deskthority

I would be interested in making these. I have recently had a fascination with chorded keyboard designs and would love to learn. A few questions though...

First, how hard would you say learning it is?
Easy. There's much less muscle memory involved, and many chords can be memorized as mnemonic ...

Any chance those are going on sale somewhen?
I am interested in one to play arond with as well..
The boards I have I intend to give to friends and family.

The easiest way to get one is probably ordering the parts and assemble them yourself, or have somone do it for you. Skills required include ...

Done.

I've updated the top post.

I'm totally sure I didn't need to flash any bootloader when I built these They come with Atmel's loader. As does the TQFP ATmega32u2. Factory fresh they jump to the bootloader on power up. [...]
Can confirm now. Pristine ATmega32u2 MCUs come up with a bootloader. Uploading the firmware .hex file ...

Phenix wrote: is there progress you might want to show us?

I'm (slowly) working on a tool that auto-generates a cheatsheet from the current state of customization. Here is a half-baked example of the intended output.

So close to finishing my first board with one of these and got device descriptor failed error no matter what I do.
All troubleshooting I have done hasn't cleared up what my issue actually is. Not sure if its the board itself, or my USB cable being bad. :(
Nothing obvious showing up.

Ideas?

I had ...

deirdreinamber wrote: When I try to use the F1-F12 keys, though, it either does nothing or outputs a number and tilde, like 0~ or 5~.

This doesn't look wrong to me. How do other keyboards behave in this context?

The chorded firmware starts looking usable. It is still based on the most recent, unmodified version of TMK .

In addition to the main (chorded) input mode, a few special layers are available:

a number pad,
a set of navigation keys,
a mouse emulation layer,
a macro pad. (Macro recording is ...

The ATMEGA32U4 datasheet contains a footnote saying "These parts are shipped with no USB bootloader pre-programmed", referring to the QFN package. I couldn't find anything like this in the ATMEGA32U2 datasheet, but it seems to be this way nonetheless. Anyway, you need a programmer to modify the ...

2ZQ wrote: If you have any available I could use, I would be extremely grateful. [...] Let me know what to do if you still have!

Just give me your address and the number of PCBs you want, and wait for the letter I'll send you.

nall wrote: Was getting ready to order some components, and wanted to confirm: there's no C2, right?

That's correct, and your PCB is on its way.

One could make a variant of the keytee with the same microcontroller as is used in the Elf board and get it to be even cheaper [...] Really? Comparing the respective 5x5 mm packages at mouser, I get (Qty 10)


KL27Z256, QFN-32: 3.34 €
KL27Z256, MAPBGA-64: 3.65 €
ATMEGA32U2-MU, QFN-32 + crystal: (2 ...

To be fair, the Elf board would come with a bootloader while the keytee requires a USBasp programmer to make it accessible via USB.
Really? I thought ATMEGA32U2 has a DFU bootloader built-in. In fact, I'm sure of it—I didn't need an AVR programmer to flash the firmware on my xwhatsit controller ...

Keytee is now identified by its own, unique set of USB IDs, issued by http://pid.codes:

Vendor ID = 0x1209
Product ID = 0xE4EE

From PCBway it would be around 250 USD plus the price of components for 100 assembled boards. It looks like the components would be around 4,5 USD per board, so a total of 7 USD per piece assembled seems like a target that could be hit. http://www.pcbway.com/orderonline.aspx
What I really don't get ...

For anyone interested in building one, I ordered six boards from OSH Park and it cost me all of 5.70$ shipping included (I'm located in the US, which may effect that). I'll have to order components and whatnot but that seems like a very reasonable price for PCBs. I love the design, and am looking ...

Could anyone tell me if this is something I need to fix on my end ? Or is it a problem with the files up on github ?

I get the same error on Linux with KiCad 4.0.5.
Can confirm for KiCad 4.0.2 on Ubuntu. I'm using PC-BSD/FreeBSD where the KiCad version info looks like "r6904-product"; not sure ...

Sythe wrote: What were the package sizes used for resistors/capacitors/crystal?

You need size 0402 capacitors and resistors, and a crystal like this:
http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/daten ... HZ_SMD.pdf

rominronin wrote: Can we find someone to turn this into a group buy?

I'd appreciate and be willing to help if someone wanted to do this.

NuttyOx wrote: Awesome build! I would like one as well if you dont mind PMing the cost and we can go from there

No cost as long as demand remains as modest as it is now.

xszy wrote: Do you happen to have any more available? I would love to pick one up.

I do. Just PM me your address.

rominronin wrote: I'd like one if you still have one going.

PM me an address and I'll send you one or two in a letter.

How would you go about installing this in a keyboard? Solder wires to all pads, install the controller and then connect the wires where they should go? Exactly, using thin stranded wire.

Also, do you sell the PCB naked or with all components soldered? Naked. Soldering for someone else could only ...

Ordering PCBs for a recent project of mine, I didn't quite like how shipping cost exceeded the actual product value, so I tried to shift the balance in favour of the latter with something useful: a keyboard controller that doesn't increase the size of your hand-wired keyboard in any way.

Keytee is ...

Soldering the SMD stuff went smoothly (using hot air). The trickiest part were the reverse-mount LEDs on the top plate.
The IC is an ATMEGA32U2.
http://i.imgur.com/Hco3Ytr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KtVVn9V.jpg
The USB cable needs to be soldered to the board directly as there isn't any place big ...

Are you going to order the PCB and plates from the same source? Yes. Top plate, main PCB, and bottom plate are all PCBs (and only the bottom plate could be made of something else). I expect them to arrive at any moment.
Are they from within Germany? They've been made in China by pcbway.com ...

Could you maybe add the option to split the 2u key?
This would make it great as addon numblock/arrow and media pad.
(if an 2u is needed I would place it like an numpad enter btw)
It is probably possible to build a handwired version with a customized top plate and a controller board that is narrow ...

I think PE2 needs to be tied to GND if your reset button is to run the bootloader. The rest of the pins are usable, at least with TMK.

I would recommend in-switch through-hole diodes. They add a lot of mechanical stability. The diode holes in your switch footprints seem to be too far apart, though.

Update: The original post is hidden in the spoiler below.

http://i.imgur.com/UGswMU8.jpg

This is an open-source project; everything is on its project page on Github .

The NaN-15 is a one-handed, chorded keyboard that is intended to be usable by either hand. It features macros and an on ...

And of course I couldn't resist to file off the bottom of a stem bearing, which seemed to have been the part the switch bottoms out with as it increased key travel by 0.6 mm.

Just a warning: Filing could be a bad idea, as plastic dust will immediately get into the switch, and also rough inside ...