Keyboard Builders' Digest
10% off ergo caps at 3dkeycaps! Code: KBDNEWS

Issue 118 / Week 13 / 2023

This is a hand-picked selection of last week's content from a keyboard enthusiast's perspective. Posts that may teach you something, make you think and contribute to the common knowledge of the DIY builder community.

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Contents

Editorial

Behind the Scenes of Issue 118

TTT, new shops, meetups, in the mailbox, developments, etc.

Hey y'all,

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Welcome back for another edition of Keyboard Builders' Digest (this time Issue #118), a weekly/fortnightly 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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Touch Type Tale

Ouch. I don't usually play games, in fact, I haven't played anything since Epistory (another typing game) and thought that the time when I stay up late to crush yet another evil adversary is over. But this week I got free access to Touch Type Tale – Strategy Typing (thanks Epic Games), a cool real-time strategy game developed by Pumpernickel Studio, and thanks to the mood and the unique typing control system I was completely dragged into this world for several hours if not days.

As an excuse, I changed the game language to Japanese to actually "learn" while gaming (this doesn't really work :D) and reported some bugs which rendered this particular language/input system combo almost unusable in the first days after the release. The devs fixed everything in a couple of hours so the next day I was back into fighting/typing my way through countless cities.

Pic:

I loved that you control everything by typing – from mining gold to moving troops around on the map. It really works, however, after the initial levels the whole gaming experience is one big typing frenzy (this is a compliment) while you desperately try to multitask – which may be not everyone's cup of tea, but there's a good chance fellow touch typers would enjoy it.

And there's a lot more potential in this typing control, I hope there will be other games with similar mechanisms.

If I have any complaints about TTT, it's I'd have loved an even longer campaign. Now I may try to beat all the weird dukes in the hardest "heroic" mode (which is quite challenging).

In the mailbox

Well, nothing in the mailbox this week, but I had a rather strange experience: After years of checking my local go-to classified ads sites almost on a daily basis, looking for interesting vintage keyboards, I was approached directly for the first time. I mean, a seller contacted me before listing his stuff on any site, sending me photos and asking me if I'm interested. All this because he thought his last keyboard went to the right place (to me ofc :D).

Pic: Stepped Q key

Stepped Q key

And if I was interested? Absolutely. A stepped Q key? It turned out that's something I didn't know existed but couldn't live without now. :D

Vendor database

New shops and updates to the database of keyboard vendors:

  • PigModding added, and Seb offered you a 5% discount (coupon code: KBDNEWS).
  • mecx labs entry updated, Casey offers now a larger variety of products.
  • EunBu removed, the page redirected visitors to a scam site. (Thanks for reporting the issue darwin5197!)

Meetup database

New entries to the meetup database:

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.

Donations

  • New donations came from Karl Berggren and Lim Soon Nicholai Sim. Thanks everyone!
  • And thanks a lot to all the supporters who set up recurring donations earlier.

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.

And many thanks to everyone who supported this project in any of its development stages.

Developments

New developments:

  • Extending the cache system: meetups, split database opening page (I know, this would deserve a full overhaul – and a major update).
  • Now that the two newsletters have been merged and thanks to the markdown-compatibility of Buttondown, I hope I can come up with a script to generate the whole newsletter on a single keypress, saving me about 15-30 minutes per week which I could use for more productive stuff. Keyboard stuff ofc. :D

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

Cheers, Tamás

Projects

T-rex

T-rex is an open-source through-hole ortholinear keyboard by Thunderguts13.

Thunderguts13 aka SylivanKenobi published a 5x12 ortho keyboard with through-hole components: T-Rex.

I wanted a 5x12 ortho keyboard but didn't have the cash to buy two Preonics. I need one for at home and one at work. So, I designed one by myself which would be cheap to build, inspired by the Contra – Thunderguts13.

The keyboard uses only through-hole components and a microcontroller board for easy assembly.

Specs

  • 5x12 ortholinear layout
  • Pro Micro footprint
  • through-hole components

Resource

kowgary16

kowgary16 is a low-profile ortholinear macropad by sporewoh.

Christian Lo aka sporewoh came up with a portable companion to his bancouver40: kowgary16 is a 4x4 low-profile macropad with CFX spacing.

Hey everyone! Happy to showcase my ultraportable low-profile macropod, the kowgary16! – sporewoh.

It uses choc switches and CFX spacing (17mm x 17mm), so it works with Chosfox CFX caps but not with e.g. MBK or Kailh choc keycaps.

Specs

  • 4x4 layout
  • CFX spacing (17x17mm)

Resources

bancouver40

A CFX-spaced low-pro ortholinear keyboard by sporewoh: bancouver40.

It seems I missed Christian Lo's bancouver40 at the time of its release in December last year. It's a low-profile CFX-spaced ortho keyboard with CNC case.

This is my newest low profile choc keyboard, the bancouver40! It’s one of my smallest boards to date, as it both has an onboard microcontroller as well as tight 17mm x 17mm spacing – sporewoh.

Chris published a macropad companion in the same style: kowgary16.

Specs

  • 4x10 ortholinear layout
  • low profile + CFX spacing (17x17mm)
  • onboard MCU

Availability

While the bancouver40 is open-source, Chris has announced it as a kit and his first group by in partnership with Chosfox:

In order to make ortholinear boards like these as accessible and attractive as possible, Chosfox has set the pricing of the kit to be $93 USD with an included carrying case! A great value considering boards with similar features – Chris.

In fact, it's also available without the portable bag on chosfox.com, and the KBDNEWS coupon code seems to work as well, so it's available for less than $81 right now.

Resources

Urchin

Urchin is a wireless-only Swoop-derivative open-sourced by duckyb.

The Urchin is a Sweep/Swoop derivative by Duccio aka duckyb, removing everything that is needed for a wired build but offering choc hot-swap sockets, nice!view support - with full matrix and diodes instead of direct pins (in the photo above you can see a build by the_real_davenull).

I created this design because I wanted to upgrade my Sweep with the fancy nice!view displays. I decided to use the edge design from the Swoop and to make it compatible with Kailh hotswap sockets. This is a strictly wireless-only design, and is only compatible with ZMK / nice!nano. Only Choc v1 switches + Hotswap are supported! – duckyb.

In order to support the nice!view display the author had to use a switch matrix with diodes instead of the Sweep's direct pin design. This means that the firmwares are not interchangeable.

Furthermore, duckyb also wanted to use a different PCB shape which makes it incompatible with Sweep cases.

Specs

  • 34-key Ferris/Sweep layout (3x5+2)
  • optimized for wireless/ZMK
  • native nice!view support
  • Kailh hotswap sockets
  • mounting points for cases, tenting pluck compatible
  • tray case 3D model

There are so many keyboards inspired by and derived from the Ferris/Sweep that I've lost count. Let's recap: Pierre Chevalier's Ferris had on-board components. David Philip Barr's Sweep variations use daughterboards. There are MX/Choc versions of both, ones with an extra third key/encoder in the thumb cluster (Swoop), just like unibody (Unibodysweep, Cheapis), ultra-low (Dust) models, or boards supporting the Xiao footprint (Kretsträd).

Resources

ChonkV

TheStuChef's 58-key low-pro ChonkV is based on the chocV but features, among other things, a number row.

The ChonkV, published by Stu aka FlatFootFox/TheStuChef, is a 58-key low-profile keyboard with Choc spacing – based on brickbots's chocV design. It adds a number row, an additional outer column, and thumb keys in the style of the Atreus.

This keyboard was designed largely as a way of learning the Ergogen keyboard layout generator. I was pretty happy with my previous keyboard build, the split Sofle Choc, but this new keyboard design allowed me to test a variety of concepts I'd been curious about experimenting with. […] It's chonky. It's a chonky chocV. The ChonkV – TheStuChef.

Specs

  • 58 keys, low profile, Choc spacing
  • number row
  • hotswap option
  • wireless/nice!nano controller board
  • nice!view display
  • reset button, power switch
  • Horizon style backplate and 3D printed case
  • Ergogen yaml files

Resources

Narfkb

ADreamOfStorms released the files of narfkb, a split with RP2040K-Zero, encoder and an array of tiny switches.

Sebastian Stumpf aka ADreamOfStorms shared the design files of his narfkb, a Corne-derivative with a lot of updates.

I've been using my corne for a long time now and I really love the columnar stagger, but it was missing some things. I've been looking for other 3x5+3 boards with similar stagger and a few more features but could't find any that would match my needs. So I taught myself KiCAD and FreeCAD and designed a board that would match what I wanted - ADreamOfStorms.

Features

  • 3x5+3 Corne style columnar stagger with thumbs more splayed outwards
  • MX switches for fingers, Choc switches for thumbs
  • Rotary encoders
  • Three Omron switches per side (for seldom accessed stuff)
  • Waveshare RP2040-Zero controllers

Resources

Dolothy

A 3D printed Dolch Planck keyboard by sohke with PCB and STLs: Dolothy.

After publishing the DOLCHpad, sohke shared a Planck-sized ortholinear keyboard in a 3D printed case made in a similar fashion – Dolothy.

I'm still not used to spray painting, and I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I finished building it anyway. It's an SLA 3D printed Dolch Planck board, and I named it Dolothy – sohke3.

The Dolothy40 or G80-1813 mini according to the author's other references was inspired by the Cherry G80-1813 – originally with 1800 layout. As in the case of these vintage Dolch keyboards, part of the luggable Dolch PAC PCs manufactured in the mid 1990s, sohke put the controller (RP2040-Zero) above the keys rather than on the main PCB area.

Specs

  • ortho Planck layout (12x4)
  • 43-48 keys (e.g. with 6u spacebar, 2x2u spacebars, etc.)
  • RP2040-Zero controller
  • 3D printed case

Resources

Egg58 v2

Travis Mick published his low-pro split egg58 – along the lines of the Ergodox/Sofle/Moonlander.

The egg58 by Travis Mick aka le1ca/tmick0 is a column-staggered, low-profile split with 58 keys and per-key RGB. The PCB is reversible and open source.

Finally confident enough in my design to share it. […] I realize there are similar keebs out there, but I'm picky so I had to make my own – le1ca.

Specs

  • 58 keys
  • low-profile, hotswap
  • Choc spacing
  • reversible PCB
  • Pro Micro footprint
  • per-key RGB

Pic: egg58 v2

egg58 v2

The egg58 was designed to remain fairly close in layout to an ANSI 60% keyboard, but with a reduced number of keys and minimal thumb clusters.

I pretty much started with an ergodox layout, removed keys to make it roughly 60%, then tuned the stagger and thumb cluster positioning based on where my fingers would land on a printout – le1ca.

Resources

Sandy

Takeshi Nishio's Sandy is a multi-PCB approach to mimic a keywell on his Jones keyboard.

Enlarge the photo above by clicking it and take a look at e.g. the top alpha row. Takeshi Nishio aka @jpskenn is experimenting with a multi-PCB setup to bring keywells to the otherwise flat keyboard.

Based on the symmetric layout of the Jones keyboard, the MX predecessor of his Nora if I'm right, the Sandy features PCBs on three stacked levels, with spacers between them.

The prototype of Sandy has been completed. (TOFU case for the time being.) A similar symmetrical layout to Jones with some key heights changed to make it easier for fingers to reach Y and P. You can also adjust the height with a combination of spacers, etc. Since it is treated as an experimental machine, I wonder if it will end with just a prototype.

It reminds me of Sasha Karmanov's boards, e.g. the Thumbs Up!, but the goal is the keywell rather than the tenting effect this time.

Resources

BLE HEX macropad

Piotr Wilk published a small BLE macropad sporting HEX keycaps.

Slowly but surely HEX projects are popping up. This cute macropad, featuring FKcaps' HEX keycaps, was designed by Piotr Wilk.

There were three reasons why I decided to build this keyboard: Altium Designer, GTA Online ;) and desire to learn Zephyr RTOS. […] Bluetooth low energy HID macropad for working, gaming, making your life easier :) – Piotr Wilk.

Specs

  • 10 keys
  • Recognized as standard HID wireless keyboard
  • IPS 1.47" color display
  • Backlit keys (SK6805)
  • Buzzer and vibration
  • Move detection
  • Power supply: standard 900mAh Li-ion 3.7V battery
  • Charging: USB-C port

Resources

Tips & Tricks

Magnetic tenting system

Fmcraft presented a magnetic tenting system using mainly off-the-shelf components.

Quentin aka Fmcraft of bastard keyboards shared his magnetic tenting system comprising a tripod, magnetic adapter and metal backplate.

I'm happy to present what I've been working on for some time now - an adjustable, modular tent system! […] My goal was to use as many off-the-shelf components [as possible], and to make it easy to adapt the system to any split keyboard – Fmcraft.

Demo

Quentin made this demo with a Charybdis Nano (top photo) and a yet unreleased Dilemma v2 (see below), but the system will work with any split keyboard.

Parts

  • Tripods: Neewer Z flex or Manfrotto pocket tripods.
  • Magnet adapters: 2 magsafe tripod adapters from aliexpress.
  • Custom plate

Here's the kicker – I had some plates laser-cut. Those need to be a magnetic metal, so I chose galvanized steel because it's magnetic and won't rust.

The author chose 3mm for the thickness because he likes heavy plates. However, for traveling you'd probably want something thinner.

Pic: Dilemma v2 with tenting

Dilemma v2 with tenting

For the Dilemma he also designed custom acrylic midplates for dramatic effect and underglow RGB.

Resources

Credits and thanks: CABenstein#9752 for the initial concept & Yingeling for helping with ordering the plates.

DaoShield

DaoShield by Mposiblee – an aluminum case for the Dao keyboard.

Fellow redditor Mposiblee shared an aluminum case for the Dao keyboard dubbed DaoShield.

The Dao Choc BLE, an open-source keyboard by Rafael Yumagulov, was featured in KBD#57, and the repo should contain the files of this case too.

It has several features. Switches are placed not in the plate, but in the board and later closed with the plate. Due to this, when changing switches, metal will not scratch. But unfortunately then LDSA keycaps will not go down completely. MBK works fine – Mposiblee.

The author was inspired by the Corneish Zen. The case is thicker, but due to the fact that the PCBs are at the same height, the keycaps do not differ in height either.

Resources

Touch Type Tale

A completely typing-controlled real-time strategy game: Touch Type Tale by Pumpernickel Studio.

I'm playing Touch Type Tale – Strategy Typing right now, and thought you'd like it too.

Grab your precious keyboard, dust off your typewriter to become the hope of Minsteria! In Pumpernickel Studio's Touch Type Tale, a real-time strategy game with a typing twist, you join an unlikely hero, Paul, as he tries to defeat all evil – by clicking and clacking on his typewriter!

Paul, an orphan, likes to hang out at the weird wizard dude's (Adalber) place and one day, while sorting the troll toenail collection, he discovers a magical typewriter – that helps him to control quite everything in this world from people to buildings.

Armed with the wisdom of the wizard Adalbert, Paul will fight against our enemies using a device of incredible magical power: behold the typewriter!

As an avid reader of kbd.news you should be already indoctrinated with the magical properties of keyboards and typewriters. Just like Fabian (artist), Jelde (art/animation) and Malte (programming/game design) from Münster, Germany, who have been working on this game and its pretty unique mechanics for a really long time. And after years spent with development and testing, Touch Typing Tale was finally published on epicgames.com yesterday.

The game is out NOW - And it only took us 6 1/2 years – Malte.

Game control

Everything is controlled by typing? The whole battlefield lies at the tips of your fingers? Sounds good to me!

Pic:

Do you need gold from the mine? Just type! Need workers, soldiers, buildings? Type! Sending troops at the battle? Casting spells? As you suspect. You even sow and harvest by typing. Or make pizza and lasagna, wire up bombs, conduct orchestras[…] I could go on with this list but you hopefully see my point: you won't touch your mouse just type, which is hopefully a good experience especially for keyboard enthusiasts.

Pic:

While this sounds fairly simple, doing all these tasks simultaneously in real-time is quite a challenge. But no time to rest, the whole world is in desperate need of your nimble fingers.

I'm just a few hours into it but I really like this game thus far.

Language options

The audio/narration is English only, but you can type in various languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese (multiple writing systems), Korean, Polish, Portuguese/Brazil, Russian, Spanish (Spain/Latin America), Turkish, and simplified Chinese.

Tried English and Japanese, and thanks to Romaji input, it's enjoyable even without installing other input methods.

I'm not a gamer myself, and firmly believe that most games are a waste of your precious time (sorry kind folks at Epic Games who gave me free access to this game), but with a story-rich campaign and competitive multiplayer mode (haven't tried this latter yet), this typing strategy game might be worth checking out. As a RTS game, Touch Type Tale will test your strategic thinking AND typing skills! In the end, you might save Minsteria and improve your typing skills at the same time.

Help this little boy and his typewriter to change the course of history, while your fingertips decide the outcome of rebellions, monumental battles, and… a cook-off?!

EDIT

The gameplay is very smooth and logical except maybe the penultimate challenge where you face, without much explanation, a whole new interface, map, and everything. It took me three attempts in easy mode to figure things out, but I have to admit I played (typed) in a language I don't understand – this is completely possible in TTT since the narration, cues and interface are in English. Changing back to a language I actually speak, the words I had to type eventually helped me to put all the puzzle pieces together and beat the +!%? out of every single opponent. :D

System requirements

  • Minimum: Windows 7 - 64-bit, Dual Core 1.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Intel Core HD Graphics 4600 or equivalent, OpenGL Version: 3.3.
  • Recommended: Windows 10 - 64-bit, Dual Core 1.4 GHz, 8 or 16 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 TI, OpenGL Version: 3.3.

Resources

Inspiration

Atalante

Gakuto Mikumo introduced his Atalante, a unibody angled split keyboard with arrow clusters on both sides.

While not open-source (yet?), Gakuto Mikumo, designer of the Atalante (アタランテ), wrote a blog post about this monoblock split keyboard featuring arrow clusters on both sides – which is a rather uncommon characteristic of ergo splits.

Gakuto, who by the way writes novels and fantasy/mystery fiction (check out his works here), was inspired by @Salicylic_acid3's ErgoArrows. In fact, the Atalante's layout is basically very similar to that of the ErgoArrows just without the number row. However, the original one is a true split and comes with MX alphas (only the arrow cluster parts are low-profile), and there are other differences as well.

ErgoArrows / ErgoArrowsPro has an inverted T-shaped (convex) arrow key cluster, which is rare for a self-made keyboard with a column staggered layout. I personally use the arrow keys very often, so this arrow key cluster is the reason why I can't let go of ErgoArrows – Gakuto.

The name is borrowed from a Greek mythological heroine, Atalanté or Atalanta, and given also the A-shaped cover in the middle of the board, it fits the Arrows→Bow→Archer topic well.

Pic:

No design files available as of writing this post:

The first prototype of this keyboard was just completed yesterday [March 26]. I like it, but there are still many improvements that need to be made. I hope to share data on it as a practical product, but it will be a while yet! – Gakuto.

Specs

  • 62 keys
  • low profile, Choc v1 switches
  • Choc spacing (18x17mm) with CFX caps
  • arrow clusters
  • Pro Micro footprint
  • Underglow, rotary encoder
  • Remap compatible

Resources

Promotion

Elecrow MK promotion

Elecrow announced a month of special promotion for mechanical keyboard enthusiasts.

I mentioned this promotion in my recent editorial but for those who don't read those weekly behind-the-scenes write-ups: Elecrow has a special promotion offering great prices for your mechanical keyboard projects for a couple of weeks.

To express our appreciation to all Elecrow customers, old and new, Elecrow is launching a special promotion on mechanical keyboards from March 27th to April 27th. Elecrow is running this promotion to offer you the best price on 3D printing mechanical keyboard cases, PCB manufacturing services, and acrylic laser cutting services for mechanical keyboards – Elecrow.

Details on elecrow.com, but here is the gist:

  • 5 PCBs for $10 (max 550x550mm)
  • 3D printing for $5 (100g max)
  • Acrylic laser cutting for $1 (2 or 3mm thickness, max 350x350mm)
  • Valid from March 27th to April 27th

I'm not into 3D printing so obviously consider if these prices are competitive in your area.

For more details, some restrictions, and for more info on how to claim these special prices, check out the links below:

Resoures

That was Issue #118. Thanks for stopping by.

This issue was made possible by the donations of:
splitkb.com, MoErgo Glove80, u/chad3814, Aiksplace, @keebio, MKUltra, Upgrade Keyboards, @kaleid1990, Sean Grady, Cyboard, Jacob Mikesell, KEEBD, cdc, ghsear.ch, u/motfalcon, Bob Cotton, kiyejoco, Richard Sutherland, littlemer-the-second, FFKeebs, @therick0996, Christian Lo, Joel Simpson, Lev Popov, Jason Hazel, Christian Mladenov, Spencer Blackwood, Daniel Nikolov, u/eighty58five, Yuan Liu, Skyler Thuss, Caleb Rand, Karl Berggren, Mats Faugli, Schnoor Typography, Davidjohn Gerena, Fabian Suceveanu, Hating TheFruit, anonymous, James McCleese, Benjamin Bell, Matthias Goffette, Lim Soon Nicholai Sim

Your support is crucial to help this project survive.

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