Desk of Ladyada - Load Cells & HID Keyboards
64We're waiting for a bunch of prototype PCBs to show up from our prior Desks' design work. But one of the great things about electrical engineering is that we can start new projects while we wait! Which is what we did: we get a lot of requests for an HX711 breakout board. We sorta prefer the NAU7802 (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nuvoton-technology-corporation/NAU7802SGI/2769782) since it comes with a Stemma QT-friendly I2C interface. But perhaps folks want to connect a large qty of sensors, in that case, SPI will do better since you can use 'any pins'.
So we drafted up a prototype for an HX711 design, based on the OSHW Sparkfun (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13879) breakout - but with a few twists! While we're at it, we'll update the NAU7802 since folks asked us to expose the secondary bridge.
Next up, we got a tip on the CH9328 (https://www.wch-ic.com/products/CH9328.html) - it's a funky chip that is basically a programmed microcontroller that enumerates as a HID keyboard and can convert ASCII or 'hex report' strings read over UART into keypresses. So, you can emulate a keyboard even if your chip doesn't have native USB.
And see The Great Search - SMT DIP Switch in 1.27mm pitch
https://www.digikey.com/short/31d730rd