DIY Computer Mouse

Personal Mouse project using a RP2040 with a PMW3360

RP2040 PMW3360 HID devices C

WIP

Overview

One slow night after work, during a conversation that somehow spiraled deep into PCB design and schematics, I decided it was time to actually learn it properly. Rather than starting small and iterating, I went straight for the deep end, a wired mouse built around an RP2040. My only real PCB experience up to that point was a small custom board with fewer than 10 components I’d done at work, so I figured this would be a decent challenge. I stuck with EasyEDA since I’d used it before and ordering a PCB is so simple and LCSC has such a large part stock

Schematic: schematic PCB image:

Hardware Selection

The RP2040 was an easy pick. It’s a simple chip with good documentation and a dev environment that just works, no fuss.

For the sensor I went with the Pixart PMW3360, and the reasoning was pretty unscientific. I found a website that catalogs which sensor is inside various mice, asked a FPS-obsessed friend what mouse he’d recommend trying to emulate, and that was basically it. The PMW3360 is a well regarded sensor that shows up in a lot of enthusiast mice so it seemed like a fun target to shoot for.

Firmware