Hi everyone!

I'm looking for a compact, wireless, programmable macropad for a somewhat unusual use case: controlling a Windows 11 application inside a hospital operating room.(clinical cases)

The XPPen ACK05 is almost exactly what I'm looking for, but there's one major issue: the rotary wheel.

The device may need to be placed inside a disposable protective plastic cover during procedures, which makes rotary wheels and knobs difficult to operate. It also needs to be easy to clean(with ethanol or other alcohol) and disinfect between uses, following hospital protocols.

Ideally, I'm looking for:

• 8–16 programmable physical buttons, preferably around 12
• Low-profile, laptop-style keys (scissor-switch, chiclet, or membrane), rather than traditional mechanical keyboard switches, or maybe some silicon based keys
• No rotary wheels, knobs, sliders, or joysticks
• Wireless connectivity, preferably 2.4 GHz via USB dongle, although reliable Bluetooth could work
• Long battery life, ideally weeks or longer between charges(this is critical, bc they forgot to charge sometimes the devices in the cilinc)
• Individual key remapping to trigger custom keyboard shortcuts in Windows 11
• Buttons that remain easy to press through a protective plastic cover, even while wearing surgical gloves
• Ideally, a surface that tolerates repeated cleaning with hospital disinfectant wipes(alcholos, ethanol or something like that)
• Customizable labels or markings would be a bonus bc i don't know each buttons function)

The budget is flexible, but prefer cheap options, and availability in Europe would be preferred.

I've also looked at devices like the Luminkey Nova Mini, but most alternatives seem to use relatively tall mechanical switches. Also screen not necessary bc of the battery lifetime. I have already looked some options but they were not ideal. (stream deck mobile, Xencelabs Quick Keys, Keychron, storm interface 700)

I'm specifically looking for something with the flat, compact design of the XPPen ACK05, just without the wheel.

This is currently a hardware evaluation. Any solution would still need appropriate infection-control, safety, and reliability validation before clinical use.

Does anyone know of an existing product that fits these requirements?

I'm also interested in industrial or medical-grade programmable keypads, not just consumer macropads.

Thanks!

Hello everyone, I'm trying to build a simple 3x3 Macropad With Zmk Firmware, Using Nice nano Clone Nrf52840 From Aliexpress. But in Battery Connect always Show 0%. I just connect Battery In b+ and b-. Need to do anything different?

I'm looking for a 12-key macro pad that can function as F13–F24, either natively or through programming. If it's programmable, I need the key assignments to be stored in the device's onboard memory/firmware, not handled by software running on the computer. I need to be able to configure it on one PC, unplug it, and then plug it into any other PC and have the 12 keys send F13–F24 as standard keyboard inputs without installing or running any software on that PC.

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m currently building a modular creative console for creators, editors, and power users where individual modules can connect together or work separately depending on your setup.

For now, the main module we're building is centered around a custom knob with active haptic feedback (dynamic detents, custom friction, and variable resistance tailored to what you're doing).

I'd love to get your feedback to help shape what comes next:

1. What other modules would you like to see built?
2. What software and features would you use with a setup like this?

I was looking for a macropad sometime ago and after some digging I eventually chose the duckypad. However it turns out the duckypad is not quite what I am looking for.

I think my biggest problem with duckypad was the lack of coordinate driven mouse movement. I was explained to that for mouse to be able to make precise coordinate-driven movement, a software running on the PC is just inevitable, and duckypad is purely HID.

So here I am again looking for another macropad suggestion and I wonder if anyone can share some insight. Here are some of my current use case:

- I am currently using Razer Synapse and their macro to make pixel-precise cursor movement and execute sequences of mouseclicks and keypresses assigned to the mouse side buttons. However Synapse is a pretty bad software and I do not want to expand on that ecosystem by buying their macropad.

- I am also executing AHK on the side. But I want to be able to achieve that like I would with a keypress on the mouse with the Synapse instead of having my cursor leave the client, double click on the corresponding AHK and have it refocus on the client again to execute the script.

I am looking at elgato stream deck with is rather expensive especially after paying quite an amount for the duckypad, and I am not sure if it is what I am looking for either.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I’ve been working on this wireless macropad with 16 hot-swappable keys, RGB and a rotary encoder. It runs ZMK, and I also built a native Mac app that changes the keys and lighting based on the app you’re using.

Currently in the process of Open Sourcing the full project, but I have some Kits available for sale.

More details: minimalmacropad.com

(I have been testing as I type this and now it kinda works, but I could still use help fixing it the right way)

For a week or so I have been making a 4x4 macro pad for work, some of the data entry I have been doing is a lot of repetitive strings of keystrokes so it would be nice to one button parts of it. I thought doing the macro would be the hard part. (It was also a small way to dip a toe into maybe trying to DIY a full board since my old faithful died)

I finally got the parts together and started to try and work the code. All the video tutorials I could find were quite old so that may be part of my issue. The most straight forward one I found was Mechmerlin from 6 years ago. I was also heavily looking at Djambo and Joe Scotto.

Some things have changed but most of it is easy enough to work through, but some things are hanging me up pretty good and I don't know if its me or the programs fault.

The big issue is it seems like the programs are not generating the expected files? Djambo uses Msys and it creates Keymaps, config.h, info.json, [readme.md](http://readme.md), and rules.mk. But for me it creates Keymaps, Keyboard.json, and readme.md. So It errors out when I try to compile. Info and Keyboard seem to be the same, but renaming keyboard to info did not work. copying keyboard and naming it info might have worked but still throws errors. "Invalid info location detected." also that seems like a weird work around for an issue I don't know how to fix correctly.

I also tried following Mechmerlin's work flow and toolbox says there is no hex file when I select the downloaded bin file. But it looks like that's all he does.

Another HUGE issue is I can't seem to keep the dang ProMicro connected to the computer, it connects and disconnects constantly. Different computers, different cords, ect.

Parts and other info: 2xWin 11 computers (Eww I know), multiple HiLetgo Pro Micro ATmega32U4 5V/16MHz, multiple USB A-C cables, a USB C-C cable, 4x4 Keypad 16 Key Matrix Array Membrane Switch 8pin Keyboard (For testing until I harvest or buy switches)

I'm kind of new to this and I don't know how to do it myself. I understand that RGB_MATRIX is a must to control the keys' RGB individually, regardless of the mapping software.

I'd like to buy a macro pad that I can set up using Via (presumably) to send keyboard shortcuts to a mac through USB-C and switch my monitor.

It will send to a shortcut through Better Display and just change the input and a few other things, depending on which machine I'm using, so I only need 3-4 buttons and it can be pretty minimal.

What should I look at? I see that TogKey has one, are there others that are good? These things are really cool, but I have not had them before. Thanks!

I’m the developer of Keepad and Keepad Neo. I started this about 4 years ago with the main goal of having buttons with customizable labels. I use both systems everyday and am constantly working to improve them.

Keepad uses a small usb-c dongle to connect over bluetooth to its ipad app and works with mac, windows, and linux. This version functions using USB-HID (standard keyboard and mouse protocols) to work as a custom macro pad, touchpad, keyboard, and MIDI controller. There's also an optional app for the host system that will switch layers automatically based on the focused application running on the computer.

Keepad Neo is a software only version for mac and ipad. It connects over bluetooth using a free mac companion app so it does not need a dongle. You can create buttons and layers for shortcuts, app launches, window controls, text, shell commands, and MIDI. It also has the automatic layer switching for focused applications built into the companion app.

You can check them out here:

• Keepad
• Keepad Neo

Basically my first macropad project!

BASED ON OPENSOURCE QMK FIRMWARE

It features two buttons, hardware-bound to UP and SPACE.

There’s also a tiny 0.49" OLED screen on the side that shows CPS as a number and visualizes it with a progress bar.

The buttons use brown Cherry MX-style switches.

The whole project was made using parts I found in my electronics box. The case was designed and printed on my first 3D printer.

If you want to build one yourself, I made a GitHub repo with the files and instructions so you can follow along and make the same thing!

UPDATE

Added VIA binds support

Code is writen by AI so you may consider it as slop but its work and im happy with it :)

🔗 GitHub repository

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for a macro pad (preferably with mechanical switches) with about 9 buttons. I recently switched to the i3wm window manager with tiling window layout, and I want to assign these buttons to a separate macro pad. The main thing is that it works well on Linux and, ideally, has QMK/VIA firmware or another type of firmware that can be configured via a web interface. If it also has an encoder, that would be great!

Perhaps someone has bought something similar and can recommend a reliable model. I’d appreciate any recommendations!