*3 Months of design, to save 3 seconds of time. Worth it.* This was me just hacking away at different solutions, so I'm open to better solutions for this problem.
Oh my gosh, this is like the most advanced automation video/guide/journey thing I've ever watched! Especially the modifications to your switch and the desk control panel. Awesome work! My mind is blown!
Holy cow man. I have an Elgato stream deck that I have been using for macro controls but this takes it to a whole nother level. I put so much work into what I did and I still couldn’t get everything I wanted. I don’t think I have been more impressed by anybody’s work I have ever seen on TH-cam in the many years I have been trying to train myself with it than I have been with what you did here. Congratulations. You have an incredibly broad and deep skill set that your average Joe sure is not going to have which makes doing this challenging. I can’t wait to dig into some of your details and see how much of it I can reproduce. Thank you and please continue To publish content and videos on the subject. I would sure like to see deeper dives into some of what you did here. All the best
@@Big_Flubba no need to use the streamdeck software, I can program everything within companion and some shell scripts, also I run it redundant with two Raspberry Pi that talk to each other and fall back if primary fails. Less bs the better
The beauty of open source development... Share what you got to and allow others to improve upon it, taking advantages of the community's improvements. YT seems to allow this in a slightly easier to sustain way (code provides content, which provides food & ☕ to continue writing code) 😀
Honestly this is just super cool. Not much more to say. Props and well done. I love how much effort you put into every step, from the purpose built chassis for the desk adjustment signal pass-through to the custom keycaps for the macro pad.
I'm so impressed! I came here because I'm a software engineer looking use a macropad for the first time for one-button script running and this was more than I bargained for (in a good way). I'm so excited to watch the rest of your videos and perhaps follow in your footsteps in automation!
Rather than running the 9 key off of your main desktop, have you considered running it off of a Raspberry Pi, or a windows based single board computer and using that to wake everything up? Then you would only have the power usage of the small computer running all the time instead of your full computer. Re-purposing an older NUC might be another option.
@@user-pd9ju5dk5s use a low powered pc that can run the software instead of him having 1 of his two big boy pcs always on so he can use the keypad. what more is there to explain.
But with that you lose the AutoHotKey features in the main PC. You would need to install extra software in the PCs that would run a local server to listen for commands and then activate the macros while also programming the Raspberry Pi to send those commands to the correct server IP.
@@sebastiancarreira5832 he keeps the side pc on because he needs the server running to even wake anything else. Run it of a pi and then have the server start up to control things once the big pc is up. Big pc takes over everything it needs to
Randomly came across your video and If this is content you are showcasing.. i loved it. Great blend of hardware, software and electronics engineering. Many people including myself are curious to build some custom things or automate it in a right way for ourselves to ease daily operations, we cant due to lack of knowledge or understanding. So glad to see you making it. Awesome. Subscribed!!!
I use a gamepad controller for my Mac and a wired midi foot controller for hand relief, I also set up a ton of voice commands which trigger either app menu options or keyboard shortcuts assigned to those options. Voice commands are for me the easiest to remember. It's made e.g. working with audio and video programs so much easier!
I just finished assembling my ideal desk. I used most of your videos as a guide. I am so happy with how it turned out. Thank you for these videos David, they really helped me out.
Currently I use focus modes in iPhone to automate everything. Like network switching and turning off lights, activate sentry mode in camera etc when I activate Outdoor mode.
Cool concept! If you want the best of both worlds (in terms of responsiveness on your desktop) you could make the pico (W) make direct calls to HA (or other) and only send pc-specific keys through as shortcuts for AHK. For new users I'm pretty sure you could forward the commands via HA so it wouldn't even have to be attached to your pc!
Dude!! I've done a similar thing with AHK and Home Assistant, even down to the grid-based window management. From AHK, I canme launch or focus apps, move them, change screen configuration, turn monitors off / on, change audio output, control aircon, lights, TV, type text with macros or manipulate data in my clipboard. HA can make API calls to a flask server on my PC to invoke one off scripts. Another script runs in a loop sending state information to HA so it can keep track of desktop settings. HA also monitors my dryer / washer and phone battery and tells me I need to tend to them via an RGB light. A Rapsberry Pi acts as a Zigbee / MQTT router for buttons stuck to walls around the house, which stand in as light switches but also perform other functions. One of my favourites is the single press when the bathroom light is on. It turns the light off then waits 2.6 seconds to change the audio output from my bathroom speakers back to my desktop just as I round the corner to be in earshot. I'm now working on controlling my keyboard (same keyboard btw!!) LEDs to show state information (air con temp etc). It's half working, HA tells my PC when certain helpers are updated via API calls, then it's applied using pyopenrgb but this keyboard desyncs if you go too fast, then reverts to default when it sleeps. I also want to link up my standing desk but I'm putting off assessing compatibility to avoid disappointment. Today though, I'll be reading your code. Dying to see your window grid implementation.
This is sick! I've wanted to do something similar for my setup for a while and you've really inspired me with some functions! I love the window resizing-hotkeys!
Hi David, awesome integration and automation effort! Could you elaborate and expand on what/how you got the 4 port USB switcher programmed? I'm looking to do something similar but not sure where to start with this. I figured from reading through some reddit posts that I could probably use an 4n25 optocoupler for this. But which ESP controller should I use? 8266? Thanks in advance!
look into MQTT to send commands. may be able to use MQTT to send commands from the Pi to home assistant which in turn can send the commands to whatever PC is currently being used.
I both want to thank you for showing me what you’ve come up with and to curse you for sending me down this rabbit hole. You have found a new fan I’ve subscribed and look forward to seeing what’s next
That is a really nice project with awesome outcome! I am thinking of doing something similar but I am a little bit afraid of the tight coupling between the components which decreases flexibility when restructuring the desk... So I guess that I will stick with my manual setup for some more years :D
I wonder if you can fix the "always on PC" problem by using the raspberry pi your keypad is connected to as the OS that controls everything instead of your PC to do this. It would be a nightmare to refactor given what you've already set up though
@@dagarou Might be challenging since his HA is a VM so he would need to pass the USB port that the keypad dongle is connected to directly to the VM running HA. Doable for sure but I'm not totally sure how locked down the HA Linux OS is..
if he has HA, the answer could be node red and MQTT. on the rpi: keypad > node red > mqtt > (remote) HA maybe there is a more efficient way than node red to get keyboard input to send it via mqtt.
I would highly recommend you add macros for Web tabs switching (left right tab, the pinned tab on the left etc) . I personally had it on my mouse by tilting the scroll wheel, and it was glorious. I would do your setup just for that and windows controls lmao
Any reason why you didn't consider a Stream Deck for the keypad? Appreciate they don't have wireless options but do have underdesk mounts. Feel it would have given you more flexibility on the keys you could use.
I did consider it. And it probably is the better solution for most people. I just wanted something that was more compact and close to my keyboard (make using the mute button super easy while playing games). Also I'm always looking for cheaper alternatives to these premium solutions, though in hindsight this custom keypad started adding up in price after adding the keycaps and Pico. But still significantly cheaper. And finally, I had grander plans to have it run independent of the PC, such as on a Raspberry Pi or something, which I imagine would a huge headache to make work with the Streamdeck
I love the idea behind the automations that one would typically not think of a macropad for. You might want to take a look at the Adafruit macropad 2040. Although it doesn't have a wireless connection you might be able to modify it with a battery and ble or take inspiration from its design.
Wow. I could tell that your needs are different from mine (e.g. you use a TV as a monitor while I have 4 monitors instead), but you showed some stuff I never thought about that I could use in my own setup, like the USB switch! In my case, instead of having a light bar that has controls on it, I have a Yeelight light bar that comes with its own wireless puck used to control the basic features. I have an old tablet (that I tried to sell but nobody bought) repurposed to be a dedicated Home Assistant dashboard when my PC is powered off and a Deckboard Pro client when my PC is powered on. I may look into some sort of automation thing to have it automatically switch apps when my PC goes offline or comes back online. Besides that, I have a custom Nova Launcher configuration to hide as much of One UI as possible, have an app drawer that starts on a tab that has only the apps I would use, and on the home screen, I have a layout that's intended to mimic the ambient mode on Google Nest Hub, but with an additional widget in the top right for battery status. That tablet has a limited 16 GB of storage and battery charging issues (it can't fast charge). I plan to get a MOFT stand for that. I see you use Home Assistant too!
I was one of those thinking 'what about Stream Deck?' but it's wired. No getting around that. Wire aside, I too spend a lot of time working on macros, page layouts, AHK scripts and IFTTT to try and streamline at-desk workflows. Feels like a waste until it's (mostly) working. Totally worth it!
4:08 While this is a really cool and clever way to do this, an alternative solution for others could be using a USB (this would also be applicable for HDMI) switcher with a remote, then use an IR blaster to learn the remotes signals and send them that way. Side benefit of this is this IR blaster can be used to separately control any and all other IR based devices. Personally I use an IR blaster for older TVs that don't have smart integrations or CEC, HDMI switchers, and tower fans. Love the project and definitely want to incorporate some of these ideas!!
Far from Steep. The hardest part hurdle is the install, picking the device to install it on and which version to install. None of which is "hard" if ya follow instructions. If ya already used to the idea of using Google Assistant, Alexa or Home Kit. Then ya already good to go. The real curve comes when customizing. Quick thing ya learn is to pick devices that are "locked" down where possible.
aimos also builds kvm switches with a dedicated usb port for the keyboard. with this you can switch inputs via double press ctrl+1-4. you could use on of these to pass the macroboard to your other devices and your main pc has not to be on.. you would have to code your key combinations on a pico or esp32 or other microcontroller to leave out autohotkey and make it compatible with other devices without installing any software.. esps can emulate keypresses and can send http requests to REST endpoints
Take a look at the kb2040. It's "designed" for building keyboards. You can set up macros directly on the keyboard(it doesn't replace ahk, but can reduce its usage) You should also be able to bolt on an esp32 to do your curl requests independently of your computer to all but eliminate the need for ahk.
I can't get over how amazingly awesome your keypad setup is! That must have been a terrible amount of time spent but it looks to be very well worth it!
These are the kind of projects I love. Home/work automation and customisation. I have also used autohotkey for some of my automations and Home Assistant.
I know this is way off what this video is about but I'd love to see you remodel your office space. I'm interested to see how you'd completely redesign your working space.
This is great. You should do 1 video showing exactly how you setup the pico and auto hot key to use the custom keyboard. I'm trying to set this up too but I can't seem to figure out what keys i'm hitting on the keypad to know what to put into the HID website to configure it..
Beautiful solution! I bought Razer Tartarus Pro keypad for this. For now I can controll everything via Razer synapse + ahk. But after the video... I want more!
This is awesome, one thing I would do differently is, for the non pc related items like lights and all I would connect an esp8266 over UART with the pico, and make post requests directly from the esp. Anyway thanks for sharing such nice project. Love from India
i've automated some devices that i built in my home using ESPNOW on my esp32 and there's very low latency and no need for constant wifi connection. and since my "transmitter" esp32 has a bunch of buttons, i can keep it in deep sleep until i press any button. i have a couple of chipmunk feeders 120ft away from my home and the feeders' doors (integrated with esp8266 + servos) can open and close almost instantaneously. one downside so far is i've made it one way comm for now, which means state management is not handled if/when the transmitter/receiver loses power.
Ouch, that soldered switches on 7:42 will bound to be a real hassle when one of the switches decided to resign itself 😅. But that's surely how most mechanical keyboards are manufactured in the past, now it's the complete opposite where most keyboards' switches are hotswappable and the buttons are by default already remappable (either through their own app, VIA or Vial) so you don't really need to force-remap it. You could still resolder the slots with a hotswap socket though, so it's fine. That's what I did with some of my keyboards, I turned my Outemu-only socket on Tecware Phantom 87 to be able to fit Kaihl and Gateron switches and my Logitech G512's sockets to be Hotswappable. Overall nice video, really appreciate all that effort to set up and program everything.
Loving this little project. Ordered a pico already. I’ve looked at the GitHub but I have no idea how to flash the pico (I know a bit premature but I’m going to make this work) Perhaps a tutorial on how to flash for beginners. I couldn’t find any utubes so…..
@@paulb36utube From the Github page: "The provided remapper.uf2 file can be used to flash the firmware onto the Pico the usual way (hold BOOTSEL button while connecting to the computer, then copy the UF2 file to the USB drive that shows up)"
That's so cool dude. I'm still having to switch 3 things to get between home/work PC. (Monitor, DAC, USB switch.) May look into this...but seemed like a lot of work. Hopefully off the shelf solutions come soon because it seems like a common setup for people to have these days.
I am not sure but I think the only reason this is possible is because he is using a tv as a monitor. Almost all PC monitors don't have remote controls such that you control the input mode :( Would love to be corrected though
*3 Months of design, to save 3 seconds of time. Worth it.* This was me just hacking away at different solutions, so I'm open to better solutions for this problem.
This is so useful and can be used for many things. Door entry, camera, lights, TV, curtains/blinds, Aircon/Temps, etc.
Well done.
Hi David, what is the length of your desk? Is it 160 or 140? Thank you!
Automating for improved productivity is way to go! Thanks for sharing! I started using AHK recently too and it's been a game changer :)
Haha, having watched 4 minutes of the video I already got the feeling "Isn't this just a LITTLE over-engineered?" - Which is definitely why I love it
That’s the life of every home Assistant user, Man. I feel you. Incredible job! 👍🏻
Impressive combination of software and hardware skills. Kudos to both this and the production quality. A rare combo.
Basically, to watch some porn this guy had to go through ropes like he was starting a passenger airplane.
Not to mention graphic design. Those icons are very clear, clean and elegant!
Oh my gosh, this is like the most advanced automation video/guide/journey thing I've ever watched!
Especially the modifications to your switch and the desk control panel. Awesome work! My mind is blown!
This is so cool how you integrated everything. Also props for designing easy to understand pictograms for all the buttons.
Holy cow man. I have an Elgato stream deck that I have been using for macro controls but this takes it to a whole nother level. I put so much work into what I did and I still couldn’t get everything I wanted. I don’t think I have been more impressed by anybody’s work I have ever seen on TH-cam in the many years I have been trying to train myself with it than I have been with what you did here. Congratulations. You have an incredibly broad and deep skill set that your average Joe sure is not going to have which makes doing this challenging. I can’t wait to dig into some of your details and see how much of it I can reproduce. Thank you and please continue To publish content and videos on the subject. I would sure like to see deeper dives into some of what you did here. All the best
You use bitfocus companion right? Never use the streamdeck software, it sucks.
@@cyrix_1 pls explain
@Napalm Tampon Wdym? Yes, it has its flaws but it is great.
@@cyrix_1 Also companion is also a plugin on the stream deck library
@@Big_Flubba no need to use the streamdeck software, I can program everything within companion and some shell scripts, also I run it redundant with two Raspberry Pi that talk to each other and fall back if primary fails. Less bs the better
Your channel is the reason I got myself a LG C2 42" for myself n I am loving it. Now my workflow is far better. :)
Can I just say how awesome this guys is to provide all his code?
The beauty of open source development... Share what you got to and allow others to improve upon it, taking advantages of the community's improvements.
YT seems to allow this in a slightly easier to sustain way (code provides content, which provides food & ☕ to continue writing code) 😀
@@avantgardethemighty6724 Well his code has no license so it's not open-source per se, but I am sure it's just an oversight
this is really impressive, you did an awesome job designing and building all of this
Nice job! I'm glad you found my desk hack useful. Thanks for the call-out.
Heyy, thanks for create the desk hack
Great idea for customization :-)
Honestly this is just super cool. Not much more to say. Props and well done. I love how much effort you put into every step, from the purpose built chassis for the desk adjustment signal pass-through to the custom keycaps for the macro pad.
A day with a new David Zhang video is a good day.
I'm so impressed! I came here because I'm a software engineer looking use a macropad for the first time for one-button script running and this was more than I bargained for (in a good way). I'm so excited to watch the rest of your videos and perhaps follow in your footsteps in automation!
Rather than running the 9 key off of your main desktop, have you considered running it off of a Raspberry Pi, or a windows based single board computer and using that to wake everything up? Then you would only have the power usage of the small computer running all the time instead of your full computer. Re-purposing an older NUC might be another option.
Can you explain further?
@@user-pd9ju5dk5s use a low powered pc that can run the software instead of him having 1 of his two big boy pcs always on so he can use the keypad. what more is there to explain.
But with that you lose the AutoHotKey features in the main PC. You would need to install extra software in the PCs that would run a local server to listen for commands and then activate the macros while also programming the Raspberry Pi to send those commands to the correct server IP.
@@sebastiancarreira5832 he keeps the side pc on because he needs the server running to even wake anything else. Run it of a pi and then have the server start up to control things once the big pc is up. Big pc takes over everything it needs to
Man among a sea if useless dream desk setup videos, you are videos are an inspiration.
This is some seriously impressive work, well done!
Randomly came across your video and If this is content you are showcasing.. i loved it. Great blend of hardware, software and electronics engineering. Many people including myself are curious to build some custom things or automate it in a right way for ourselves to ease daily operations, we cant due to lack of knowledge or understanding. So glad to see you making it. Awesome. Subscribed!!!
That's an immense amount of work, but a fantastic end result. Great job!
Truly a programmers way to solve a problem. Thanks for all the videos, its always nice when you post something new and interesting.
This is the epitome of programmers spending hours trying to automate tasks that only take few seconds. Loved it!!!
LoooL
or automating tasks that have already been automated by an existing product on the market.
This is really awesome! Hyped to be subscribed to an actual maker who tweaks his setup.
My god I don’t think this channel knows how to not make useful content. It’s crazy how everything he puts out is great.
Man you're inspirational, love all the details you go through to make a video so clean. Would love to find more channels like yours.
I use a gamepad controller for my Mac and a wired midi foot controller for hand relief, I also set up a ton of voice commands which trigger either app menu options or keyboard shortcuts assigned to those options. Voice commands are for me the easiest to remember. It's made e.g. working with audio and video programs so much easier!
I just finished assembling my ideal desk. I used most of your videos as a guide. I am so happy with how it turned out. Thank you for these videos David, they really helped me out.
This is epic man. I love it. Its such a flex to anybody who comes over
Glad this works for you, too much effort to set up for most people tho 😂
Haha. It started out a simple project. And then it snowballed quickly...
@@HelloDavid I can believe it. It’s not for me, but I’m happy people can deep dive into their interests.
Currently I use focus modes in iPhone to automate everything. Like network switching and turning off lights, activate sentry mode in camera etc when I activate Outdoor mode.
I was called poor for 8 solid minutes, but watched it twice. Now I’m in debt.
😂😂😂😂😂
Woah. I love how you kept the functionality of the standing desk touch screen controls by adding the ESP as a proxy.
Cool concept! If you want the best of both worlds (in terms of responsiveness on your desktop) you could make the pico (W) make direct calls to HA (or other) and only send pc-specific keys through as shortcuts for AHK. For new users I'm pretty sure you could forward the commands via HA so it wouldn't even have to be attached to your pc!
Dude!! I've done a similar thing with AHK and Home Assistant, even down to the grid-based window management. From AHK, I canme launch or focus apps, move them, change screen configuration, turn monitors off / on, change audio output, control aircon, lights, TV, type text with macros or manipulate data in my clipboard. HA can make API calls to a flask server on my PC to invoke one off scripts. Another script runs in a loop sending state information to HA so it can keep track of desktop settings.
HA also monitors my dryer / washer and phone battery and tells me I need to tend to them via an RGB light. A Rapsberry Pi acts as a Zigbee / MQTT router for buttons stuck to walls around the house, which stand in as light switches but also perform other functions. One of my favourites is the single press when the bathroom light is on. It turns the light off then waits 2.6 seconds to change the audio output from my bathroom speakers back to my desktop just as I round the corner to be in earshot.
I'm now working on controlling my keyboard (same keyboard btw!!) LEDs to show state information (air con temp etc). It's half working, HA tells my PC when certain helpers are updated via API calls, then it's applied using pyopenrgb but this keyboard desyncs if you go too fast, then reverts to default when it sleeps.
I also want to link up my standing desk but I'm putting off assessing compatibility to avoid disappointment.
Today though, I'll be reading your code. Dying to see your window grid implementation.
This is sick! I've wanted to do something similar for my setup for a while and you've really inspired me with some functions! I love the window resizing-hotkeys!
Really impressive how much functionality is in that device. Thanks for sharing what worked and importantly, didn't work.
Hi David, awesome integration and automation effort! Could you elaborate and expand on what/how you got the 4 port USB switcher programmed? I'm looking to do something similar but not sure where to start with this. I figured from reading through some reddit posts that I could probably use an 4n25 optocoupler for this. But which ESP controller should I use? 8266? Thanks in advance!
I’m trying to figure this one out as well
we missed you!!!
look into MQTT to send commands. may be able to use MQTT to send commands from the Pi to home assistant which in turn can send the commands to whatever PC is currently being used.
Came here to post this.
Impressive engineering skill and project.
The feeling when everything worked must be incredible
I both want to thank you for showing me what you’ve come up with and to curse you for sending me down this rabbit hole. You have found a new fan I’ve subscribed and look forward to seeing what’s next
That is a really nice project with awesome outcome! I am thinking of doing something similar but I am a little bit afraid of the tight coupling between the components which decreases flexibility when restructuring the desk... So I guess that I will stick with my manual setup for some more years :D
Damn bruv, I thought this was another first world problem but the utility here is real. Impressive!
Incroyable, bravo. Ce n'est pas à la portée de tout le monde mais je n'ai pas de mot pour décrire mon admiration. Gg
I wonder if you can fix the "always on PC" problem by using the raspberry pi your keypad is connected to as the OS that controls everything instead of your PC to do this. It would be a nightmare to refactor given what you've already set up though
I was thinking something similar. If not then use the same machine that runs Home Assistant
@@dagarou Might be challenging since his HA is a VM so he would need to pass the USB port that the keypad dongle is connected to directly to the VM running HA. Doable for sure but I'm not totally sure how locked down the HA Linux OS is..
if he has HA, the answer could be node red and MQTT.
on the rpi:
keypad > node red > mqtt > (remote) HA
maybe there is a more efficient way than node red to get keyboard input to send it via mqtt.
Holy crap man. You're a true wizard. Amazing project.
I would highly recommend you add macros for Web tabs switching (left right tab, the pinned tab on the left etc) . I personally had it on my mouse by tilting the scroll wheel, and it was glorious. I would do your setup just for that and windows controls lmao
so pleased you did this, AHK has been my go-to for automating dumb things to make them smart
Any reason why you didn't consider a Stream Deck for the keypad? Appreciate they don't have wireless options but do have underdesk mounts. Feel it would have given you more flexibility on the keys you could use.
I did consider it. And it probably is the better solution for most people. I just wanted something that was more compact and close to my keyboard (make using the mute button super easy while playing games). Also I'm always looking for cheaper alternatives to these premium solutions, though in hindsight this custom keypad started adding up in price after adding the keycaps and Pico. But still significantly cheaper. And finally, I had grander plans to have it run independent of the PC, such as on a Raspberry Pi or something, which I imagine would a huge headache to make work with the Streamdeck
This is one of the best videos of it's kind.
I love the idea behind the automations that one would typically not think of a macropad for. You might want to take a look at the Adafruit macropad 2040. Although it doesn't have a wireless connection you might be able to modify it with a battery and ble or take inspiration from its design.
Wow. I could tell that your needs are different from mine (e.g. you use a TV as a monitor while I have 4 monitors instead), but you showed some stuff I never thought about that I could use in my own setup, like the USB switch!
In my case, instead of having a light bar that has controls on it, I have a Yeelight light bar that comes with its own wireless puck used to control the basic features.
I have an old tablet (that I tried to sell but nobody bought) repurposed to be a dedicated Home Assistant dashboard when my PC is powered off and a Deckboard Pro client when my PC is powered on. I may look into some sort of automation thing to have it automatically switch apps when my PC goes offline or comes back online. Besides that, I have a custom Nova Launcher configuration to hide as much of One UI as possible, have an app drawer that starts on a tab that has only the apps I would use, and on the home screen, I have a layout that's intended to mimic the ambient mode on Google Nest Hub, but with an additional widget in the top right for battery status. That tablet has a limited 16 GB of storage and battery charging issues (it can't fast charge). I plan to get a MOFT stand for that.
I see you use Home Assistant too!
So at first I thought “this is going to be ridiculous”… by midway through I was sold. This is really impressive. Love it.
I was one of those thinking 'what about Stream Deck?' but it's wired. No getting around that. Wire aside, I too spend a lot of time working on macros, page layouts, AHK scripts and IFTTT to try and streamline at-desk workflows. Feels like a waste until it's (mostly) working. Totally worth it!
Elgato Stream Deck + (plus) with the adjustable knobs
This is incredible! Would you (PLEASE) do a step by step video for noobs like myself? I have a 42 inch c3 and could really use this.
this is awesome but looks too complicated for me to attempt
😮 Wow! Incredible work!
This is hall of fame material dude, awesome.
4:08 While this is a really cool and clever way to do this, an alternative solution for others could be using a USB (this would also be applicable for HDMI) switcher with a remote, then use an IR blaster to learn the remotes signals and send them that way. Side benefit of this is this IR blaster can be used to separately control any and all other IR based devices. Personally I use an IR blaster for older TVs that don't have smart integrations or CEC, HDMI switchers, and tower fans.
Love the project and definitely want to incorporate some of these ideas!!
I need to get into Home Assistant. Seems steep intro curve, but crazy sweet power
Far from Steep. The hardest part hurdle is the install, picking the device to install it on and which version to install. None of which is "hard" if ya follow instructions. If ya already used to the idea of using Google Assistant, Alexa or Home Kit. Then ya already good to go. The real curve comes when customizing.
Quick thing ya learn is to pick devices that are "locked" down where possible.
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Bravo! This is absolutely fantastic. You gave me a lot of ideas! Can’t wait to start. Thanks for sharing 😊
aimos also builds kvm switches with a dedicated usb port for the keyboard. with this you can switch inputs via double press ctrl+1-4. you could use on of these to pass the macroboard to your other devices and your main pc has not to be on.. you would have to code your key combinations on a pico or esp32 or other microcontroller to leave out autohotkey and make it compatible with other devices without installing any software.. esps can emulate keypresses and can send http requests to REST endpoints
Dude, this is my new Dream Setup.
Where I can get those icons? By the way great idea!
I would have intergrated this into the desk with radio buttons, but having something you can remove is great! Love the project
Take a look at the kb2040. It's "designed" for building keyboards. You can set up macros directly on the keyboard(it doesn't replace ahk, but can reduce its usage)
You should also be able to bolt on an esp32 to do your curl requests independently of your computer to all but eliminate the need for ahk.
Very cool project. This is the exact content I come to TH-cam for.
When the desire for efficiency reaches "I'll do it myself" levels-- this is insane!
I can't get over how amazingly awesome your keypad setup is! That must have been a terrible amount of time spent but it looks to be very well worth it!
These are the kind of projects I love. Home/work automation and customisation. I have also used autohotkey for some of my automations and Home Assistant.
I know this is way off what this video is about but I'd love to see you remodel your office space. I'm interested to see how you'd completely redesign your working space.
this is beyond cool! great work
love love love. I am saving this video. I am definitely gonna implement this
You have made this look so easy.. respect man.
This one is the sickest macro pad ever! Thanks for sharing David
This is great. You should do 1 video showing exactly how you setup the pico and auto hot key to use the custom keyboard. I'm trying to set this up too but I can't seem to figure out what keys i'm hitting on the keypad to know what to put into the HID website to configure it..
A custom keypad with an SBC could also sync rgb leds for each key that would allow you to have indications for turned on or off
Simply awesowe. I never regretted my subscription!
Wake up babe a new David Zhang just dropped
You Changed Everything ✨ When You Switched Anything
Lots of hardwork I could see!
Now this is a truly meaningful setup upgrade, this is brilliant.
Beautiful solution! I bought Razer Tartarus Pro keypad for this. For now I can controll everything via Razer synapse + ahk. But after the video... I want more!
This is awesome, one thing I would do differently is, for the non pc related items like lights and all I would connect an esp8266 over UART with the pico, and make post requests directly from the esp.
Anyway thanks for sharing such nice project. Love from India
Always respect going all out and putting in the work when you have a very specific set of requirements to get just what you want out of something.
i've automated some devices that i built in my home using ESPNOW on my esp32 and there's very low latency and no need for constant wifi connection.
and since my "transmitter" esp32 has a bunch of buttons, i can keep it in deep sleep until i press any button. i have a couple of chipmunk feeders 120ft away from my home and the feeders' doors (integrated with esp8266 + servos) can open and close almost instantaneously. one downside so far is i've made it one way comm for now, which means state management is not handled if/when the transmitter/receiver loses power.
love "but i found this github page..." such relatable content
Wow that's awesome! Nice work
This is the stylish multi hobby super detailed stuff I like. I wish more youtubers made more diy with style tech videos.
Did you use a template for the key labels?
this is just on another level. I wouldn't know where to start!
That’s really nice. I need to find or implement a similar solution for my standing desk.
Can you make a series that breaks this all down for us so we can attempt to achieve something similar?
Thank you for share these kind of life hacks, they are very helpful…. would you mind giving us the size of your table?
Really impressive! Quite a few little nuggets of inspiration for a few projects here
I was a long time lurker but this was epic and finally subscribed. Sorry it took me so long
Was just watching some old videos wondering when the next one would be. Great surprise on a cold winter day!
Very good idea, i plan to do the same with secondary keyboard without numpad, thank you mr David.
Ouch, that soldered switches on 7:42 will bound to be a real hassle when one of the switches decided to resign itself 😅.
But that's surely how most mechanical keyboards are manufactured in the past, now it's the complete opposite where most keyboards' switches are hotswappable and the buttons are by default already remappable (either through their own app, VIA or Vial) so you don't really need to force-remap it.
You could still resolder the slots with a hotswap socket though, so it's fine. That's what I did with some of my keyboards, I turned my Outemu-only socket on Tecware Phantom 87 to be able to fit Kaihl and Gateron switches and my Logitech G512's sockets to be Hotswappable.
Overall nice video, really appreciate all that effort to set up and program everything.
Loving this little project. Ordered a pico already.
I’ve looked at the GitHub but I have no idea how to flash the pico (I know a bit premature but I’m going to make this work)
Perhaps a tutorial on how to flash for beginners. I couldn’t find any utubes so…..
Press the button on pico, connect to your PC via USB and copy your image file for poco to use during boot. Dead simple.
@@Spoonuk666 Just not sure which files in the SRC folder in remapper.
@@paulb36utube From the Github page:
"The provided remapper.uf2 file can be used to flash the firmware onto the Pico the usual way (hold BOOTSEL button while connecting to the computer, then copy the UF2 file to the USB drive that shows up)"
That's so cool dude. I'm still having to switch 3 things to get between home/work PC. (Monitor, DAC, USB switch.)
May look into this...but seemed like a lot of work. Hopefully off the shelf solutions come soon because it seems like a common setup for people to have these days.
I am not sure but I think the only reason this is possible is because he is using a tv as a monitor.
Almost all PC monitors don't have remote controls such that you control the input mode :( Would love to be corrected though
This is the best one I've seen so far. Great job with this, so slim, tidy and well designed.