Tindie

I’ve recently been designing myself a custom business card PCB with an ATtiny3216, and I was originally planning on using a standard SSD1306 OLED display — until I saw this incredibly tiny display that is absolutely perfect for small projects like this! Like most standard OLED modules available off-the-shelf, it’s controlled using I2C, which is nice as it reduces pin count and routing issues on tiny PCBs.

With a 0.32″ diagonal display size, and overall dimensions of 11.5 x 11.5 x 2.4mm, it still has the crisp, super-high contrast look of bigger OLED displays while using less board space and less power! If you want to add a rotary encoder, they even offer a version of this display with one attached.

Besides projects like my business card, they suggest some other great uses for the display: miniature video game handhelds, IoT device status displays, wearable art & jewelry… but I’m sure our Tindie community will have no trouble thinking up cool ways to use this display. It actually is a descendant of its bigger sibling, the 0.42″ Miniature OLED which might be a better fit depending on your use case.

There are libraries available to drive the display, and all it needs is 3.3V, GND, and I2C. Check out the video below for a demonstration and to get a grasp on just how tiny it is!

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So over on this side of the pond (UK) $1.60 wouldn’t buy you a stamp to send a letter, and it certainly wouldn’t get you far on public transport or much of a meal. It’s quite astonishing however what it will buy you in electronics terms. Take for example this Bluetooth BLE Serial UART module!

While I’m not sure what the “Genetical” part of its title means, it looks like a huge amount of technology in a tiny package for very little coin. Based on the RF-Star RS02A1-B system on chip, it should be pretty capable as this is a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ device clocked at 48MHz.

It offers low power consumption while promising decent transmission distance. There is onboard power and RF filtering to hopefully reduce noise and there is a choice of using either the onboard PCB antenna or using the IPEX connector to add your own external antenna.

Supporting the BLE V5.0 stack, the device has 2 UART interfaces as well as I2C. There are also 11 configurable general-purpose IO pins. It’s worth looking over the product page for the frankly astonishing amount of stuff this device has, IR, DMA, Quadrature encoding… the list goes on.

It comes fully assembled with a castellated header; it would be pretty straightforward to integrate this with pin headers or to design custom PCB footprints. It’s a lot of power packed into a tiny package!

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E-ink/E-paper displays are amazing. Super crisp images, high visibility inside or outdoors, and that super efficient “only needs power when changing the image” efficiency for long battery life. The downsides, well, they can be hard to incorporate and connect into projects and they can be somewhat expensive components. The EPDiy V7 E-paper controller seeks to address both these issues.

Cleverly the EPDiy project targets E-ink displays sold as replacements for existing e-readers. There is a lot of technical reading and information across the project pages about what models of e-ink display this board can drive. Still, if you’re looking to get going as quickly as possible there is a list of tested displays available to view here.

We keep mentioning e-readers and e-ink, but really there are no limits as to what you could build with this controller. Indeed, e-ink is fabulous for all manner of displays and project dashboards. Many examples and ideas are spread across the documentation and the wider reading back on the original EPDiy repository. To further help you realise your dream display there is also a stack of relevant 3D models for cases and covers for this controller board and other often-used additional components.

If you’ve wanted to play around with e-ink but balked at the complexity or expense, definitely take a look at the product page and check out the world of cheap e-ink displays!

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A few years ago, for unknown reasons, the original progenitors of the Project RE:birth website disappeared, removed all their resources and left behind a community looking for FM synth support to listen to those classic FM tunes. Well, the SPFM Lite has come to resuscitate the project. The goal is to ensure the long-term survival of the hardware, and to facilitate the community of FM synth enthusiasts getting their hands on quality synth chips!

With these boards, instead of using a software emulation of the chip to listen to/create FM synth music, you can send the data directly to the real hardware to get the perfect recreation of the original sound. The number of chips this project supports is incredible, and with this board and its backplane extender, you can have as many modules as you want. The store also lists a whole bunch of compatible cards, but you can of course spin your own.

There’s quite a lot of available software that can take advantage of the hardware synth chips, so make sure to take a good look at the product page to see what formats and chips are supported by each. Check out how it sounds in the video below!

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There are lots of cool retro computer-inspired kits going around these days. The Commander X16 is popular, but the OtterX 8-bit Retro Computer Kit makes it affordable and easy to assemble! Fully X-16 compatible, with all the bells and whistles you’d expect, but the surface mount components come pre-soldered, so all you need to assemble is the through-hole stuff and you’ve got a great, retro-inspired computer!

Featuring an 8MHz 65C02 processor and over 512K of RAM, this computer can bring some serious horsepower to retro programs. It can even be upgraded to the 65C816, the 8/16-bit hybrid 6502 that can run even faster. With a Mini-ITX form factor, finding a case isn’t difficult, and with 2 SNES-compatible controller ports it’s easy to find quality controllers for gaming!

You do need to supply a power supply. It’s designed to accept an ATX supply, but a correctly sized PicoATX would likely do the job and save a lot of space. Retro music is covered with a YM2151 OPM sound chip for classic FM music and sound effects. And, to top it off, it even supports IEC serial devices, so your Commodore 1541 or your SD2IEC should work flawlessly for file storage.

If you’ve ever wanted to get into the retro computing scene, but also want to build a kit, this is a great option. The amount of engineering and the density of the chips on this board show that they packed in every single feature they possibly could!

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In a world of flow state movements, contact juggling, club swinging and poi, staff twirling is a very cool art. If you want to bring your staff work to a whole new level of awesome perhaps you might consider this kit to build a POV (Persistence Of Vision) enabled staff.

The kit comprises of all the electronic components you’ll need to create a POV staff. You’ll need to supply hardware for the actual staff but links are included to providers selling the correct polycarbonate tubes etc. On paper, this doesn’t look like a build suitable for those who have never soldered but after reading the amazingly details build guide, coupled with reading the feedback comments on the Tindie product page, it appears absolute beginners have succeeded in building this project successfully.

The POVStaff uses both polycarbonate tubing and large wooden dowels as its chassis structure. It should be rugged and have the heft and balance of other staves so your flow staff skills should transfer well.  Once assembled the user guide documentation steps through basic operation and charging and also includes instructions on how to create and upload your own images for the staff to project. In this latest version of the POVStaff, you can upload images and interact with the staff by connecting to the staff’s own WiFi network which hosts a small web interface.

We can’t wait to see some more pictures and videos of people using these!

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I love my Prusa Mini+ 3D printer. It’s been a tireless workhorse on many projects. I have to say that despite many years of 3D printing I’m still fascinated by them and can lose vast amounts of time sitting hypnotised by their wondrous movements. For those of you less enamoured and more sensible, there are numerous options for remote monitoring your 3D printers with the fabulous Octoprint leading the way.  Recently Prusa has launched Prusa Connect which offers a heap of remote control functionality with, of course, the option of adding cameras. The PrintCam is a neat camera add-on designed to work specifically with Prusa Connect and it’s super simple to install and get up and running.

The PrintCam kit is a WiFi-enabled camera running at 640*480 resolution. While 640*480 might not sound a lot in terms of modern camera resolution, it’s plenty to check that your printer isn’t creating a spaghetti mess! The PrintCam assembly is powered via a cable that sits between the USB socket and the USB drive and, looking at the product video below, it looks incredibly simple to install, instantly powering up as the printer boots.

The camera can be mounted behind the Prusa Mini display but the kit includes a neat mount to attach the camera in an enclosure to the X-axis stepper motor. It gives a clear platform and nozzle view in either position and it’s perfect for quickly checking your print continues well in your absence.

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Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and experience the true brilliance of an idea. This Picomate Kit for the Raspberry Pi Pico falls into this camp both functionally and aesthetically!

At first glance, we see it’s a panelised, assembled PCB meaning there are a stack of modules connected together that can be snapped out of the frame for use. However, don’t snap them out just yet! There is a main adapter panel that will receive a Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico W and it breaks out the Pico pins to a collection of Grove connectors. This main adaptor board also has a connector for you to connect the included 3* AA battery holder to power up your board.

The main adapter is next to a large prototyping area with the standard 2.54mm pitch array of holes. Then there are 12 modules, 6 per side, each hosting a different accessory. There’s a lot of variety within these modules: an RGB LED, a PIR sensor, buttons, an accelerometer and more. There are MicroPython modules available for all the sensors and outputs; you just need to add your Pico and possibly some batteries to get you up and running with this kit.

We were already impressed enough at this point. Then we noticed that at each panel intersection, there are silkscreen labels for all GPIO pins. Yes, ALL the modules are pre-connected to the main adaptor and therefore the Pico on the panel. This means that without using any of the included Grove connectors, you can control each module from the Pico.

If you want to then incorporate one of the modules into a project, you can break apart the modules and wire them up using the Grove connector cables included in the kit. We can’t help but imagine though that if you’ve used the panel as assembled it might seem hard to break it up!

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A popular type of project for the venerable Raspberry Pi Zero is to turn it into a USB gadget. From smart USB drive to keystroke injector there’s a lot of fun to be had. In its standard form, the Pi Zero is outfitted with USB Micro B connectors and you’ll need a USB OTG type adaptor to get a bare Zero up and running as a USB device. A popular approach is to add an expansion board with a USB A connector. There are a few variants out in the wilds but the 52Pi USB Expansion Board caught our eye for a couple of reasons.

In the kit, there is a PCB with the USB A connector and this board bolts to the Pi Zero/Zero W using the regular mount holes. We like that the PCB runs the full length of the underside of the board making it quite a rugged little unit. The USB connection is made using small spring pogo pins on board the PCB which align with the relevant exposed pads on the Zero. It’s an approach used by lots of adaptor boards and works well in our experience.

Also supplied are two laser-cut clear acrylic pieces which sandwich the PCB and Zero. When all bolted together the correct spacing is created for the pogo pin connectors. Access to all the pins and the original USB and HDMI sockets on the Pi Zero is maintained meaning you can use it in any way you might imagine!

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To celebrate the astonishing milestone of 10 million produced boards the clever folks at Arduino released a limited edition miniature version of the evergreen Arduino UNO. The full-size UNO is the de-facto standard classic Arduino board that many people cut their teeth on — unless you’re old like me and came in at the Duemilanove! Each of the beautifully crafted individually numbered Mini UNO Limited Editions comes with a letter from the Arduino founders. However, as a mini version, what do you do if you actually want to use it in a project? The Arduino Uno Mini Limited Edition PCB Shield may be exactly what you’re looking for.

It’s a reasonably straightforward PCB shield that fits the footprint of the UNO Mini perfectly. It has a prototyping space made up of a bank of through-hole pads on a 2.54mm/0.1″ grid. There is a space for a StemmaQT 4-pin connector and a footprint for a JST PH 2-pin connector for a power input. The Arduino Mini Limited editions shrinks the regular UNO size by using 1.27mm header spacings for the IO pins and, of course, these are also found on the PCB shield.

You’ll need to add the connector components and header pins separately as this project is supplied as PCB only. It’s a great way of putting your UNO mini to use without having to solder to or make other permanent changes to your collectable Arduino board. Check out the Arduino UNO Mini Limited edition over on the official Arduino page.

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