Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
Appa keyboard
Calebe94's Appa is an ortho keyboard supporting Alps switches.
Published March 1, 2023
Supported by readers like Andres Sakk, Micah Alpern, and Benjamin Bell. Join them now to keep kbd.news free.
E. Calebe aka Calebe94 shared his Appa, an ortholinear keyboard inspired by the Plaid and Gherkin Apls 1.1, and sporting White Alps switches plus an Arduino Pro Mini (ATMega328p) as devboard/microcontroller.
I wanted to create a keyboard to use some of the electronic components I already have. That's why I've used USB-B instead of USB-C connector, and that's why the keyboard is so tall, but I'm happy with the results since this is my first mechanical keyboard ever – Calebe94.
Specs
- 4x12 ortholinear layout
- through-hole components only
- Atmega328p (Arduino PRO Mini) with VUSB on QMK firmware
- White ALPS switches
- layered acrylic case
Resources
- https://github.com/Calebe94/appa-pcb
- https://github.com/Calebe94/appa-case
- https://github.com/Calebe94/appa-firmware
Published on Wed 1st Mar 2023. Featured in KBD #115 (source).
Related
Homemade keycaps
Some elegant homemade low-pro keycaps – posted by hide-key.
1800-ish wooden ortho
An 1800-style ortho board by u/MetaWhirledPeas, hand made from a solid piece of poplar from Home Depot.
Ortho or staggered? Both!
This 40% ortho PCB comes with a home row allowing both ortho and staggered (symmetric) arrangement (here). (Posted by Littlehouse75.)
Plate wrist rest
The plate is the wrist rest of this design by modularsynth123456.