6 x12 Ortholinear Keyboard

[Matt Joyce]

Does anyone know of an open source 6x12 ortholinear keyboard project?

I have been wondering if I could build such a thing, lot's of others have built similar projects and I have been getting into keyboard kits and QMK.

If a 6x12 exists already I'll just use that, but otherwise I'm tempted to try and have a go.

I have seen a few tutorials on KiCad which I will use to learn how to layout PCBs.

Here's what I think I want to make.

6 rows, of 12 columns of hotswap MX style switches so roughly 10cm x 26cm

drop in Micro Pro compatible (usb-c)

QMK compatible

One strand of WS2812 addressable LEDs for indicators.

Bare bones/easy on the wallet - pcb for plate, board and base.

What are the pitfalls/mistakes a novice will most likely make?

Would anyone be kind enough to check my work once I have something laid out?

Regards

Matt

[Anthony Klyza]

Hey Matt,,

There's the BFO-9000 from Keebio. Just use one half of it :)
https://keeb.io/products/bfo-9000-keyboard-customizable-full-size-split-ortholinear

[Anthony Klyza]

Wait that's 6x9

On Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at 5:27:54 PM UTC+10 Matt wrote:

[Madox]

Hi Matt,

I trust you've scoured the QMK lists already...

I've been also meaning to make my own QMK compatible keyboard, but with a more traditional layout.  I've got all my switches, diodes, keycaps etc ready - I just need to get off my rear end and design the PCB.

I ended up with Kailh Choc V2s where are Cherry MX style, don't plan to use them hot-swap so I'll probably go direct to PCB with them.  I've got one DSA set and one XDA set of keycaps ready to go but I've also bought a vacuum pump and various resins/silicone to mould my own if need be ;)

I'll be interested to see what Micro Pro compatible USB-C controller you can find, I haven't been able to find one.  The Proton-C is difficult to source so I think I'm going to use one of the black/blue pill STM boards.

You know all about the various layout and plate generators etc?

I'm debating whether to draw my PCB in KiCad (urg, have to learn) or in Eagle (OMG not Opensource blah blah).....happy to have a peek at what you've done but with no guarantee on my QA efforts :)

What would your WS2812's indicate?  I struggle to think of a good use case for a display or LED's on a keyboard.  All the ones now I have got stupidly fancy RGB patterns but other than to impress the kids they're pretty useless.....

Cheers,

John

[Matt Joyce]

Hello,

I have been researching for a while, and while I have not found *precisly* the layout I want, I've to the realisation that the journey is probably the destination.  I want to design and build my own keeb.  Achievement Unlocked, etc.

The Pro Micro I had in mind is the Sea-Micro, I used one in the little 4x12 kit I used.  Really nice and slimline, and the usb connector is nicely anchored.

Buy here : https://customkbd.com/products/sea-micro-pro-micro-alternative

Info here : https://github.com/joshajohnson/sea-micro

I installed KiCad last night and skimmed through a few tutorials.  I did find a nice matrix generator, and as my target layout is so basic, really quite easy to use.

https://github.com/jeroen94704/klepcbgen

However after spending hours laying out parts, I realised I needed to change the switch footprint for the hotswap socket, and I also hadn't fully understood how to flip components.

I ended up starting again from scratch, by hand.  Luckily I enjoy that sort of methodical layout process.

Perhaps I should have spent a bit more time planning, as 6+12=18, and that's how many pins are available for use on a Pro Micro.
So I will either lose a row, a column or LEDs.
The primary use for LEDs is to indicate what QMK layer is active.  Qwerty vs Colemac,  Alphas or macros, etc  Useful, but not essential.
i have read you can access a couple of pins by removing leds of the pro micro, but not very clean.

hmm..maybe a Teensy is the way to go, I think they have more available pins.

Matt

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Robots & Dinosaurs" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sydney-hackspa...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sydney-hackspace/b4036cce-7d78-420f-b77e-353443dfaa98n%40googlegroups.com.

--

+61 468 335597

LinkedIn Profile : Matt Joyce

[Matt Joyce]

Or maybe this

Arm Cortex M4

https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32f401cc.html

https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/stm32f401cc.pdf

QMK supported

https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/developing-qmk/hardware-platform-development/arm-chibios/platformdev_selecting_arm_mcu

https://github.com/qmk/ChibiOS/blob/ffe54d63cb10a355add318f8e922e39f1c3d4bfd/os/hal/ports/STM32/STM32F4xx/stm32_registry.h#L66

USBC too

https://temperosystems.com.au/products/stm32f401ccu6-stm32f4-black-pill/

[Madox]

:) At least we've converged onto the black pill as a potential solution.

Do you plan to have any fancy Macro keys or any other nifty functions?

[Matt Joyce]

If I used Kicad more often I would need macros more!!

Mine plans are mostly for common keyboard shortcuts, Discord, vs code, etc

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sydney-hackspace/e9fae93b-6aa7-4ccd-849c-060eb4a2e504n%40googlegroups.com.

[Matt Joyce]

I have been falling down a rabbit hole, and thought I would share a couple of resources for others.

This is a fantastic tutorial, not only for how to use Kicad, but how to use datasheets and complementary resources. 
Specifically this focusses on the STM32F4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7-8nUU6e3E&t=1015s
Also explain how to get boards made with components.

This collaboration produced a nice USB-C daughter board, which is also a nice schematic reference.
KiCad, so could be merged right in.
https://github.com/ai03-2725/Unified-Daughterboard

I'm still very much out of my depth, but I think my revised plan is
6x12 Ortholinear
Hot swap sockets
STM32 on board.

@Madox, would it be interesting to put the MCU *and* USB on a daughter board, and just connect the matrix with a ribbon cable?

[Madox]

Hi Matt,

I still haven't gotten around to this one yet (its rather down on my rather long procrastination/project list... and I keep adding to it...) but in my head my MCU+USB was always on a separate board from the main PCB.

The reason is that I was probably going to use a standard 'black pill' board rather than designing the main PCB to cater for the MCU and all its peripherals etc - I would hate soldering some of that stuff including the USB-C connector...

It should add minimal 'thickness' to my design and I'm not aiming to make mine super small or tiny so I could always place it away from the main key matrix if needed (if I wanted to avoid 'thickening).

I don't think I've shared what I had in mind for myself...

My plan is for a condensed 'keyboard' + trackball + numpad as indicated by the rough arrangement of keycaps shown in the photos below.  They keycaps are DSA and XDA profile and I plan for them to be paired with the Kailh choc v2 key-switches also shown in the photos below - ending up with a 'low-medium/flat'ish' keyboard that's not quite standard, not quite low profile... 

I've grown semi-accustomed to my Keychron V3 other than running out of batteries every week or two confusing me why the keyboard isn't working hence the condensed layout that follows it.  The trackball may be detachable from the main keyboard but will sit directly on the right of the main keyboard.  I really miss having the numpad to type in IP addresses, lots of numbers, and various other things, so the numpad will make a come back and sit on the right of the keyboard and may also be detachable.

I was thinking the main controller will be on the main keyboard, with only several connections/pins required to talk to the trackball part (to the ADNS9800 and a couple of buttons), as well as the numpad part (small matrix there).

The lucky last photo is for Lego moulding any new keycaps I may need ;)

So I have almost all the bits, the controller, the key caps, the key switches... just missing the PCBs and 'case' design that will go with it (thinking of thin aluminium panel... was planning to try www.quickpanel.eu )

Someone has already merged in ADNS-9500/9800 code into QMK so I don't even need to worry about porting my own old crappy code ;)