Unsure where to start

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Bpwmd
 
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Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:19 pm

Unsure where to start

Post by Bpwmd »

ok, so this kind of has 2 questions.
the first is this project-specific.
i play Farming simulator and often will play on my laptop at work. people do have large steering wheels and side panels with lots of buttons but those don't travel well. I want to make a small box (probably a 3d printed enclosure) about the size of a soda can with a rotary encoder for steering and some slides or potentiometer style triggers (think game controller triggers) for gas and brake. i want it to be USB connected. i dont know what board to base it off of. i know this boils down to inputs and just figuring out how to assign them to an input on the game side. just not sure search terms to start with or how hard this project will be.

the second part is a generic how does one decide which board to use when planning a project. there are so many just on adafruit alone. its tempting to always go with something like a pi but some projects that's total overkill.
how does one choose between a trinket or a feather ect.

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Unsure where to start

Post by mikeysklar »

Maybe just start with a macropad and customize from there? It gets you the rotary encoder, buttons and working code to start with and is USB.

https://learn.adafruit.com/macropad-hotkeys

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Bpwmd
 
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Re: Unsure where to start

Post by Bpwmd »

mikeysklar wrote:Maybe just start with a macropad and customize from there? It gets you the rotary encoder, buttons and working code to start with and is USB.

https://learn.adafruit.com/macropad-hotkeys

How would i expand upon that cause i also need the sliders or pots. for gas and break

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Unsure where to start

Post by mikeysklar »

2B00792B-3656-491F-8D68-0A92A25D9D03.jpeg
2B00792B-3656-491F-8D68-0A92A25D9D03.jpeg (1001.68 KiB) Viewed 95 times
The Macropad has a STEMMA QT i2c connector so you can chain extra rotary encoders.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4991

There is also a USB NeoPixel slider option.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/5021

Keep in mind you do not need to use all the NeoPixel keys so you could remove some giving yourself access to a UART and send over data from ordinary pots / sliders (non i2c/usb) from another controller doing the ADC.

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