp with sensors, a breadboard with LEDs and a Raspberry Pi Pico, a houseplant with a soil sensor, a finger-clamp pulse sensor, and a miniature house with a solar panel on top.

000

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

It's up for sale! Grab yours today! The ATTINY PRO is a small-but-capable ATtiny3217 development board with a form-factor similar to a Pro Micro. It's like the original Arduino board, but with the much better peripherals of the Tiny AVR 1 and 2 series. www.tindie.com/products/mat...

A small printed circuit board with a USB micro jack, a ch340 ic, a switch, an attiny3217 ic, and a 4 pin just connector.

A Pinout diagram for the ATTINY PRO development board, showing power, ground, port pin, digital, analog, programming, and special function pin locations.

161

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Hi Electronics Bluesky! I made a new module for my Tindie store (and honestly, for me to use too!) It's a dev board based on the ATTINY 3217. It has an onboard CH340 for both programming via UPDI and for UART<>USB. I love these chips as I2C peripherals. Tindie.com/matzelectronics

The back side of a small printed circuit board with labels for each pin, including pins 0 through 7, 10 through 17, and ground, 3v, 5v, and raw power pins.

140

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

New Tindie.com/stores/matzelectronics products in development! These are all capacitive-touch PCBs. Left one is a track pad, middle is a keypad, and right is an iPod-style rotary wheel.

3 stacks of printed circuit boards. The left most stack is green and square. Is the middle stack is a numeric keypad. The right stack is small and circular.

170

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

DOH! Forgot to check the box to remove the order number. Ugh.

A stack of black circular printed circuit boards with an order number.

010

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Trying to design an input stage for an ESP-32 based scope. Haven't had to bust out my own scope in a while. It amazes me how quickly this analog stuff can get complicated! Just trying to attenuate and bias a range from +/- 5V to 0 to 3.3v, and I'm 4 op-amps deep.

An oscilloscope connected to a breadboard that contains several op-amps and resistors.

230

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Trying out my not-yet-finished mechanical keyboard this evening. It's my first mechanical keeb...it's going to take some getting used to, but I think I'll like it! Not sold on using CircuitPython yet. A couple of weird issues that I have had to work around. I think I eventually land on Arduino.

4161

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

18 transistors and a boost converter later, and it's working! I wanted a display with large digits and the dots in a clock config. It took a bit to source one & the company sold me 25 as a sample order. I didn't read the datasheet carefully enough. The segments need 6V and the dots need 3V.

A breadboard with a large number of jumper wires, transistors, and resistors, connected to a small microcontroller and a boost converter module, all to drive a 4 digit 7 segment display with the number 0143 glowing.

130

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Making progress on the hardware hacker keyboard! The 128x32 OLED screen will fit well along the top row. I just ordered the shell, which will have integrated stabilizers for the large keycaps. Still finalizing the controller and USB hub PCBA. That will connect using an FPC cable.

000

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I had a lot of fun designing the keyboard replacement for my Apple IIc (which you can buy on Tindie.com!). I might just be hooked on this custom keyboard thing...so I'm thinking of building a "hardware hacker" keeb. A modified 1800 layout with an OLED screen, a USB Hub, and voltmeter. Thoughts?

A rendering of a PCBA of a custom hardware hacking keyboard.

560

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Setup for tomorrow's webinar...it's not stupid if it works, right?

A messy desk with a ring light and a web camera pointed at a breadboard with a raspberry pi pico module.

020

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

Here's a stack for the B form factor. I'll send some for the Zero and A form factor as well so you can incorporate them. Then just let me know how many more you need!

A raspberry pi 3 sandwiched between two cut pieces of clear acrylic, with a stack of addition cut pieces of acrylic behind it.

100

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

Doing radio stuff. Trying to make i2c radio modules. Making slow progress, but my brain hurts.

A breadboarded raspberry pi pico connected to a custom esp32 module via i2c.

060

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 15/09/2024

Late to the party! Latest project is a replacement keyboard for early Apple IIc's. I do product development (HW/SW) for playpiper.com

A partially assembled replacement keyboard for an Apple IIc keyboard highlighting the shift and return keys.

An Apple IIc computer with the top removed and a replacement keyboard installed next to the original keyboard

020

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 12/09/2024

I wanted to provide an update: I got the PCBs in, and everything looked great until I discovered that I swapped the UP and DOWN arrow keys. Ugh! I'm ordering new boards on Friday. Fingers crossed that everything works on them!

Back side of an assembled early Apple IIc keyboard

A fully assembled replacement keyboard for an early Apple IIc computer

010

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 02/09/2024

I'm working on a replacement keyboard for early Apple IIc's. Is there are market for this as a DIY kit?

Picture of a prototype replacement keyboard fitted into an Apple IIc computer.

120

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 03/08/2024

Played the daily puzzles on flow for 365 days straight! If anything, it's good practice routing PCBs ;)

060