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M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

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Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#11

Post by angrygoat »

Something I've wanted for a while is an option to have two different physical keyboards connected to the one machine, with different keymaps. In my particular case, most of the time I want to type in English, but I also sometimes wish to type in Hebrew. I find typing on my keyboard with English keycaps very clunky, especially when trying to add vowel pointing to letters.

There are solutions out there, but they all amount to hacks; what I think I really want is for the second keyboard to not have a keymap at all, but instead to transmit unicode code points, but there isn't a standard way to do that.

Anyway, this project looks cool: I'd really like to buy a hackable keyboard that lets me work on customisation without having to deal with everything else (especially building it from components.)

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#12

Post by aosaigh »

I've been looking for an "out of the box" MacOS-friendly mechanical keyboard for a while now. So far, the recent Keychron keyboards seems to be the only real contender, and unfortunately from all reports they are just to tall and cause wrist pain.

This seems like it would be a great alternative where you could have a Mac configuration - with media keys - mapped pretty easily with a custom keycap set (unless I'm misunderstanding?).

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#13

Post by fheld »

lukevp wrote: post #5

I don’t suppose there is a way for the SoC to run something besides Python? I appreciate the flexibility of a scripting language and would love to try one of these out, but I feel like a hardware device should have a RTOS (or no OS) and a language that doesn’t have a GC. Can you imagine having jitter/latency randomly introduced from the Python layer?

>Besides, the keyboard is powerful enough to run Python, will also be able to run C/C++, Rust, Go (TinyGo) and JavaScript (JerryScript). The hardware is also optimized for power efficiency.

from https://makerdiary.com/blogs/mechanical-keyboards/the-story-...

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#14

Post by jdlyga »

I would love to see more enthusiast scissor-switch keyboards. I learned to type on a mechanical keyboard, and I've tried all sorts of modern mechanical keyboards over the years. But I feel like laptop-style scissor switch keyboards are more precise and comfortable. Personally, I make more typing errors on a mechanical keyboard. My current favorite keyboard is an HP Wireless Elite V2.

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#15

Post by nougatbyte »

angrygoat wrote: post #11

Something I've wanted for a while is an option to have two different physical keyboards connected to the one machine, with different keymaps. In my particular case, most of the time I want to type in English, but I also sometimes wish to type in Hebrew. I find typing on my keyboard with English keycaps very clunky, especially when trying to add vowel pointing to letters. There are solutions out there, but they all am…

I don't know if this is hack by your standards but you can do this with pretty standard tools in linux (I think it was xinput and xkbmap)

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#16

Post by cellularmitosis »

jdlyga wrote: post #14

I would love to see more enthusiast scissor-switch keyboards. I learned to type on a mechanical keyboard, and I've tried all sorts of modern mechanical keyboards over the years. But I feel like laptop-style scissor switch keyboards are more precise and comfortable. Personally, I make more typing errors on a mechanical keyboard. My current favorite keyboard is an HP Wireless Elite V2.

One possibility would be to use your HP elite with an inline USB to USB keyboard controller. You could program it to remap all of your keystrokes to Dvorak, or implement a bunch of crazy macros, etc. they run the same software as the custom keyboards.

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#17

Post by cellularmitosis »

aosaigh wrote: post #12

I've been looking for an "out of the box" MacOS-friendly mechanical keyboard for a while now. So far, the recent Keychron keyboards seems to be the only real contender, and unfortunately from all reports they are just to tall and cause wrist pain. This seems like it would be a great alternative where you could have a Mac configuration - with media keys - mapped pretty easily with a custom keycap set (unless I'm misun…

After my progress stalled on writing custom firmware for my custom keyboard [1], I went with a Matias quiet pro for Mac. I love this keyboard.

All of the Mac functionality works as expected. The only exception was when I tried to get an 18 year old eMac to boot from CD-ROM (by holding down the C key at boot time), this didn’t work. I had to use an official Apple keyboard for that. Works fine once the machine is booted, so I’m guessing it is some sort of Mac openfirmware issue.

[1] https://github.com/pepaslabs/hexon38

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#18

Post by VectorLock »

rgoulter wrote: post #8
lukevp wrote: post #5

I don’t suppose there is a way for the SoC to run something besides Python? I appreciate the flexibility of a scripting language and would love to try one of these out, but I feel like a hardware device should have a RTOS (or no OS) and a language that doesn’t have a GC. Can you imagine having jitter/latency randomly introduced from the Python layer?

I've seen many keyboard PCBs support configuration with firmware such as QMK. (The wiki for the MechanicalKeyboards subreddit mentions other examples of firmware https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/firmware ). If you're comfortable with C (and setting up the toolchain in the right way), great. Allowing customisation with Python is for greater accessibility.

Being able to change settings with regular files on an a virtual USB disk and not having to install a compiler to make these changes sounds great.

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#19

Post by VectorLock »

Is there an off the shelf MicroPython board that can be used to make something like this using wired switches in a Dactyl / Manuform style keyboard. I see a lot of bespoke keyboard boards using socket style microcontrollers as well.

Re: M60 – Open-Source USB&BLE, Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Powered by Python

#20

Post by 1MachineElf »

One of the things the Planck Rev 6 PCB made me realize is how important hotswap is for me personally. First, I have _dozens_ of interesting mechanical keyboard kits which are un-built because I simply don't have the convenient time & place to set up my soldering equipment. Second, some of the kits I've managed to build have bricked on me due to unexplained microcontroller problems, and while I have an expensive desoldering gun, it's still a PITA to use/maintain/clean, so hot-swap sockets solve that switch recoverey problem in a very convenient way. Lastly, of course, the ability to change switches on a whim is nice on it's own.

This M60 keyboard builds on all of that by providing a socketed microcontroller, so even if it isn't the layout I prefer, I'll still look into buying one for the sole sake of supporting this work. Open source design & easy-to-program QMK-ish firmware are also huge plusses.

I also love the fact that pictured are the new Kailh Silent Pink switches. I got a small amount a couple weeks ago and want to get more, but they've sold out at US distributors. If the M60 is ever offered as a "full kit" then I hope those switches are an option.

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