Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
Ground Control 40
Nick Coughlin's Ground Control 40 is a 40% open-source ortho keyboard designed for rapid prototyping.
Published March 4, 2026
Supported by readers like Cyboard, Jacob Mikesell, and @keebio. Join them now to keep kbd.news free.
The Ground Control 40 is an open-source 40% ortholinear keyboard with exposed pin headers, designed by Nick Coughlin for rapid prototyping with any micro-controller of your choice. Featuring ESP32 S3 controller, wireless charging, display on the bottom, etc.
This is not a commercial product. This is a one-off build for myself. I am not planning to produce or group buy this board. I've written a full build log with 30+ images and many more details. I have open sourced the Dev/Shell version of this board here – Nick.
If you can't see the exposed header in the photos, that's because there are multiple versions in existence I guess, with the dev board shell released.
Features
- 45 keys (12x4 ortho)
- Choc V1 low-profile mechanical switches, hotswap
- CFX spacing
- Wireless (Bluetooth & Wifi)
- Wireless charging
- ESP32-S3 microcontroller
- combined rotary encoder + multidirectional switch (Alps RKJXT1F42001 switch)
- 128x128 OLED Display
- custom firmware
- travel case
Resources
- Ground Control 40 on Github
- Buid log
Published on Wed 4th Mar 2026. Featured in KBD #207 (source).
Related
Bancouver40 (minipeg48, kowgary16)
This is my review of the Bancouver40, this cool little pre-built ortho keyboard in a premium CNC aluminum case – designed by Sporewoh and sold by Chosfox.
Wireless ortho travel board
The 0x32 "Brussels Waffle" is a wireless, ortho, low-profile travel keyboard by RadioactiveHop (waiting for repo).
Chonky Kong
Another open-source ortho keyboard by weteor with offset bottom row: Chonky Kong.
Rolitron Rolco-60
The Rolco-60 by Rolitron was a dedicated microcomputer for currency exchange facilities in the early '90s.