Using Arduino with External PC and Flashing Leonardo Chip

userHead MaiTaiGuy 2021-02-27 05:44:27 1342 Views2 Replies
Hey everyone,

I just got my hands on a LattePanda (LP) Delta 432 and it's a sweet little device.

Here's my idea for a project and I have a few questions as I continue to plan it out. I'd like to hand-wire a mechanical keyboard (hand-wire the keyboard matrix with mechanical switches in a custom layout), hook the rows and columns up to the Arduino pins, and use the Arduino as the microcontroller for the keyboard. Long term I plan to create a custom keyboard case so that I could mount the LP inside of the keyboard case under the key switches. I have a couple questions while I work out this design:

1. The typical firmware used for hand-wired keyboards is QMK. Does anyone have experience or recommendations with flashing QMK firmware onto the LP Arduino Leonardo chip (ATMega 32u4)?

2. In a perfect work, this keyboard could be used with the internal LP hooked up to a monitor or could be hooked up to an external PC and just be used as a normal keyboard. I believe that the USB C port is only used for supplying power (at least, I couldn't detect the Arduino when I plugged the LP into my home PC through the USB C port), so I'm wondering if there's a solution to only using the Arduino chip without booting up the rest of the LP via USB.

Thanks all, and thanks for your patience since I'm new to this stuff.