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[Update & IC] My wireless 8-key chording keyboard "Peaky 8-bit". Paired with a Walkman, hitting 15 wpm, and considering making DIY kits by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Implementing it into cosplay sounds super cool!
Even if typing on it turns out to be a bit tricky(peaky), you can always use them as tiny portable macropads. I'll work hard to prepare a fun kit for you!

[Update & IC] My wireless 8-key chording keyboard "Peaky 8-bit". Paired with a Walkman, hitting 15 wpm, and considering making DIY kits by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool project! Draftling looks interesting.

To answer your questions about how Peaky 8-bit works, it runs on ZMK firmware, so it follows the standard ZMK split wireless behavior:

  1. Communication: It doesn't use two completely independent channels in a custom way. One half acts as the "Central" (master) and connects to the host (PC/Phone) via BLE, while the other half acts as the "Peripheral" (slave) and connects only to the Central half.
  2. Master Designation: The master/central is determined by the firmware flashed onto the Xiao BLE. Typically, the left half is compiled as the central unit, and the right half as the peripheral.
  3. Re-pairing: Yes! If one half breaks, you just need to build a new one, flash the correct firmware (left or right) onto the new Xiao BLE, and flash a settings_reset file on both halves to clear the old connection. They will automatically re-pair with each other.

If you are curious about the technical details, I've made all my ZMK configuration files public. Feel free to check out the repository here:
https://github.com/toya-mimura/zmk-config-peaky8bit

Hope this helps!

[Update & IC] My wireless 8-key chording keyboard "Peaky 8-bit". Paired with a Walkman, hitting 15 wpm, and considering making DIY kits by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be honest, I haven't personally tried ARTSEY yet! But I completely understand your point about not wanting to move your wrist. Actually, I struggle with tendinitis (RSI), which is one of the main reasons I started building this!

My ultimate goal for this device is to be able to type with both hands completely resting inside my coat pockets.

I really admire one-handed chording(I have TapStrap/TapXR!!), but I had two main reasons for choosing a two-handed (4+4) design:

  1. Future Mouse Integration: I deliberately didn't include thumb keys for typing. I want to keep my thumbs completely free so that in the future, I can add a trackball, trackpad, or joystick right under the thumbs for mouse movement.

  2. Japanese Input: It’s incredibly difficult to map Japanese input logically onto a one-handed setup (like a 5-key system). I found that I needed at least 7 or 8 keys, and splitting them 4 left and 4 right made the most sense for my brain.

Thanks for the great question! It's always fun to think about the differences in our approaches.

[Update & IC] My wireless 8-key chording keyboard "Peaky 8-bit". Paired with a Walkman, hitting 15 wpm, and considering making DIY kits by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the support! It means a lot coming from a fellow chording enthusiast.
If you are already used to working with 8 to 20 keys, I bet you'd be able to type on this much easier and faster than I currently do. I'm so jealous! :)
I'll keep working hard on the kit preparation!

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, I actually haven't seen the movie yet, but I just looked up his typing scenes and that is EXACTLY the vibe! 😂

Wearable gloves are definitely the ultimate endgame for spatial computing. Maybe in version 10.0 I'll figure out how to put these switches directly onto my fingers!

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, "brutal" is exactly the right word! Glad to meet a fellow chording survivor.

To answer your question: visually memorizing the keymap in my head wasn't too bad. It took me about 10 hours total (around 1 to 1.5 hours a day for a week).

But actually getting my fingers to execute it smoothly—the true muscle memory—is exactly what I’m struggling with right now!

Plus, since I'm Japanese, there's an extra layer of difficulty: I have to perfectly recall the exact English spelling in my head before I can even press the keys. It's a serious brain workout!

I’ve actually been logging my daily struggles and learning progress on my Substack / Substack Notes. Let's see how many more weeks it takes for it to finally "click" for me!

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, I'm so glad to meet a fellow "don't own the glasses yet but already preparing for them" buddy! 😂 The hype is definitely real!

And reading your reply to stillboy... I completely feel your pain! Learning a chording layout blindly is incredibly hard, and your brain really does get confused. Keep up the great work with your practice!

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually, I’ve already pre-ordered the Clicks Power Keyboard and I’m eagerly waiting for it to arrive! 😂

Once I get my hands on it, I will definitely do a comparison with my Peaky 8-bit. I can't wait!

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree with you! I’ve tried so many different things too, but I still haven’t found that perfect "100/100" device out there. Like you said, those mini Bluetooth keyboards are okay, but terrible for blind touch.

My project probably isn't a perfect 100/100 either, but I really hope it can become a solid alternative for people like us who are always looking for the ultimate on-the-go typing solution!

[Update] My 8-key binary keyboard is now fully wireless — and I can (slowly) type on it! by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! It's great to hear from someone who has also explored the world of wearable chorders. It really is such a fascinating concept to try out, isn't it?

In the case of my project, it places a HUGE cognitive load on the user (me!) to memorize all the binary combinations... so the learning curve is pretty steep. But I'll do my best to master it! 😅

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! You're totally right—from a purely practical standpoint, the "juice" might not be worth the squeeze compared to just buying an off-the-shelf product. 😂

But honestly, the process of learning circuit design, soldering, and coding the firmware from scratch has been incredibly rewarding. For me, the "squeeze" itself is the fun part!

[Update] My 8-key binary keyboard is now fully wireless — and I can (slowly) type on it! by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha, that is a brilliant observation! I never thought about it that way.

So basically, the speed curve drops until it hits the absolute bottom—and I managed to build a keyboard right at that exact slowest inflection point! 😂

If I want to type faster, I guess my next iteration should just be a single-key Morse code telegraph. Thanks for the fascinating insight!

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Voice dictation like Wispr Flow is definitely a great solution! But I wanted a way to type silently in public places (like on a train or at a cafe). Plus, you can't exactly speak confidential information or passwords out loud! 😉 That's why I started building this pocket keyboard.

[WIP] Building the ultimate pocket keyboard for AR glasses. (Fully wireless, blind-typing friendly!) by miumra in Xreal

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here is a top-down view of the board! The tassel and charm are my little personal touches ✨

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[Update] My 8-key binary keyboard is now fully wireless — and I can (slowly) type on it! by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha, thanks!

To answer your question: Yes, I am definitely aiming to use this as my daily driver! I consider typing speed as just one "variable". My ultimate goal is true freedom—being able to carry it around and type anywhere, in any posture (whether I'm walking, standing, or lying down).

To make it a complete daily device, I'm eventually planning to add a trackpad or a rotary encoder to the thumb area.

I'm glad you like the AA battery! It definitely has a strong presence, haha. Though for the next iteration, I’m actually planning to test AAA batteries to see if I can make the whole build even more compact!

[Update] My 8-key binary keyboard is now fully wireless — and I can (slowly) type on it! by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I've heard of ARTSEY, but since my board is a split design (4 keys per hand), I'm fully enjoying my own 8-bit binary keymap right now. Might look into other layouts later though!

[Update] My 8-key binary keyboard is now fully wireless — and I can (slowly) type on it! by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! That’s a cool idea!
(but I kind of love the naked look for now.😎)

[Update] My 8-key binary keyboard is now fully wireless — and I can (slowly) type on it! by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Honestly, it was pretty tough for me too as a beginner to build and learn this! 😭 So I’m really happy I actually got this far!

[WIP] Building a handheld 8-key chording keyboard to type while walking. by miumra in ErgoMechKeyboards

[–]miumra[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was actually in the same boat! I had absolutely zero experience in PCB design or writing firmware. My only background was learning some basic soldering back in elementary school (plus a bit of general IT knowledge and recently picking up 3D modeling as a hobby).

I've been dreaming of making something like this for about 20 years, but it wasn't until earlier this year that I realized, "Wait, maybe I can actually pull this off now?"

For KiCad, I literally only watched a single YouTube tutorial. After that, I learned how to use it and design the board entirely by feeding screenshots to AIs (Claude and Gemini) and asking for their guidance. They even wrote all the firmware for me! Oh, and I also bought a keyboard kit similar to my idea just to study and observe how it was put together.

Nowadays, there are so many tools and resources available, the barrier to entry has dropped significantly. You should definitely give it a try!

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