- Darknight: a 60% split keyboard
- IMG_20171219_203122.jpg (1.82 MiB) Viewed 2424 times
The first change is to downsize to 60% by removing under-utilized function keys and dedicated control keys. I modified the firmware to have dual-role modifiers, i.e. a modifier produces some other key when it’s pressed and released on its own, pretty much like xcape tool in Linux. With this enhancement, left Control and Esc now share the same physical key, so do right Control and Enter. The only drawback is that Esc and Enter cannot auto-repeat, which I don’t have a problem with.
- Keyboard layout
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The thumbs are still in charge of two keys each but the keys are shifted toward the center to make room for more keys in the bottom row. Do I need a larger thumb cluster? Probably not. Below is my finger assignment. My habit is to let ring fingers take over the top two rows for the pinkies.
- Finger assignment
- keyboard-layout (1).jpg (63.02 KiB) Viewed 2424 times
The keys are contoured but no where near a key well as in Kinesis Advantage. With raised keys for index fingers and pinkies, my left hand can comfortably rest on {Z, S, D, F, Backspace}, and right hand on {Space, J, K, L, /}. Therefore, I settled on the matrix layout without staggering the columns. I actually raised keys for index fingers even higher than before so there is less stretch reaching them.
It will be interesting to rearrange keys in the inner pinky columns to {2, `, Q, A, Z} at the left and {-, \, P, ;, /} at the right, so the pinkies still rest on A and Semicolon, just like a standard layout. I will give it a try and see if I can get used to it.
- Contour
- IMG_20171219_210647_up.jpg (2.12 MiB) Viewed 2424 times
This time I switched from ABS to PLA filament for 3D-printing the cases. The result looks no different but PLA melts around 60 °C so I need to be careful not to get the keyboard near any heat source.
The empty area toward the center serves two purposes. One is to leave enough room for the micro-controller and wiring inside the case. The other is to support a touchpad outside and between the two splits.
The Wiring
I cut a 0.5mm copper sheet into stripes and drilled holes on them for soldering diodes into. I got quite a few loose soldering points with the previous build so I hope this time they will be much more solid.
The two splits are connected by a black USB Type-C 10Gbps cable, aesthetically more appealing than a colorful ribbon cable in the previous build. One thing I learned in a hard way was that the cable must be grounded to avoid ghost keys popping up.
All the wires connect to a Teensy 3.2, in a quite messy way. I cut the wires longer than necessary so there was a big margin of error in case of screw-ups. The mess is covered up nicely within a case anyway.
- Wiring
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I will probably use this keyboard for another year before building a new one. A small tweak is to add some LED lights to indicate the current layer but I don’t feel strongly needing it. Another thought is to improve tenting and tilting for better ergonomics. More interestingly, 3D-printed circuit to avoid all the wiring mess is also fun to explore.
