The goals were a small fun macro pad to automate some of the typical git commands that I use routinely at work. Additional features include a LED to blink or throb and a built in mouse tickler to thwart screensavers and lockouts according to the toggle switch. The mouse tickler will move the mouse one increment every minute in a circular pattern.
I had thought about using an ESP32 with integrated E-Ink to make a wifi configurable pad but it turns out the typical ESP32 doesn’t have USB capabilities. So I went back to simple with an Adafruit Itsy Bitsy 32U4 Arduino using Nico HID libraries.
I am winging it on the mechanical side. I used a MOPA laser to cut a thin metal top plate and failed to cut a thicker steel plate. I used an Epilog laser and online box designer to make the case. I am hoping the (perf) board mounting will provide the bottoming support and the top plate I may just glue or VHB. The board and cable access it is still TBD but the options are somehow securing the back of the board for pushing the cable in and VHB to the side of the box or encapsulate the cable inside the box and strain relief with zip tie or something.
The wiring is simple (external LED on 13 with the internal LED)
const int aButton = 4;
const int bButton = 5;
const int cButton = 6;
const int dButton = 7;
const int eButton = 8;
const int twiddleSwitch = 11;
The Arduino sketch is here: https://github.com/newts/gitrdone