Behind the Scenes of Issue 120

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial

Behind the Scenes of Issue 120

Quick news, TWS, tests, new shops and discounts, meetups, etc.

dovenyi
Published April 23, 2023

Creators! Feel free to tip me off about your keyboard related projects to bring them to 140K readers.

Hey y'all,

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Welcome back for another edition of Keyboard Builders' Digest (this time Issue #120), a weekly roundup of this DIY keyboard focused newsletter and blog from Tamas Dovenyi – that's me. If you are new to this, you can read how this started out and what this is all about nowadays. If you like what you see, subscribe to the newsletter (free) and donate some bucks to keep this otherwise free and ad-free project alive.

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There have been many great projects announced this past two weeks but a lot of them were posted without much usable info, lacking design files or photos. As you can see, I've featured some of them in this issue anyway, but I didn't want to post untested PCBs or renders. So here are a handful of links to these potentially interesting projects: Explorer, TrashTruck, Planck Dolch, guitar making techniques combined with keyboard (here), open-source macropad, etc.

Split54/TWS review

This barebone wireless split, designed by Standard Keyboards, was sent to me by Keebmonkey. The display shows “Split54”, but it’s called “TWS” on skkeys.com. Maybe my specimen is a prototype with not the final software. Not yet available, but its release is imminent.

It's a fully wireless split. Even the keymap is updated wirelessly, so the cable is only for charging – less than once a month with my usage pattern.

Pic: Standard Keyboards TWS

Standard Keyboards TWS

Quick impressions: Nice milled acrylic case, familiar split layout, practically no adaptation phase. An angled bottom piece holds the battery and tilts the keyboard towards the user. The keys of the thumb cluster are a bit rearranged compared to what I’d consider perfect, but nothing you couldn't get used to very quickly. The proprietary software was straightforward to use.

I’m sure this will be a popular product, especially for those who venture into ergo split territory for the first time and prefer an assembled hotswap barebone split.

Check out the full review here.

Glove80 test

I've been using and testing the MoErgo Glove80 the previous week, and I also wrote a very long (25K chars) and possibly very boring review. Because of the sheer length and the time I put into the test, the write-up became quite nit-picky according to those who saw it. The last thing I wanted was to look negative, so I may get back to this review later. I've been using the board for work in the office for two weeks now.

For the first week, I played around with keycaps and took the Glove80 diligently to my office every morning. And I brought it home every afternoon to be able to use it all day. This should speak for itself.

Pic: MoErgo Glove80 – with sleeves matching caps. Sort of.

MoErgo Glove80 – with sleeves matching caps. Sort of.

Vendor database

New shops and updates to the database of keyboard vendors:

Cablelab (UK) added. Use the KBDNEWS discount code for 5% off. (Thanks Ryan!)
Quite incomplete, but after learning about them from Keebmonkey I added Standard Keyboard's entry too. Reached out for more info.
It was reported the 10% discount code at Coffeekeys.eu no longer works. It's temporarily removed but will be back soon. (Thanks instant_Amnesia!)
JUJUCables removed. In fact, it was closed a long time ago: "2017-2021 – an amazing 4 years!". Thanks Joe!

Meetup database

New entries to the meetup database:

Oklahoma Mini Meetup added (Oklahoma City, May 20).
Keeb it Social meetup in Arnhem, NL, added (June 10).
Indina Mech Meetup added (Indianapolis, July 1).

As always, this meetup database is both a calendar and an archive so feel free to send me upcoming events or even ones from the recent past to make this collection as comprehensive as possible.

Donors

New donation came from: Jurek Breuninger. Thanks!
And many thanks to the regular donors plus everyone who supported this project in any of its development stages.

As I write it in my year-end summary, maintaining this site takes a lot of energy and time. (According to the Reddit Recap stats that's 100 hours per month on Reddit only.) If you'd like and can afford to help, here is the donation form.

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That's all for today. Thanks for checking by. As always: Keep learning and building!

Cheers, Tamás

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Published on Sun 23rd Apr 2023. Featured in KBD #120.

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial