类型: IC
作者: darryldh
发布时间: 2020-11-21
12:00:21
更新时间: 2020-12-31 08:42:11
原链接:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=109744.0
Hello fellow Geeks and Geekettes,
Here for your
consideration is my personal Covid lockdown project that I
have been working on for around 8 months.
I call it the
Corne-ish Zen.
It has been (obviously) inspired by @Foostans awesome
Corne (CRKB) keyboard, but with a bunch of twists added to
make it unique.
Project goals:
The goals of this project are to provide an
affordable, but premium split keyboard, and to lower the
barriers-of-entry by offering a fully assembled, and fully
operational (minus switches and keycaps) keyboard.
No
soldering, no firmware hacking (unless you want to) and no
tools. Just add your favorite choc switches and keycaps, and
start typing.
Features/Details:
I
have spent a lot of time designing, re-designing (and even
re-re-designing) this keyboard in an attempt to create
something that has all the features I wanted, in a small,
low package.
Here are some of the special things about
this keyboard that might be of interest:
- Works exclusively with Kailh Choc v1 (pg1350) switches.
- Choc key spacing. This is perfect for the awesome upcoming MBK Legend keycaps. (nice keyboard btw)
- Pre-installed hotswap sockets FTW!
- Fully assembled PCBs
- Ships with ZMK firmware pre-installed
- Externally available power and reset switches
- The PCBs feature snap-able pinky rows to allow 5x3 layouts for those who want that
- Tiny upward facing status LED indicators for charging status and bootloader status
- USB C port with ESD protection on data and power lines
- Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.0 module with CE, FCC, and RoHS Certifications. This module uses the Nordic NRF52840 SOC which has a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 CPU on board running at 64MHz
- 1.05 E-paper screen on each half. The display driver and power components are built into the main PCB allowing a super thin case
- 180mAh lithium polymer batteries built in. To use the largest possible battery, while keeping the case profile low, I cut a hole through the PCB to allow the battery to be sandwiched between the top and bottom plates, rather than between the PCB and either of the plates. Early estimates for battery life are around 3 weeks for the left hand, and about 3 months for the right depending on usage
- Speaking of charging, the keyboard has a built-in charger that that functions automatically when the USB cable is plugged in. The keyboard works over USB while the battery is charging
- SW debug/programming pads are positioned on the top of the PCB to allow flashing and debugging if needed/desired
- Dedicated battery management IC built in. This allow you to accurately monitory the status and performance of the batteries, and display that info on the e-ink screens
- Please Note:*
- This keyboard will NOT accept MX switches or keycaps. Low profile is a primary goal for this keyboard, and MX switches do not fit into that category.
- This case will NOT fit existing Corne/CRKBD/Heliodox keyboards. The key spacing and entire shape is different.
About Bluetooth Certifications:
The
Bluetooth certifications are an important part of this
package. By being fully certified, you can be assured that
this keyboard will not negatively affect other devices
around you, and that it stays within the Bluetooth
frequencies it’s designed for. It is a costly (and
mandatory) process to have all Bluetooth devices certified,
and by using a module that contains its own antenna, and is
pre-certified from the manufacturer, we get the best of both
worlds
a well designed antenna and no additional
certifications required.
About ZMK:
Some may wonder why choose ZMK over other available
firmwares? The fact is, ZMK has been built from the ground
up as a wireless first firmware. It is very new, but has a
lot of energy currently being put into its development. For
a current list of features, and a comparison to other
firmwares, please see this page:
https://zmkfirmware.dev/docs/
To get involved with ZMK or to learn more, join us on
their friendly
ZMK Discord server
About battery life:
You may be
wondering why there is a discrepancy between the battery
life of the right and left halves. This is due to what each
half does, functionality wise. In ZMK, the left half is
referred to as the Central half, that is it is central
between the host (your computer) and the right half of the
keyboard. The Central half does all the communication to the
host, and accepts all the keypresses from the right half and
translates those to the host. The right half is referred to
as the peripheral half. Its only function is to send its
keypresses to the Central half. Because of these
functionality differences, the Central half consumes more
energy than the peripheral half, and hence uses up available
battery capacity faster.
Case options:
To make the Corne-ish Zen more affordable, have
decided to open source the case designs and offer the PCBs
separately for purchase. This will allow folks to ether
print their own cases, or have a local printer print a set
for them. It will also allow people with the means, to
design their own case for this PCB.
The premium case
option will be in two pieces. The top will be anodized
aluminum, CNC machined out of a solid billet of 6061 stock.
The base will be custom injection molded smoke grey acrylic.
The standard colors available for anodizing are black, red,
silver, grey, gold and rose gold. The GB will likely consist
of the two most popular colors from the IC, plus black.
Custom colors are a possibility, for a small fee, but there
would have to be enough support for the colors chosen.
Please note about 5x3 option: those who opt for 5x3 cases will not get the acrylic
base. The molds are too costly to produce both styles. I
will provide a 3d printed base, or you can opt to print one
yourself.
Photos/Renders:
Colors
are estimations, and will be determined by this IC
Pricing: (Estimated. May change
slightly still)
PCBs (pair): $125
-
Fully assembled with all components and hot swap sockets
PCB functionality tested
Firmware pre-loaded and tested
Includes battery and e-paper screen
Complete (6x3): $320
-
All of the above plus CNC aluminum case and acrylic base, preassembled
Complete (5x3): $280
Same as 6x3, but without the pinky row
-
Acrylic base will be substituted with a black PLA 3D printed base
Prices exclude shipping and any duty/taxes your respective governments decide to charge. -
Current Status:*
-
[Nov 14] - Prototype PCBs are in hand and are currently being tested.
[Nov 21] - IC released
-
Case prototypes are ordered and will be manufactured shortly. GB will not happen until I have them in-hand and am happy with the quality/fit
Firmware development has started
-
Group Buy info*:
The Group Buy will be limited to 100 units for this run. I am just one guy, and want to ensure success for everyone. The only way I can see pulling that off is by having a manageable number in the first run. If everything goes well, and if demand is there, I can do a second run relatively quickly.
As I mentioned earlier the GB will not happen until I am happy with the quality of production from the suppliers.
At any rate, please fill out my IC form here:
INTEREST CHECK FORM
To get all the details, and ask me questions, join me
on Discord to discuss in real time:
LOW PROFILE KEYBOARDS DISCORD
Imgur photo gallery
Thanks for taking the time to read my IC, have a
great day!
-Darryl
——– UPDATE - DEC 22 ——–
- Posted some photos of potential travel case options for the group buy: https://imgur.com/gallery/2tKSDhz
- The prototype aluminum cases came in and are awesome. Check out the photos: https://imgur.com/gallery/FwqacMd
- The colour choices from the IC form round out like this: /#1 Black (125), /#2 Grey (95), /#3 Blue (55), /#4 Silver (40), /#5 Rose Gold (39), /#6 Green (36), /#7 Red (35), /#8 Purple (30). There will likely be another IC form to select from this list. I have posted renders of the stock colours offered by the manufacturer here: https://imgur.com/gallery/IwyEp2K
- Another PCB prototype will be ordered this week to test a couple of small, but important fit and functionality issues.
- Roughly estimate that the GB will be held in late January.
——– UPDATE - DEC 31 ——–
NEW IC FORM is
live… check it out
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1OsIzEMngLTNz_R_sPut_5ULyly8QDLN-HRy0zSLYzjKzng/viewform