[foz]

A very nice writeup and intro into USB, although - it's very focused on using an ST microcontroller, which is a lot more steps and toolchains compared the the recent ESP32 ecosystem that offers a number of easy plug-and-play ways to make USB devices work (for example, several projects from Adafruit's learning pages provide basic use cases). Another issue is differential pairs - having designed several working USB boards myself, this has not a concern for beginners, mainly relevant for doing high-speed work. USB controller ICs (as used typically with arduio/esp) can handle a lot of the details for you, so doing the calculations seems overkill, especially for someone making their first gadget.

[vgalin]

I recently built a small hand-wired macro pad using an Arduino Pro Micro equipped with ATmega32U4, it's apparently quite popular amongst hobbyists building custom keyboards. Quick and fun project for a beginner, the most tedious part of this project was to carve the wooden case.

[stavros]

Do you have a link to a PCB/kit, preferably with LEDs? Does yours run QMK? It sounds like a nice project if it costs a few bucks to get the materials, though I don't know what I'd do with it.

[lemonlime0x3C33]

I think it is nice to have a basic understanding of differential pairs and impedance, I will admit I never really had to do the calculations since the ecad software I use has several tools for routing differential pairs and even analyzing signals for impedance. But as long as you keep your traces really short it normally doesn't matter.

[fulladder]

> USB controller ICs (as used typically with arduio/esp) can handle a lot of the details for you

Can anyone recommend any good USB controller ICs? I normally just use a microcontroller with USB built in.

[lemonlime0x3C33]

I have had a good experience using microchips USB2514 and USB2512