Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
Soroka
Vladimir Glushkov's Soroka is a DIY-friendly 40% keyboard with customizable panels.
Published February 27, 2024
Designed by Vladimir Glushkov aka kapee1, Soroka is an easy-to-build 40% with open-source PCB and case.
I created my own keyboard - Soroka. This is a 40% keyboard (or 50%?) and it's an open source project – Vladimir.
The author wanted a keyboard which is compatible with most base-kit keycap sets (no 40s addons needed), is relatively easy and cheap to assemble even for beginners, and supports 3u spacebars.
Other than that, the plate is also optional, further reducing costs.
The keyboard uses an RP2040-Zero as controller, and VIAL as firmware – having all Cyrillic symbols on the base layer by default.
By the way, the author named all his keyboards after animals\birds, and "Soroka" means magpie in Russian and some other Slavic languages. However, there's a twist this time:
In Russian, magpie is pronounced as "Soroka (Сорока)", and the number 40 is also pronounced as "sorok (сорок)". I thought it would be a cool name – Vladimir.
Specs
- 47-50 keys
- MX switches, soldered
- variable bottom row with 3u spacebar support
- RP2040-Zero
- optional EC-11 encoder
There are multiple covers available in the repo, fitting setups with or without an encoder.
Resources
- Soroka on GitHub.
- More photos on Imgur.
Published on Tue 27th Feb 2024. Featured in KBD #157.
Related
TrueStrike42
An open-source Hall-effect unibody split keyboard: TrueStrike42 by Choi Byungyoon.
A hefty wireless 40% ortho
A thick wireless 40% ortho by onebigdoor with photolog.
Pimple Smile
Protieusz keeps updating keyboard models with trackballs. His latest project is the Pimple Smile.
Chaz
After teasing it earlier, Jason Hazel redesigned and published the Chaz, a cute Choc-spaced QAZ-alike.