iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I have a laser and lots of scrap acrylic. If you can do an SVG or DXF, I can cut you an acrylic piece.

M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I try really hard not to have conspiracy brain. But I can’t help but think Walmart knows the source (or at least has a good idea) of the Cyclospora outbreak. They have gobs of data about who bought what food and then later bought items to deal with the diarrhea.

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Reposted by M@ M@z (he/him)

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

The GOP Platform: Protect the fetus; starve the child. Honor the soldier; abandon the veteran. Enrich the corporation; fleece the worker. Quote the Bible; ignore the verses.

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Reposted by M@ M@z (he/him)

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I often say that the fight for democracy is the fight of our generation. But let me be clear, if you aren’t fighting for Black voting rights right now then you aren’t really fighting for democracy.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

I'm starting to think the MAHA/Wellness mindset is just lazy doctoring. A good doctor works with you to treat/solve what is ailing you. Wellness is about what you're doing (or not - blame). While that can help, it's not going to work for everything. And in some cases can be outright deadly.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

My FAVORITE thing to do as an elementary principal was read Fox in Socks to the kiddos ;)

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Ugh autocorrect... changjiang connectors

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

...I sell a keyboard replacement kit in my Tindoe store: www.tindie.com/products/mat... Check it out! I love seeing classic tech brought back to life

tindie.com

Apple IIc Keyboard by MatzElectronics on Tindie

Replacement Keyboard for an early (Model A2S4000) Apple IIc Computer

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Happy 50th Apple! I grew up with an Apple //c, then one of the cool transparent Macs, then one of the first Powerbooks in college. We now have M1 and M4s. Every one has just been a solid, dependable computer. #retrocomputing I still have the //c. If you have one and want to restore it... 1/2

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Do you just need them soldered up?

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Hi! I'm looking for broken Apple II keyboards. I successfully designed a replacement keyboard for the Apple IIc, and I'd like to do the same for other vintage computers. Is anyone willing to let me "rent" a keyboard so I can get measurements? I'd happily send $$ or a prototype replacement.

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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.

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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.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

OMG yes! The ladies at 7-11 know my usual by heart. Two Buffalo chicken rollers and a taco taquito.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

My kiddo has a super restricted diet for medical reasons. I just paid $137 for a single bag of groceries. Fuck this.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I love the ATTINY 16xx and 32xx chips! UPDI programming is super easy, Arduino support is great, and good balance of features, size, GPIO, etc. Also inexpensive ;) I use them a lot in sensor modules as i2c peripherals. Shameless plug: I also sell an ATTINY 3217 dev board on my Tindie store.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I used to look so much like this guy, my students in the early 2000's thought it was me ;)

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I put one side of the handle of the crimp tool in a small vice. Then I can use both hands to align the wire and end, then smash the crimp tool closed.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

I would have never thought of this. Do you glue this to a container with water/liquid?

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Also, if you are into creating 8-bit games, this is a great way to add the ability to connect an HID device like a USB mouse, keyboard, gamepad, or joystick.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

I'm selling this breakout board $5.50 right now: www.tindie.com/products/mat... I've got a new version in the works, but I need to sell of the small amount of stock I have left of the current version. If you've never played with the CH559 MCU before, it's kind of fun ;) 1/2

tindie.com

CH559 USB Host Breakout Board by MatzElectronics on Tindie

Breakout Board for the CH559 USB Host IC

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Oh I had this and loved it so much! I can hear "mar-ee-o paint!" In my head!

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Oof! I feel that pain! Good luck sir!

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

It's a jig for programming circuit modules. You load a panel of them into the bottom, pull the handle down to press the conductive spring pins into the modules, and it programs and tests 8 at a time with the push of a single button. It's a lot to put one of these together, but its a huge timesaver!

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

That I will try for sure. I was referring to modifying the code so it behaves as a websocket server instead of a telnet server.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I might have to try and dive in and see if I can make that work...but this is very much on the edge of (probably past) what I know how to do ;)

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

This is amazing! This is the closest thing I have seen to getting a serial connection on an iOS device. iOS doesn't allow WebSerial, so I've been searching for a workaround on and off for some time. If this was a WebSocket server instead of a telnet server, I think it would work. 1/2

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Hi everyone! Shameless plug time - I've restocked the Apple //c replacement keyboard kits! You can purchase yours on my Tindie store here: www.tindie.com/products/mat...

tindie.com

Apple IIc Keyboard by MatzElectronics on Tindie

Replacement Keyboard for an early (Model A2S4000) Apple IIc Computer

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Reposted by M@ M@z (he/him)

Jens Scheidtmann @grimaldi.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

🧪 science feed

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I did something similar once but for an SSD1331 display and in Javascript. The beauty was that Javascript and C share similar syntax, so it was stupidly easy to port the C driver to a web-based simulator.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

I LOVED our Chrysler minivan. It got totaled when an ice chunk that fell off a semi in front of us ripped a hole in the oil pan. That thing hauled just about anything we ever needed it to, and with a small utility trailer it was unstoppable.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

I feel incredibly fortunate to work in that sliver of overlap. But the economy is stacked against my company because 1) we don't really do AI, 2) our primary customers are schools, and 3) we assemble and mfg in the US, but many of our parts are imported (tariffs).

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

If you have a non-stick skillet, you can just use that on the stove. I have an old one just for this that I don't use for food. It's not perfect, but it works. Watch it closely and lift it up slowly from the heat once the solder wets. Its better than hot air for the really fine-pitch stuff.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I mean, why not write some code to filter out the "please", and give a canned response to "thank you"? If it uses too many resources maybe just do something intelligent about it? But instead, you choose to whine and tell people to be less kind? FFS.

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Reposted by M@ M@z (he/him)

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 31/03/2025

Everyone needs to understand what Elon and DOGE are building, an AI driven panopticon that will know everything about you and will be used to ensure compliance with their fascist agenda. They are creating a unified database of everything the federal government has on every single American. 🧵1/

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

I haven't tested it, but it should work well. ;) Plus my board uses the larger memory and larger pin count version of the ATtiny, so you've got room to stretch!

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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.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Thanks! It was truly serendipity. And with all of the supply chain issues at the time, it was about the only thing that had consistent stock, which turned out to be a huge bonus.

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M@ M@z (he/him) @matzelectronics.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

The Raspberry Pi Pico came out just over 4 yrs ago. At the time, we had shelved a project we were building - it was good but we didn't love the boards we were using. When the Pico came out, we brought the project back & worked fast to finish it. Happy Pi Day / 4th Birthday make.playpiper.com !

make.playpiper.com

Piper Make

Piper Make is a browser-based editor with included lessons, tutorials, and projects designed to introduce Python on the Raspberry Pi Pico. Piper Make uses Blockly and has lessons that introduce coding...

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