Split ergonomic keyboard project

[webwit]

http://www.bakkerelkhuizen.com/notebook ... o-top-320/

[lowkey144]

Would hopping on 7 bit's group buy for 80 plate mounted MX switches be a good choice in anticipation of the impending something? It seems that at $0.06 per switch there is little chance of getting a better deal from anywhere else (massdrop, groupbuy, whatever), regardless of our eventual numbers.

and @Bisl, any word on the projected line item costs from massdrop? and what were their "few ideas" about case fabrication?

[pkvitt]

Hello everybody. I only recently discovered this excellent project and very excited to see a group buy moving forward.
Please add me to the list of people interested in buying the keyboard (assembled if possible).

Looking at the keyboard layout I have only one question: Why make two vertical 1.5x keys above the thumb-block, why not three 1x and complete a full 4-key column?
As I see it. Keys in that column are fairly easy to reach and hit accurately. Extra keys will be very useful, especially for use with alphabets containing 30+ characters (Cyrillic in my case). There would be no need for custom 1.5x vertical keycaps.
Please correct me where I'm mistaken.

Is it possible to make this change at the current stage of the project?

[AloisiusFauxly]

Is it possible to make this change at the current stage of the project?

Probably not. AFAIK, the PCB design is finalized.

[lowkey144]

pkvitt, the pcb is pretty much locked in, but remember that it is programmable, so mapping the entirety of your additional characters to the any keys you want should not present much of a problem. We even talked about this some back on page 20 in the default view of this thread. The net gain of the change is 2 keys on a long pointer finger reach, does that make the difference for you?

If you really want/need to make changes though, the project is open source. So can modify the design and do a Cyrillic group buy or even just do a single run for personal use. The PCB design will be available to everyone soon, but there are still some final tweaks in the pipeline.

[pkvitt]

Thanks for the answers.

The net gain of the change is 2 keys on a long pointer finger reach, does that make the difference for you?

No it doesn't. The layout of that area looks a little odd to me, so I am curious why it was done that way.

[judascleric]

If there is another revision on the PCB and case (which I am neither expecting nor advocating), I would also be in favor of three 1x keys in the inner-most column of the main clusters instead of the current two 1.5x keys. I currently use a TrulyErgonomic which has a similar layout as ErgoDox's main clusters and I have no problems hitting three 1x height keys in the middle at speed.

I guess this would be on the wishlist for ErgoDox version 2 if work continues after the first group buy.

[AloisiusFauxly]

The layout of that area looks a little odd to me, so I am curious why it was done that way.

Probably because this project was inspired by the Key64 project, which uses 1.5x verts. I don't think I would find the 1x keys that hard to hit, but it is a longish reach.

I currently use a TrulyErgonomic which has a similar layout as ErgoDox's main clusters and I have no problems hitting three 1x height keys in the middle at speed.

Yeah, that keyboard seems to do alright for people with its 1x height keys.

[litster]

I finally took the time to clean the drawings up. I only cut a complete wrist rest version case. I didn't cut a complete standard version. So it is possible the standard version doesn't work.

There is a tiny little triangle area on the top 2 layers near the thumb area. It is not very sturdy. Be careful. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: No guarantee or warranty implied. Use these drawings at your own risk.

Now that the drawings are available, massdrop can go figure out how to make it work. So far from what I heard from the massdrop guy, I am not confident that it will turn out well.

[dirge]

Thanks so much litster! I owe you a beer!

[dirge]

Getting a quote put together for a case like litsters, does anyone know the thickness of acrylic? I've said 5mm to the guy for my quote just need to know for sure before I put the order in for a sample.

[sinis]

google sent me here. I googled epic. this was the first result.

This needs 2 things:
1. Kickstarter
2. somewhat iso capability

edit: iso through programming... working on layout atm.

table for possible key-mappings in libre-office:

[bhtooefr]

Kickstarter is a bad option mainly because it's extremely US (and now UK)-centric - you must have a US or UK bank account to start the project, and you must have a credit card that Amazon Payments accepts to pay them.

Indiegogo is much more flexible, if you go that route.

[JesuswasaZombie]

It would take a bunch of unnecessary work even to get it approved on Kickstarter.

[dirge]

Sample case should be here today, will get pics up when I get home.

[Aleksander]

Is there a dox-pcb floating around somewhere? just need a set of pcbs, can cnc the case and get hold of the electronics myself.

[dirge]

If you can CNC the case can you do more than one?

[Aleksander]

If you can CNC the case can you do more than one?

I have a relatively low powered mill, so if you are thinking plastic or wood case, it can be doable, but I do not plan on making many of them.

[dirge]

Have you seen Dox's shapeways files Aleksander? He has them posted on his site.

[damorgue]

Those are however not suitable for CNC, since they were designed with 3D printing in mind. They use some shapes and features which make sense for additive manufacturing but are very unsuitable for milling. Just a heads up, you will need to modify them to better fit your needs if you decide to use them.

[dirge]

Stuff's arrived, switches fit well which is the main thing. Some of the cut edges are a little rough. I'll try and get some better pics tomorrow.

[ic07]

Just posted a new firmware version to GitHub! This one has better layer handling, and ... a few other things I'm happy with. It doesn't have NKRO or mousebuttons (sorry... those turned out to a lot harder than I thought they'd be - maybe later) - and there were a few other things I think I had to leave out, but I forget what they are at the moment. Also, the documentation needs a lot of work, which I think is my next step. (Also, disclaimer: I didn't actually test the compile I posted, just the QWERTY version, before some minor modifications - so if for some reason I magically killed it, I'll have to repost with apologies).

Beta testers with keyboards: if you try it out, will you let me know what you think? :) it's right here (one of the first two downloads).

[dirge]

litsters case fits like a glove around that board



Fitting 62g springs and switch stickers, slow going....

[justcallmecrash]

What do those stickers do for you?

[dirge]

hurt my fingers, try my patients, blind rage over how fiddly they are?... supposed to better seal the gap on the switch. I think law of diminishing returns here... I haven't oiled the switches mind, stopped just close of that:)

[Halverson]

Mmm Dirge that's looking good!

I think stickers are supposed to help reduce switch wobble. Although the wobble between the stem and cap won't change.

[dirge]

2 hours to swap springs and fit stickers.

5mm red acrylic layer could be a mm smaller.

[damorgue]

Looking good dirge (and litster)

Are there any holes on the bottom to be able to attach feet and slant them? Pretty easy to drill a hole and tap acrylic if there aren't any though.

[dirge]

Soldered in, but not working so scratching head time

[damorgue]

Soldered in, but not working so scratching head time

Drooling has been known to cause short circuits