What is the driver / chip to send the data over USB?
teensy or similar.
he's using a https://candykeys.com/product/elite-c for this one.
If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
31–40 of 373 posts
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#32Thanks for sharing the link. This is an awesome DIY.
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#33He built his own keyboard and still included a huge CapsLock key in the place where god intended Ctrl to go?
No, no, no. It's written "CapsLock" but pronounced "Control".
I deeply and truly hope that is a Monty Python reference.
It's spelled "Raymond Luxury Yacht", but it's pronounced "Throat-wobbler Man-grove!"
"You're a very silly person and I'm not going to interview you."
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#34I’m on the verge of doing this. I have an Ergodox EZ but I want thumb clusters that are more useful, plus I’d like an encoder knob or two. The Kyria is close but it doesn’t do RGB per key or have a thumb cluster that exactly matches what I want. To the drawing board I go!
TIL people put knobs on their keyboards. Do you generally have to configure your own actions for knob events or is there software that supports them out of the box?
If many people have added the encoders in the same way to the same keyboard (e.g. because there's an optional space on the PCB for it), then it's probably just a configuration option on the keyboard firmware.
If you've made a completely custom keyboard, or hacked an existing PCB to add the encoder, then there is a little more configuration.
Either way, there's then a few lines of code to define the action when turning the encoder knob.
The keyboard is configured to either send keys (e.g. PageUp/PageDown, Up/Down, VolumeUp/VolumeDown, AltTab/AltShiftTab) or to send mouse wheel events. You can have it send something different if you're holding "Fn" or whatever, or anything else you can think of.
There's no software needed on the computer.
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#35Am I the only one who doesn't quite fancy mechanical keys?
For me, Mechanical keyboards cause fatigue as the key travel, regardless of which flavor of the key type, is too much. I prefer using Apple's new magic keyboar with numpad. It has a 1mm or so travel and feels fantastic.
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#36I'm simply a mechanical keyboard user, I have a few trusty Filcos that I use and I will sometimes buy a keycap set and wait 1 year for it[1]; I don't have the courage to build custom keyboards. However I do derive a vicarious pleasure looking at the build logs and end results shared by others, this post included. The two best places I've found to follow are the /r/mechanicalkeyboards[2] subreddit and the geekhack.org…
There's also a fairly new subreddit, /r/ErgoMechKeyboards/, which only has ergonomic keyboards (simply split ones, or more usually with staggered columns rather than rows, and often a 3D shape). Fewer fancy, expensive keycap sets, and more works-in-progress with wires sticking out. https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/
Thanks! That's neat.
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#37Meh, the Phantom has been doing this since 1925. And try getting custom keys delivered to an opera house on a Saturday before a big open.
What?
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#38I've been fascinated with mechanical keyboards for a while. Have been thinking of setting up a Slack channel to build a little community of enthusiast to share their builds / questions / stuff that's for sale etc. Anyone interested in joining such channel? Would love to set it up and connect with MK builders. Send me an email if interested.
Why not just go to /r/mechanicalkeyboards? There's a big community there already, and if they don't already have a Slack or IRC channel you could create it with them.
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#39Needs more Function keys
So build it.
Re: If You Can't Buy the Keyboard You Want, Build It Instead
#40I've been fascinated with mechanical keyboards for a while. Have been thinking of setting up a Slack channel to build a little community of enthusiast to share their builds / questions / stuff that's for sale etc. Anyone interested in joining such channel? Would love to set it up and connect with MK builders. Send me an email if interested.
If you're interested in joining one, there are Discord communities with thousands of active users discussing those very things. One of the more generic ones being MechKeys [1], but once you find some designers you like or more niche communities there are dedicated servers most likely for those as well.