With regards to Raspberry Pi Pico tasks, the RP2040 microcontroller is not any stranger to customized keyboards. However this one, created by maker and developer Thomas, often known as Thpoll, amps issues up by splitting the keyboard into two separate halves and utilizing keycaps with built-in OLED shows.
This keyboard options 36 particular person per PCB, which is meant to offer an ergonomic aspect to its design. Along with the keys, Thomas opted to incorporate a rotary encoder on one facet. This may be programmed for quite a lot of capabilities like a media controller to regulate issues like quantity.
The concept behind this keyboard design is to make it simple for customers who use a number of layouts or converse a number of languages to alter the characters on every key as wanted. As an alternative of swapping out keycaps, customers can simply program the OLEDs to show no matter they need on the press of a button.
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As we said earlier, the keyboard is powered by an RP2040 which serves as its most important processor. The challenge additionally required the event of a few customized PCBs which Thomas created from scratch. The Gerber recordsdata have been made accessible for anybody who needs to take a better have a look at their design or probably modify them for their very own creation. These are designed to help the keys, encoder, in addition to the OLED shows which are positioned contained in the keys.
Thomas has shared loads of particulars in regards to the OLED keyboard challenge progress up to now. When requested in regards to the software program facet of issues, he confirmed the keyboard was programmed utilizing C which is likely one of the extra well-liked decisions together with MicroPython, so it’s no shock to see it used right here. He’s additionally utilizing QMK firmware which is designed to assist program customized keyboards.
If you wish to get a better have a look at this Raspberry Pi challenge, check out the unique thread shared to Twitter to see a demo of it in motion. You may also comply with Thomas at Ko-fi to learn extra detailed updates about its creation progress. You’ll want to comply with Thomas for extra updates and in addition to any future microelectronics tasks.
