[HN Gopher] A complete guide to building a hand-wired keyboard (...
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       A complete guide to building a hand-wired keyboard (2020)
        
       Author : bfm
       Score  : 82 points
       Date   : 2023-08-22 09:59 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.crackedthecode.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.crackedthecode.co)
        
       | sleepybrett wrote:
       | If you want to understand how keyboards function go ahead and do
       | this, but unless you want a really wild layout this is just
       | makework. There are cheap, reliable and flexible pcbs for just
       | about every layout you could want available on the open market
       | from sites like kbdfans and aliexpress not to mention dozens of
       | local mom and pop sites that service the mechanical keyboard
       | industry. It's a pretty big hobby these days.
        
       | genpfault wrote:
       | Any good, mostly-automatic tooling to go from a Keyboard Layout
       | Editor (KLE)[1] JSON to a laid-out (not necessarily routed) PCB
       | design in something like KiCad?
       | 
       | [1]: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/
        
       | onetimeuse92304 wrote:
       | As an amateur EE, here my thoughts.
       | 
       | If you can do CAD you can probably also design a PCB with a
       | socket for some kind of general purpose MCU or even one of ready-
       | made keyboard controllers.
       | 
       | Through-hole soldering is IMO actually simpler than making these
       | "spiders" (that's how in my country we call circuits with self-
       | supported wire to wire joints, usually with at least some
       | components hanging in air by their leads).
       | 
       | "Spiders" are prone to breaking with any repeatable mechanical
       | strain. In case of this keyboard, what I am seeing is the plastic
       | board will flex and will put repeatable strain on the wires,
       | possibly leading to malfunction at some point. PCB would be much
       | more reliable (if done correctly) as it would take most or all of
       | the load from the joints.
       | 
       | A thicker PCB board would actually be more stiff than the plastic
       | board you have here. Not only materials of PCBs tend to be very
       | tough, the PCB, being below the level of the switches, would need
       | much less cutouts that are weakening your plastic mounting board.
       | 
       | Stiffness of the board the switches are mounted to is important
       | not just for the reliability, but also for the overall feel of
       | the mechanical keyboard. This "feel" is mainly affected by the
       | switches, the stiffness of the board, and the acoustics of the
       | enclosure.
       | 
       | And lastly, as an amateur EE I find "spiders" appealing (if done
       | nicely, artfully). But if you want to showoff for the larger
       | audience that just "don't get it", a custom PCB would immediately
       | score more points.
        
         | spinningarrow wrote:
         | I think the biggest advantage of point to point wiring for a
         | lot of people is that you can simply go ahead and do it at
         | home. For PCBs, you need to know how to use one of the design
         | tools but more importantly you need to find a place to print
         | them.
        
           | baz00 wrote:
           | It's really easy to do. Particularly the getting them made
           | bit. I just did a quote for a 2 layer board that's TKL
           | keyboard sized and to get 5 made it's about PS20 delivered to
           | my door from JLCPCB.
        
         | rmaus wrote:
         | There are certain kinds of fully custom keyboards, such as the
         | one I use (Dactyl Manuform) where the keys do not sit on a
         | single flat plane. Such a build would require a flexible PCB.
         | This is doable for the advanced-amateur EE but the geometry is
         | fiddly, at best, and doesn't allow for easy experimentation on
         | key placement (spacing, offset, radius, etc, the bigger problem
         | for me).
         | 
         | I've found the happy medium with single-switch PCBs ("Amoeba"
         | is a popular one), which are fast and easy to wire up. Most
         | notably you don't have to do the painstaking row wire stripping
         | -- just use a plain wire from one PCB to the next in the key
         | matrix (or an insulated wire if you have to traverse other
         | components, which still only requires two stripped ends).
         | 
         | I have a few pictures floating around from my build(s) if that
         | interests anyone.
        
           | onetimeuse92304 wrote:
           | Couple years ago I started building my own keyboard from
           | scratch. Custom PCB, custom circuit design, custom MCU,
           | custom programming, custom CNC-ed enclosure, some custom
           | keys... In hindsight I should have relaxed a bit on building
           | everything custom and then maybe I would have finished it.
           | 
           | The main idea was to get a keyboard with built in steno and
           | ability to get programmed any way I want. It would also have
           | a small built in OLED display to aid some of the
           | functionality.
           | 
           | Another idea was to have built in mouse (trackpoint + keys
           | that can be used as mouse keys).
        
           | 533474 wrote:
           | I'm interested in your build ;)
        
             | rmaus wrote:
             | https://imgur.com/a/wyqPSeo (unsure why this is marked 18+,
             | sorry; it's SFW).
             | 
             | You can see my first build (blue) in several of these
             | pictures following similar advice to OP's guide (looping
             | diodes, etc), with one modification where I used copper
             | tape for the columns instead of wires.
             | 
             | Then the first picture you can see how much cleaner the
             | single-switch PCB ends up, and I can assure it was far
             | easier to solder / strip / assemble.
        
         | munificent wrote:
         | In English, I think it's "point-to-point":
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-point_construction
        
         | baz00 wrote:
         | Yeah this on all counts.
         | 
         | Ultimately it's probably better to have a triple-layer for the
         | keyboard from what I can see. The faceplate that the switches
         | are mounted on, the PCB and then the back plate. Could probably
         | sandwich it all together easily.
         | 
         | There's nothing wrong with dead bug though but on this scale
         | and reliability requirements and mechanical stress, it's the
         | wrong solution for the problem.
        
         | fellerts wrote:
         | This method is usually referred to as "Dead Bug" style wiring
         | in English, because the end result usually resembles a dead bug
         | with its legs curled inwards.
        
           | Luc wrote:
           | IMHO 'dead bug' used to refer to transistors, ICs etc
           | soldered upside down, but it's true that lately it's used
           | more generally. I would call this 'free form' soldering,
           | since there's no dead IC in sight.
        
           | onetimeuse92304 wrote:
           | No, it is not. Although I can't fault you for thinking this
           | as there are so many people using this term incorrectly.
           | 
           | "Dead bug" is referring to mounting chips on their back with
           | wires connected to leads going in all directions. Hence
           | "dead" -- live bugs don't usually spend time laying on their
           | backs. When you see it you immediately know why it is called
           | "dead bug"...
           | 
           | Here, this is how it looks like:
           | http://dangerousprototypes.com/blog/2012/11/15/fine-pitch-
           | bg...
           | 
           | This technique is usually used to connect to leads of
           | packages that usually have their leads hidden on the bottom
           | of the package (for example BGA). These packages usually
           | require a PCB made for them or some kind of adapter. They
           | also require a bit more complex soldering process that might
           | be just out of reach of an enthusiast (like good hot air
           | station or reflow oven, etc.) If you find yourself with a
           | component you want to quickly test and don't have an
           | adapter... you improvise and this may result in a dead bug. I
           | did it a lot of times myself.
           | 
           | This technique is also sometimes used in production where
           | they have an existing through hole board (or other board that
           | is incompatible with the process required to mount the
           | component). Sometimes it is easier to just "dead bug" the
           | component than redesign entire board for the new process.
        
         | ajsnigrutin wrote:
         | As an non-amateur EE, i fully agree with this. If you can draw
         | a basic circuit for 9 keys on paper, you can draw a full-
         | keyboard one in many of the easy cheap PCB platforms, most of
         | which offer a web interface (no installation of any weird
         | software), rendered 3d views and a very cheap production price.
         | 
         | If you really want to do it without a chinese PCB manufacturer,
         | you can do it on a perf board (
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfboard ). If you have more
         | GPIOs than keys (eg when building a very cheap steam deck with
         | 9/12 keys), you don't even need any kind of "matrix"
         | multiplexing, and you can just connect the keys to individual
         | gpio pins. If you take a better microcontroller than a teensy,
         | you also get bluetooth (and wifi) capabilities, like with eg.
         | esp32 (~$5 on aliexpress).
         | 
         | But either way, doing fun electronics, be it on a pcb or when
         | soldering "in the air" is a lot better waste of money and time
         | than many other things most people do.
        
       | qwerty456127 wrote:
       | Sounds very interesting. I have looked through premium and
       | "custom" keyboards market recently and found out their customness
       | mostly is about look&feel, key placement and omitting
       | "unnecessary" keys while I want a positively custom set of keys:
       | as many keys as possible - full keypad, multimedia keys separate
       | from f1-12 keys, Windows context menu key, also programmable
       | macro keys if possible, no spatial "optimizations" (when
       | manufacturers try to fit all the keys into as little area as
       | possible) etc. I concluded I will probably have to really build
       | my own. My ideal keyboard would even have a ThinkPad-style
       | trackpoint so I could operate the mouse pointer comfortably
       | without removing my hands from the home row :-)
        
         | rgoulter wrote:
         | > omitting "unnecessary" keys .... without removing my hands
         | from the home row
         | 
         | The "keep hands on home row" is the motivation behind omitting
         | the "unnecessary" keys, at least for the keyboards which use a
         | small spacebar and give the thumbs more keys to use.
         | 
         | With those small 36-key keyboards, your hands pretty much have
         | nowhere to go except to remain on home row.
         | 
         | > as many keys as possible
         | 
         | I once saw someone made a keyboard with 450 keys.
         | https://relivesight.com/projects/433/
        
           | qwerty456127 wrote:
           | I don't really care that much about the home row (although
           | it's nice to have something right in it so I mentioned). I
           | care about being able to do everything by pressing less keys.
           | Meanwhile a language I often type in (and I type in quite a
           | number of them regularly) has the digits row remapped for
           | extra letters so I can't enter a digit with a single key
           | press without a keypad (I prefer moving a hand to there over
           | using modifier keys). I also make heavy use of F1-12 keys and
           | I have long thin fingers so I woudn't even mind an additional
           | row of keys. Using the mouse every time I want to adjust the
           | sound volume or do something like this is annoying as well.
           | Needless to say I actively use Home, End, PgUp, PgDn and
           | Insert (many compact keyboards lack some of these). At last
           | but not at least, for sake of the muscle memory, I would
           | prefer all the keys to be located at the same places on all
           | the keyboards rather than moved to whatever a place the
           | vendor has been able to fit them in.
        
           | Mizoguchi wrote:
           | These small keyboards are usually ortholinear which also
           | helps reducing hand movement.
           | 
           | I switched to a OLKB Preonic over a year ago and haven't
           | looked back.
           | 
           | After you get used to the smaller factor and non staggered
           | keys format you realize how ridiculously and unnecessarily
           | huge and clunky traditional keyboards are, even laptop
           | keyboards.
           | 
           | It's like traveling with a 65 liters bag for years before you
           | learn you can just carry a 40L and travel with less crap and
           | much lighter.
           | 
           | It took me a couple of months to come up with the layout that
           | worked for me (and even today I still optimizing it), but
           | once I figured it out the typing experience became just such
           | much better.
           | 
           | The QMK configuration tool makes the process of configuring
           | the layout painless and super quick, so you just need the
           | patience to try and iterate.
        
             | sleepybrett wrote:
             | less keys = more cognitive overhead. Having to remember
             | what layer i put fucking pipe on is not better than just
             | hitting the damn key.
             | 
             | In ~2000 I started suffering from tendonitis and my coding
             | job became very painful, I tried kind of the 'easy onramp'
             | ergo options at the time, namely the ms 'natural'. It did
             | not help. Eventually someone pointed me at the kinesis
             | advantage (then essential) and I bought one. After some
             | struggle coming to terms with thumb keys and wells and
             | ortholinerness I switched to it for all tasks except for
             | gaming and my symptoms basically disapeared.
             | 
             | About 10 years back I was in a job that was potentially
             | going to cause me to travel a lot, at that point I had
             | already modded my kinesis advange keyboards with custom
             | controllers and wanted to try and build something that
             | travelled better, was smaller, while still not fucking up
             | my wrists.
             | 
             | I built a _lot_ of keyboards trying to shrink my luggage. I
             | went ortho and built a split preonic, uncomfortable, then I
             | went down the road that leads to corne /iris/etc (thumb
             | keys, vertically aligned but not horizontally aligned).
             | More comfortable but the thing i always ran into when
             | removing keys. Overhead, you have to remember what layer
             | and key you put xyz rarely used symbol on (and when you are
             | a software engineer that's a lot of the symbols).. at the
             | end of the road I built a very low profile board based on
             | the dactyl with the same number of keys as the kinesis
             | advantage minus the f-key chicklets. Reducing the number of
             | layers i have to remember to 1 that only contains the grave
             | and the fkeys.
             | 
             | Then covid hit and I didn't have to travel anywhere. I take
             | my dactyl when I go see my parents, and unloaded most of my
             | other boards for cheap. (i kept a 65 that I play games
             | with)
        
         | unnouinceput wrote:
         | Same here. All these modern keyboards are missing a lot of what
         | old one had. The most I miss most is the Alt GR one, the bigger
         | ENTER key and I want a lot of space. Call me fat fingers if you
         | want.
         | 
         | So I started to actually create my own. And I want it to be
         | programmable. And movable, as in you can move the key around,
         | enlarge or shrink them. And when I say I want them programmable
         | I meant to pull a little gizmo out of it, hook it up to a
         | separate power source and load preset or connect to computer
         | and use an app to make the keys look different.
         | 
         | So far my idea is to have each key include a magnet, an ESP32
         | chip and a small LED screen on top of it. The controller to all
         | those 110+ ESP32 chips will be a RPi CM4 module, which will
         | also be the USB connection for the PC. That's one iteration
         | because this way I can actually have a click-clack mechanical
         | one. The other iteration is to just have a big ass touch screen
         | and the RPI underneath to just play that as an app that
         | simulates the keyboard. Prettier, way more customizable as key
         | positions/size go but no click-clack sound/feeling.
         | 
         | I'm $2000 in my research hole for this with nothing to show up
         | for but is fun. Probably next year I'll finish it :)
        
           | jan_Sate wrote:
           | I wouldn't recommend using ESP32 for that. It's overpowered
           | for this application. You don't even need its wireless
           | connectivity. I guess using something like RP2040 or ATTiny
           | would be a better option.
        
           | nick__m wrote:
           | why an esp32 instead something simpler like an stm8 (or an
           | stm32f103c8t6 if you need arduino compatibility) if you
           | really want an mcu per key ?
        
             | unnouinceput wrote:
             | because I'm experienced in ESP32 and not in STM8. But now
             | that you mention it, a little seed started to grow. Thank
             | you kind stranger, lemme get back to you when this will
             | probably 2 years from now on and another $2000 in
             | research/playing around.
        
           | qwerty456127 wrote:
           | I agree but I don't need the keys look anything. The best
           | thing happened to my keyboard life so far was having to use a
           | keyboard without the letters of a language I used daily drawn
           | on it. I would rather buy "das keyboard" with purely black
           | keys but it doesn't have enough keys for me to invest in.
           | 
           | However, I would love to have your software-defined visually
           | configurable keyboard as a second one on my table and every
           | app using it as a sorg of a "toolbar" / command palette. This
           | was what Apple tried sort of (it would have been nice idea if
           | they didn't sacrifice a real keys row for it). To me it
           | sounds like an additional display with touch support can do
           | the job.
        
             | unnouinceput wrote:
             | The LED display on top of the key, driven by the ESP32
             | beneath, will allow you to have anything as the letter
             | there, including Arabic, Japanese or just emoji keyboard
             | layout.
        
         | drekipus wrote:
         | Really you probably just want a normal keyboard with some good
         | firmware.
         | 
         | I started out with a moonlander, which had a lot of keys (36
         | each hand) but to be honest, I'm trying to minimise as much as
         | possible, and remove keys from it. That way I'm fully
         | constrained to the home row.
         | 
         | Also, layers are amazing and sounds like something you might
         | want to look into. Hold 'a' and use hjkl for media keys, etc.
         | It's all very flexible
        
           | qwerty456127 wrote:
           | I never knew there are keyboards with configurable firmwares,
           | also never heard about layers. Your comment sounds very
           | helpful, thank you. By the way I already considered buying a
           | Moonlander because of its 2-part design - I have an idea of
           | possibly using a computer while lying on the floor sort of
           | like in the Shavasana posture with my hands by my sides
           | rather than in front of me.
        
             | digging wrote:
             | > also never heard about layers
             | 
             | I was just discussing this yesterday with a friend. It's
             | funny how rare and technical it is to understand layers
             | when everyone uses layers every day - shift + 3 does not
             | render 3, but #. But we don't talk about it that way.
        
         | wakeupcall wrote:
         | My impression for the popularity of the 75% form factor is due
         | to laptops and people being accustomed to never have used the
         | "missing" keys in the first place. A tell-tale is that default
         | layout even for thinkpads is to set the Fn row to media keys by
         | default... An increasingly smaller number of people use them,
         | despite being a row of freely remappable keys right _there_.
         | 
         | What I've seen happen though is that especially on linux you
         | need two-modifier combos (ctrl-shift/ctrl-alt) to perform what
         | you could have done with a single Fn keystroke. Or burn a few
         | extra keys and increase complexity with layers. I went this
         | route a decade ago, and I'm not a fan personally. Removing the
         | Fn row saves 2cm of vertical space from your desk. I see it as
         | completely pointless, even if you never use the Fn keys.
         | 
         | And I don't buy the "reduced finger travel" argument either.
         | Holding the modifiers in weird positions to access an extra
         | layer is usually worse than a more spacious keyboard where your
         | hands can be kept further apart and require less chording.
         | 
         | But yeah... I commented on another thread on keyboards, and the
         | current keyboard craze is mostly about customization and looks,
         | and very little about the actual typing experience IMHO (there
         | are exceptions of course..).
        
           | ako wrote:
           | Problem with the Fn keys is discoverability: i never remember
           | which functionality is available on which key, and you have
           | to remember different mappings for different apps. Actually
           | thought Apple's solution for this, the touchbar, was pretty
           | nice, sad that it failed...
        
           | qwerty456127 wrote:
           | Back in the days when first computer keyboards were invented
           | 7-bit ASCII was enough for everybody, now as everyone
           | everywhere uses Internet daily for all sorts of tasks we have
           | Unicode.
           | 
           | People don't need a keypad because they have the digits row.
           | But there are languages (in Europe) which reuse the digits
           | row for extra letters (which don't even fit there) so you
           | have to press shift to enter a digit (yes, you can't enter
           | such a letter in capital without using CapsLock), unless you
           | have a kaypad.
           | 
           | People don't need F-keys (so these can be reused for
           | multimedia controls) because they are not techies. Insert for
           | the same reason.
           | 
           | People don't use Delete/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn because they are
           | completely uneducated about the basics of using a computer
           | and use mouse/touchpad, arrows and backspace instead. Believe
           | it or not, I've met people who don't even know Ctrl+C/V (let
           | alone Ctrl+X or Ctrl+Z) and would always use the right-click
           | menu (which even requires an additional keyboard key to be
           | held pressed on a Mac) to copy/paste anything.
           | 
           | This said, compact keyboards target anglophone non-techie
           | users (or hardcore VIM fans who have ways to do everything
           | without leaving the home row).
        
             | Symbiote wrote:
             | > But there are languages (in Europe)
             | 
             | The languages appears to be Czech/Slovak. It would be more
             | useful to mention this, than to repeat the basic point in
             | four or five comments.
        
           | eviks wrote:
           | > Holding the modifiers in weird positions to access an extra
           | layer is usually worse
           | 
           | What's weird about home row or thumb mods?
        
           | hnlmorg wrote:
           | I completely agree. I never understood this craze of removing
           | keys.
           | 
           | The number pad is another example of this. Typing numbers is
           | massively more comfortable (and quicker too) on the number
           | pad than it is with the row of numbers just below the F-keys.
           | 
           | The amount of desk space people save is so negligible,
           | particularly when people who buy these keyboards typically
           | work in "paperless" offices, that I never understood the
           | appeal.
           | 
           | I guess it boils down to people wanting their keyboards to
           | look pretty rather than being actually useful.
        
             | eviks wrote:
             | Why would you move your hand to the numpad if you can use
             | your orthostaggered "numpad" with a layer right where your
             | hand already is on the alpha keys?
        
               | hnlmorg wrote:
               | Because moving your hand is a one time effort vs moving
               | it up and down the keyboard to enter those pesky 6 digit
               | TOTP codes where the digits could be at opposite ends of
               | the keyboard.
               | 
               | Plus I've been using keyboards longer than a lot of
               | (probably most) developers on here have been alive and I
               | haven't ever found using the number pad to be even
               | remotely an effort.
        
               | eviks wrote:
               | It's a one time effort you can easily avoid with a much
               | smaller one time effort (tapping/holding a very
               | convenient numpad layer modifier). And it's especially a
               | wasted effort for very short numbers like TOTPs
               | 
               | And all the digits are right there, not at some opposite
               | ends, e.g., UIO789 JKL456 M,.123 on a qwerty
        
               | qwerty456127 wrote:
               | As I already mentioned 4-5 times, one of the languages I
               | use regularly reuses the number row for extra letters
               | (and it isn't even enough for all of them). I have to
               | hold Shift pressed to enter a number this way (using a
               | keypad feels much better) or use CapsLock to enter a
               | capital of such a letter.
        
               | eviks wrote:
               | My comment is about NOT using the number row, so your
               | repetition is not a relevant response
        
             | glormph wrote:
             | I agree that looks and deskspace is not something to
             | optimize for and number entering is great on the number
             | pad, but the ergonomics expert at my job informed us that
             | shorter hand travel to the mouse is better against
             | straining or something, so not using numpads would help. Or
             | move the mouse/trackpad to the left.
        
             | joncrocks wrote:
             | I think it's a concession that use of particular parts of
             | the keyboard is person and context specific.
             | 
             | e.g. At home, I only very occasionally enter numbers. I
             | very frequently use my mouse, and have large monitors. So I
             | sacrifice slightly less convenient number entry for
             | slightly more room for my mouse(pad) all the time.
             | 
             | At work, I have a full-size keyboard and I spend a higher
             | proportion of my time typing and entering numbers.
        
               | qwerty456127 wrote:
               | Isn't it better to have identical keyboards everywhere
               | for sake of muscle memory?
        
               | nlunbeck wrote:
               | This is my #1 priority now that I'm in the market for a
               | new keyboard. I lose so much typing efficiency when
               | switching between laptops, so functionality or comfort is
               | no longer a leading factor for me.
        
             | rgoulter wrote:
             | > I never understood this craze of removing keys.
             | 
             | There are (roughly) two families of "smaller keyboards".
             | 
             | Those with a big spacebar, and those with multiple
             | thumbkeys.
             | 
             | Big-spacebar-small-keyboards are like laptop keyboards.
             | 
             | Whereas, for other kinds of small keyboards (such as the
             | moonlander or planck) which provide thumbkeys, I'd say the
             | emphasis is more about "bringing the full functionality of
             | the keyboard to within easy reach of the hands" rather than
             | "remove keys for whatever reason".
             | 
             | On traditional keyboards, the thumbs only get to use 1 key.
             | A big spacebar is such an odd and inefficient use of
             | keyboard real estate.
             | 
             | Whereas, with 2-3 keys each, the thumbs can be put to good
             | use. e.g. It's much more comfortable to press backspace
             | with the thumb, than to move your hand (or reach with the
             | pinky finger).
        
             | qwerty456127 wrote:
             | > Typing numbers is massively more comfortable (and quicker
             | too) on the number pad than it is with the row of numbers
             | 
             | Let alone than with the row of numbers holding a Shift
             | pressed (some languages require this because they remap the
             | row for extra letters).
        
             | SoftTalker wrote:
             | For many people who rarely need to type numbers, the number
             | pad is wasted space. If you're an accountant you probably
             | want one. Maybe even a separate, dedicated one.
             | 
             | I rarely type numbers and find that the "top row" number
             | keys are adequate for when I need to.
        
             | delta_p_delta_x wrote:
             | I do think a full-size 108-key board wastes a lot of space,
             | but a 96%, similar to what's seen on full-size workstation
             | notebooks (Dell Precision 7000 series, HP Zbook Fury,
             | Lenovo ThinkPad P series) is much more efficient, while
             | still providing Home, End, PgUp/Dn, Delete, Insert, arrow
             | keys, and a full num-pad.
        
             | where-group-by wrote:
             | I got a keyboard without the numpad due to the looks, but
             | after using it a few years the full sized ones feel too
             | bulky. I have to either move the mouse much further to the
             | right or have my arms bent to the left when typing. Neither
             | of which feels comfortable. I'm sure I could switch back if
             | I needed to, but that extra space is welcome.
             | 
             | I agree entering numbers is better on a keypad though.
        
         | thejosh wrote:
         | Keyboards are getting smaller, but I love full size ones for
         | programming.
         | 
         | I ended up getting the keychron v6, it's wired but fine. Their
         | wireless keyboards are apparently a bit buggy, not sure if the
         | new ones still are.
         | 
         | QMK is an absolute treasure. You can use your web UI to setup
         | custom keymaps and stuff using the chrome USB feature. But I
         | may have went off the rails, as it's pretty simple to
         | completely customise your keyboard with layers etc if you know
         | a bit of C.
         | 
         | Warning; this is a gateway into a land of a obsession. :-)
        
       | hellweaver666 wrote:
       | Building your own keyboards is super satisfying. I started off
       | hand-wiring a couple of macropads and then built a 60% handwire
       | and a split ergo. Finally with all the knowledge I learnt I
       | designed a PCB for a macropad and then just scaled up to my own
       | keyboard which is a 50% ortholinear keyboard which has three
       | extra "macro" switches on the side. I found a switch footprint
       | that allows it to take "normal" or "low profile" style switches
       | so I have a version for home and a super slim version for taking
       | to the office.
       | 
       | I think the only thing I would do differently now is to dump QMK
       | and use KMK instead as it's Circuit Python based which means that
       | the firmware can be created and edited directly with your
       | favourite IDE (QMK requires installing all sorts of extra
       | software and compiling etc). If the Microcontroller ever dies on
       | this board I will definitely swap it out for a CircuitPython
       | compatible alternative!
        
       | winrid wrote:
       | What I really want is a mechanical backlit keyboard without
       | terrible PWM flicker. It's so hard on the eyes. Just regular DC
       | dimming would be ideal.
        
         | thorncorona wrote:
         | Much easier to just up the PWM frequency
        
       | beeforpork wrote:
       | Soldering 1N4148 so close to the glass body, plus using a thick
       | drop of solder, makes it really easy to overheat the diode. They
       | are everywhere because they are cheap, not because they are
       | robust... The diodes may become unconditionally conductive, so it
       | may not be an obvious bug.
       | 
       | I fried many of them, because my soldering skills were not that
       | good, I did not read the data sheet and so my iron was too hot
       | and I soldered them for too long. Plus by using short wires, all
       | the heat transferred into that fragile glass body.
        
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