meishi 名刺

My business card, as well as a QMK powered macro keyboard.


Keyboards

product image

You can find the KiCad files at https://github.com/nalsai/meishi.

Assembly

Parts Needed

Soldering The Headers To The Pro Micro

Some Pro Micros come with pre-soldered headers, in which case this step is not needed.

(You can use the PCB to help keep the headers straight.)

Pro Micro with headers

Soldering The Pro Micro To The PCB

Pro Micro on PCB front

Soldering only the pins shown in the image below is enough. (The pins are B5, B4, E6, D7, GND and the pins at the edges to hold the Pro Micro in place.)

Pro Micro on PCB back

Soldering The Switches / Hotswap Sockets

Just put the switches in the holes and solder them from the bottom. (The pins should go through the smaller holes with the silver rings around them, not the large ones, those are for the optional hotswap sockets.) soldered switches
Rotate the board and solder the hotswap sockets to the PCB from the bottom. (I put some solder on the pads first and then put the hotswap sockets on top and used my soldering iron to melt the solder again and attach the hotswap sockets.)
Then you can rotate the board back and insert the switches. (Be careful not to insert the pins into the sockets and not bend them.) soldered hotswap sockets
PCB with switches

Keycaps

Just put the keycaps on the switches and press them down.

finished pcb with keycaps

Firmware

Follow the QMK Tutorial for an in depth guide.

If you just want to flash pre-compiled firmware, jump to Flashing Your Pro Micro and follow the GUI instructions.

 

Compiling

 

Install the QMK CLI by installing pip and then running the following command: 
python3 -m pip install --user qmk
Open your preferred terminal app and run the following command to run QMK Setup:
Install QMK MSYS. Then open it and run the following command to run QMK Setup:
You will need to install Homebrew. Follow the instructions on https://brew.sh.
NOTE: If you are using Apple Silicon, such as the M1, you will need to install a rosetta compatible version of Homebrew. This version does not override the base Homebrew. This can be done by running arch -x86_64 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)".
Install the QMK CLI by running: 
brew install qmk/qmk/qmk
Install the QMK CLI on an Apple Silicon Mac by running: 
arch -x86_64 brew install qmk/qmk/qmk
Open your preferred terminal app and run the following command: 
qmk setup nalsai/qmk_firmware -H ~/Documents/qmk_firmware

(Answer y to all of the prompts.)

NOTE: The Pro Micro uses the Caterina bootloader. If you use an Elite C you need to edit qmk_firmware/keyboards/nalsai/meishi/info.json and change development_board from promicro to elite_c .

Compile the firmware with the via keymap.

qmk compile -kb nalsai/meishi -km via

 

Flashing Your Pro Micro

 

If you want to download pre-compiled firmware, it is available at https://github.com/nalsai/qmk_firmware/releases/latest.
Just click on nalsai_meishi_via.hex to download it.

Run the following command to flash your keyboard: 
qmk flash -kb nalsai/meishi -km via
Now, put the pro micro into DFU (bootloader) mode by shorting the pins on the PCB labeled RESET and GND together. GND and RESET pins flash screen

The simplest way to flash your keyboard is with QMK Toolbox.
Run QMK Toolbox (allow it to install drivers when prompted) and select the firmware file.

Now, plug in your Pro Micro and locate the RST and GND pins.
Briefly connect these two contacts using something like metal tweezers, a screwdriver, a paperclip or a loose piece of wire.

GND and RESET pins You should see a message in yellow, similar to this in QMK Toolbox: *** DFU device connected: Atmel Corp. ATmega32U4 (03EB:2FF4:0000) Now, you just need to click the flash button.

You’re Done!

Congrats! Your custom firmware has been programmed to your Pro Micro.

 

Via

You can use VIA to configure your keyboard with Chrome. (Firefox doesn’t support WebUSB 😭.)

Open https://usevia.app/. Go to the Settings tab and enable “Show Design Tab”. Then go to the Design tab and confirm the warning. Click “Load Draft Definition” and select the nalsai_meishi.json file you can download from https://github.com/nalsai/qmk_firmware/releases/latest.

If your keyboard is plugged in, Chrome should ask you to allow VIA to connect to your keyboard. Select it and click “Connect”. Now you can configure your keyboard on the Configurator tab.

VIA screenshot

 

 

product backside and Gateron Milky Yellow Pro switches

 

Thanks for the inspiration