Illustrated Kristina with an IBM Model M keyboard floating between her hands.

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Elegant Macro Pad

November 24, 2025 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

Some people are not merely satisfied with functionality, or even just good looks. These persnickety snoots (I am one of them) seek something elegant, a true marriage of form and function.

Should such a person be in the market for a macro pad (or ‘macropad’ if you prefer), that snoot should look no further than [YANG SHU]’s 8-key programmable stream deck-like device.

The main goal here was the perfect fusion of display and feel. I’m not sure that an FDM-printed, DIY macro pad can look any better than this one does. But looks are only half the story, of course. There’s also feel, and of course, functionality.

Yes those are (hot-swappable) mechanical key switches, and they are powered by an ESP32-S2. Drawn on the 3.5″ LCD are icons and text for each switch, which of course can be easily changed in the config app.

There’s a three-direction tact switch that’s used to switch between layout profiles, and I’m sure that even this is satisfying on the feel front. Does it get better than this? Besides maybe printing it in black. I ask Hackaday.

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Cipher-Capable Typewriter

November 17, 2025 by Kristina Panos 23 Comments

I must confess that my mouth froze in an O when I saw [Jeff]’s Typeframe PX-88 Portable Computing System, and I continue to stare in slack-jawed wonder as I find the words to share it with you. Let me give it a shot.

[Jeff] tells us that he designed Typeframe for his spouse to use as a writer deck. That’s good spousing, if you ask me. Amazingly, this is [Jeff]’s first project of this type and scope, and somehow it’s an elegant, yet easy build that’s quite well documented to boot. Whatever Typeframe’s design may borrow, it seems to give back in spades.

The Typeframe PX-88 Portable Computing System. — Image by [Jeff] via Typeframe.net

Use Typeframe for what you will — cyberdeck, writer deck, travel PC — this baby can handle whatever you throw at it. And of course, it’s open source from front to back.

This Raspberry Pi 4B-based productivity machine has all sorts of neat features. The touch screen flips upward at an angle, so you don’t have to hunch over it or carry a mouse around. Want to sit back a bit while you work? The aesthetically spot-on keyboard is detachable. Yeah.

If that’s not enough to get you interested, Typeframe is designed for simple construction with minimal soldering, and the sliding panels make maintenance a breeze.

A little more about that keyboard — this is Keebin’, after all. It’s an MK Point 65, which boasts hot-swap sockets under those DSA Dolch keycaps. See? Minimal soldering. In fact, the only things you have to solder to make the Typeframe your own are the power switch and the status light. Incredible.

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Gaming Typewriter

June 17, 2025 by Kristina Panos 3 Comments

Can you teach an old typewriter new tricks? You can, at least if you’re [maniek-86]. And a word to all you typewriter fanatics out there — this Optima SP 26 was beyond repair, lacking several internal parts.

A sleek typewriter with a monitor and a mouse. — Image by [maniek-86] via reddit

But the fully available keyboard was a great start for a gaming typewriter. So [maniek-86] crammed in some parts that were just laying around unused, starting with a micro-ATX motherboard.

But let’s talk about the keyboard. It has a standard matrix, which [maniek-86] hooked up to an Arduino Lenoardo. Although the keyboard has a Polish layout, [maniek-86] remapped it to English-US layout.

As you’ll see in the photos of the internals, this whole operation required careful Tetris-ing of the components to avoid overheating and ensure the cover could go back on.

The graphics were a bit of a challenge, since the motherboard had no PCI-E x16 slot. To address this, [maniek-86] used a riser cable, probably connected to a PCI-E x1 slot with an adapter, in order to use an NVIDIA GT 635 GPU. It can’t run AAA games at 4k, but you can bet that it’ll play Minecraft, Fortnite, or Dota 2 just fine.

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The H.R. Giger Keyboard

June 2, 2025 by Kristina Panos 19 Comments

I had to bust out Brain Salad Surgery to write this one, folks. It was that, or put on some Ministry or something. Just look at all the industrial-ness dripping from [heinn_dev]’s creation.

An incredibly industrial-looking split keyboard. Like, almost H.R. Geiger-esque. — Image by [heinn_dev] via reddit

Apparently [heinn_dev] wasn’t completely satisfied with his Chocofi case, and instead of requesting a full refund, just went ahead and made a prettier one. It took a lot of printing and even more sanding, but here we are. And it looks fantastic.

The only downside, if you can call it one, is that adjusting the tenting is a slow operatiJKon. But then again that’s one of those things that you usually set and forget.

Oh, and those keycaps are printed, too. As one commenter said, those homing nipples look painful, but I think it’s part of the charm. I just hope that hand grime doesn’t end up clogging the holes under the palm area. Clean your keyboards, people. Continue reading “Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The H.R. Giger Keyboard” →

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Wafer-Thin Keyboard

May 19, 2025 by Kristina Panos 8 Comments

The mikecinq, an incredibly slim keyboard. — Image by [dynam1keNL] via reddit

But sir! I can’t believe I missed [dynam1keNL]’s initial flat offering from about a year ago, the mikefive, which came about when he and some friends ordered switches directly from Kailh and Kailh were like, do you want to try these even lower-profile PG1316 laptop switches? It’s called the mikefive because it’s 5 mm thick.

That’s okay, though, because now you’re caught up and I can talk about his latest keyboard, the mikecinq. The inspiration for this one includes the aesthetics of Le Chiffre and the slimness of Le Oeuf. As you’ll see in the gallery, the top is ever-so-slightly slanted downward from the top.

You can see it really well in the second picture — the top row is flush with the case, and the keys gradually get taller toward the thumb clusters. All [dynam1keNL] really had to do was 3D model the new case and screw in the PCB from his daily driver mikefive.

[dynam1keNL] ultimately found it nice and comfy, especially for the thumbs, but decided to take it one step further and designed a new switch footprint. Why? The PG1316s are surface-mount with contacts below the switch, so you really need a hotplate or oven to mount them.

So in order to deal with this, he made a dedicated mikecinq PCB with big cutouts with castellated holes beneath each switch. Now, the switch contacts are accessible from underneath and can be soldered with an iron.

You may have noticed that the mikefive production files are not available on GitHub — that’s because it was recently licensed and will be available soon. But if you want production files for the mikecinq, let him know in the comments.

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The MingKwai Typewriter

May 12, 2025 by Kristina Panos 4 Comments

Sometimes, a little goes a long way. I believe that’s the case with this tiny media control bar from [likeablob] that uses an ESP32-C3 Super Mini.

An in-line media control bar with four purple-capped key switch buttons and a knob. — Image by [likeablob] via Hackaday.IO

From left to right you’ve got a meta key that allows double functions for all the other keys. The base functions are play/pause, previous track, and next track while the knob handles volume.

And because it uses this Wi-Fi-enabled microcontroller, it can seamlessly integrate with Home Assistant via ESPHome.

What else is under the hood? Four low-profile Cherry MX Browns and a rotary encoder underneath that nicely-printed knob.

If you want to build one of these for yourself, all the files are available on GitHub including the customizable enclosure which [likeablob] designed with OpenSCAD. Continue reading “Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The MingKwai Typewriter” →

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Bobblehead

May 5, 2025 by Kristina Panos 5 Comments

No, see, it’s what’s inside that counts. Believe it or not, [nobutternoparm] retrofitted this innocent, adorable little tikes® so-called “Kidboard” rubber-dome keyboard into a mechanical marvel. Yeah! No, it wasn’t exactly pure, unadulterated fun, nor was it easy to do. But then again nothing worth doing ever is.

A Little Tikes keyboard, retrofitted with a custom mechanical keyboard. — Image by [nobutternoparm] via reddit

For one thing, the PCB ended up being a bit too wide, so the bottom half of the case is a bit mangled. But that’s okay! Onward and upward.

Next problem: a real PCB and mechanical switches (Gateron Baby Kangaroos) are a lot taller than the previous arrangement. This required spacers, a mounting plate, and longer screws to hold it all together. Now imagine lining all that up and trying to keep it that way during assembly.

And then there’s the keycaps. Guess what? They’re non-standard because they’re for rubber domes. So this meant more adapters and spacers. You’ll see in the gallery.

So we know it looks great, but how does it type? Well… [nobutternoparm] gives the feel a 4/10. The keycaps now have too many points of contact, so they bind up and have to be mashed down. But it’s going to be a great conversation piece.

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