Behind the Scenes of Issue 57

A plethora of new splits, I've lost 65% of my donors, list vendors by country, upcoming newsletter cleanup, etc.

There were a lot of new designs published this week and also some interesting posts with tips or strange observations. In addition, I made some cool discoveries digging for info about the vintage boards included in this issue.

Support

It seems I've lost 65% of my regular donors in the past two weeks – due to the Buymeacoffee/PayPal wrangling.

Thanks to all the awesome people who resubscribed as paid members to keep an otherwise free "service(?)" alive.

By the way, 40,000 readers check by in a month, still the support of only 5-10 donors makes running this show possible.

So don't hesitate to throw some bucks at me: https://kbd.news/donate

Even the smallest donation counts, but the real key of sustainability is regular donation (i.e. paid subscribers).

Quick news

On another note, let's start with some posts that didn't make it to this issue but are worth mentioning:

• Caps Unlocked entered insolvency and ceased trading.
• The Keyboard Advent Calendar of the Japanese MK community keeps churning out interesting articles (use Google Translate).
• And a reaction to the Solovan, a keyboard without alphas, won my imaginary "Comment of the Week" prize:

I guess logically, there's a niche in the market for a keyboard without alphas. The alphas and mods are the last part of a traditional 100% that haven't been isolated for complete removal, probably because of how impractical it makes the resulting product as a solo keeb. […] – r/redlion145.

Vendor database update – now by country

I haven't updated (or checked) my keyboard vendor database for a long time.

But this week I needed a list of shops in a specific country and realized the filter options are for regions only.

So I made a separate page with all the countries occurring in the database and this interface is public now:

https://kbd.news/keyboard-vendors-by-country/

The URLs are quite descriptive so you can use that too when looking for or referencing these lists:

https://kbd.news/keyboard-vendors/Japan

Newsletter cleanup

Last week, the newsletter was sent to 1595 readers and with the new subscribers the list passed the 1600 mark. I'm approaching 2000 subscribers, the upper limit of MailChimp's free plan, when sending out the newsletter will start to cost me real money.

But before that, I will clean the database and remove inactive subscribers in an effort to push back the day of reckoning:

So if you are a subscriber and want to keep receiving these newsletters, make sure you click a link (any link) in the email every now and then. This way I can see that you are still alive and with us.

Split database update

I keep tagging and updating the split database.

There's still a backlog of about 50 models – and new designs keep emerging in the meantime – but I'll get there eventually…

Mailbox

The Jawn FE from Keeb.io & TheBoard is already on my desk. It's a really nice little macropad, but I couldn't take proper photos due to the lack of proper natural light – awful winter days.

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Well, that's it for now I think.

Thanks for reading. Keep learning and building – and check the posts! Cheers, Tamás

chocV - 36-key low-pro board

The chocV by brickbots is the 36-key low profile love child of the Horizon and BabyV keyboards.

This is a 36-key choc keyboard based on the Horizon construction (double PCB) and a trimmed down BabyV layout.

The Horizon features a very unique and innovative construction and when I saw it, I knew I had to build one… but I've become really enamoured with the Miryoku layout on my BabyV. So I decided to mash them together and see what happens. Thus the chocV was born! – brickbots.

Github repo: https://github.com/brickbots/chocV

The chocV builds on the two-PCB concept described by Steven Karrmann. A second PCB is put on the standard one matching all the components to protect them and your desk at the same time.

Dao Choc BLE

The Dao Choc BLE is an open-source wireless split keyboard by Rafael Yumagulov.

The Dao Choc BLE is an ergonomic wireless split keyboard for Kailh Choc switches based on the MINEW MS88SF2 BLE module.

This split keyboard is similar to Corne but it has an extra key per half for brackets and international layouts as on Jorne or Jian.

The Dao Choc was inspired by keyboards like the le_chiff_ble by MangoIV (electrical circuit), Corne by foostan (thumb cluster), Jorne by joric (extra key), Jian by KGOH (extra key and column staggering).

Github repo: https://github.com/yumagulovrn/dao-choc-ble

Roost keyboard

Tweaking the Sweep v2.1, forrestbaer came up with the wireless Roost keyboard.

Based off the Sweep v2.1, added 2mm or so horizontal space, added another set of keys and slots for a fat power switch. Moved battery connectors to the board, moved reset switch so it's easier to get to without being in the way. Larger holes are for mounting these: Mouser part: 575-7305015154727100 for pluggable switches – forrestbaer.

Github repo: https://github.com/forrestbaer/roost

Low profile keycaps used: WRK Blind by Work Louder.

Myrmidex

The Myrmidex by hexagramg is an open-source split ergo with encoders.

Konstantin's Myrmidex is a hotswappable split ergo keyboard with two rotary encoders. The layout resembles that of the Kyria but this one features an extra outer key and comes without displays.

It supports Pro Micro compatible controllers and has footprints for power switch and battery.

Github repo: https://github.com/hexagramg/myrmidex-keeb

I picked somewhat small components, so it is not that easy to solder without some kind of magnifier – hexagramg.

Closis

A handwired Pteron44 derivative by ghostfaceschiller with a Pimoroni Trackball.

Closis is a low-profile unibody-split ergonomic keyboard with Choc spacing, based heavily on the Pteron44. It features a Pimoroni Trackball.

The major changes from the Pteron are:

• tightest possible Choc spacing
• increased slant angle
• modified thumb cluster
• increased column stagger, especially on the pinky columns
• Pimoroni Trackball added

Github repo: https://github.com/dschil138/closis-keyboard

It is fully functional however, with the exception of the Pimoroni Trackball which currently works but is kind of unreliable – ghostfaceschiller.

Single-handed ergo keyboard/layout

A great one-handed keyboard project by key-yack with lots of ideas and links to related resources.

Based on nezumi's Amber PCB and konomu's one-handed layout, key-yack put some real effort into designing an ergo board and keymap for single-handed usage.

I started with layout similar to the 3x5+3 Amber keyboard I've been using. When early prototyping with Zebra, I found that the same layout was not as comfortable in low profile without tenting and some tweaks had to be done. Namely, I moved the thumb block a bit closer to the main block and to the side. Key spacing is MX horizontally (19mm), and minimum Choc spacing vertically (17mm). I tried the minimum choc spacing in both directions initially but found it very error prone; I was hitting the neighboring keys all the time – key-yack.

No github repo as of writing this but some ideas, tips and train of thought in the original post.

Discolored aluminum case

Fudgeybits reports a strange discoloration of his KBDfans aluminum case.

It seems the underglow effect may affect the color of an anodized aluminum case.

I've been using a DZ60 in this case with underglow as a layer reference for a bit over 2 years. Removed the PCB a couple days ago to swap switches and do some housekeeping and noticed the discoloration of the anodizing from the underglow LEDs. Just thought it was interesting, as this is my first time looking inside the shell since I first assembled this board – Fudgeybits.

The discolored spots shown in the picture feel the same, only the color of anodization is affected.

Is this the effect of heat or UV? Check the discussion.

Milling/casting stepped keycaps

A video by keymacs about milling and casting twin-Alps mount stepped keycaps.

Does anybody like beefy stepped keys? I designed those to replace two adjacent 1U keys – keymacs.

Specs:

• CNC router: Nomad Pro by Carbide 3D
• Material: Smooth Cast 310 & Smooth-Sil 945
• The resin cures for 4 hours in a pressure chamber at 60 PSI.

Grid Compass II

A Grid Compass from the Space Shuttle – spotted by herronious.

The Grid Compass (written GRiD by its manufacturer GRiD Systems Corporation) was one of the first laptop computers (source).

This one in the picture was spotted at the Kennedy Space Center in FL by fellow redditor herronious.

A sticker below the display says:

SHUTTLE PORTABLE ONBOARD COMPUTER
MALFUNCTION
SPOC pwr -off (5 SEC), then on

Some interesting details in "Pioneering the Laptop: Engineering the GRiD compass":

Jeff Hawkins, who worked at Grid for ten years and joined the company right before the first laptop was launched, talks about the positioning of the Grid laptops and the lesson he learned – When you are positioning a product, what you first say about it sticks for a long period of time:

One of the remarkable things about the first laptop, the GRiD Compass, was its price. It was $8,150. Which is a very odd price. First, it's very expensive. We're talking about 1982 dollars, it might be like $25,000 today or something like that. I don't know why they came up with that price […] but it stuck. And from now on people remember Grid is the company that made expensive laptops. It didn't matter if we sold the cheapest laptop, the less expensive later on everyone was: "Oh yeah, they make the expensive laptops." The flipside of that was that the very first products were made of magnesium cases – which was very cool and sexy, and we said they were rugged. I don't really know if they were rugged at all. In fact, there's some evidence that they weren't that rugged. But clearly, later on we made plastic products or no more rugged than anybody else's products but everyone says "Oh, you guys make those rugged computers" and you say "Yeah, that's right: the _expensive_ rugged computers". And when you add those two together you won't be surprised one of our best customers was the US government: they like to spend money and they like rugged. So we sold a lot to the Department of Defense and other spooky agencies like the NSA and so on.

And the second anecdote is probably even more interesting because it involves the keyboard, but check the video for that.

Victor Vicky V9000

A beautiful luggable Victor Vicky V9000 found by yesman_85's parents.

I have a penchant for these early luggable computers (along with monoblock splits ofc). ;)

My parents found their first luggable Victor Vicky V9000 – yesman_85.

Victor started out as a manufacturer of adding machines, and I can't resist to quote this fun story:

Victor Adding Machine Co. was a fledgling company in 1918 when the operator of a successful chain of meat markets gave a Victor salesman $100 for what he thought would buy an adding machine. Instead, he got 10 shares of the company's stock. In an effort to protect his investment, that man – Carl Buehler – became a director of Victor in September 1918 and was elected president of the company three months later. The first Victor adding machine, Model 110, was introduced in 1919 (source).

And here is the story of the Sirius-Victor partnership, mostly about the Victor 9000 / Sirius 1 (not much info about the Vicky).