nydas

nydas, 11 months ago

Give it a go, but have patience. Don’t start during a particularly busy time at work, and be prepared to switch out your keyboard for a full sized one for 30 minutes when you get frustrated.

If you’re going directly from 104 keys, it’s going to be a big change. It will take time to build the muscle memory. But good luck!

nydas, 11 months ago

Yep. I went from 104 keys to the split MS ergo keyboard, to an ErgoDox, at which point I learned Dvorak. I then gradually dropped some keys before building my own 40 key split. I’ve since dropped 4 keys off that to get down to 36, which I’ve been using as a daily driver at work for about a year. I’m just about to build a new split with 24 keys. Really not sure how well it will work, but figured I’d give it a go. Trying to find that balance between too few keys vs too much hand movement.

nydas, 11 months ago

Is it the compositor that gives the rounded windows?

nydas, 11 months ago

Can’t see how realistically it could be done.

I’m an individual. I register a domain using my surname. I upload a blog of my keyboard building. Additionally, I link to my git repo with the stl and gerber files.

All good so far.

But then someone asks if I can build one for them, as they don’t have a 3D printer/can’t solder/whatever. So we agree on a price and a deal is done. Still ok?

A few people ask, and I figure it’s a nice side hustle, so I build a form and une my bank’s payment gateway. Still ok?

It’s bringing in some decent money now. I’ve quit my day job, and hired someone to help me with all of my soldering. Because I need to pay them, I set up a company to pay them out of. The only thing that changes on my website is a little bit of text at the bottom that now says <surname> pty ltd. Not ok anymore. But who is going to police that?

nydas, 11 months ago

Gotcha, I’d misunderstood the context I think.

nydas, 11 months ago

Thank you so much!

nydas, 11 months ago

If you’re not familiar with layers, the best way to describe them are ‘multiple shift keys’. Keyboards already have multiple layer keys:

• shift
• alt
• ctrl
• cmd

Basically it’s a key that when pressed in combination with a second key makes that second key return a difference value to ‘normal’. As keyboards get smaller, the simplest way to accommodate things is to add additional layers - a layer for numbers, and then you can remove the dedicated number keys; a layer for arrow keys and then you can remove these too.

You then get more complex with one-shot keys, home row mods, tap-dance etc.

I’ve been using a 36-key keyboard for a year or so now, and wouldn’t go bigger. Currently waiting on a PCB to be printed that is 24 keys. Will be interesting to see how I go with that one!

nydas, 11 months ago

Found it, thank you!

RGB=5v OLED=3v

nydas, 11 months ago

Ordered before I saw this :-/ Bet that’s ok. I can do a bit of a hark if needed. The 3 & 5 volt pins are right next to each other.

nydas, 11 months ago

I’ve not gone tracing through it all. It looks neat. My one call out would be to try not to have 90 degree bends. You have on on the bottom right of the image. Not saying it won’t work. Just something I’ve always been told to avoid.

nydas, 11 months ago

Looks like something from Stargate SG1

nydas, 11 months ago

Thank you. It was specifically the CAT6 I was Looking to use, as you can get an ultra thin patch cable, and it will clip in (so reduced risk of shorting the controller). Maybe I need to go without RGB? 😭

nydas, 11 months ago

Oh, that’s awesome. Thank you!

nydas, 11 months ago

I may be missing something here, but wouldn’t you still need to solder those connectors?

If you want to limit soldering as much as possible, I’d grab a BlackPill or similar that comes with pin connections that you could just plug into the pcb, and it would have enough pins that depending on how many switches you wanted you could probably get away without needing a matrix, so two less solder points per switch for each resistor. You could also probably benefit from hotswaps. While no reduction in solder points (still two per switch), it can be just a big lump of molten solder on each side - it doesn’t need to be quite so carefully done.

nydas, 11 months ago

Have you tried some of the ultra thin CAT6 cables? They might work for you.

nydas, 11 months ago

Here’s an example

nydas, 11 months ago

As soon as I made the decision to throw away all my socks and go to the shop and buy 14 pairs of the same grey socks, my life became infinitely less stressful.