I love a challenge and any excuse to learn a new skill, this article is about my journey to design and build my dream keyboard. I say …ish because open source tools make the process incredibly easy. This is not a tutorial on how to design and build one yourself, just me

Background#

I decided to buy a split keyboard about a year ago, I came split keyboards originally from a creator called the Primegan. He was reviewing a Kineses 360 and I immediately loved the idea, then I saw the price tag, and as a broke student I wasn’t able to justify buying one. After that the idea was put on the backburner, until I came across some DIY split keyboard kits and bit the bullet. The kit I bought was the Piantor by beekeeb, which is beautifully made board based on the cantor but with support for hot swappable switches. Of course, I had no idea what any of that meant when I bought it. The kit came with all the components I needed with instuctions.

Once it arrived I immediately built it and spent some time designing a new layout that fit, trying to learn Colemak-DH as I went. Fell in love with the split design immediately, but there was one problem, I was a college student without a proper desk in a tiny room with laptop. I tried to make it work, then I began work on my thesis, and it was too much of a barrier to try to learn colemak at the same time as writing. So it was thrown to the side until this summer when I bothered to build a nice desk set-up.

The new design#

So, why exactly did I decide to design a new keyboard rather than choosing some of the hundreds of choices that are available and designed by much more talented people. A little bit of machocism and a desire to know how the sausage is made. I want to understand the process that go into designing a PCB, and have a bit of pride to be able to say I made what I use.

Must haves#

What features do I want this board to have?

• 36 key layout

• battery powered (to get rid the these pesky wires)

• A e-ink screen (so I know when it needs a charge) What features do I want this board to have?

• 36 key layout

• battery powered (to get rid the these pesky wires)

• A e-ink screen (so I know when it needs a charge)