Perhaps you have a tilt towards glowing cyberpunk peripherals. Perhaps you’ve been hunting for a keyboard that you can position perfectly to suit both your left and right hands. In that case, you might just like this nifty design from [Modern Hobbyist].
The first thing you’ll note is the split design, which allows each half of the keyboard to be placed optimally for each arm’s comfort. They’re linked with a cable, which allows the STM32 microcontroller to read the keys on both sides and then spit out the right stuff upstream over its USB-C connection. The microcontroller is also in charge of running the per-key LED lighting and the LCD screens on each half.
The board owes its sleek and slim design at least in part to using Kailh Choc low-profile switches. They plug in to hotswap compatible sockets so the switches can easily be changed if desired. Keycaps are blank off-the-shelf parts because this is a keyboard for those who aren’t afraid to spend the time establishing the right muscle memory. It might take some adaptation if you’re not used to the staggered columnar layout. However, the LCD screens can display a keymap if you need a little help now and then.
We’ve seen a lot of great split keyboards over the years, including one amusing design made by hacking an existing keyboard in half with a saw.
I think its very nice and its of good build quality, but what makes it cyberpunk? its never mentioned on the website or video… cause the thumbnail yused a font slightly similar to the video game?
The maker of the keyboard never described it as Cyberpunk, the author of this article did.
And like… the thing is a cool custom data input device. He designed everything from the key locations to the PCB and printed plates.
These days cyberpunk means anything angular, rgb capable, and even remotely related to tech
Yeah, I wonder if the Cybertruck is considered cyberpunk 🤔
Every time I see exposed solder joints on modules where hands go I cringe, even sliding on the plastics of upholstery in dry weather can zap things yet alone a walk across the carpet. Stuff like this should be out of sight shielded behind grounded metal.
theres about 50 years of mitigation that can handle it, whether the op did it or not is up to question
Did the Dream turn into a nightmare? I have nothing but contempt for these freakish arrangements that look like a cherry’s been thrown in a microwave and it’s emerged somehow more egonomic / productive.
These things are a mess and I don’t know why HaD pays so much attention.
These “freakish arrangements” correspond to the locations of the fingers of human beings. The real freakish arrangement is several rows of left slanted columns suiting no fingers and no hands.
Excellent project, I might consider making one for myself. Thank you for sharing : – ]
I’ve used the ergonomic keyboards before, and learning how to use one is no more challenging than switching from dvorak to qwerty. Actually, it is LESS challenging, just you have to get used to never crossing the two, ie, with the flat brick keyboard sometimes your right hand reaches over to type some characters on the left side and vice versa. Does using one really saves you from the carpal tunnel? I suppose so (though, I’d argue that having a mouse that’s ergonomic is probably more important – ideally you want to keep your right/left/mouse-using hand to be slightly turned at all times; also, trackball is a better solution – the one that has the elevated trackball, not the 1980s flat brick kind).
BTW, love the idea of the tiny screens showing the mapping. Budget solution, and it is just right.
(if I am to go down that rabbit hole, I’d like for every key-top to be its own tiny OLED screen – and I recall in the early 2000 there were such keyboards, sold for exorbitant prices, obviously, but the idea was that you map your keyboard to anything you want it to be).