so the original clicker project wasnt bad, but it also wasnt great!! the small screen meant that touch would have been useless, the low resolution hampered any real productivity, it had no sound, and the keyboard was pretty cramped.
This version 2 aims to solve those issues, and also steps up to a raspberry pi compute module, giving a big jump on brain power.
The screen is getting a bump up to 4.3 inches, and will have 800x480 resolution and capacitive touch.
The keyboard is getting spread a little into the additional width of the screen, and moving from a custom snap dome setup to small tactile switches. this might nudge the cost a little, but will speed up prototyping, allow for easier routing, and be easier to repair any failed buttons in the future.
This is all of course theoretical at the moment, but its time to get some schematics drawn so we can see if it all plays nice :)
The original Clicker aimed more at being small than being usable. it was based around 50 buttons, and had an arrangement based on the planck 40% layout. with the new screen being wider, that gives us more space for buttons, and even with a slight bump in size, you can fit 80 keys into the space below the screen
With a bit of sniffing around at keyboard layouts, it becomes clear that 80 keys is a nice number. if you take a standard 'tenless' keyboard layout (with the numberpad whipped off) that uses 88 keys
the top row can be moved onto key modifiers, so a simple fn key and the standard number keys can work for the F keys. That saves 16 keys from the off, and we now have 8 too many :)
Now to fit and format them in a more sensible way........