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Pro Trinket/Micro Keyboard Jr

A project log for Pro Trinket USB Keyboard

A USB keyboard for custom shortcuts based on the Pro Trinket and Pro Micro

stefan-lochbrunnerStefan Lochbrunner 11/30/2015 at 23:095 Comments

As the name implies this is a device with almost the same functionality as the main Pro Trinket Keyboard but in a smaller formfactor. I have to give credit to @Craig Hissett for the inspiration for this device and since I could reuse a lot of the schematics it wasn't much work at all.

The hardware files are already on GitHub and the firmware will come once the hardware is available to develop and test on.As I said it hast almost the same functionality as the main device minus two encoders and their buttons and the mode button. The latter of which I may or may not have forgotten during the design but that should also be implementable within the keypad.


Edit 2016-05-08:

I finally got the PCBs and started assembly:

This is just to show off some different ways of how the board can be assembled. I used female headers to attach the Pro Micro because I only have the one and want to use it on the other board as well but usually you'd want the two boards connected together as thin as possible (eg. use just male headers with the spacer and trim off the excess length of the pins). I'm still missing some diodes but they are already on order so until I can finish assembly I can at least implement pin mapping in the software.

Discussions

Craig Hissett wrote 11/30/2015 at 23:48 point

Thanks again mate. This is going to be a great help in the studio to allow me to operate my recording software on my laptop from distance, by attaching this to my trombone or music stand.

If it's good to go I will be sticking a dirtyPCB order in tomorrow :)

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Stefan Lochbrunner wrote 12/01/2015 at 00:06 point

You're welcome, since you mentioned your band mates might be interested as well I figured designing this board would be well worth it. And thanks for explaining the purpose of the device, I couldn't quite put it into words.

I checked it a couple of times and I'd say it's ready.

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Craig Hissett wrote 12/01/2015 at 00:41 point

Definitely worth designing!

Whether it be for solo musicians needing to trigger recording software or someone needing to add a small keypad to a portable project, this thing is great.

I'll tell you what - this small form factor combined with one of the new Pi Zeros... A formidable partnership!!

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Stefan Lochbrunner wrote 12/01/2015 at 00:54 point

For the Pi Zero I'd almost have to design an even smaller one ;)

You're right, I hadn't really thought about using it with embedded projects yet. It'll require a computer but now you made me think I should use one as a pendant for #Computer Numerical Considerations

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Craig Hissett wrote 12/01/2015 at 01:14 point

Rather than adding a board to the Pi Zero, add a zero to the board; you could just swap the Trinket/Micro section with a 2x20 pin header. On the full size board, if the pins were stacked to the far left or right, Im sure it would fit on nicely :)

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