(sorry for the delayed response, I don’t have notifications set up for lemmy)

Yeah, I realize that hand soldering fpc is not easy. However, the alternatives were much more bulky connectors. I actually did add a footprint in VIK that allows you to use a 2 row pin header, as you had described! It’s in the repository, though the README doesn’t highlight it at all!

The footprints are here: https://github.com/sadekbaroudi/vik/blob/master/kicad/vik.pretty/vik-keyboard-throughole.kicad_mod https://github.com/sadekbaroudi/vik/blob/master/kicad/vik.pretty/vik-module-throughole.kicad_mod

With these, you can use a very commonly available, like this one: https://a.co/d/glcPKeg

If you search for “fpc 12 pin 0.5mm breakout”, you’ll find a bunch of these same ones.

So, adding support for a board using these shouldn’t be too bad! Also, I just made a new controller that has a VIK connector built in, so you can make any pro micro compatible keyboard VIK enabled :)

https://github.com/sadekbaroudi/svlinky

[Ad] I also sell these on the fingerpunch site now, though it’s open source, so you can fab them yourself as well.

It’s two flat split pcbs joined with some curvature between them to form the trackball housing. STL is open source, and here https://github.com/sadekbaroudi/fingerpunch/tree/master/keyboards/ximi/v1/cases/stl

Search for “uni” in that folder and you’ll find all the parts!