Build a 4×12 key ortho linear mechanical keyboard powered by the Adafruit KB2040 running CircuitPython. You’ll 3D print the enclosure to house the NeoKey ortho snap-apart PCBs and the Adafruit KB2040. Pog is an open source project that makes it easy to configure KMK (a user-friendly, feature-rich firmware for custom mechanical keyboards, built on CircuitPython) with a GUI key map editor with no code. The layout editor lets you create custom layouts and makes multi layers easy to set up.

Keyboard Learn Guide:
https://learn.adafruit.com/4×12-ortho-mechanical-keyboard

NeoKey Ortho Linear Snap-Part PCBs:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5157

Adafruit KB2040:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5302

Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Feather or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!

Tobias V. Langhoff has written a guide to making a CHIP-8 emulator.

CHIP-8 was created by RCA engineer Joe Weisbecker in 1977 for the COSMAC VIP microcomputer. It was intended as a simpler way to make small programs and games for the computer. Instead of using machine language for the VIP’s CDP1802 processor, you could type in hexadecimal instructions (with the VIP’s hex keypad) that resembled machine code, but which were more high-level, and interpreted on the fly by a small program (the CHIP-8 emulator/interpreter).

CHIP-8 soon spread to other computers, like the Finnish Telmac 1800, the Australian DREAM 6800, ETI-660 and MicroBee, and the Canadian ACE VDU.

These days, CHIP-8 runs on everything. There’s an emulator for the SNES!

Check it all out on the post here.

Within the retro computing community there exists a lot of controversy about so-called ‘retrobrighting’, which involves methods that seeks to reverse the yellowing that many plastics suffer over time. While some are all in on this practice that restores yellow plastics to their previous white luster, others actively warn against it after bad experiences, such as [Tech Tangents] in a recent video.

After a decade of trying out various retrobrighting methods, he found for example that a Sega Dreamcast shell which he treated with hydrogen peroxide ten years ago actually yellowed faster than the untreated plastic right beside it. Similarly, the use of ozone as another way to achieve the oxidation of the brominated flame retardants that are said to underlie the yellowing was also attempted, with highly dubious results.

While streaking after retrobrighting with hydrogen peroxide can be attributed to an uneven application of the compound, there are many reports of the treatment damaging the plastics and making it brittle. Considering the uneven yellowing of e.g. Super Nintendo consoles, the cause of the yellowing is also not just photo-oxidation caused by UV exposure, but seems to be related to heat exposure and the exact amount of flame retardants mixed in with the plastic, as well as potentially general degradation of the plastic’s polymers.

Pending more research on the topic, the use of retrobrighting should perhaps not be banished completely. But considering the damage that we may be doing to potentially historical artifacts, it would behoove us to at least take a step or two back and consider the urgency of retrobrighting today instead of in the future with a better understanding of the implications.