1/28/2026 - Soldered the Diodes to the PCB!

I finished soldering the diodes to the board today. It took a bit longer than I expected because I ran into a problem.

I accidentally soldered the diodes onto the wrong side of my first board. Since I couldn't easily move them without making a mess, I decided to start over with a fresh board.

This time, I made sure everything was on the correct side. I also loose-fitted the keys into the board just to make sure they sit right before I solder them down. Now that the diodes are done and the keys are lined up, the next step is to solder the XIAO and the keys so I can finally test it out.

1/29/2026 5 PM - Debugging v1

I am writing this like few hours later as I was doing this in school (after school ofc).

So I proceeded with testing the keys but I realized something was wrong with my PCB. My right column worked but others did not. I was frustrated ; I ran some test codes to see if the XIAO was the problem or in the circuit it self. Well the board was working well. So I had to look through multiple traces. Still have not gotten the problem neither the solution.

Also in the process I almost quit as I was so frustrated. I threw few cables and the soldering iron multiple time as I was frustrated. non broke

1/29/2026 9 PM - Debugging v2

Well I have spent few hour or so to identify the issues with the columns. I fully found what traces have failed. Which was the d8 and d9 on the XIAO has had a production failed on traces. I had to hijack physical wires to fix this. Now all keys except the top left key works. Well i have ignored that tried to test a full firmware just to find the OLED doesn't work. It appears that the SDL and SCA pins on the XIAO are week. I've been researching a little about it. But for today i'll be pausing.

2/4/2026 - Big Mistake

While soldering some hijack wires to the rp2040 footprint i noticed the footprints metal thing fall off. I thought it wasnt a big deal until i realized its the main thing that conducts the electricity. I had no choices but start from the beginning. I started de-soldering everything from the board. Key Switches were the easiest but the diodes were the hardest. I spent a quite alot of time to de-solder the diodes as it might break. So now i'll to start over in a new board. Good thing I have 5 boards. (this is my 3rd board).

I dont really have any experience on soldering/de-soldering so it took me a while to de-solder. I didnt even have a de-soldering pump let alone. So it took me alot of time to de-solder. I also burnt my hands while doing so and I have a small opening in my finger to the 2nd layer :sob:

2/8/2026 - Re Soldering and Testing

Took some time clear the solder on the diodes from the previous solder. Switches too. After soldering everything as before and tested a firmware it doesn't work. I have tried a temporary hijacking of the column pins and dont see any outcome.

2/19/2026 - Broke Down Again

I re soldered everything but no no keys work , im in so much anger rn. I did a diode polarity check. it was ok. the middle column works when i short the key pins but not when i click it normally. IDK what am i doing. im just going through reddit to find the solve. also using test firmware from Gemini

2/23/2026 12 AM - Kind of works?

I made some physical modifications and now it kind of works when the switch pins are shorted. I did some firmware tests as well. Next thing I'll be doing is making a cool software for it where I can change hotkeys , LED Color (which i fk uped the foorptint), OLED Configurations (also fked up). So Thats my plan. Im not going to be sitting here debugging the macro's again.

2/23/2026 11 AM - Starting Software | Sketching a design

I made a cool sketch on canva and fed it to AI. This what it came with.

1. The Visual Layout Sketch
2. UI Component Breakdown
A. The Header (Top Bar)
Left Side: A minimalist logo and the title "RP2040 Command Center."

Right Side: * Port Selector: A dropdown menu that auto-scans for the Seeed Studio RP2040.

Connect Button: This is the most prominent element in the top right. It glows Red when disconnected and Neon Green when the COM port is active.

B. The Central Workspace (The "Cool" Visualizer)
Background: A dark, slightly blurred background or a subtle technical grid.

The Macropad Image: A high-resolution, top-down image of your Seeed RP2040 macropad centered in the workspace.

Interactive Overlays: Each physical key on the image has a semi-transparent "hitbox" over it. When you hover over a key, it glows. When you click it, a ring appears around it to show it's "Selected."

C. The Configuration Sidebar (Right Side)
This panel slides in or updates dynamically based on the key selected in the visualizer.

Hotkey Input: A box that captures real-time keypresses (e.g., "Ctrl + Shift + V").

LED Controller: A circular color wheel or a hex-code input to set the Neopixel color for that specific key.

OLED Settings: A text field where you type what should appear on the tiny screen (e.g., "VOL+", "MUTE", or a custom icon name).

Preset Manager: A dropdown at the bottom to switch between "Gaming," "Editing," or "Coding" modes.

3. User Flow Logic
Select Port: The user picks the Seeed RP2040 COM port.

Connect: Click the top-right button. The software pings the CircuitPython board.

Customize: The user clicks "Key 1" on the image, types "CMD + C" in the hotkey box, and picks "Blue" for the LED.

Sync: The user hits "Save to Device." The software sends a JSON string via Serial to the board.

CircuitPython Action: The board receives the JSON, updates its code.py variables, and immediately changes the LED color and HID behavior using adafruit_hid.

4. Style Inspiration
To make it look "cool" in Python, I recommend using the CustomTkinter library or PyQt6 with a QSS (Qt Style Sheet) that mimics a "Cyberpunk" or "Glassmorphism" aesthetic:

Colors: Deep charcoal (#121212), Electric Blue (#00f2ff), and Warning Red (#ff4b2b).

Fonts: Monospace fonts like Roboto Mono or JetBrains Mono to give it a "hardware/dev" feel.

3/2/2026 - Software | p1

Im currently writing a python based application for the macropad. Im using tinker GUI for the mainframe design. And im currently getting hit with multiple errors that I have to debug. Im using Ai to debug the errors so I can save time.

3/9/2026 - Software | p2

Half way done with th software, but it keep hitting me with errors so i'll temporary stop working on this. I did use AI to debug but AI is giving me more errors so yeah.