Tindie

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third week, we’re reminded that Tindie is an international community, and several of our sellers are based where fighting is heaviest. One of these sellers is Ultimate Robotics, and they shared their experience of the crisis with everyone on Hackaday.io.

Ultimate Robotics, a small team of four that manufactures the uEGC, a small, Open Source, low-power ECG, is based in Kyiv, Ukraine. They shared their story about the Russian invasion which began with explosions early in the morning.

The Ultimate Robotics team at first decided the best course of action would be to evacuate to Lviv, more than 450km away from Kyiv in western Ukraine. They packed up their entire shop, including reels of components and a 3D printer. After a harrowing train ride and two days of volunteering in Lviv, the Ultimate Robotics team decided the fight was in Kyiv and headed back during the night.

In line with our parent company Siemens, Tindie has stopped new business in Russia as of last week, and Belarus as of this week. Stores in these countries have been put on hold, and Tindie is unable to take orders to these destinations.

Tindie features sellers worldwide, and Ultimate Robotics is not the only Tindie seller in Ukraine. TeHyBug, AG RF Engineering & Consulting, Security Arts, iotdevices, smartlight.me, and others are all based in Ukraine and we hope for the safety of them and their communities. We have also heard from sellers in Russia who don’t support the invasion and will face hardships from the sanctions imposed.

If you would like to help, some of our Ukrainian sellers suggest a local non-profit, a donation to support Ukraine’s citizens severely affected by the war, or one of several other ways those of us outside Ukraine can help.

Keep Reading ›

Stand out from the pack with the brilliantly designed CutieCat by n°Garage. Featuring a gorgeous matte black and white PCB that houses two bright green ‘cat-eye’ LEDs, this little kitten comes to life with a flick of a switch!

The CutieCat is the perfect backpack or clothing accessory, fitting easily to any material with a pin on it’s tail. The cat itself takes a cute and playful prowling pose – with its tail raised and paws ahead, ready to strike! The LEDs in the eyes are a brilliant shade of green, ‘purr’fectly portraying a pair of bright green cat eyes.  It has a lead-free HASL finish which looks really sharp.

Powered by a tiny CR2302 coin battery, this badge is easy to keep ready and powered on for a long time. Its small form factor means that it is perfect as an accessory, and the PCB has been cleverly designed to keep the electronic backbone out of sight.

n°Garage is a maker based out of Calgary in Canada, willing to ship worldwide. They’ve been with us on Tindie since 2019 and have a strong history in creating beautiful badges like this CutieCat. If you want to see even more unique creations, check out their Tindie storefront!

Keep Reading ›

I was given a BBC Micro:bit as a gift a while back, and I found it really fun to play with! Even though my experience level is way above the group they are marketing it towards, it’s still a really well-designed and powerful development board. The only downside was that the GPIO were broken out only to a card edge connector, and no expansion board came with the device.

Well, thankfully this awesome little board from SB Components provides exactly what you need to take full advantage of the huge number of GPIO the Micro:bit has. It also breaks out a few extra pins in the same format as the original board itself — large pads with a banana plug hole in them for quick testing and prototyping.

If you’re thinking about getting a Micro:bit for a young hacker, then definitely pick up one of these breakout boards to go along with it. It significantly increases the range of projects one can undertake! If you want something that plugs directly into a breadboard, they also offer a version that plugs directly into a standard breadboard for quick prototyping and learning how to build simple circuits.

This is a must-have accessory, and thankfully it’s compatible with both v1 and v2 of the Micro:bit, which is good news for me as I was early on the bandwagon and my v1 can now fully flex its electronic muscles!

Keep Reading ›

We’ve all done it — you flash your device, and suddenly it stops communicating. Scratching your head, you realize — oops! You set the reset pin as GPIO! Now the code running on the device is locked in — or is it? Thankfully, AVR designers foresaw this horrendous tragedy and included an override mechanism: high-voltage programming. This nifty little tool from Canadian designer microprogrammers can recover the newer generations of ATtiny devices using the new AVR 1 cores.

AVR devices have supported high-voltage programming (called HVPP in AVR parlance) for a long time. When the new AVR 1-based devices were released, they used a different programming interface than the traditional AVRISP, the new UPDI interface. However, they retained the high-voltage fail safe (thankfully for us hackers in a rush). Instead of the entire programming process being done with 12V on the reset pin like the old AVRs, a 12V pulse on the reset line forces the device into UPDI mode and allows normal programming. This tool then resets all the fuses to their default values, allowing your normal programmer to function again!

A tool like this is extremely useful to have on hand. From the research I’ve done, it looks like the MPLAB Snap does not support 12v programming, but the PICKIT4 does. So, a Snap plus this tool can make a very useful, affordable development toolkit. Make sure to check out the rest of their store — they also make devices to unbrick the older AVR cores, as well as UPDI programmers and more!

Keep Reading ›

MIDI files are pretty amazing things; they take up a fraction of space (a matter of kilobytes) and feature all of the notes, instruments and drums of a piece of music; played back exactly as they were composed! If you’re looking for something to play your musical files then the Bundled Midi HW player could be just the thing you need.

Choose to play back MIDI files individually or as a playlist – play your favorite video game themes together in one convenient place! The unit has four buttons and is very easy to use, with navigational controls for up, down, enter, and back; moving around the dinky display screen. The HW Player supports most modern MicroSD cards with storage capacities up to 64GB, which might just be enough for every MIDI file ever made!

Each file has an 80 characters limit which can be displayed on 6 selection lines. It’s designed for the DiscKlavier Yamaha Piano and other MIDI Instruments, and comes with a 3D printed case. At the lower end of the device you’ll find a 5-Pin MIDI socket for connecting to your synths and sound modules!

Google MIDI files (other search engines are available) to see the wealth of music on offer. Many ringtones also used this format for pop music synergy in the early 2000s, so you’ll definitely find something you like. It’s the first product from Frett 27, and we’d love to see more!

Keep Reading ›

Both the Ensoniq ESQ-1 and it’s big sister the SQ-80 are iconic digital synths of the 1980s – heralded for their rare digital warmth and vast selection of out-of-reach, ethereal pads! If you’re an owner of one of these beauties, you’ll be pleased to know that the OSH/DIY Ensoniq ESQ-1/SQ-80 EEPROM Cartridge is now available, giving you the chance to store and recall 2 banks of 40 presets on the synths!

The original synth stores it’s sounds on board the unit itself, but the option to store your own (or those found on the interwebs) gives you the chance to expand its capabilities. Getting your hands on storage cartridges in 2022 is not impossible, but it does mean you’ll have to shell out a fair percentage of the full price of the original keyboard – making these custom cartridges an affordable and accessible option.

The cart is able to both read and write patches, with all the instructions embedded on the PCB, just where you need it! You’ll find loads of free patches to use the cart with online, there is a collection of over 3,000 to download if you look on Gearspace!

The seller ZenSynth has also shared their design files and has stated that the schematics and a swanky 3D printed case will be shared in the near future. It’s the first item in their Tindie store, and we look forward to seeing more synth accessories soon!

Keep Reading ›

Bring back the 80s with this Vintage IV-6 Vacuum Fluorescent Tube Clock! This limited edition four-digit clock from Maxwells Gadgets is designed to display these beautiful components in all their glory, bringing a glow of stylish nostalgia to any home or office.

This VFD Clock has a sleek slate gray PCB casing, which showcases the vintage tubes wonderfully. Vacuum fluorescent tubes of this style were initially used in devices such as car stereos, microwaves, or video cassette players. These rare VFD tubes are actual vintage stock from the 80s and 90s, standing at about 1.5 inches tall and featuring an excellent segmented style display.

The bright blue LEDs situated underneath the tubes help to highlight their good looks and create a clear digital-esq clock for any time of day. You’ll have to snap them up quickly, as the size of this product run is limited by the small number of tubes available. It looks incredibly cool in the dark, making it the perfect bedside clock for your nighttime timekeeping needs!

The clock itself uses a 5v USB power supply and includes a lengthy six-foot white cable, complementing the light coloured design of the clock. It’s a simple device to plug in anywhere and requires no assembly; perfect for anybody who appreciates vintage electronics.

Maxwells Gadgets have been on our site since all the way back in 2015. With a new product line of awesome vacuum fluorescent lamps – they’re a maker bursting into 2022 with some fantastic and high-quality ideas! We can’t wait to see what they get up to next.

Keep Reading ›

Do you remember having walkie talkies as a child? The fun of communicating between friends from a distance (a poultry 20 meters with the ones I remember) was incomparable but we’ve moved on since then! The CircuitMess Chatter – A DIY Wireless Communicator is a modern device to communicate via text, using it’s own encrypted wireless network –  and best of all you can learn how it works by building it yourself!

The CircuitMess Chatter will be a definite hit with the kids and the big kids – given it’s on board ‘LoRa’ low-power wide-area network technology, giving you the ability to send text messages, emojis, memes, and GIFs – get ready to meme the planet! The primary function (aside from exchanging the latest memes) of these wonderful devices is education – teaching you about encryption, LoRa devices, how to code and much much more.

They’ll create their own encrypted wireless network to communicate on safely – illustrating how privacy functions in the modern wireless world.

The Chatter DIY Wireless Communicator is sold by CircuitMess who are well known as one of the slickest and most professional sellers on Tindie! Their store is full of wonderful devices for education as well as being modern tech gadgets full of fun!

Keep Reading ›

The Macropod Variable Bandwidth VCF can sit alongside Eurorack’s most popular filter modules and not only replicate their functionality, but exceed it! Decked out and fully-featured, this multi-faceted Voltage Controlled Filter (VCF) could become a crucial part of your modular setup.

A variable bandwidth VCF uses a band-pass filter control that can adjust the width of the frequency spectrum coming through. If you need to tighten a rumbling bass sound, or take the harshness out of some hi-hats, a VCF such as this is just what you need. Find the exact tone and timbre that you are looking for, or use the filters controls as tools to modulate textures using CV!

The beautiful black, white, and gold faceplate will look gorgeous in your rack, with its neat design giving a distinctive and sleek appearance. A lot of research and design work has gone into this module – the faceplate design, the layout of the interface components, and even the way the circuit manipulates your sounds.

Where the Macropod truly shines is in its unique additional features. This space-saving solution packs in not only a variable band filter; but resonance, onboard notch output, and a ‘squared-off’ distortion output. These additions make the Macropod a bit of a modular powerhouse, able to fill many roles in your system in a single module.

SetonixSynth are one of Tindie’s newer makers, and they have arrived here with a storefront full of innovative eurorack and 4u modular kits just like this one. They are based out of Westport, USA, but ship their superb products worldwide.

Keep Reading ›

When driving your computer, a keyboard and mouse work well, and can be greatly enhanced by memorizing a few shortcut keys combinations. If you’d like to take things to the next level, a third input device, like a macropad or stream deck, can speed things up even further. To help with your workflow, adding buttons and a rotary input knob, plus broken out GPIO pins for experimentation, I present the JC Pro Macro 2 rotary input device.

This device, a greatly enhanced version of the original JC Pro Macro, features 8 mechanical key switches, with addressable LEDs underneath each one to provide lighting. A rotary encoder knob “rounds” out the pad, which works very well for volume adjustment, and scrolling through frames while video editing. 4 lights underneath the PCB provide additional illumination, and a laser-cut base with rubber pads keeps the setup in place.

Beyond being a normal macropad, the JCPM2 is designed for experimentation. It features 5 GPIO pins, which are broken out from its swappable Pro Micro ATmega32U4 microcontroller board, plus 5V and GND. These can be used to transmit I2C data for a small OLED screen, or for other uses, and can even power a small fan if you need a bit of keystroke-enabled breeze.

As explained here, the JCPM2 was first funded on Kickstarter, before being put up for sale on Tindie. If you’re thinking about crowdfunding a project, you may want to also consider how you can continue to put your success (or even not-quite-success) to work on Tindie after it’s finished!

Keep Reading ›