One of the things the Planck Rev 6 PCB made me realize is how important hotswap is for me personally. First, I have _dozens_ of interesting mechanical keyboard kits which are un-built because I simply don't have the convenient time & place to set up my soldering equipment. Second, some of the kits I've managed to build have bricked on me due to unexplained microcontroller problems, and while I have an expensive desoldering gun, it's still a PITA to use/maintain/clean, so hot-swap sockets solve that switch recoverey problem in a very convenient way. Lastly, of course, the ability to change switches on a whim is nice on it's own.<p>This M60 keyboard builds on all of that by providing a socketed microcontroller, so even if it isn't the layout I prefer, I'll still look into buying one for the sole sake of supporting this work. Open source design & easy-to-program QMK-ish firmware are also huge plusses.<p>I also love the fact that pictured are the new Kailh Silent Pink switches. I got a small amount a couple weeks ago and want to get more, but they've sold out at US distributors. If the M60 is ever offered as a "full kit" then I hope those switches are an option.
I would love to see more enthusiast scissor-switch keyboards. I learned to type on a mechanical keyboard, and I've tried all sorts of modern mechanical keyboards over the years. But I feel like laptop-style scissor switch keyboards are more precise and comfortable. Personally, I make more typing errors on a mechanical keyboard. My current favorite keyboard is an HP Wireless Elite V2.
This could be amazing. I worked 4 years at Massdrop (now Drop) and used probably close to 30 keyboards. I always wanted one that I could script instead of do a Windows -based rigmarole to flash the layers. If this comes in at or below a $300 price point I will definitely order one.
I don’t suppose there is a way for the SoC to run something besides Python? I appreciate the flexibility of a scripting language and would love to try one of these out, but I feel like a hardware device should have a RTOS (or no OS) and a language that doesn’t have a GC. Can you imagine having jitter/latency randomly introduced from the Python layer?
Something I've wanted for a while is an option to have two different physical keyboards connected to the one machine, with different keymaps. In my particular case, most of the time I want to type in English, but I also sometimes wish to type in Hebrew. I find typing on my keyboard with English keycaps very clunky, especially when trying to add vowel pointing to letters.<p>There are solutions out there, but they all amount to hacks; what I think I really want is for the second keyboard to not have a keymap at all, but instead to transmit unicode code points, but there isn't a standard way to do that.<p>Anyway, this project looks cool: I'd really like to buy a hackable keyboard that lets me work on customisation without having to deal with everything else (especially building it from components.)
I've been looking for an "out of the box" MacOS-friendly mechanical keyboard for a while now. So far, the recent Keychron keyboards seems to be the only real contender, and unfortunately from all reports they are just to tall and cause wrist pain.<p>This seems like it would be a great alternative where you could have a Mac configuration - with media keys - mapped pretty easily with a custom keycap set (unless I'm misunderstanding?).
I wonder how all these <i>maker</i> sellers get along with Bluetooth SiG certification.<p>Edit: I mean, the product is presented very well. There was a clear investment in time and money. And because of that, this question was the first thing that came to my mind.
A split space-bar version could make it a lot more versatile, without a lot of drawbacks, imho.
You could use the 2 halves as layer keys when held or one as space, the other as backspace, or if one half is pressed, then the other half could mean backspace or enter.<p>There is also the SpaceFn layout, which works with just one space, I know:
<a href="https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51069.0" rel="nofollow">https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51069.0</a><p>but it feels like it could be a lot better with split spaces.
I would be interested to know what are the real advantages of using Python, instead of the well-established QMK, and what is the purpose of having a M.2 bay (unless that's where the Bluetooth module plugs in).<p>The PCB looks cool though, and BLE 5.0 is relatively uncommon nowadays (most keyboards rely on older, thus cheaper, Bluetooth enabled SoCs), but apart from that, I see little appeal for someone already invested in building mechanical keyboards.
What's the point of hand-wiring?<p>"The Quality Goes In before the Name Goes On. From Zenith, the last TV manufacturer to adopt printed circuits.[1] Not a successful business strategy.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZ1L8xA_nU&t=32" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZ1L8xA_nU&t=32</a>
Is there an off the shelf MicroPython board that can be used to make something like this using wired switches in a Dactyl / Manuform style keyboard. I see a lot of bespoke keyboard boards using socket style microcontrollers as well.