I'm planning on getting back into VR, and I definitely prefer having lighthouses (also linux). Is there any HMD that I should be looking at, or is the Index still a good all-rounder?

The really nice thing about them is that they accept 3v3 logic when being powered by 5v. Although that usually works with the WK6812, it's technically out of spec and I have read about this causing stability issues. They are also pretty low power, 12mA at max brightness (these are at 1/32).

They are reverse-mount, so you don't have to be concerned about keycaps colliding with LEDs.

Firmware is still definitely a WIP, as is the motherboard (the keyboards are i2c daughter boards as per my previous post). I have switched to embassy-rs, which is way more ergonomic than embedded-hal - async rust makes tons of sense for embedded dev. I'm also going to be printing blank shields for the RPi Picos, to hide that green a little better.

If you've been putting off designing your own keeb, I strongly recommend it. It's really rewarding.

Now I have to patiently wait for them to ship. I'm not shy about the Sweep inspiration.

The goal is to have it be modular, with a central controller board. I'm going to eventually use these with paracord cables to hot-plug different types of keyboards (the first will most likely be a gaming keyboard on the left). I'm looking for less bulky magnetic connectors if anyone knows a source. Definitely not considering a TRRS, as I don't think my GPIOs should be mainlining 5V during hotplugging.

The controller is still being prototyped on a breadboard. I have already experienced the woes of hot-plugging I2C on the prototype boards (stuck bus and all), so I'm going to experiment with the TCA4307.

The firmware is being developed in Rust, though haven't pushed it anywhere yet.

https://codeberg.org/jcdickinson/octoboard

I'm currently designing a hot-swap hub+spoke keyboard, and I'm thinking a little ahead about the gaming keyboard module. I'm considering using a thumbstick instead of what would be the WASD cluster, alongside ample surrounding keys for RTS and other such games that have big hotkey configs.

Has anyone done this, and what has been your experience? Is it worthwhile pursuing? I've seen trackpoints for mice, but I'm not aiming [heh] to replace my mouse - only the WASD cluster. A trackpoint also seems like it could be a poor fit for movement controls.

My main concern is the height of the thumbstick: I'm probably looking at a significant height difference between the keys and the thumbstick (which I picture being pretty bad for ergonomics). Any suggestions for that would be appreciated.

Thanks!