Issue 183 / Week 1 / 2025
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+23 entries in this issue:
A (r)evolutionary approach to improve on the standard keyboard layout
Since the year 2000, Peter has been on a quest to improve his typing comfort. In this three-part article series, you will discover three distinct solutions that balance layout compatibility with ergonomics.
Editorial
Behind the scenes #183
Keyboard projects, reviews, quick news, in the mailbox, vendors, discounts.
Switch trends
Best-selling keyboard switches of December, 2024
In this month's overview of community-favorite mechanical switches, here are December's top picks, based on real sales data provided by vendors and manufacturers.
Projects
Barnacle
The Barnacle is a modular ortho keyboard by floookay – heavily inspired by the Boardrun keyboards.
EDC36
A no-frills 36-key split keyboard with reversible PCB: EDC36 by Penk Chen.
Avocado V3
An update to Auryn's Corne clone: the split Avocado V3.
Puffer
Duarte Bento released his Puffer, a low-profile split keyboard with MX spacing.
Macrolev
The Macrolev is an open-source magnetic analog keyboard by Alexandre Moatty.
Molekula: keyboard & framework
Evgenii Vilkov shared his monoblock split Molekula, a modular keyboard and framework.
Quick news
TIPS
PaletteFx is a new suite of animated RGB matrix lighting effects for QMK – created by pgetreuer.
An OpenSCAD-based keycap builder by Ruchi. And its web GUI.
Printed keycap comparison by dummyboi_cyc. Some thoughts about Liminal Chimera, DES, and KLP Lamé.
KKCKC is a unique and particularly stressful typing game. Cool concept, however, the gameplay is tragic if you launch the game using a custom keymap. :) I mean, totally stuck and can't even exit the game level tragic. :D
Gateron low-pro switch with MX footprint? Dual rail, light diffuser – to good to be true. With too thick of a center pole so it's not a drop-in replacement.
Zzeneg released his Raw HID module for ZMK – it allows to show time/layout/volume on wireless keyboards.
Any saxophonists here? An ortho abomination with a pretty unique sax layout and typing technique – committed by Richard Black:
Vimium-like mouse-free navigation by Alfredo Sequeida aka T0X1K01.
New Keyfab feature: Save layout to PNG/SVG/JPG. (Look for "Print".)
#Closed-source, WIP, etc.#
I cannot not mention this beast, the concept is just too, ehm, original to ignore: AutoKeybo with hardware layers. To put it mildly, I'm a tiny bit skeptical. :)
MantaRay by hawkwoodwork – a low-profile angled monoblock in progress.
MEGACORP – by ruby-builds. A 10u wide 30% cuteness.
runt by Btdubs17.
Tobesco-48 – a 40% ortho by BoardFair.
Scraps34 – Humanplayer2 took a TKL and saw a split out of it. Check out all the photos to fully appreciate this project.
Cornewall – 60 deg fixed tenting for a Corne, by distractable.
Keyboard art
Fox Lab Time65 – posted by a7kilr.
I liked these screw trays from Notfromsam.
Jade QK100 – photos by hauterloo92.
Icebreaker – shot by Sterlingandcophoto. I can't really interpret it as a functional object, but I can appreciate it as a decorative item.
CovertAI designed a custom southpaw keyboard for his girlfriend.
splitkb.com, ZSA Technology Labs, MoErgo Glove80, Aiksplace, Upgrade Keyboards, @keebio, Cyboard, Jason Hazel, Jacob Mikesell, Sean Grady, Ergohaven, KEEBD, @kaleid1990, littlemer-the-second, Timo, ghsear.ch, u/motfalcon, Bob Cotton, FFKeebs, @therick0996, Christian Mladenov, Schnoor Typography, Daniel Nikolov, u/eighty58five, Brendan P., Caleb Rand, James McCleese, Ben M, Yuan Liu, zzeneg, Spencer Dabell, Anatolii Smolianinov, Penk Chen, Clacky, Matthias Goffette, Stefan S., Alex Miller, Trey Causey, Hating TheFruit, Mario S., Cloyce, Dylan Ingham, Gordon Diggs, Shnobble, Davidjohn Gerena, Duncan B., HubertTheMad, Richard Dawe, s_p_l_o_d_e
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