Colin

@pronk
300 Followers
11 Following
73 Posts
Founder of ploopy.co. Open-source hardware advocate. I like RPGs and great food.
Homepagehttps://ploopy.co
Githubhttps://github.com/ploopyco/
Reddithttps://reddit.com/r/ploopy
Discordhttps://discord.gg/qYK9psKrNY

Jim and Gina Barry are our new friends and fellow Canadians. They've been kind enough to add us to their database of Canadian manufacturers.

Like us, they're proud of our great northern heritage, and they spend a little time each day shining a spotlight onto the other members of our cozy Canadian manufacturing landscape.

Database listing is here: https://manufacturedin.ca/ontario/ploopy-corporation

Thanks, Jim and Gina!

Ploopy Corporation

Ploopy Corporation, located in Mississauga, Ontario, is a designer and manufacturer of open-source computer peripherals focused on repairability, customization, and user control. Founded by a team of engineers and makers, …

Manufactured In.CA

We're frequently asked why #Ploopy devices aren't wireless. There's a bunch of reasons, which I decided to write out in a blog post. It's not only an explanation of wired vs. wireless, but also a little peak into our engineering process.

Here's the post: https://blog.ploopy.co/wired-vs-wireless-234

Wired Vs. Wireless – The Ploopy Blog

Our websites are targeted fairly frequently by hackers. I wrote a blog post about one such hacker that tried to break into our website, what they tried to do, and how we protect ourselves against these sorts of attacks.

Here's the post: https://blog.ploopy.co/sql-injections-on-wordpress-websites-287

SQL injections on WordPress websites – The Ploopy Blog

Our latest design release generated a bit of a conversation about whether or not STEP files are meaningfully open-source.

I believe they are. I wrote about it here: https://blog.ploopy.co/are-step-files-open-source-278

Are STEP files open-source? – The Ploopy Blog

The Classic 2 is now available! Details are here: https://blog.ploopy.co/the-classic-2-is-here-186

If you're looking to preorder a kit, go here: https://ploopy.co/product-category/trackball/classic-2/

If you want to jump straight into the design, go to the Github repo: https://github.com/ploopyco/classic-2-trackball

We also have full build instructions, with photos: https://ploopyco.github.io/classic-2-trackball/

The Classic 2 is here! – The Ploopy Blog

The Classic 2 will be released next week!

All design files will be made available, and kits will be available for preorder. We'll also have an EXTREMELY limited number of Early Access units that are fully-assembled, tested, and ready to use, and they'll ship out immediately!

We'll be making everything available at 12:00PM ET on Wednesday, March 26th. In case you're in a different timezone, here's a countdown to when it's going to happen:

https://countingdownto.com/?c=6172503

Create a Countdown Clock

The #raspberrypi RP2040 is a great chip. We use it in our #Ploopy Headphones. If you've ever wondered why we use it, or how such a cheap chip can produce a 20-band EQ, here's a primer on the RP2040 and how it makes the Headphones go:

https://blog.ploopy.co/rp2040-the-little-engine-that-could-96

RP2040: The Little Engine that Could – The Ploopy Blog

We've been experimenting with a new process to insert chips into PCBs. Here's a full technical writeup on our process and how it impacts the #Ploopy kits that we ship out:

https://blog.ploopy.co/using-spring-contact-principles-with-chip-pcb-interfaces-170

Using Spring Contact Principles with Chip-PCB Interfaces – The Ploopy Blog

Unboxing a Ploopy can be an interesting experience, to say the least. Here's a full explanation on why we package things the way that we do: https://blog.ploopy.co/unboxing-ploopies-162
Unboxing Ploopies – The Ploopy Blog

We have an official shop account: @ploopy!

From now on, #Ploopy announcements about design releases, showcases featuring builds by our community members, and open-source contributions from hackers working on our designs will be posted there.

I'll continue posting links to things I write on our blog, which will usually be inside looks at how we run the shop.