Matt3o.com

Endgame trackball: assembly and review

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with trackballs; I started with a Kensington, which is probably the worst peripheral I’ve ever owned, and eventually settled on an Elecom Deft. But when I saw the “Endgame” by Efog.tech, a passion project designed by Artem in Kharkiv, Ukraine, I knew I had to give it a shot. It’s a sturdy, compact machine with the ambition to be the ultimate trackball. The price is steep but the promise of a highly customizable, high-sensitivity trackball was too enticing to pass up.

Concepts3D Athena 2 Review

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This won’t be an easy review to write. The Athena II is probably the best SLA 3D printer money can buy… For all the wrong reasons.

I wanted to buy the Athena 1 when it was released a few years back, but it was the first product by a new company so I gave them time to mature. When the Athena 2 was announced surely they had time to iron out all the issues, right? Well, let’s start from the beginning.

Gateron Melodic on a Neo65

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a sucker for clicky switches. I try any new clicky that is released and every time I get burned, sorely. Building clicky switches is a lost art that gives very little gratification, as in: not many like them (heathens!).

Since buckling springs my hunt for a decent clicky switch has always ended in disappointment; and that partially is still true for the Gateron Melodic… BUT, they can be salvaged! With a simple spring replacement they are possibly the best switches I’ve tried in a long while.

Introducing PFF

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since the introduction of PBS I was asked about low profile switch compatibility. While it would be easy to make a new stem for PBS the result would be less than ideal. A low profile keycap has to be crafted for low profile switches and that is exactly what PFF (Penguin Flat Feet) is.

If you are new here, PBS stands for Penguin Belly Slide. The name comes from the shape of the hitting area: soft, round and oblong. I always try to put ergonomics at the top of my priorities and I wanted to bring the same PBS smooth typing experience to PFF. That posed a series of challenges because of the limited space but also the lack of standard in the low profile world.

MTNU Granite

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Believe it or not it’s exactly 10 years since the first Granite came to life. It was June 2014 and DSA Granite took its first breath into the world. It was a set designed to meet the need of custom keyboard makers because of the flat profile and the gargantuan amount of available kits and options. Something that nowadays we rarely see unfortunately.

DSA Granite got at least 4 re-runs until it became an in-stock set at Signature Plastics; Input Club also run an all-row-3 SA version a few years back. So when I saw the first renders of MTNU Granite I couldn’t help but get a little emotional.

WhiteFox Eclipse + Matt3o Edition

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

About a year ago InputClub/Alpaca announced the WhiteFox Eclipse that is their take on the original WhiteFox that I designed 10 years ago now. As I anticipated back then I was not involved in the project but they asked for feedback and suggestions so it slowly became a collaboration.

Let’s start by trying to understand the branding. So InputClub decided to forego the project and Alpaca Keyboards took over. The Eclipse is now part of a larger ecosystem under the Project Eclipse name and is otherwise sold by Apos, a brand Kunal —the owner of Alpaca— is also involved into. It’s a bit messy but they are working on solidifying the Project Eclipse brand, that will be an ecosystem of different keyboards and accessories. Going forward all Eclipse products will launch under the Project Eclipse brand.

MTNU out in the world!

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It took little more than a year from concept to production but MTNU is finally out! All sets have been shipped to vendors and a few lucky EU customers already got their copy! It’s time to review what we’ve done so far and see what is left to do for the near future.

Let’s start with the first real-life not-rendered not-studo-shot pictures:

SA Retro is finally back!

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It took over 2 years but SA Retro is finally back on PMK!

The DSA version of Retro was my first ever designed keycap set and I bring it in my heart. It was clearly inspired by the Commodore64 (with the added burgundy accent) and it didn’t took long before we released an SA variant of the same colorway.

Signature Plastics was promising a re-run since forever and it’s finally here together with full PETSCII alphas!

Son Of a Doubleshot

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOD is the original typeface designed specifically for MTNU. The idea was to revisit old IBM and RadioShack keyboards font under a modern light. The defining characteristics are an off-center mid line (that you can see on letters like E, F, H) and the use of “retro” numbers.

The font is released under a permissive open license to make it easy to anyone to add custom legends or modify what is already available. It is important to understand that the typeface is made for injection molding and not for writing. The font is offered mainly as a collection of glyphs for ease of distribution but it’s not suitable for screen and print. (And it also lacks a lot of characters like lowercase letters).

Kitty-cap goes charity!

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It took ages but I was able to convince Drop to salvage the Jiji’s keycaps that otherwise would have gone destroyed. They kindly agreed at using them for charity, so yeah, I understand that $29 is steep for 4 keycaps, but you are doing it for a good cause so if you can, please consider joining our “Adopt a Shelter Cat Month” campaign. You are helping shelter cats and receiving a nice set of 4 cute Jiji’s keycaps too.

MTNU Pre-order phase starts now!

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Ohboy! It has been a long journey… The official announcement of my collaboration with GMK is dated 2022 May 25. Almost precisely one year later MTNU finally goes into pre-order phase, but the work for me (and GMK) is far from over!

I’ll spare you scrolling to the bottom for the vendor pages. You can pre-order your MTNU set right now at:

Asia - iLumKB
Canada - DeskHero
China - Matrix Labs
Europe - Oblotzky industries
Oceania - DailyClack
United Kingdom - proto[Typist]
United States - NovelKeys

The cost for a base kit is roughly €100 / $100 but it’s a special introductory price and future sets will be more expensive, so grab them while they are hot! The sets should be delivered to vendors this September but let’s play it safe and say you should start getting your orders around October/November. Pretty quick turn around for GMK :P

/dev/tty3 is finally here!

Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It took some time but the forth revision of /dev/tty is finally available and ready to ship at Drop!

Apart from minor changes to the base kit (yeah there’s an uwu key) and “Lost+Found”, the most important update is for the 40%/ortho keyboards. I believe the 40s kit is one of the most complete around so if you like typing on those little things you better hurry up white it’s hot!

MTNU: Pre-release update

Sat, 20 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

An update about the MTNU profile was long overdue. Let me start by stating the obvious: it is taking more than expected… but less than I feared. I have a little experience in manufacturing by now and a couple of weeks late is really nothing. Let’s do a recap.

What is MTNU again?

MTNU is a new keycap profile I envisioned a couple of years ago and developed thanks to the incredible craftsmanship of the guys at GMK. Let me stress on that. MTNU would have been very different without GMK expertise (and not for the better); I’m very grateful to Christoph for convincing me to work with them and to Franz and Franziska who brought the profile to life.

DrunkDeer A75: a Hall Effect keyboard for the masses

Fri, 21 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not a huge fan of making keyboard reviews but when a company named DrunkDeer contacted me with a “new” hall effect switch I had to know more about it. I warned them that my reviews are brutal and they agreed on sending me a sample anyway, so kudos to them. Not sure they will be equally happy after reading this review…

Here below you find my video review with the usual disclaimer: I’m not a youtuber, I don’t make any money from my videos, they are just for fun (hence the low-key production). Sometimes companies ask me to review their products and if the item looks interesting I’m happy to try it but my opinion is always honest. Subjective, but honest. As always the question I’m trying to answer is: would I recommend this keyboard to a friend? Let’s find out.

The new Whitefox Eclipse is not my Whitefox

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago it came to my attention a new project by Kono involving the Whitefox. I need to put the record straight here once and for all: I am NOT involved in any way with the new Whitefox Eclipse. I wasn’t part of its development, not even in a consulting position. The Whitefox Eclipse it’s a 100% Kono/AlpacaKeyboards project.

They contacted me a while back saying they were working on it and I have absolutely no problem for them to use the legacy Whitefox “brand”. So best of luck to them, but –again– it’s not a product I worked on or endorsed.

PBS - The Penguin Slides fast on his Belly

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In my last update I anticipated a long and difficult journey for PBS. Well, things took an unexpected turn and production will start sooner rather than later.

If you don’t know already PBS (Penguin Belly Slide) is my tribute to uniform low-profile keycaps. Think of it as DSA done right, because DSA is boring and PBS is all but!

Everything started a cold dark night of about a year ago. The kind guys from KBM contacted me right away when I prematurely announced MTNU. At the time I was already talking with GMK (what’s wrong with acronyms in the keyboard community btw?!) so things didn’t pan out but I really wanted to work with them. They are super nice guys and I can’t thank them enough for their enthusiasm and support (and patience, you need a lot of that when working with me).

2022/23 Projects status update

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

It has been a pretty hectic year and as always I’ve dip my toe in way too many waters. I don’t blame you if you lost count, I did too, so as a sort of note-to-self let’s review past, current and future projects with their status update.

Let’s start from the bad news.

Retro

SA Retro & MT3 Retro are still on hold. Signature Plastics sent me a picture of SA Retro keycaps laying around in their warehouse a while back. Most of the kits are done but SP doesn’t seem motivated in completing the set. At this stage I don’t know when or if they will be completed, we can only mourn this monument to the fallen keycap…

Black Speech is finally here

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

When I first announced the Elvish and Dwarvish sets I got inevitably asked about a Black Speech version. That is something that I always wanted to do and in my mind there was only one color way for such a nefarious incarnation: black-on-black.

What held me back all these months is that there’s simply not enough literature regarding the language of the Tolkien’s baddies, basically the ring inscription and that’s it… And that it is actually transliterated into Elvish and written with Tengwar… but still black dyesub PBT MT3 keycaps needed to be done and this was the perfect opportunity.

MTNU: October update

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This is probably one of the most important updates I’m going to do about MTNU (excluding the final release announcement of course). There’s a lot to cover so buckle up and let’s get started!

Last week I’ve finally met with the GMK guys in Germany to review the first injected MTNU prototypes and to decide on the next steps. I was expecting “corporate courtesy” and instead I got sincere kindness and a lot of fun.

MTNU: September update

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Time flies when you are designing keycaps! 3 months have already passed since the announcement of my collaboration with GMK and MTNU has already gone through multiple revisions. I think it’s time for a well due update.

The main shapes and physiology of the profile are defined but small adjustments can still be done. We had a few prototypes 3D printed to check the overall look’n’feel and GMK is working on the tooling as we speak. The first batch of injected proto-keycaps should be manufactured in about a month, that will give us a better sense of what this profile will actually be. I don’t hide that I’m a bit scared but mostly excited :)