MacroPad

The macropad project. This multi-years long project is an attempt to design and assemble a custom keyboard, with the end goal of using the experience from this project to design and build a custom keyboard that I can use for programming lighting with my nomad setup. (Basically a keyboard who's layout is identical to that of an ion, but sends the QWERTY equivalent keycodes into EOS.)

The keyboard is a 4x4 matrix (16 buttons), that are programmed using the QMK firmware to do what ever is needed.

There are also SK6812 LEDs under each key for underglow and highlighting the label on each key.

Hardware History

Rev. 1 - 2022?

Lost to time in a rm -rf accident (oops)
Key matrix worked fine
LEDs did not (I got the Vdd and Vss pins backwards and layed out the PCB with power on GND and vice-versa)
I had some difficulty with assembly of the small SMD components
USB communication and flashing worked fine

Rev. 2 - January 2025

Fixed the issue of the backwards PWR/GND on the LEDs
Changed the orientation of the LEDs and key switches so light shines on the top of the key not the bottom
Moved the microcontroller into a more sensible location
Improved trace sizes for some critical signals

Firmware History

TODO: Write this

How to flash the firmware

TODO: Write this