@tyri

Hey everyone,
So i just finished the top part of the keyboard and finished the holes too. The one think i almost forgot was a hole for the cables that will go to the esp32. But thankfully i remembered and now i dont have to be mad over the fact that i didnt put the hole. So now i honestly dont know what to do, i guess im going to start on the mouse and then the firmware cause i thought the keyboard would take longer. Anyway my goal is to finish by the end of the end of the month. The only part i dont like is that the spaces for the keys are aligned but im too bored to do. Also i just remembered that i should connect 3 keys to make the space button but i guess i will do it tomorrow it want take long.

Hello everyone,
So today i continued on the keyboard case. i buit the bottom and the sides now im working on the top part. A problem i had was the space button so im going to make 3 into one big one instead of rebuilding the pcb and the schematic again. It took me a while cause its my first time using this tool and making cases. So for the bottom and the sides i used ai a few tutorials and a bit of luck to make them. But for the top cause i needed to make the holes for each key it was way more difficult so i watched even more tutorials and im still not done. But at least now i got the hang of how i should built it so by tomorrow the keyboard will be fully done and the only thing left is the mouse if i make one and the firmware and the software. But i might make different projects for the software. We will see. Anyway se u later

Hello everyone,
So i just started working on the case for the keyboard. So far so good i was able to import my schematic but i had to find the right tool which took a while but i decided on freecad. While i was waiting for that to download i did find a heat sink/cooler for the radxa x4 so it doesnt overheat especially now that it is summer and its really hot. I was able to get a rectangle in but i still need to hollow it out and make the holes for the keys but hopefully by tomorrow i will finish. I did do most of this with the help of ai cause the tutorials i found were on older versions. Another issue i found is that i forgot to make add a big space button and they are all the small ones so i will need to add the space button and the shift and the delete button. Anyway thats all for today there is still a log way to go so see u. Now that i took the screen shot i am seeing another issue that the rectangle i added got smaller? Idk but its a future me issue so idc right now.

Hey everyone,
So im working on finishing the case of the keyboard right now. I know i left the mouse half done but i prefer to fully complete the keyboard first so i can feel proud of something. So the reason the session is so small is cause i had a problem with the recording. Also i forgot some small parts for the keyboard like the holes so i added that to. Anyway i watched a bunch of tutorials to understand how im supose to make the case but i honestly still have no clue. So if anyone knows how to make a case pls contact me. Anyhow thats all for now.

Hey everyone,
So today i started on the pcb for the mouse of the radio cyberdeck. I finished the keyboard a few days ago so i decided to make a mouse.
So the mouse is going to use:
The PMW3360DM-T2QU for the sensor to track a bunch of movement. I dont know much about sensors so i took it from a different project
A rotary encoder switch which will be the scroll wheel. The good thing about it is that it can act as both a scroll wheel and a switch.
For mouse buttons is just going to be some ordinary switches nothing i couldnt find.
Now for the brain i saw a bunch of options. First i thought of some kind of arduino. But in the end i decided to use the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C3. Since its small it can do the job and i already have the footprint and library so i dont have to go through the hustle of fixing all the problems and searching for footprint.
Anyway this is all for today i think. And the projects which i took the inspo are https://github.com/unknownusername504/WirelessMouse/tree/main
and
https://github.com/wareya/DIY-Gaming-Mouse. This was alot of help cause its my first time making a mouse from scratch

Hey everyone so today i got to finishing the keyboard and making my money on everything. In the begging i thought of making my own mouse but it would be way to expensive and not worth it. Also i tried putting the radxa x4 in the schematic editor but its way to complicated. I had to down great multiple version search a bunch of forums. But in the end i decided to just not put it in the schematic editor. Moreover i fixed a bunch of issues i was getting with the drc in the pcb editor. That took soooo long since i didnt understand the problem so i just connected the wires kinda weirdly and it worked so its fine. Then there was a problem with the size of the keyboard cuase the wiring was close to the end of it so i had to make it slightly bigger which could be a problem in he future. Then i made a list of everything i will need and the cost and i relised it came wayyy to much than i expected. Also i probably forgot like half the things but its ok i will in the future. Now that i am writing ts i am thinking of making my own mouse cause i do want to learn on how to make one. Anyhow this is all for today see u later.

Hey everyone. So i put the esp32 seed and now im trying figure out the connections which to me is by far the hardest thing and also i have no clue where im going to place it probably externally cause its going to be alot of work to find new smaller buttons and make space on the keyboard. So i decided to pt the esp32 externally together with the gyroscope and the radxa x4. Next im working on all the stupid errors i am getting. Then i might built a mouse

Hello everyone. So today i finally finished my keyboard matrix in the pcb editor. Yippe, it tooke me a while to get the connections cause i had to rewire the rows and colums cause the chip is a different shape in the schamatic editor and the pcb editor. A big problem i am having is that i dont have enough space for the esp 32. So i found the esp32 the seeed and now im trying to get it on to the pcb editor and i am having a bunch of issues with the footprints again. As i said my biggest problem is that i dont have enough space so i might make the buttons smaller or idk maybe put the esp 32 not on the keyboard but somewhere else externally. Also since i changed to the esp32 seeed i still havent connected it which is something i am doing now

Finally I fixed the problem with my recordings. Huge thanks to the person from support who replied and helped me figure it out. The recording issue was stopping me from logging my progress so im really happy its finally fixed. One thing to mention is that these devlogs probably wont be in order. I couldnt record everything before so im just going back and logging the work I’ve already done. It might be a bit all over the place but I’d rather log everything than not log it at all. This update is from after I fixed all the problems in my schematic and moved over to the PCB editor. Getting past the schematic took way longer than I expected because I had loads of footprint and library issues. Some components were linked to the wrong footprints and some didnt have footprints at all. I spent ages trying to fix everything before I could move on. It got pretty frustrating sometimes but I learned a lot about how KiCad handles libraries and footprints. Once I finally got everything sorted I started working on the PCB layout. During this session I finished placing the fourth layer of buttons and diodes. It was nice finally seeing the board come together after spending so much time fixing random problems. The biggest milestone is that my schematic is finally finished. Now I can stop worrying about footprints and components and focus on routing the PCB and making the layout look better. It feels like I finally got past one of the biggest roadblocks and im excited to keep working on it.

So I ended up redoing the schematic, and now I’m working on the PCB properly this time. After finding all the mistakes in the previous version, I figured it would be better to spend the extra time fixing everything now instead of running into even bigger problems later. It took a while to go back through everything, but I’m much happier with how it’s turning out now.I still haven’t resolved the issue with the lost logged hours. I mean, I still have the recordings—I just can’t post them because of the problem with Lookout. It’s still pretty annoying knowing that there are hours of work sitting there that I can’t share, but for now there’s not much I can do about it. I’m still hoping someone knows a way to recover them because I’d really like to get those updates back.Anyway, today’s goal is to finish the PCB. I did run into a small error while working on it, so I decided to save this recording before continuing just in case something else goes wrong. After everything that happened with the lost recordings, I’d rather be safe than risk losing another update. Even though there was a small issue, it wasn’t anything major, and I managed to figure out what caused it pretty quickly.So far, I think things are going well overall. I’ve finished routing two layers of the buttons and the diodes and connected everything together. It definitely took a lot longer than I expected because I’m still learning how to use this PCB design software. Every time I think I’ve figured something out, I end up discovering a quicker or cleaner way of doing it. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but I feel like I’m getting more comfortable with the program every time I use it.While working on the PCB, I also found a small issue with one of the component libraries. Thankfully it wasn’t a huge problem, and I managed to fix it before getting too far into the design. I’m glad I caught it early because it could have caused problems later if I had left it as it was.Overall, I think today has been pretty productive. Even if it doesn’t look like a massive amount of progress from the outside, a lot of the time was spent making sure everything is accurate and properly connected. I’d much rather spend extra time getting the PCB right now than have to order it and realize I made a mistake that could have been avoided. Hopefully, if everything goes to plan, I’ll have the PCB finished today and can move on to the next stage of the build.

Finally!!!! After like 3 recordings I was finally able to record one and post about it. This first part is going to be about the problem I have been having, and then I’ll talk about the cyberdeck.So I have been using Lookout to record my logged hours, but because I didn’t know how to use it, I wasted around 7 recordings, about 2 hours each. But I still have these recordings, I just can’t post them because I accidentally closed the tab with the recording before it finished doing whatever it needed to do. I didn’t realize closing the tab would stop me from being able to upload them, so now they’re basically stuck. If anyone knows how to solve it, it would be really useful because I’d hate to lose around 14 hours of work.Anyway, about the cyberdeck.I started where I left off and wanted to continue wiring everything up, but after looking over it properly, I realized it was all wrong. At first I thought I could just move a few wires around and fix it, but the more I looked at it, the more problems I found. Eventually I decided it would be easier and a lot cleaner to redo the entire button matrix instead of trying to patch it together. It wasn’t the most exciting decision because it meant throwing away some progress, but I’d rather fix it now than spend hours later trying to figure out why nothing works.After redoing the matrix in the schematic editor, I went back and measured the radio again. The first measurements were probably close enough, but I wanted to make sure everything was actually accurate before designing around it. It’s one of those things that’s worth double-checking because if the measurements are even slightly off, it can cause problems later when everything has to fit together. Like they say, measure twice, cut once… or something like that. I figured spending a few extra minutes checking everything now would save me from having to remake parts later.

I’m in the middle of transforming an old radio into a cyberdeck. The first thing I did was crack it open to check out the space inside, and I was honestly surprised by how much room I had to play with.

So I started looking into what parts I would need for my project. The radio shell I found is just right for the case, but then I hit a snag - I couldn’t find a keyboard that would fit inside it. That’s when I thought, why not just design my own keyboard? For all the input and output, I’ve decided to use an ESP32, which is a pretty powerful little chip. I’ve also added a gyroscope, which I think could be really cool for creating an anti-theft feature. And to make it easy to add new features later on, I’ve included a few extra switches.

For the main computer, I’m using a Radxa X4 because it’s an incredibly powerful single-board computer for this kind of project. I’m also thinking about adding an IR transmitter, although I’m still deciding whether it’s worth including.

I’ve been having some trouble with Stardance’s recording feature, which meant I couldn’t capture every work session.

I’m new to using KiCad for hardware projects, so I decided to get some help from AI to make sure I got everything right. I wanted to avoid making any expensive mistakes with the wiring or where I placed the components. AI helped me with budgeting and understanding how the different parts fit together on the circuit board. This way, I could make sure my project turned out okay and I didn’t waste any money on mistakes.

I’m thinking of giving old lithium-ion batteries a new life. You know, the ones from disposable vapes that people throw away. If I can test them and make sure they’re still good, I can reuse them in my project. It’s a small thing, but it could make a big difference. Instead of sending them to the landfill, I can give them a second chance. It’s a way to make my project a little more eco-friendly, and that’s something I care about. Plus, it’s a great way to reduce waste and give old batteries a new purpose