I’ve been developing a Macropad input module with 4 buttons for whatever you want, I will order some prototypes of these whenever funding opens up, this just uses a standard RP2040. I plan to 3D print an enclosure to allow those NeoPixels to shine through and into the keys but that’s for a later time.
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Very nice. What buttons are you planing or thinking of using?
It looks like you could have 8 or maybe even 12 buttons in the same space. Why would you limit it to just 4 ?
is the electronic part limited in the number of button it can handle ?
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The RP2040 microcontroller is definitely not limited to so few buttons. It has dozens of pins, and there are ways to make pins serve multiple buttons. The full size keyboard in the Framework-16 uses the same chip.
Ordered PCBs, should have a prototype in a few weeks.
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Any reason for only having 4 buttons? The full macropad has 20 buttons (24 if you count the smaller ones) Would love to see a single spacer macropad, but with ~10 buttons.
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I would buy a half-width macropad, the same size as a Framework spacer with half the buttons of the Framework full macropad. This would let me use a centered keyboard and centered touchpad while still getting twelve extra dedicated keys I care about.
In my case, I would add dedicated Print Screen, Scroll Lock, Insert, Menu, Mute / Volume Down / Volume Up / Play/Pause, and Home / PgUp / PgDn / End buttons, like this:
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Centered keyboard is HUGE for me - being able to fill the space with 4 or 8 macro keys while maintaining centered keyboard would be really cool!
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