Split ergonomic keyboard project

[hoggy]

Uhhm....I'll take one prototype please.

Why didn't I think of that...

[dox]

pingbat/PrinsValium: The flippable pcb is a good idea but I don't have much time to do it.
Spharax: I was supposed to add those but I forgot . It's not that much work, I will add them to the model.
pingbat: The 2 halves are connected with I2C and a TRRS (4 pin) jack/cable.
hoggy/Icarium: I will probably put the model available to public on shapeways soon.

[dirge]

dox, can I buy you a drink some time mate? Really well done on this!

[bpiphany]

I could help out with the PCB design if you want me to. But I really don't want to barge in on your project, taking credit, telling you how to do things and such... You are using some company specific format for the PCB at the moment I believe. It may be nice doing it in a program with proper gerber support instead as well I think. But a complete redesign of the PCB would also not have been "prototyped".

The truth is I did pretty much of the PCB design already. It was pretty quick since I have some structure to keyboard designing already. There are always a lot more work left than you imagine though...

It is the power transfer between the halves that requires to be jumpered. Since the connectors will be mounted on the top on both halves and the cable is straight (I suppose) the leads will be flipped.

[dox]

PrinsValium: I have no problem with you working on the flippable PCB. I'll post a PDF later with the exact switch positions.
drige: I will let you know if I go to UK.

Meanwhile...

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[didja]

That looks fantastic.

[dox]

PrinsValium: Here are the dimensions for the PCB and key layout.

Spoiler:

PCB-001.PDF

(60.69 KiB) Downloaded 437 times

If you need anything else, let me know.

[dox]

I just want to say that this thing is AMAZING!! I can't see myself returning to a standard keyboard. The new position for the thumb keys is spot on too.
Thanks to everyone who contributed!

[forcefollow]

Great.. now I'm drooling on my HHKB ...

any timeline for mass production?

[wiredPANDA]

Been watching this develop for a while now, and I can honestly say I'm interested and waiting for production. Haven't found myself pulled to an ergo boards, as much as, this one.

Nice job, dox.

[ondast]

Great work i might be interested in one also, but im a bit curious about the different materials available. Which material is that one and how do you like it?

How would this layout work with ISO?

[Djuzuh]

hm, I just noticed.

The keys on the right of P are missing

Where should I put them!

[Icarium]

It's a different layout. It will take some getting used to. I don't think it makes sense to stick with the large enter key (if that's what you mean by ISO) because there is not really any point to it and you're already going through some sort of transition period.

[bpiphany]

God, do I like being square... =D

Working on the ErgoDOX PCB layout.

kicaddox.png (467.23 KiB) Viewed 14636 times

[ondast]

It's a different layout. It will take some getting used to. I don't think it makes sense to stick with the large enter key (if that's what you mean by ISO) because there is not really any point to it and you're already going through some sort of transition period.

I was thinking of a swedish charset keyboard where you have åäö on the right of the "p"-key. I dont mind the placement of the enter key on the ergodox, in fact i think its more intuitive.

Im guessing you could just remap the keys on the right side to åäö and be happy about it:p

[Icarium]

The layout is completely programable and since it's a kit I don't think it comes with keycaps so you're free to make that however you want.

[bpiphany]

The thing is we swedes need to put 'Å' and 'Ä' somewhere, in addition to the standard characters in the English alphabet. 'Ö' takes ';'s place in the Swedish layout.

These extra characters of course is a problem on every minimalistic keyboard layout. On dox's current layout there seem to be a lot of keys that are duplicate between the two halves. So it might not be a big deal to fit our extra vowels somewhere.

[ondast]

Awesome, there are so many possibilities:) then its just a matter of choosing switches/keycaps/material;)

Prinsvalium: What are we seeing, redesigned it for mirrored layout?

[bpiphany]

Yes, that as well as drawing it up in a proper PCB CAD software.. The KiCAD printing functions really sucks. Screen shots are the easiest way to display anything =P But I am getting there. That IO-expander is bit bulky though...

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[mSSM]

Those pictures are pure sex! I was sad that Geekhack was down and I couldn't follow this thread anymore, but thank god I remembered to check deskthority's workshop forums!

dorkvader: I am already in for one (I am going to get that one definitely, as I have increasing problems with my right hand), and I might take a 2nd one, depending on the final price.

[dox]

Good start PV! I have a few observations.

• There is a missing mounting hole near the thumb keys on the left of the pcb.
• The stabilizers are not required. It feel much better without them. Instead, we could have the option to place two 1x keys instead of one 2x. I remember someone asking for this.
• The inner pins on the teensy are not used. Maybe you could place the mpc23018 "inside" the teensy footprint?
• With the reset and ground pins accessible on the teensy, we don't need access to the reset button. The access hole would only work when the teensy is on the left hand. There is a "jump to bootloader" key in the firmware too.

[bpiphany]

Good start PV! I have a few observations.

• There is a missing mounting hole near the thumb keys on the left of the pcb.
• The stabilizers are not required. It feel much better without them. Instead, we could have the option to place two 1x keys instead of one 2x. I remember someone asking for this.
• The inner pins on the teensy are not used. Maybe you could place the mpc23018 "inside" the teensy footprint?
• With the reset and ground pins accessible on the teensy, we don't need access to the reset button. The access hole would only work when the teensy is on the left hand. There is a "jump to bootloader" key in the firmware too.

First if all, I feel a bit relieved you are this open with everything =)

• That hole isn't quite there in the blueprints... I was guessing that dimple there was supposed to be the same radius as the mounting holes. And now I see from the exprressPCB drawings that this probably is the case.
• The stabilizers should be possible to combine with optional 1X keys. That requires some changes to the matrix though.. You should have told me sooner, didn't want to mess with it too much, trying to keep my intrusion as unnoticed as possible ;D
• I am removing Teensy pins as I see no need for them, modifying the matrix may give rise to some rearrangement still.
• I just finished a mail to "ic07" asking about swapping pins. I had the same idea placing the footprints on top of each other. But then it really helps having the corresponding pins next to each other.

Got to get back to work, but starting tomorrow I have a full week off \o/

[domoaligato]

I am following this thread as well and would definitively want to buy 1-2 of them.

[dorkvader]

I'm busy until this evening, but the list is updated until here (I think). I'll update my post with the new names later.

Here's who I have from DT (with witty comments about interest in parentheses). Please PM or post here if I've missed you somehow.

From DT
01. Webwit................1. (I'm in for one if it comes to a group buy.)
02. jakobcreutzfeldt......1. (Too "mad" to be marked yet)
03. xbb...................1. (Thanks added to list)
04. jcrouse...............1. ("I want one list")
05. pingbat...............1. (utron dreams)
06. forcefollow...........1. (one to replace his drool-damaged HHKB
07. wiredPANDA............1. (Watches it develop)
08. domoaligato...........1-2(from following this thread)

[bpiphany]

If it ends up using a PCB designed by me I need to have at least a couple to save for reference. I don't think I will be needing any case... Edit: designed might be stretching it.. Put into KiCAD, let's say =)

[dorkvader]

If I designed a PCB like this, I'd keep an extra and frame it.

List updated.

[dox]

http://ErgoDox.org

Any CSS wizard?

Code: Select all

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----------------------------------------------------------*/

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    margin: 0px;
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a:link, a:visited
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a:hover
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a:active
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p
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[dorkvader]

Wow, looks pretty good, though the about page returns 500.

I don't do CSS, but will you be selling the kits via the new 'site, or is it just for information? It could also be used to track interest. If DT went down and my HDD crashed, and my flash drive got lost, I would lose the interest list.

[domoaligato]

Wow, looks pretty good, though the about page returns 500.

I don't do CSS, but will you be selling the kits via the new 'site, or is it just for information? It could also be used to track interest. If DT went down and my HDD crashed, and my flash drive got lost, I would lose the interest list.

get google docs

[domoaligato]

edit attempt number 3: wow I am tired.
http://ethanschoonover.com is using less from http://lesscss.org/ and http://html5boilerplate.com/

here is a link to a downloadable MSFT visual studio 2010 project with ASP.NET MVC 3/.net 4.0

http://www.jondavis.net/techblog/post/2 ... plate.aspx

then replace the css in this base project with the one from here...
https://github.com/altercation/ethansch ... /style.css