After more than ten happy years with my hand-built keyboard, when my trackpad battery began to die recently I was keen to replace it with something similar. The trackpad had also been causing a minor RSI for a while, so I was interested in finding a replacement with better ergonomics. A little bit of googling led me to the Ploopy Adept. Open source trackball, some assembly required, wired connection, no battery to worry about. Exactly what I’m looking for! Sold!
The assembly instructions for the Adept are wonderful. They include all the info you need without wasting any words.
Unlike the original Ergodox, the Adept’s PCB ships 99% ready to use. No difficult surface-mount diodes to solder this time, which is probably for the best. Not sure I have that kind of free time these days. You only have to solder one chip onto the PCB.
I hadn’t soldered anything since assembling the Ergodox back in 2014. It took a moment to get the hang of it again. Had forgotten how weirdly exciting the smell of fresh solder is. It smells… I dunno… “important”? Or something?.
Anyway, the first time I plugged in my Adept, the buttons all worked, but the trackball didn’t. The assembly instructions have a section for this exact case.
The sensor likely isn’t soldered correctly. Double-check all of your solder connections, touch them up with some flux if you have it, and try again.
Dead right. Look at the state of these joints. No wonder the poor thing didn’t work yet.
After a few minutes more of poking it with the soldering iron, I reassembled it and it was alive.
This thing is gorgeous!
It’s a joy to use, too. Trackballs are underrated as hell. And compared to the switch to the Ergodox, which took months to fully adjust to, this was nothing. Very happy!