1/24/2026 - started mainboard schematic + initial research

started working on the schematic + research for the mainboard
decided that will prob go for a rf52840 for the mcu on the mainboard for wireless connectivity availibilty and rp2040s on the daugherboards (sadly will have to use rps on the daughter boards as otherwise it makes software extremely complicated)
decided that magnetic pogo pin connectors will facilitate the communication between the boards and using the i2c protocol

haven't yet swapped over the mcu in the SS yet but have finished the layout of the keys,
decided i will go for a wooting 60he style split spacebar

1/25/2026 - schematic progress + more research

Finished up schematic on the keyboard part, decided i would be going for the wooting style split spacebar as mentioned before (which means i will have to buy that specific keyset which is $40 :sob: bc literally no one else sells matching ones or has proper dimensions)

spent forever trying to figure out and find datasheets for how to route the nrf52840 as i'm trying to use the mcu by itself, rather than as a module that could have some limitations like limited pins which is not good for the keyboard matrix i currently have

progress so far above, will transition the col/row pins over once i have made sure that everything works

1/28/2026 - battery charging + more research again bc why is

..everything complicated

spent forever trying to figure out a charging circuit cause it's all new to me as usual
looked over a lot of reference designs to try and understand how to wire the nrf52840 up(shown below)

Nice nano

small dongle found online

seeed xiao

so uh it took a really long time reading over datasheets, looking at known working schematics to know how to properly power this with battery/usb, wire this (with less confusion than at the start), and what external dependencies such as power regulators are needed :sob:

2/9/2026 - got started routing the mainboard + more stuff

started setting up the keyboard layout for the mainboard
still deciding whether i should just ball with neopixel sk6812 mini e's and limit their power consumption to like 20% (which will be harder to make patterns with), or trying to use a led driver chip (which likely will be 10 times harder to program)
also had a hard time wiring bc of via size issues, as well as due the pins being somewhat bga

ts took so long to route and place everything, also still deciding on USB placement
i saw that the wooting uses a ribbon connection to a separate module instead of usb directly on the pcb, which could very much be the play here, I just need to find a proper connector as well as a module that won't degrade the signal too much
this should give me more flexibility in placing the usb in places that are more convenient

2/15/2026 - continued working on pcb, plus swapping to 4 layer, and RF

the rf of the board will need 4 layers, which means the cost will be a lot bigger
the form factor I want leaves no space for premade modules (let alone ones that have enough pins) so the whole kb will have to be 4 layers

the 4 layers should also help with routing more complex things easily, as there are more space
started working on the RF, and decided to go with a ifa antenna