Designing the Keyboard

Since I want a nicer keyboard for this, I'll be designing this first, and building the rest of the design around it. I decided to go for a slightly modified 60% layout with this, adding a function row and leaving 2 keys worth of space for a screen for diagnostics/stats.

Establishing bounds

First off, I want to establish exactly what I'm getting myself into, so I can design each part with eachother in mind.

My main inspiration is this cyberdeck by phillip1887

I love the retro feel of the device, and the minimalist port selection is something I could absolutely get behind for this design.

I also want to implement a full mechanical keyboard, as for my use case I want a comfortable, fast typing method.

As for the ESP-32 Marauder, I'll be copying parts of the original design and simply attaching it to my main CM5 PCB, but for other parts I'll adjust, such as adding stronger antennas and a more robust screen, as well as a direct connection to the cyberdeck via USB for control. I mostly will use this to add some fun functionality, as well as the beforementioned pentesting.

I spent about an hour researching this.