The PiPi Mherkin really, really can’t get much smaller. The diminutive keyboard design mounts directly to the Pi Pico responsible for driving it, has a similar footprint, and is only about 9 mm thick. It can’t get much smaller since it’s already about as small as the Pi Pico itself.
Running on the Pi Pico is the PRK firmware, a keyboard framework that makes the device appear as a USB peripheral, checking the “just works” box nicely. The buttons here look a little sunken, but the switches used are available in taller formats, so it’s just a matter of preference.
We have to admit the thing has a very clean look, but at such a small size we agree it is perhaps more of a compact macropad than an actual, functional keyboard. Still, it might find a place in the right project. Design files are online, if you’re interested.
If you like small, compact keyboards but would prefer normal-sized keys, check out the PiPi Mherkin’s big brother, the PiPi Gherkin which gets clever with dual-function tap/hold keys to provide full functionality from only 30 keys, with minimal hassle.
Keyboards are important, after all, and deserve serious attention, as our own [Kristina Panos] knows perfectly well.
Nice project. Mini keyboards are useful for all sorts of projects, like off-grid communicators, and cyberdecks. It sounds like he didn’t provide enough tolerance in the top plate holes (in addition to needing taller switches).
nice, is possible add mod for fuzix for runing this keyboard on system fuzix?
When I googled Fuzix the third result was running it on a Pi Pico, which is the controller used in this project. You might need to kludge on an SD card reader, and a UART USB adapter if you don’t have exposed UART, though.
Are we really going to ignore that it’s named after a genital toupee?
It is named for a kind of cucumber. The web site says “Micro gherkin” = Mherkin.
Gherkin:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber#Gherkin
You are thinking of a merkin. Take note that there’s no “h” in merkin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
Yeah but there’s a PiPi in it.