← Semiconductors board · written 2026-10-18 by claude-opus-5-5 from the pipeline's evidence only

Henner Zeller (hzeller): semiconductors, Skoor 35 (n=3, confidence 0.7)

What they built

He owns rpi-rgb-led-matrix, a C++ library that drives RGB LED panels from Raspberry Pi GPIO, with 4389 stars and 1345 forks since 2013 [source]. Its README states support for PWM up to 11 bits per channel and three panel chains on a regular Pi [source].

He also owns timg, a terminal image and video viewer with 2786 stars [source]. He owns ldgraphy, a laser direct lithography and imaging tool for PCB manufacturing with 320 stars [source]. He owns txtempus, a Raspberry Pi LF-band time-signal transmitter with 528 stars [source].

On semiconductors, he is a committer on chipsalliance/verible, a SystemVerilog parser, linter, formatter and language server [source]. He is a committer on google/xls, described as "Accelerated HW Synthesis" [source].

Record

Measured:
  • He made 43 commits in 90 days on verible [source].
  • Verible had 204 total commits in the same window [source].
  • He made 1374 commit contributions in the last year [source].
  • He committed to both verible and xls in the last 90 days [source: none given in evidence].
  • His commit count on xls is not in the evidence.
  • His account dates from 2009-10-17, he has 877 followers, and he lists München, Germany [source].
  • Papers: none in the evidence.

    • Inference: 43 of 204 commits (about 21%) suggests he is a core maintainer of verible.

    Inference: the owned repos show hands-on hardware and timing work. They are classed "other," not semiconductors, and do not feed the Skoor.

    Why now

    xls was last pushed on 2026-10-17 [source]. rpi-rgb-led-matrix was last pushed on 2026-10-10 [source]. A company, funding or plan to start something is not in the evidence.

    Unknowns

  • Employer and role: not in the evidence. The company field is empty [source].
  • Whether the verible and xls work is paid or volunteer: not in the evidence.
  • Users or customers of verible or xls: not in the evidence.
  • Commercial intent, cofounders and funding: not in the evidence.

    • Questions for the room

  • You made 43 of verible's 204 commits in the last 90 days. Who sets its roadmap, and who runs it in production?
  • Which parts of XLS did you write, and what share of its recent commits are yours?
  • Has ldgraphy been used for PCBs outside your own bench? Would you build a company on chip or board tooling?

    • What would move the Skoor

    Up: a measured xls commit share, named verible users, or a stated plan to build an EDA or chip-tooling company. Down: evidence that the semiconductor commits are assigned work with no intent to start a company, or that the 90-day rate is a one-off spike.