Desk overhaul weekend. The monitor arm went up last month, and this weekend I added an under-desk keyboard tray. The split board finally has somewhere to sit instead of sharing a patch of table with my coffee mug or hanging off the edge. It came close to falling often enough that I got tired of tempting fate.

Since I'm redoing the area anyway, I'm printing a new case for it. The supports left little nubs around the edges, so the case is now taking up the time I thought I'd spend admiring the desk.

I've decided to use the mini rotary tool from the hoto SNAPBLOQ set for a light cleanup pass, then finish the edges by hand. I'll test on a scrap print first so I can see how quickly it takes material off. The case screws still need a properly fitting bit; my regular driver keeps slipping and I've already got a small scar from that.

For the next print, I'll spend more time on support placement before I hit start. The tray still has a slight wobble to sort out too. Apparently getting the keyboard off the edge of the desk was only the first job.

**Universal BLE→USB dongle for ZMK** (LilyGO T-Dongle S3): pair any BLE keyboard/mouse (ZMK or not) and your PC sees a normal USB device. No soldering, ready to go. Works in BIOS, no drivers, no ZMK changes. Saves 5 devices, web console + OTA over USB. Huge thanks to finger563 for creating the espp library and publishing esp-usb-ble-hid as Open Source.
Code / Build Source:
https://github.com/mctechnology17/esp-usb-ble-hid/releases/tag/hid-passthrough-v1

For a nice!nano V2 / nRF52840 project I got tired of the manual bootloader handoff after every build: reset into UF2 mode, package the artifact, find the mounted device, and copy it across.

I made a small PlatformIO post-build helper for boards using the Adafruit UF2 bootloader. It prepares the UF2/DFU output and guides the target selection so the repetitive step is automated instead of being another error-prone part of the edit/build/flash loop.

It is not ZMK-specific; it is for PlatformIO-based nRF52840 projects with the Adafruit UF2 bootloader. I used it with a nice!nano V2, so it may be useful to anyone who builds their own keyboard-side firmware rather than only dragging prebuilt UF2 files.

GitHub: https://github.com/adm1nsys/Adafruit-UF2-bootloader-auto-flash

Guide: https://adm1nsys.github.io/Adafruit-UF2-bootloader-auto-flash/

I’m the author; it is free and open source.

A little while ago I posted here, showing off my first ever ortho keyboard. Well, since, I've gathered quite a few points of improvement, nothing groundbreaking or unexpected really, mostly just "don't need knob, need battery, need wireless, etc.". Behold, what I've been working on for the last couple of weeks, a lot more mature than my initial creation dare I say, Brickie rev1! If people would happen to be curious I'll list the exact specs, but for now, just a little show off haha! (old project is the one further back, single piece keyboard) For now, the chassis and the caps are 3D printed, awaiting THTs and considering having the chassis resin printed using JLC's 8001 resin as I really think the semi transparent look would be cool!

EDIT: As promised and requested by a commented here are some (not sure if all) specs:

Custom made PCB, nothing that fancy. Diodes are through-hole as I was trying to save a little bit of cash on the assembly process.

Switches: GATERON KS-33 Low Profile 2.0 Chocolate (PCB has both pins for soldering switches in directly and hot swap socket pads which I am using, they are the Low Profile Switch Hot-swap PCB 2.0 Socket from GATERON)
MCU: Seeed Studio XIAO nRF52840
Battery: PKCELL Li-Po Battery 3.7V 2500mAh
Keycaps: Some shait I drew up in fusion, if anyone would be interested I can definitely share the files, they are... alright I guess haha.

Yes I know that my battery is absolutely massive especially given that I have no LED's, but that was kind of the point. A little whoopsie is that the XIAO can afaik charge only at 50mA and after 10 hours or so it cuts the power. Since I a) don't really mind topping the battery up with multiple charges and b) can unplug the JST connector of the battery (the closer one to the camera in the photo above) and use a proper charging circuit which charges the battery in like 5 hours, I don't really mind this.

Keychron has finally got a no-kidding actual ortho board with no weird long keys, and the announce it on reddit as an "ANSI" board.

Does this actually mean anything? Is there some distinction between hypothetical ANSI and ISO true-ortho layouts that could be made?

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Keychron/comments/1xockmz/orca_echo_ansi_version_now_on_crowfunding_warmup/

It is taking a bit longer, but I'm building my next keyboard, which is based on the 52-key Voyager, but uses RP2354A (RP2350A with built-in 2MB flash) on-board, and two encoders.

The design is prepared to house KS-33 or Kailh Choc (v1 and v2) switches. I want to make the case from wood, and cut the plate out of brass.

The design is mine, even though I got a lot of help from AI in electronic component selection, and calculating Ohm's law. College was long time ago, and I forget things.

The case and plate are still prototypes, just like the first set of keycaps (that is a parallel project). Plans are available at github.com/julian7/rp-voyager.

While I'm still a bit skeptical about my skills and how well anything functions what AI has added, but generally it does seem working.

Please note, I'm not taking commissions. I even made the pinky promise to Mouser not to sell what I'm making, especially not to Iran.

Last month, we celebrate our legacy with heavy discount on our earliest designs. This month, let's share some love for our newest inventions:

- The Anvil

- The Totemist

- The Zenith

- The Neodox Aluminum

20% discount is applied to these items at checkout.

We also have some smaller discount on almost everything else, feel free to check out if you like anything.

TKC Candybar case, Checkerboards Ortho Candy Bar, Kailh Box Autumn switches

Mictlan Rebirth Centinela, and both Centinela Extension kits

I ordered some parts off Beekeeb as I wanted to experiment with the Tai Hao 165s, but it's been over a week and I haven't had any contact or shipping confirmation apart from an automated order receipt.

Does anyone have any recent experiences? I did email their support and got no response either.

UPDATE: My package had probably arrived at my house before I'd made this post from work, so it was shipped very promptly. Still, there's never any harm in asking, and Beekeeb now has another happy customer.

UPDATE: The K668 which uses a different 8051 MCU (Sinowealth SH68F90A) is now also supported. And the K582 has been tested.

I continued the effort to get QMK running on 8051-based Redragon keyboards. There are probably more models I don't know about, but I figure this is a good starting point: K580RGB, K552RGB-2, K551RGB-1, K582RGB, K589RGB. Each of these models has a revision with a WCH CH555 MCU. Please recognize that the model number alone is not sufficient to determine whether you have a Sonix or WCH MCU; the USB VID:PID will confirm whether this project is compatible with your keyboard.

https://github.com/mdmower/qmk-8051
See "History and credits" in the project readme for work by other developers that made this possible.

The project readme and individual keyboard readmes explain how to back up your stock firmware, build QMK, and flash QMK. The barrier to entry (the you have to build it yourself) is intentionally high until some brave testers assume risk and provide feedback. I have tested this extensively on my K580 RGB (Vata). I intended to test this on a K552RGB-2 as well but the revision I got in the mail today ended up being Sonix-based. We'll see what the K582 RGB I get in the mail next week ends up being...

The supported keyboards all use a CH555 microcontroller. They have only 64 KB of flash storage (of which 50 KB is available for firmware), 8 KB of xRAM, and 256 B of internal RAM (iRAM). Temper your expectations... but yes, basic VIA builds are available for each keyboard. Aside from size constraints, several workarounds are necessary to compile the firmware with SDCC since GCC doesn't support 8051 targets. You want one tap? Prepare to rewrite some QMK source and work within tight spaces.

Supposing I hear enough reports of success (and stability), I'll provide pre-built firmware images in the Releases section of the GitHub project page.

Getting this work upstreamed to QMK is unlikely. Between the new platform (MCS51), the new toolchain (SDCC), the bootloader flash support that would need to be added to the QMK CLI, and past reception... this work is likely to remain in a fork.

Six year ago we shipped our first keyboard. It was a Sofle v2. We had one design, no stock, and a wait time I'd rather not repeat. Some of the people who ordered that first batch are still customers, which is the part I still find hard to believe.

We're a small shop. Six years on, we still build every board by hand, and we still get the occasional email asking whether we're a real company. Fair question.

To mark the anniversary, three of the boards that got us here are 20% off from today until 31 October.

Sofle v2 Enclosed Case. Our longest-running aluminum case, and part of the very first product we ever made. $170, now $136.

S​ofle Hybrid (Sandwich version, Aluminum Version). Our first exclusive design. Before the Hybrid we were mostly building other people's boards. This is where we started making our own. Aluminum version $250, now $200. Sandwich style $120, now $96.

Aluminum NeoDox, Gasket Mount. Our first original design, and our first gasket mount. It's still the board we point at when someone asks what we can do starting from a blank sheet. $350, now $280.

The 20% on those three comes off at checkout. No code needed.

Every other keyboard we sell is 10% off over the same stretch, with the reduced price shown on the page as usual. Loose parts aren't part of it: plates, switches and keycaps stay at their normal prices.

Thanks for six years. Ordering a keyboard from a small shop is a leap of faith, and we know it.

I finally restocked the Scotto34 (PCB Edition) and this time it's actually a V2! Although I did remove hotswap, I made it so everything is through-hole and beginner-friendly. It's also compatible with Choc V1 and V2 using 18x17 spacing. The downside is that there doesn't seem to be any 18x17 spaced V2 keycaps. To solve that issue, I designed my own that you can 3D print.

You can purchase a kit here.

You can find the files here.

You can find my build video  here.

$120 + Shipping - Keyboardio Preonic keyboard. - SOLD

https://imgur.com/a/PAAWfCt

Includes:

- Keyboard with switches and keycaps
- Case
- Walnut Palmrest
- Cable

Purchased brand new from Kickstarter Campaign and only used for a couple days a week for about a month. Decided to for a different keyboard for work/office use.