Issue 212 / Week 21 / 2026
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 10+23 entries in this issue:
Editorial
Behind the scenes #212
Behind the scenes with the May switch top list, Iqunix EV63 GitS and Epomaker Glyph reviews, open-source and commercial projects, keyboard art, meetups, new shops and discounts, etc.
Switch trends
Best-selling keyboard switches of May 2026
Here are May’s top mechanical switches, the community’s favorites based on vendor sales data.
Review
Epomaker Glyph review
The retro, mid-century modern Epomaker Glyph is a typewriter-style tri-mode wireless keyboard with huge displays.
IQUNIX x Ghost in the Shell EV63 Cyber Blue review
Two brand-new EV63 variants have been released recently: the Ghost in the Shell-themed Shell Core and Cyber Blue. For this review, I took a closer look at the latter.
Projects
Etzee B11
Nikola Secerovski's etzee B11 is an open-source ortho split (or monoblock) keyboard.
Pling!
Binit's Pling! is a wireless split keyboard featuring soldered KS27 switches.
Direct03xD
A 42-key diodeless wireless split: Direct03xD by lander03xD.
Omega Point 36
Ergohaven's wireless split Omega Point 36 is now open source.
Tiwaz
Timo's Tiwaz is an ortho split gaming keyboard with joysticks and gaskets.
Space Mission 30
Ergohaven's Space Mission 30 is now fully open-source.
Quick news
Closed-source, WIP, etc.
biGH by vaudiber. A low-pro symmetric unibody with Choc spacing. The katanaish layout is achieved by the bigger G and H caps of the middle row.
Triforce/Abstergo by Rain2.
Commercial
Hm. Pre-built ortholinear keyboards are quite rare. Epomaker's wireless Hack70 is a member of this species – with gaskets, QMK/VIA support, 15x5 grid, and a bit strange split spacebar sizing. I get it, but it may trigger the OCD of some of you.
Anvil. A pre-built aluminum Sofle-derivative by ergomech.store.
Nova Kine – a fancy macropad with some serious casette-futurism vibe. Some fixed 1U keys, but the majority is variable from 1U to 4U keys.
j1nx3d. 13U width, 40% aesthetics, offset number row.
TAIKO-01. I've mentioned David Ma's split a few times already. The project went into the Kickstarter phase (June 2 - July 2). Check it out.
Handwired
Diplomat48 by Vostok Labs – a 12x4 handwired ortho board with 3D files.
3D
Q-Saver case by kriscovery – for QAZ, QEZ, and qorthoz PCBs in a Kishsaver syle.
Compression 4C keyboard case by Catlove.
Tips, Typing, Keymap
Sungame Studio's Mechanical Keyboard Building Simulator is a game about designing, building, customizing keyboards, and growing your own keyboard business. Beta available soon for Kickstarter backers.
Tap-timout calibrator by rpnfan. Test which time is optimal for your tap-held keys.
Layer Word by Kawamashi. Similar to Caps Word, but you stay on a layer until a word-breaking charecter is tapped. E.g. on your number layer while typing numeric symbols.
Musings by ikakus. Daily-driver testing vs. "comfort testing", thumbs, etc.
Peahen Calling – a display companion for ZMK keyboards (WIP), shared by Ziembski. Some sceenshots.
Firefox 151 adds Web Serial API support, so you should be able to use ZMK Studio without having to switch to Chrome. (VIA is a different thing, relying on WebHID, and Mozilla deems it too insecure to include in Firefox.) – via julian_vdm.
History
Tektronix 4052. Posted by Quentinnuk, exhibited at Retrofest 26, UK.
PC-9801V keyboard converted to USB-C by KOn_Ritsu.
A Soviet-era keyboard found in a Yerevan flea market. Posted by mememachine309. Part of a TC-7063
Keyboard art
Magikarp 5-sided dye-sub keycap set. A one-off experiment by Coveringland.
Stacked acrylic cat board by Particular_Hawk_2356.
A closed-source macropad by AzuREgalia.
MoErgo Glove80, splitkb.com, Upgrade Keyboards, Cyboard, @keebio, BeaverKeys, Jacob Mikesell, Timo, KEEBD, TALPKEYBOARD, @kaleid1990, ghsear.ch, u/motfalcon, Ben M, Bob Cotton, FFKeebs, @therick0996, Christian Mladenov, Schnoor Typography, RGBKeys, Daniel Nikolov, Caleb Rand, Hana Lee, Micah Alpern, James McCleese, zzeneg, Spencer Dabell, Anatolii Smolianinov, Stefan S., Penk Chen, Clacky, Trey Causey, Mario S., Cloyce, Dylan Ingham, Gordon Diggs, Duncan B., Matthias Goffette, HubertTheMad, Andres Sakk, Shnobble, barraGOUDA, Hating TheFruit, Ikasaya, Technofrikus, Dickiedyce, drudru, TurtleKeebs, Davidjohn Gerena, TurkeyBoards, Filip Salo, Chase M., Felix K., sungo, Derek Tam, s_p_l_o_d_e, Raphael S., Johannes H.
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