Modular's MagiClick S3 Is a CircuitPython-Powered "Single-Button Keyboard" with Tricks Up Its Sleeve
Built around an Espressif ESP32-S3, this 3D-printed input device doubles as an interactive display — and even boasts a hidden speaker.
Pseudonymous maker "Modular" has put together an open source "single-button keyboard" with integrated display, designed to act as an interactive informational shortcut system: the MagiClick S3.
"[MagiClick S3 is] a single-button keyboard, based on ESP32-S3, with a color screen," Modular explains of the compact device. "The display part adopts a 0.85-inch color screen, 128×128 resolution, and the display content is [fine]. The main control board is currently only designed with the [Espressif] ESP32-S3 [microcontroller] version, which supports Wi-Fi, flash, and RAM large enough to help add more functional scripts."
The idea behind the "keyboard" design is simple: provide a small display which doubles as a mechanical switch, protected by a plastic cover so as not to damage the screen. The device has a few more tricks up its sleeve than that, though: there are technically three buttons, with the main mechanical keyboard switch joined by a push-button to either side of the body, along with a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) expansion header to the rear above the device's USB Type-C connector — and even a hidden internal speaker.
"The overall operation is mainly based on the mechanical [keyboard switch] button in the middle, and the left and right sides of the fuselage are generally used as auxiliaries. The main button is used to access the function options," Modular explains. "The side button or flip button can exit the current function and return to the home page. [There is] one reset button at the bottom [and] on-board colorful LEDs."
The device is designed to run CircuitPython, and Modular has already put together a bunch of demonstration applications for it — ranging from live weather information to animated dice, a stopwatch, a Pomodoro timer, and a tool for accessing videos on Bilibili.
The MagiClick S3 hardware design files, 3D-printable chassis, firmware, and software are all available on the project's GitHub repository — the hardware under a reciprocal Creative Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license and the software under an unspecified open source license.
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