Microchip MTCH3380P and MTCH3240P capacitive touch controllers support up to 64 buttons with parallel sensing

Microchip Technology has introduced the MTCH3380P and MTCH3240P, two new capacitive touch controllers that handle touch detection internally, making it easier to build display-free HMI devices with touch-sensitive buttons, sliders, and wheels. The main difference between the two controllers is the number of supported touch sensors. The MTCH3380P supports up to 38 self-capacitance or 64 mutual-capacitance keys, while the smaller MTCH3240P supports up to 24 self-capacitance or 32 mutual-capacitance keys. Both controllers use parallel sensing with 12 on-chip ADCs to improve touch response times and noise immunity. They also support touch detection through thick cover materials and when users are...

Inside a 1980s filter chip that uses switched capacitors

Sometimes it's easier to identify an IC with a microscope. While sorting a box of old ICs, CuriousMarc came across some Harris ICs labeled "F1-10-5", a mysterious part number that didn't show up in any databooks. Since unidentifiable ICs are useless, he gave me one to analyze. Conveniently, it was in a ceramic package, so I could open it up with a quick tap from a chisel. Under the microscope, the chip's most striking feature was a grid of square capacitors. With all those capacitors, I guessed that it was a switched-capacitor filter. The die provided another clue: the part number HF-10. With this information, we...

Radxa's Q8B has 2x the performance and expansion of the Pi 5

There was a time I'd look at a board like the Radxa Dragon Q8B (at left, above) and be like, "there's no way I'd spend $209 on an SBC with 8 gigs of RAM". But we're in 2026, and seeing the 8 gig Raspberry Pi 5 going for almost the same amount, I figured I'd give it a shot.

On paper, the Q8B beats the Pi 5 in pretty much every way. A lot of that is thanks to this Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 chip, which is the same chip I tested on Microsoft's Windows Dev Kit 2023.

Open Fest 2026 is November 7 and 8 in Interpred WTC Sofia

Open Fest, the biggest open-source event in Bulgaria, is approaching! This year, it will take place on November 7–8 at Interpred WTC. As always, Olimex will host its traditional soldering workshop for anyone interested in learning how to solder. Participation is free! You’ll receive a soldering kit, assemble it yourself, and take it home with […]

К истории радиоламп. Ранние приборы с внешними электродами

Как и любая другая эволюция, развитие приёмно-усилительных электровакуумных приборов (ЭВП) имело и тупиковые ветви, образцы, из которых сейчас выглядят престранно и чужеродно. Одна из таких ветвей — внешние электроды. Взглянем же на некоторые примеры этих технических курьёзов, попытаемся понять причину их появления и исчезновения, полюбуемся своеобразной «тёплой ламповой» эстетикой, присутствующей даже в таких нежизнеспособных уродцах.

Зачем в нём пять NE555? Оживляем переговорное устройство из кабины лифта

Приветствую всех!

Помимо уже знакомых нам блоков, обеспечивающих связь с диспетчером, в лифтах применяются и более экзотические аппараты. Ко мне в руки попал как раз один из таких — переговорный блок от лифта конца девяностых.

Зачем он вообще нужен, с кем через него связывались и как он работает? Как оказалось, штука эта куда интереснее, чем я ожидал...

Первые отечественные электронные лифты. УЛЖМ МЯУ

Приветствую всех!

В начале года я уже как‑то рассказывал про такую станцию управления лифтом как УЛЖ-10. Тогда я рассказал исключительно про работу самих плат‑ячеек, а очень многое так и осталось за кадром. Спустя много времени мне повезло раздобыть все остальные блоки из шкафов таких лифтов, а также довольно интересный артефакт: плату, при помощи которой производилась модернизация этих станций.

Итак, сегодня детально посмотрим на начинку первой массовой отечественной электронной станции. Узнаем, как всё это соединялось и работало и при чём здесь микроконтроллеры, а главное — попробуем всё это запустить. Как водится, будет много интересного.

Name that Ware, September 2026

The Ware for September 2026 is shown below.

We seem to be on a theme of hybrid circuits! This aesthetically pleasing ware was submitted anonymously. Thank you, you know who you are!

While I realize that color palettes are not actually a deciding factor in most circuit board designs, I still appreciate it when things work out to have a nice color scheme overall. I like how the bold colors of the main circuit board draw contrast with the pastel earth-tones of the hybrid circuits.

Winner, Name that Ware August 2026

The Ware for August 2026 is the “IC unit” from a Lafayette 150-in-1 “IC Electronic Project Kit”, part number 99-35107.

Above is a contextual photo of how the unit looked mounted in the kit.

And above are a couple examples of projects you can build with the “IC” as part of the kit.

Answering Hales’ question, the part itself is covered with a clear overcoat of polymer that looks liquidy, but it is in fact a durable, hard coating. As a child, I appreciated how almost every part was out there and easy to see – you can really...

Reverse-engineering the vintage Intel 8087's tangent algorithm: more than CORDIC

I hope you're not tired of the 8087, because I have another article about Intel's floating-point chip.1 In 1980, Intel introduced the 8087, making floating-point operations much faster in the IBM PC and other systems. In this article, I look at the algorithm behind the chip's tangent instruction. One popular approach for trigonometric functions is an algorithm called CORDIC. Another approach is a polynomial approximation. The 8087 combined the two to obtain both high accuracy and high performance. The 8087 provided an enormous speedup over the 8086 microprocessor, computing a tangent in 90 microseconds rather than 13,000 microseconds.2

By examining the circuitry and microcode of the 8087, I can explain the...