I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by ebastler on Thursday August 18, 2022 @08:43AM (#32508800)

PCB designer of the board here - The second switch can toggle USB/Bluetooth profile 1/Bluetooth profile 2 (3 pos slider), but the board runs the open source ZMK firmware and you can reconfigure it however you want. Auto-switching between BT and USB is not used on the current firmware (as it would make the USB slider pos quite useless), but the firmware can absolutely do it.

EDIT: You could for example reconfigure the slider to switch between BT profile 1/2/3, and have the board auto-switch to USB when plugged in. Would take ~2min for me since I know my way around ZMK, bit more if you have to dig into how ZMK works first ofc.

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by warp on Thursday August 18, 2022 @10:07AM (#32509794)

Congrats on the design, using ZMK seems like a solid choice.

Did you consider adding a small screen?

I've always hated bluetooth keyboards until I built a Zaphod (which also runs ZMK). And just being able to see battery estimate, whether it is trying to pair, or which device it is currently connected to has made it a much smoother experience.

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by da4id on Thursday August 18, 2022 @10:17AM (#32509948)

Why a screen?

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by glxxyz on Thursday August 18, 2022 @10:20AM (#32509982)

"battery estimate, whether it is trying to pair, or which device it is currently connected to"

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by jagger27 on Thursday August 18, 2022 @12:16PM (#32511607)

All of that could be done more elegantly with a row of LEDs like on the side of an old unibody MacBook.

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by egypturnash on Thursday August 18, 2022 @02:35PM (#32513278)

That was such a nice bit of design. I wish Apple still did that.

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by eigenrick on Thursday August 18, 2022 @11:20AM (#32510903)

If It's ZMK, does this mean I could flash in a new configuration to Dvorak? (I know, Dvorak is a bad habit. I'm trying to quit. Really.)

One bit that I find helpful is that the keycaps are all the same height/angle so that I can rearrange them... hopefully..

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by ebastler on Thursday August 18, 2022 @12:33PM (#32511822)

Sure thing. We'll release the original firmware configuration alongside with the board, so changing the keymap and recompiling a new firmware wouldn't be a big deal, flashing is easy over USB (and once ZMK studio is ready, you will even be able to live-remap over USB/BT without a recompile/reflash).

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by knorker on Thursday August 18, 2022 @12:39PM (#32511910)

What about Dvorak is a bad habit?

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by ebastler on Thursday August 18, 2022 @12:43PM (#32511960)

Only thing I can imagine - super hard to find keycaps.

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Re:I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanica... by theCodeStig on Friday August 19, 2022 @08:42AM (#32520266)

I think auto-switch to USB makes a lot more sense. That’s also how the Apple keyboards, and trackpads work.

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