Keyboard Builders' Digest / History
From Boardwalk to Promenade
With the Promenade, Krado Industries tries to resurrect the Boardwalk, an ortho board with 1.5u Ergodox modifiers – and a piece of keyboard history.
Published January 11, 2024
The original Boardwalk, designed by Shens aka shensmobile was an ortholinear keyboard compatible with 60% cases and 1.5u ErgoDox modifiers. First announced in 2018, but unavailable since more than a year, Matt of Krado Industries thought it was now time to recreate and update this versatile PCB. The group buy is open until Jan 31.
I decided on the name Promenade as a nod to Boardwalk, as they both can mean the same thing. I am also currently designing a solder version of the Promenade with many more layouts and an RP2040 – Matt.
The main feature of the Boardwalk/Promenade is that it fits 60% cases and uses 1.5u ErgoDox modifiers, making it easier to hit the modifiers/outside keys:
Promenade specs
- 62-68 keys
- Default 1.5u center column (1u version is also available)
- 3u/6u Spacebar stabilizer support
- MX, hotswap
- Edge cut for gummy o-ring boards (like the Bakeneko), Pok3r tray mount holes
- JST connecter for daughterboards
- A daughterboard only (no usb) version
- A few more breakout pins
- ATMega32u4
- ESD protection
- RGB underglow
- QMK powered, VIA supported
Shensmobile, designer of the original Boardwalk, is aware of the project and is totally OK with it, giving his full support to Matt and the Promenade:
I always said that Boardwalk wasn't IP, it was a layout, like the Planck. I'm thrilled that others are taking it over – Shens.
But what happened to the Boardwalk from its inception to the current Promenade GB? A long and winding series of events…
Boardwalk history
The history of Boardwalk goes back to 2018 when Shens posted the first IC about a keyboard called Ergo60.
Two months later a second IC was posted, changing the name to Boardwalk:
When I started the project, I honestly meant for it to be sort of small scale, I didn't even know if I would do more than the 15 I ordered initially. Back then, we just internally called it the Ergo60 because of the use of Ergodox mods, and the 60% form factor. I think it's a catchy name, but I also know that it causes confusion because it's not very ergonomic, it's not split, and there are already tons of Ergo## boards out there already, including another Ergo60 on Hackaday (whoops). We sort of tossed the idea around for a new name, and Boardwalk was suggested and I liked it enough that I said fuck it, let's just make the change! – shensmobile.
The Boardwalk was inspired by OLKB’s Atomic keyboard (a predecessor of Preonic from 2015), which used larger 2u modifiers. The Boardwalk GB post on Reddit mentions shensmobile's decision for 1.5u mods so that Ergodox keycaps could be used.
After the first "GB", basically selling the extras of the first batch ordered, alex_at_panc ran a proper group buy for the solder version in Nov of 2018. Erik of MKUltra approached Shensmobile after the GB to act as a vendor for the PCB under the agreement that they would split the profits. He was opening a new store and needed a "headliner product" to attract people, so a few months after the group buy shipped in 2019, MKUltra started to sell and keep Boardwalks in stock on his website.
He seemed genuine and was originally having some success cutting foam so I arranged a purchase order with the PCB production company and Erik paid for it and received delivery and handled everything from that point on – Shens.
The hotswap Boardwalk Professional 2 came out in Sept of 2020 at MKUltra:
The Boardwalk Professional 2 is the same Boardwalk you've come to know and love, but now has Kailh MX Hotswap Sockets. It has a much more limited layout, allowing for Ortholinear only (all 1u center keys, no 65% style) and 2 options for space bar - 2x2u or 7u. These limitations are due to the nature of hotswap sockets being so large – MKUltra.
MyKeyboard became the EU proxy, the details of this cooperation are unclear. (Waiting for a comment by MyKeyboard.)
Some believed that MKUltra owns the IP to the Boardwalk, but it's not the case at all. No one has anything to do with IP except for the four guys listed on the silkscreen on the PCB itself: Shensmobile, alexatpanc, dollartacos, and un_related.
We collaborated together on the KeyChatter slack group to come up with the original layout choices and compatibility for the original Boardwalk PCB. It was a fun project with friends to build something novel, and an opportunity for myself to get better at PCB design.
Shensmobile agreed to re-work all of the Boardwalks with new Atmega CPUs and ESD protection, finished the initial re-design and ordered protos. Erik said he would reimburse the cost of the design.
After ordering the PCBs, he went dark and never covered my costs, so I decided to cut my losses. The blank PCBs are sitting around here waiting to be populated. I wish I had time to get back into keyboards and continue designing, but I just don't have the time anymore. […] I am also to blame as I didn't update the design fast enough for [Erik], but he knew that I was stepping out of the game.
In August of 2022 it was announced that Boardwalks were being reworked to use an RP2040 because of the pandemic prices and shortage of ATMega32u4 chips, and also because RP2040 could be designed with more memory. However, the "new Boardwalk" that MKUltra was talking about never came to fruition.
At the time of the announcement of the new Boardwalks, Matt (Krado Industries) suggested adding 3u/6u stab holes in the Discord channel, and also pushed for 1.5u instead of 1u in the hotswap version. It was around this time that he started designing the Promenade.
I figured that even if a new Boardwalk was released, it would actually be cheaper to make my own because I was going to build so many, and it was fun practice.
In September 2022 MKUltra announced that "New boardwalks are in design and hopefully headed to production soon". Without further news, Boardwalks went out of stock around October of 2022. March 2023: announcement made regarding MKUltra having issues and taking some time off.
In April of 2023 Erik said that the Boardwalk was being handed to another vendor in light of him closing his store. He said that an announcement would follow shortly. I asked around who this mysterious vendor could be, and it seems it was RGBKB – which makes sense, since many of David's designs use 1.5u outer caps (Sol 3, Phobos, Mün 2). The Mün 2 is even compatible with some 60% cases:
Yes I believe I could be that vendor, I did the design work for a low profile (choc) Boardwalk that I don't think has reached the market? I also have a Boardwalk version of my Mün2 – David.
David was approached by MkUltra as early as Oct 2020 to design a low profile Boardwalk to use with Choc switches and caps with RGB. Erik had been selling MX Boardwalk PCBs and was looking to pivot away from MX switches and focus on Choc. RGBKB developed a prototype case and PCB in early 2021, but were unable to do a production run due to STM32 microchip shortages.
[MKUltra] brought in another engineer to rework the PCBs for a different chip I was unfamiliar with, but ran into firmware issues there. I'm fairly certain the project sputtered out after that and MKUltra had other more pressing issues – David.
In the meantime, however, Matt actually had the gerbers for the Promenade (and also a TKL version of the Boardwalk called the Kousa TKL) ready to go early last year, but was waiting to see how events would unfold and what would happen with the previously announced "new" Boardwalk. As of today (Jan 7, 2024), there has been no announcement and no update. As you probably know, Thomas from splitkb.com intervened in Nov 2023 to have MKUltra's shopfront taken down, as Erik was no longer fulfilling orders and could not be reached.
MKUltra has been out of contact for about 8 months now, so I figured I would just run the GB on my own – Matt.
All in all, le roi est mort, vive le roi, you can have not just something Boardwalkish but actually something very close to the "new Boardwalk" with RP2040 MCU in the form of Krado Industries' Promenade.
Links
- Promenade at Krado Industries
- Promenade Reddit GB announcement
- Promenade GH GB thread
Published on Thu 11th Jan 2024. Featured in KBD #150 (source).
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