Help and progress discussion to replicate the project

[CJGuirao]

Hello,
I found this project and I would really like to replicate it.

Could you help me out answering some questions?

It ended up working with davinci?
Is there a recommended BOM?
Wich encoder did you use? It is the most important part for usability.

Did you DIY yourself the keycaps? do you reccommend where to get them?

I'd like to replicate the project, and once it is working modify the software so it could be used aswell with other software like OBS Studio. to provide more flexibility.

Thank you very much in advance.

[shaise]

Hi Carlos!

Sorry, Sorry, for not adding all the docs and instructions as I planned to. I have a lot of video footage to edit and publish but did not find time to do it.
Anyway, I have added all the missing info for you in the main Readme.MD section.
Also added a release version with PCB manufacture files, compiled firmware, and PC configuration SW.

To your questions:

1. Yes, it works with DaVinci, but I did not implement all possible functions.
2. Bom is now in the readme + links where to buy.
3. The encoder also have a link in the readme. When you get it you should make a small modification: Open the cap, and lossen the spring that make the encoder click when rotating. This will give you much smoother operation.
4. Yes I made the key caps myself. I ordered blank caps (again, links in the readme), then uses Toner powder + laser engraver to write the text. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1BwcFyexQ
5. No need to modify the software! the PC App (in the release files) lets you connect to the keyboard and customize it to any software you want to use it for.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

[CJGuirao]

Thank you very much for all the information.
I've already ordered a few PCBs and I'm looking forward to try to asemble it.

I'll keep you posted :)
Let's see how it goes

[CJGuirao]

Update:
PCBs arrived, waiting for the rest of the components.

Just found out that the product in wich this project was inspired uses a magnetic encoder using a variation of the well known as5600 that outputs A and B (quadrature output) the same way that this board needs. (take a look of as5601).
Pretty difficult to get at a reasonable price. But I might explore that option if I can get one.

Again, thank you very much for your work, and for making this publicly avaliable.

[shaise]

I saw the as5601, nice thing. I wonder why is it so much more expensive then the as5600.
The funny thing is that on digikey its less expensive then aliexpress, only $3.6.
Anyway, the encoder I chose, once you remove or loosen the "clicker", it is very nice and smooth with a sturdy feeling.

[CJGuirao]

I received the encoders, chose this seller (cheaper)
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005004437852504.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.7760194djKUSGo&gatewayAdapt=glo2esp
it is optical aswell, can be modified to remove the detent, and is metallic.

I'm gonna assemble one unit and check how good this encoder feels.

[shaise]

this is exactly the one I used. good.

[CJGuirao]

Fully dissasembled to check quality od the encoder part itself.

Where the detent pin is located to be removed (place it behind the spring so you don't loseit in case you may want to have it back in its place in the future).

Feel free to use the images if you want to explain it in the readme for the future hackers

[shaise]

Thanks!

(place it behind the spring so you don't loseit in case you may want to have it back in its place in the future)

Hehe this is exactly what i did...

[CJGuirao]

Progress update and some help needed:
We managed to solder everything but the LEDs.
I'd be nice for future people using this project to add polarity of the diodes, and LEDs in the silkscreen. And a table of Resistor values) I'll try to add it myself once everything is working and commit a pull request

We got it on video if anyone is interested. (Spanish audio tho)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1722772854 (Soldering job of the usbc connector and some resistors)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1723070128 (Soldering everything but the LED )

We didnt solder the leds because we tried and failed to load the program to the bue pill
(our intention was to test the progress so far, and be able to check empirically our assumption of LED polarity instead of soldering all 44 LEDs )

But we are having problems. because the bluepill doesn't identify itself as a device in windows.
We assumed the programming steps to be download the st-link utility and burn the bin in the 0x08000000 address
We tried burning it with boot0 in 0 and in 1 position.

No success so far.
It's my first time using this dev board, so any help to get it working would be appreciated.
Whats correct the procedure to program the board?
Whats the correct configuration of boot0 and boot1 while programming the board?
Whats the configuration of the two jumpers to boot as the device that the board is emulating?

As a side note it seems that bluepill is getting everywhere with fake stm32 chips and we may have one of those. So we are asking for this instructions and details to differenciate between our own ineptitude or a maybe non working stm32 chinese clone.

[CJGuirao]

[CJGuirao]

Nevermind

Got it working by modifying the source code.
In it it was assumed that most of the stm32 have 128k of memory instead of the advertised 64k.
It turns out that my probably counterfeit stm32 chinese clone board has 64k
Now its recognized so tomorrow we'll continue the assembly
DavinciKbd4StupidChineseClones.zip

[CJGuirao]

´

[shaise]

Nice work!!
Yes, counterfeit stm32 are a big issue, since stm32 IDE usually detect them and will not let you program/debug the chip. If you work with arduino interface, it will not be an issue. also, you can compile with the ide then program with the ST-Link utility which works on the Chinese ones as well. But then of course, no debugging is possible.
I see also that you found a USB-C version of the BluePill. thats nice. My original board did not have the extra connector at the top, and I didn't like the usb-micro connector originally came with the blue-pill.

[CJGuirao]

When you know what's the actual issue that is preventing it to work gets easier to solve.
As it always happens.

For those how are reading this with cheapo blue pills .

Use my .bin or:

Download stm32idecube and edit the project commenting out the line that sets the 128k memory size in the main file.

So now it will be suited for 64k boards

Then edit the build configuration to tell the ide to create the .bin file that you will use to upload the program. Hit build and the needed file should be under releases folder

Then upload it to the blue pill using the old st-link utility

Or if your board has a ch32 chip you can set the boot0 to 1 and then program the thing using the bottom USBC port and the wch utility programmer.
The return the jumper to position 0 and your devices auld work on the top usbc and the break out USBC port at the top of the DISE board.
No need to use a st-link programmer in this case. Everything is done using the provided USBC ports.