StarDeck - pin HELL on my schema right now

Like many others, I want to make the most of the hackpad funding.

However, considering I have no hardware experience (and hence have no idea what other parts to buy, if any), I am limited to the kit’s contents at the moment. So, I have spent the last two hours, while sorting out some wiring, how to optimise my pin usage so that I can have a good amount of components while keeping a good design.

Now, my current design uses 7 keys and 1 rotary encoder. This, as you can probably see from my PCB screenshot, is not too symmetrical. This has been bugging me since I started this. So with some help from the slack, I added the rotary encoder to the key matrix (hopefully correctly), and have saved a total of…. 1 pin!

Now this isn’t enough to add a second rotary encoder, based on my current design, so I am desperately looking for a way to save one more pin so my design doesn’t look lopsided, but if worst comes to worst, I’ll just change up the layout honestly, maybe have 5 keys on the bottom, then 2 keys and the rotary encoder on the top, then the screen above that (as I’m writing this, I have realised that this isn’t a bad idea).

Anyways, as always, if you have any suggestions PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW I NEED YOUR HELP and I will be spending the rest of my time researching and asking people, trying to find any way to get a second rotary encoder.

Well, at least its not the end of the world if I don’t have two.