ThinkPad laptops (initially manufactured by IBM, however now by Lenovo) maintain a particular place of honor within the tech world. They’re well-known for being rugged and dependable no-nonsense spreadsheet-crushing enterprise machines. They’re additionally well-known for what Man Dupont calls “nubbins,” however which I do know by a few different names which are too vulgar to print right here. The nubbin is a small rubber mouse controller located in the midst of the keyboard the place no-nonsense spreadsheet-crushing enterprise folks can attain it simply. Dupont had the sensible concept to flip a nubbin right into a dimmer swap management for his dinner room lights.
“Nubbin” is just not, after all, the technical time period. Wikipedia calls it a “pointing stick,” which is ridiculous — it’s clearly not a stick. IBM dubbed it the “TrackPoint” after they started slapping it on ThinkPad laptops in 1992. If you happen to search “TrackPoint” on Amazon, eBay, or AliExpress, you’ll discover a number of standalone modules and Dupont used a kind of for this mission.
The TrackPoint module Dupont bought got here pre-soldered on a USB controller board. That lets customers plug the module immediately into a pc and use it like a mouse. However Dupont didn’t wish to join his nubbin to a pc, he wished to make use of it to regulate a dimmer swap. His first thought was to take away the USB controller board and join the TrackPoint module to a microcontroller growth board, however he bumped into points with communication.
The answer he ultimately settled on is a bit messy, however it works. A Seeed Studio XIAO RP2040 growth board acts as a USB host for the TrackPoint controller board. It reads the “mouse” motion and makes use of that to brighten or dim the lights by a mains dimmer module.
However there was nonetheless an issue: IoT (Web of Issues) management. Any gentle management made in 2024 wants web connectivity and the XIAO RP2040 doesn’t have a Wi-Fi adapter. So Dupont added an Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3 growth board, purely to make the most of the ESP32’s built-in Wi-Fi adapter. That allow Dupont management the dimmer swap with the nubbin mounted on a plate on the wall and by his native Wi-Fi community. He even made a easy smartphone app that lets customers regulate the dimmer by flicking a digital onscreen nubbin.
I labored for Lenovo proper after they took over the ThinkPad line and I’ve owned a number of ThinkPad laptops over years (and nonetheless use one). Naturally, I’m an enormous fan of ThinkPads, nubbins, and this mission and I’m certain it can attraction to lots of you, too.