Issue 63 / Week 5 / 2022

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.
Contents
Editorial
Behind the Scenes of Issue 63
Issue #62 follow-up, developments, vendor & split database updates, 1977 Roland sequencer, etc.
Hello everyone,
Developments
- Shop cake day highlighting. For vendors who can provide the exact date of their founding.
- IP geolocation in the vendor database (WIP). I'm having a hard time to implement this with IP6, most likely because I'm pretty sure I've just discovered some bugs in different software of the workflow.
- Donation button at the bottom of posts.
My first custom keyboard killed
ESD killed my very first proper (not cardboard :D) custom, the Storm46, I'd used for about three years.
As I touched the steel plate, there was an audible spark and the board went unresponsive.
When plugged in, the LED is still lighting but the device is not recognized and a hard reset has no effect either.
Fortunately, this is a handwired board and I'll be able to replace the Pro Micro quite easily.
This happened right in the morning when I sat down at my desk so I had to work the whole day with a standard keyboard, qwerty, and without thumb clusters.
Thank God, I had my old rubberdome laying around which I set up according to the Space FN concept back in 2018 so at least I had arrows and navigation on the home row with some frequent symbols.
What I really missed were: numbers on a layer, symbols in general – I arranged them quite logically for my programming tasks. Plus the offset of the bottom row in classic staggering was driving me crazy.
In addition, as much as I like Space FN – accessing an extra logical layer while holding the spacebar – holding a fullsize spacebar the whole day proved to be a much less comfortable solution compared to a 1u thumb key I use normally.
MoErgo kickstarter
Out of curiosity, I checked the Glove80 Kickstarter page an hour after the campaign went live and there were already 200 backers and half of the NZ$200,000 goal was pledged.
According to MoErgo's Stephen Cheng the goal was reached in 28 hours.
Vendor and split database updates
- SquashKB added, several profiles updated.
- Cerakey offered a $5 discount code (KBDNEWS)
- KumaMech renamed to Polartype.com.
In addition, I tried to work on the split keyboard database each day for a few minutes. Not a spectacular progress but I've tagged about 20-25 boards.
Donations
SplitKB is back as supporter! Thanks Thomas.
Reader suggested posts
Hey, it seems some people actually read my editorials.
After last week's post, a few emails landed in my inbox with suggestions, e.g. Karl Gresegger called my attention to his new Anna keyboard.
And John Park sent me a photo of a Roland sequencer from 1977 with some nice XDA-like keycaps:
–-
Well, that's it for today.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your support.
Feel free to ask and comment in this issue's r/mk thread, and as always: keep learning and building.
Cheers, Tamás
Projects
Skeletyl/TBK-Mini flexible PCBs
Fmcraft published the files of his Skeletyl/TBK-Mini flexible PCBs – with per-key RGB.
The TBK Mini and Skeletyl flexible PCBs with per-key RGB are now open-source.
Build your own here:
- Skeletyl page with flexible PCB.
- TBK-Mini page with flexible PCB.
If you want to modify the design files, the Kicad sources are included. If you just want to order the PCBs, check out the Release section which contains the gerber files.
Order with a 0.6mm or 0.8mm PCB thickness.
Kits and parts available at bastardkb.com, and you can support Quentin via Patreon.
Anna keyboard
Anna is a wireless 40-key ortholinear split keyboard PCB open-sourced by Karl Grasegger.
The Anna keyboard, named after the designer's sister, is built on a split ortholinear keyboard PCB with pads for Kailh hotswap sockets. It has 5 columns and 4 rows on each side and is built for usage with Pro Micro compatible controllers supporting Bluetooth – there is no TRRS jack.
Specs:
- 40 keys split ortho
- MX Kailh hotswap sockets only
- puck support
- Bluetooth only (no TRRS jack) MCU (Karl used a nice!nano)
- you can fit a battery the size of a MCU on the opposite end of the PCB (e.g. a 250mah)
- open source
- plate outline available in SVG/DXF formats to order a nice acrylic one (or an FR4 plate by importing it into KiCAD)
- on/off-slider support
GitHub repo: https://github.com/grasegger/keyboards/
7x5 split ergo
A noname 7x5 split ergo keyboard by k9292 with 3D printed case.
Finally got the time to make my hotswap column staggered keyboard – k9292.
Specs:
- 70 keys
- open-source PCB
- Pro Micro footprint
- hotswap
- both KiCAD files and Gerbers
- 3D printed case/plate
For the build info check out my repo:
Dactyl-Manuform-Gimbal
A remarkable Dactyl-Manuform with gimbals – open-sourced by sffubs.
This is not the ordinary Dactyl but a warehouse of unique features and ideas. 5 months after starting the design, sffubs finally got his Dactyl-Manuform-Joystick working.
Why? I wanted to build something a bit different, something that I'd not seen before. I wondered what a keyboard would look like if I merged it with an RC controller, and tried using the RC gimbals as a mouse – sffubs.
GitHub repo: https://github.com/sffubs/dactyl_manuform_gimbal
Specs
- Two hall-effect FrSky gimbals (joysticks) (wiring)
- Per-key RGB LEDs using amoeba royale PCBs
- Haptic feedback using DRV2605L driver
- APDS9660 proximity sensors to tell when the joysticks are being used (and switch layer to provide mouse buttons)
- STM32F401 "blackpill" controllers
It has proximity sensors to detect when your hand is on the joystick, and turns some of the keys into mouse buttons. Haptic feedback helps to tell when you have switched layers, or long-pressed a key.
Kibod-01
Michael Gunawan's kibod-01 is a Corne-ish split keyboard with a slight splay and ribbon cable.
Removed 4 more keys from my daily driver. First pcb i designed. (Turns out to be a corne with angled columns) – Michael Gunawan.
This keyboard was inspired by Slepet that has more stagger in some columns and only three thumb cluster keys instead of five.
The open-source PCB comes in two versions: the default one uses one Pro Micro with Amphenol 10 cable and the mirrored PCB supports two Pro Micros with TRRS or one Pro Micro with Amphenol 10 cable.
GitHub repo: https://github.com/GreenMashedPotato/kibod-01
[…]forgot to explain: Using amphenol or lan cable makes it so that every row and column between 2 halves are connected, this makes the controller detect it as 1 whole keeb.
Game Roy ADVANCE
The Game Roy ADVANCE by ROYMEETSW0RLD started out as a gamepad and ended up as a split.
ROYMEETSW0RLD of Keystone Caps presents his latest keyboard design (and first IC/GB): the Game Roy ADVANCE.
This keyboard was originally designed to be a standalone left hand only gaming pad.
I designed this because I am a standard staggered layout user with a very small desk space. Even with a 60% keyboard I still found myself slamming my mouse into the side of my board during intense fire fights FPS games.
After a lot of positive feedback from the community, the project resulted in a full board.
Features
- Fully hot swappable
- Supports Pro Micro/Elite-C or equivalent
- Supports 1 rotary encoder on each half
- Uses a TRRS cable or Game Boy Color link cable to connect both halves together
- FR4 bottom plates and top plates
- Hand soldered kit board
- Powered by QMK
Links
Community
23,000 Moonlanders
ZSA is celebrating the shipping of 23,000 Moonlanders.
As CEO Erez Zukerman announced in his recent newsletter, ZSA Technology Labs shipped 23,000 Moonlanders thus far.
Holy cow, 23,000. When we launched the Moonlander, I had no idea what sort of reception it might get. We were blown away – Erez Zukerman.
To celebrate this milestone, they wanted to experience what 23,000 Moonlanders might feel like, so ZSA put together a dedicated page for this. Scroll down and see here:
Tips & Tricks
Shark's IBM wiki
SharktasticA announced his IBM-family keyboard wiki with the aim of covering niche models.
The WIKI is available at: https://sharktastica.co.uk/wiki
In Summer 2021, I started work on my own personal IBM keyboard wiki on my website aptly called Shark’s Wiki. One motivation was the uncertainly surrounding Deskthority and its wiki after their buy-out, but I’ve been wanting to deliver properly referenced content on my site for a while now – SharktasticA.
Shark's initial aim was "to tackle niche or seldom attempted stuff before". For example, the Model M4 buckling sleeve keyboards and keypads, and a comprehensive list of all Model M variants and their defining features.
Clicking around for a while, you may stumble upon relics like the authoritative IBM 3215 printer-keyboard-tower thing (in the top picture) from the early 1970s.
Os eruditio
Signynt's heavily tented case for the Keebio Levinson, dubbed Os eruditio, was inspired by the organic shapes of bones.
Designed this board I call the Os eruditio (meaning "bone of knowledge/removing oneself from ignorance", very cheesy, I know) for the Keebio Levinson PCB – Signynt.
The idea behind this board was to be able to use a trackball mouse together with it, thus having a kind of "integrated trackball", but being more flexible, and being able to remove the mouse to be used on its own, or moved around to be more comfortable.
The case was designed with this restriction in mind, allowing plenty of space underneath the board for the mouse to sit.
To maintain a stable case that would be able to support the keyboard, its shape was designed using Fusion 360 "Generative Design", "simulating the weight distribution under the parameters I set".
I was looking for this kind of organic, bone like design, which also allows for a cheaper 3D print.
The case was printed in Nylon 12, the plate is polished stainless steel.
This typing test demonstrates how the author uses the board with a trackball mouse.
Numbers in Pnohty
Pnohty 1.2 – an updated layout by rayduck with reasonable number arrangement.
More info: https://github.com/rayduck/pnohty/
Alternative layouts are a risky field because people have totally different typing habits. So you cannot really talk about layouts in general, nor evaluate them, without knowing the user.
That's why I try to avoid advocating layouts – even my own one. ;)
However, there's a quite obvious and risk-free modification: numbers.
The gist of the trick is that the frequency of numbers is different but sort of descending: 0123 are the most frequently used ones and 789 are much rarer.
Well, it depends on the corpus but in the author's experience the order is 1023456879. I know of some hardcore layout-geeks who would arrange their numpads that way but for the sake of learnability we can group the digits, and the result is something like this:
So with numbers on a logical layer, instead of putting 456 on the home row (as it's done on the classic numpad) you can put 123 (Pnohty) or 0123 (my approach) in the best positions:
With Pnohty, the numpad is arranged in almost the same way as I've used it for more than a year now. I tried to find the old blog post I read about this for the first time – without success. Will update this post if I find it.
The point is: In programming, many short ordered lists, array indices, etc. may end at 3 so you can do a lot of stuff on the home row.
I type a lot of dates, even datetime values, so e.g. being able to type today's date (2022-01-30) exclusively on the home row is important for me.
That's it. Try it out. It takes some time to retrain your muscles though. I found it more challenging than getting accustomed to swapped alphas – probably because numbers are used less often and sporadic.
I don't want to comment on the other features of Pnohty, those depend more on your workflow and typing habits.
How the Glove80 keyboard was created
How the Glove80 ergonomic keyboard was created through data-driven philosophy, modular test rigs, parametric CAD and 500+ A/B testing experiments.
We developed the Glove80 ergonomic keyboard to help our own repetitive strain injuries. Though often not talked about, RSI can be a serious problem and I have had many talented colleagues who suffer from RSI. It is sad that some cases were even career limiting.
A group of Kiwi friends with RSI decided to tackle this silent problem to make the most comfortable keyboard for ourselves. We built more than 500 keyboard prototypes and did many hundreds of ergonomic A/B testing experiments in our quest to create the “perfect” ergonomic keyboard that works for a wide range of hand sizes and shapes.
Glove80 is the end-result of all these A/B testing experiments. Here is a video showing how relaxed typing on Glove80 can be. During the process of developing Glove80 we also found that it is beneficial for everyone's typing and not just those with RSI. Becoming proficient on Glove80 can improve accuracy and speed as well as reducing general muscle tension when typing.
To make it practical to do this level of ergonomic testing, we had to bring a few ideas from the software engineering world.
First is the data-backed philosophy. We come from the background of software engineering, where it is now standard practice to trust real data and not gut-feelings. A/B testing provides valuable comparative information. Our muscle memory is short. We can't tell the difference between two ergonomics setups if we wait for a few hours. However our hands can tell the most minute difference if we quickly switch between two. Even 0.2mm or 1 degree plane change. Perfect for A/B testing.
Second is the architecture. It takes more than 3 days just to 3D-print a full keyboard model. That is not going to scale. A hundred models are going to take a year at least, never mind the actual ergonomics testing time, analysis and redesign.
So how did we do it? A good pluggable software architecture allows a part of the system to change without affecting the rest. We take this insight and apply it to the way we build the functional and non functional ergonomic test rigs. Instead of taking days to try a new variation, we could easily try 10 and way more in a day. The best part is we could keep the flow of thoughts and creativity going.
Thirdly with our software development background, we design our keyboard CAD models to be parametric driven, i.e. the keyboard CAD models are defined as mathematical formulas and equations. Simply by changing a "knob", we can rapidly generate a series of keyboard designs with subtle differences to optimize a design parameter. The parametric driven approach works hand-in-hand with A/B testing, and is only practical with a modular test rig.
In this photo is the simplest non-functional ergonomic test rig we have. It is designed for the optimization of one particular factor of the thumb block. In the photo are also a series of thumb blocks that are parametrically generated.
In the next photo is a much more complex ergonomic test rig. It has many replaceable blocks, and allows each and every key column to be adjusted independently. It is fully functional as a working keyboard to allow for testing of ergonomics with real-life typing.
We believe our creation Glove80 is uniquely ergonomic, and it would help many of our colleagues in the software/I.T. industry. We need your help to spread the word.
For a detail description of the Glove80 ergonomics design, please check out The Ergonomic Design of Glove80 Split Contoured Keyboard.
If you are interested to know more about Glove80, our website is at moergo.com. The Glove80 Kickstarter campaign started on 25 January 2022.
Thank you and my best wishes to your good health.
Inspiration
Brazen Studio's keyboard cases
Brazen Studio's Ian published some photos of their experimental gypsum/resin and cement/resin cases.
Ian from Brazen Studio, maker of the Mason60 engineered stone keyboard cases, posted some new designs on r/mk here, here and here.
We are currently exploring options for our next round of designs. We wanted to try something totally different to terrazzo, so we came up with some "art" inspired designs.
The new cases are the same shape as the terrazzo designs, with the same o-ring tray mount system.
They are made of gypsum/resin composite material (think Corian), and the "sandstone" one is cement/resin composite (40% heavier!), which are cast into a mold.
So e.g. the "oil paint" pattern is not painted onto the surface, it's incorporated during the casting process.
And this also means that the surface of the keyboard case is high gloss, with the hand feel a bit like polished marble. The sandstone one feels like stone.
Like the terrazzo cases, the bottom is covered with cork for grip and added thocc.
That was Issue #63. Thanks for stopping by.
MoErgo Glove80, splitkb.com, u/chad3814, Aiksplace, @keebio, @kaleid1990, ghsear.ch, Timo, cdc, kiyejoco, Bob Cotton, FFKeebs, Rick Kremer, Davidjohn Gerena
Your support is crucial to help this project survive.