Today, I have completed the 3D case for Macro Controller 2 and did some minor bug fixes for the BASIC Interpreter. I needed to reassign the GPIO pins from the first revision of the board.
Although the interpreter is currently still basic, it supports 4 BASIC statements and 4 custom statements for controls.
KEY statement for hardware GPIO control
For the first-half, I added silkscreen text to the PCB for the IO components (GPIO Pins, Keyboard switches, LEDs…). Next, I moved on to designing the enclosure. It took a while for me to get used to using a new app to design it.
The screw holes were not appearing during the first few attempts, but it worked in the end when I placed it manually, instead of using the move function.
Creating the cutout for the USB connector took me about 15 mins as I needed to measure the length and clearance needed for a micro-USB plug and create another sketch before extruding it as a cutout.
Next, I’ll be continuing with the enclosure design, adding a cover with a keyboard plate, and finally moving on to the BASIC interpreter firmware for it!
Did most of the routing for the MCU and macropad segment today, but I might need to do some rewiring for the flash memory as the trace length for SD0 and SD2 are very different (5.57 & 13.2 mm).
Next, I’ll be adding more silkscreen text, and maybe design an icon for my macropad + microcontroller board. I’ll also be creating a custom enclosure for my device!
PRINT, LET and INPUT for the interpreter.Next, I will be focusing on the BASIC interpreter firmware, working on variable assignment and math operations and testing it on a real pico board! Also, I will be starting on the layout and BOM as I have completed the schematics!
