Devlog #1

Started working on the Hackpad mission today, and it’s also my first time ever using KiCad or designing a PCB. Coming from mostly a software-based background, the whole workflow was completely new to me. I spent a lot of time figuring out the difference between symbols, footprints, schematics, and the PCB layout. Today I drew the schematic, connected the switches to the XIAO microcontroller, assigned footprints, and started laying everything out in the PCB editor. Seeing the design come together in the 3D viewer for the first time was really satisfying and made it feel like a real piece of hardware instead of just a diagram.

Challenges:
Routing traces was definitely the biggest learning curve so far. It’s a lot more like solving a puzzle than I expected.

Next Steps:
I will continue following the guide for now, where I plan to design the case in Tinkercad and write the firmware. Then I will add my own design changes.

I’m excited to keep building and (hopefully) end up with a working macropad!