Noob here needing help with layout

[Pyrox]

Hello everyone, I'm Loris from Italy. Few days ago I was looking for a new gaming keyboard and I ran into mechanical keyboards, I discovered great communities behind them so I started thinking about building one for myself.

I read many threads, especially Matt3o's ones and I understood basic priniples in building a custom keyboard, so I started out choosing a layout that could be good for my needs (gaming and coding) and that could be quite "easily" built by a novice like me. At the end I think that a 60% standard ISO layout would be the best, considering also keycaps retrieval.

This is what I was thinking about, actually I had a little modification in mind since I don't really use right control keys

ISO60.png (17.25 KiB) Viewed 2220 times

ISO60mod.png (17.85 KiB) Viewed 2220 times

This one could be another option, since I don't even use Caps Lock and a Del button would be useful for coding

ISO60mod2.png (17.61 KiB) Viewed 2220 times

My question now is: if I move Fn instead of Caps Lock, will I need configurations for games that use Caps Lock buttons? I mean, how will the keys be recognized? I read something about the Teensy configuration, but I didn't really get this thing, will I have to set a particular layout on PC too?

[Eszett]

Do you really want to sac right shift for the arrows?

[Pyrox]

Do you really want to sac right shift for the arrows?

That was an idea... I really don't use the right shift, so it wouldn't be a big loss for me. I use arrows while coding, so those would be useful to have, but I could Fn WASD, even if I should get used to that.

[Muirium]

Welcome to custom keyboard design! You've identified one of the three options I know for navigation keys in a compact layout:

• Sacrifice the arrow keys and put them on a function layer
• Sacrifice the right side mods
• Sacrifice the layout and squeeze everything in with small caps on the right

I expect you're aware of Matteo's current group build. One of the layouts he's prototyping is this one, which fits into the last option:


http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/grou ... t7474.html

I'm much more into option 1, myself, which is going straight 60% and learning a function layer. Here's my current keyboard, IBM's one and only 60% buckling spring:



The way I have it mapped, on the function layer, is like this:

Kisahsaver Function Layer.png (77.04 KiB) Viewed 2199 times

If you can master HHKB style arrow keys (the diamond shape on the right) or WASD or ESDF arrows (what I use on the left) then you can really master anything. It's a lot easier making customs and matching caps if you can stay close to a standard 60% block. I find it second nature. But there's definitely an ideal layout for everyone, and it's not the same for all people!

As for your question about Caps Lock: a Teensy powered custom keyboard can take on any mapping that you like. You have complete control. Your computer also has a software layout associated with the keyboard. That's where you change between ISO German and ISO UK for example. I think what you're trying to do is put your keyboard into a "gaming layout mode" so you don't have to make the same key binding changes in every game you play. A Teensy can handle that for sure! I'd make it a layer lock, so you just press a key combo to engage it and the keyboard stays there, with Caps Lock etc. moved to traditional locations, until you toggle it again when you're done.

[Pyrox]

Welcome to custom keyboard design! ...

Thank you and thank you for the detailed answer. I started reading the topic for the Group Build yesterday and that layout is actually very nice, plus it is quite standard for the "gaming section", which is a problem not having to deal with. When I have some time I'll try to read that thread trough the end, so maybe I can join it (is there an ISO version in program too?).

[Muirium]

Not much has been decided yet, to be honest. Right now we're waiting on Matt's first run at a new wood case design. Things will probably get interesting when he has news and pictures for us.

There's lots of ISO love here at DT. I'm an ANSI guy myself, but this is one place where I'm in the minority! You'll be all right.

[Pyrox]

I modified a little the proposed design you posted to match an hypotetic ISO configuration

ISOmod3.png (18.32 KiB) Viewed 2167 times

I have another (probably) silly question now: the ~ key doesn't exist on italian keyboard layout (and I often struggle while coding), would it work with this configuration by properly configuring Teensy?

[Muirium]

Good question. I expect you can do it, but that's just a hunch. I use my computers with the keyboard language layout set to ANSI US, but I can still type § (the extra ISO UK key on a Mac) using my layers; which isn't technically on an ANSI US keyboard.

Perhaps Italian is more complex. Someone with experience ought to know.

[Pyrox]

I guess I will have to put the ~ issue away for the moment... I think that this could be a good layout for both gaming and coding, I put pagUp and pagDown instead of volume which is more useful for a programmer and replaced the ~ key with del. This is pretty compact and I like it, basically needing Fn only for function keys, so not much headache to learn alternative configurations. The only thing I am not 100% sure about is the absence of spacing around the arrow keys... could be uncomfortable.

ISO65mod.png (19.13 KiB) Viewed 2145 times

Here is a different mod I also like, backspace and del next to each other, as well as enter and esc

ISO69.png (21.24 KiB) Viewed 2110 times

I also tried to "design" a plate for the keyboard using a template I found here on deskhority, but since this is the very first time for me using a CAD software I was only taking shapes and moving them to position. Here is the result:

plate template.png (4.27 KiB) Viewed 2115 times

I don't know what to place for return and keyboard since there is no "block" for those keys. Another thing: he .dwg template file contains the sizes for everything, but they are different from datasheet ones (slightly smaller?). For example the square hole for a 1u button is 0.55 (inches I guess) on the template, while on the datasheet 0.61, why is this?