ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

Rules

Keep it ergo

Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)

i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²

¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid

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No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.

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This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.

Some useful links

EMK wiki
Split keyboard compare tool
Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/

founded 1 year ago

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Introducing FAK - A keyboard firmware for the CH55x series (github.com)

submitted 1 year ago by semickolon to c/ergomechkeyboards

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey all! I'm excited to share and announce my open-source keyboard firmware project. FAK exclusively supports very cheap CH55x chips. You can get a CH552 for half a dollar or maybe even cheaper. No need for external flash, LDOs, or oscillators. The chip's basically a whole MCU on its own.

So far it has layers, hold-tap, and tap-dance. Split support, combos, macros, etc. and more to come. It's based on Nickel, a purely (almost) functional programming language, so FP folk can go crazy on their config and parameterize everything or whatever. But hey, you only need that kind of power if you want it. For beginners, you can start simple and it looks almost like JSON.

Home-row mods are a first-class citizen with very customizable hold-tap behaviors. There's global quick tap from ZMK. There's hold-tap flavors too, but settable per key per behavior. There's eager decision, quick tap, and more.

I've also been experimenting with other matrix scanning methods like the Cheapino's (forgot the name) and round-robin/charlieplexing. This means less pins required, so you can get away with a CH552T (instead of a CH558L with more pins, twice the price) and keep your build very cheap.

Please check it out! If you have CH552 chips around, I'd appreciate your feedback. I've yet to write better docs and a website, but feel free to DM me and I'd be happy to help you get it running!

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[–] semickolon 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Also, there's a commercially available CH552T dev board for about a dollar. I actually use this for development: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004141926425.html

Even cheaper if you buy just the chip. Just add a USB connector and two capacitors then that's it. No crystal, flash, etc. needed. A CH552G goes for about 30 cents: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003402478164.html