Issue 139 / Week 41 / 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.
There are 9+6 entries in this issue:
Editorial
Behind the scenes #139
Quick news, donation issues, in the mailbox, meetups, updates. Would you like a giveaway?
Projects
Thorium
Thorium is a small ortholinear split keyboard by note96e.
Birdy44
RaphCoder13 designed Birdy44, a handwired split with dual trackpads and tented case.
ScottoFrog
ScottoFrog by Joe Scotto – a 20-key handwired keyboard/macropad with Bluetooth capability (nice!nano).
Wave keyboard
Etienne Collin's Wave is a reversible split Ferris/Sweep derivative with Mini DIN 4 connectors.
Crabapplepad
Sergei Silnov's Crabapplepad is a minimalistic, ultra low-pro foldable split keyboard with X switches.
PUR
Sergei shared his PUR keyboard, an ortholinear one with offset spacebar and bent metal sheet case.
Större
STHLM kb announced Större, an easy-to-build 75% keyboard kit with exposed diode cluster and using only through-hole components.
Tips & Tricks
EC12 encoder knob
Oak Ninja published a 3D printed EC12 encoder knob with skirt.
Quick news
NerdBoard 6. A split with integrated trackball and extreme "keywell"(?).
Another "[abomination]"(https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1719yix/ive_created_an_abomination/) by ADreamOfStorms. To be open sourced.
What once was the KeyboardDweebs shop has been reopened as a blog. Alex will keep all of his keyboard projects on there (without selling anything). Related project.
Commercial: Keeb.io announced Iris CE (Compact Edition), a low-profile Choc Iris PCB and keyboard.
Tools: keyboard-info.com is a place to compare 3D keyboard models with AR view on mobile. Figma layout designer by Accomplished Table561, as of my understanding, a tool to make beautiful visuals of your keyboard for reference, e.g. while learning a new layout. FAK is a keyboard firmware for the cheap CH55x series chips. Written by semickolon in Nickel.
Spotting: A Dactyl with strange keycaps. They make sense though when you realize they were designed by MooMarMouse, a lady with long nails. Finally, the Datadesk Switchboard] – a modular keyboard from the early '90s spotted by TrustyTrombones [DT wiki entry and Chyrosran22 review.
splitkb.com, MoErgo Glove80, u/chad3814, Aiksplace, @keebio, Upgrade Keyboards, Cyboard, Sean Grady, @kaleid1990, Jacob Mikesell, Jason Hazel, KEEBD, kiyejoco, littlemer-the-second, ghsear.ch, u/motfalcon, Christian Lo, Bob Cotton, FFKeebs, @therick0996, Joel Simpson, Christian Mladenov, Lev Popov, Daniel Nikolov, u/eighty58five, Caleb Rand, Schnoor Typography, Spencer Blackwood, Yuan Liu, Mats Faugli, TurtleKeebs, James McCleese, Benjamin Bell, Ben M, Matthias Goffette, Davidjohn Gerena, Hating TheFruit, Spencer Dabell, zzeneg, Anatolii Smolianinov, Penk Chen, Clacky, Aubrey Williams
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