GamePy - Home Made HotSwappable TLK keyboard with Home Made PCB | Sound Test and comparison

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  • čas přidán 3. 05. 2024
  • Here is the completely homemade GamePy, my second mechanical keyboard!
    It is a TKL with a rotary encoder for volume (press would mute), and a small OLED display that shows off the keyboard name with a random catch phrase below, and some helpful information like the mode in which the Keyboard is running (Mac/Windows) and CAPS lock status. Each of the 87 PBT keycaps has a Gateron Pro Yellow underneath (next version of Milky Yellows and factory lubed).
    What we have here is a sandwich design with just 1 layer of plain 4mm acrylic plastic - the switch layer and the PCB. (I have to cover the bottom with another layer of acrylic soon).
    This keyboard is powered by the KMK Firmware, which runs on top of CircuitPython on my Raspberry Pi Pico. CircuitPython and KMK makes it really easy to program; The RPI Pico appears as a USB storage device on the computer and we just have to edit a couple of Python files inside. In GamePy, I have programmed this as a separate mode (service mode) that the user can invoke by pressing the rotary encoder when plugging in. If the keyboard is connected normally, it appears just as a normal HID to the computer. Though the Pi has more pins compared to the more common Pro Mini, I had to do some hacks on the pin side to accommodate all the stuff in GamePy.
    I have programmed the keycodes for both Windows and Mac. I can change the keyboard mode by pressing either the Windows button (for windows) or the command button (for Mac) when plugging in the keyboard; This sets the mode permanently until the we change it again. For now, I haven’t programmed in any complicated Macros or anything; We just have some media buttons... Suggestions welcome here!
    Compared to my last keyboard, the SkyPie, this has a home-made PCB instead of being hand-wired. This made sure that I didn't have to spend so much time near solder fumes. I had to painstakingly and manually place and solder hotswap sockets directly on top the board and also had to spend a lot of time designing the PCB in, believe it or not, Adobe photoshop. It was amazing fun. Maybe with my next build, I would explore other layouts and even better workflows, like learning and using KiKad for the designs.
    P.S. There is probably a long list of mods to do when it comes to the sound of the keyboard, starting with probably having rubber pads at the bottom, or a desk pad underneath the keyboard.
    P.S.S. This keyboard turned out much pleasantly more thockier than I expected. That may be due to the KeyCaps...
    -Typed on GamePy and SkyPie

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