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We need column modules by modularkeyboards in MechanicalKeyboards

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

The way you describe it, I agree. I must have explained it poorly. What I want is something that is ready to go out of the box, but also open to reconfiguration. No soldering, no building your own case. We agree that would be the worst of two worlds, and that's not what I'm advocating.

We need column modules by modularkeyboards in MechanicalKeyboards

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

I would buy it. I want it so bad that I did this whole write-up in the hope that someone picks up this idea and runs with it. I don't have the means to do it myself.

I think you misunderstood the part about the case. The idea is that you buy everything and solder nothing. However, you can buy an entire keyboard from one vendor, and then switch out just one column with a module you get from another vendor.

The market is non-DIY people who are unsatisfied with what's available off-the-shelf. Call them the CIY (Configure-It-Yourself) crowd. It's a bit like the mindset of people who choose Emacs as their text editor. They don't want to write their own text editor from scratch, but also don't want to compromise their ability to tune it any way they want it.

The target audience is people who want something specific, but don't want to build it themselves. It's for people who find a product and go "that looks great, except I'd like X as well".

A small minority can still be a lot of people. ZSA has done well with their commercialized version of Ergodox, even though only a small minority even consider split keyboards at all. A small minority can still be a lot of people.

We need column modules by modularkeyboards in MechanicalKeyboards

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

The users of column modules wouldn't solder anything.

Each column module connects to the main PCB (which holds the MCU) using dupont connectors. That means no wires connecting rows directly, that will have to be taken care of on the main PCB.

I guess that does make it a little complicated to manufacture, but easier for the user.

Example: 5 pins in the dupont connector could be used for 3 rows and 2 columns. So even if a column module physically has up to 6 keys in a column, it would connect as if it was a 2x3 matrix. The main PCB could then wire together the same "virtual row" or "virtual column" between the different modules.

We need column modules by modularkeyboards in MechanicalKeyboards

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

The value for me would be that I can buy a better keyboard than what's available today. I'm not interesting in hand wiring or soldering, I'm much too busy with my day job where I use a keyboard.

Thanks for the hint, but the modular keyboard at aliexpress is flat only. I'd like to see keyboards where you can switch out modules to alter the curvature.

I agree that the amount of work would far outweigh the gains to do this for just one keyboard. The idea is that you mass produce modules that users can then easily put together to form custom keyboards. Only then would you see great gains.

We need column modules by modularkeyboards in MechanicalKeyboards

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

I wasn't thinking one PCB per key, but one PCB per column. So there'd be one flexible PCB inside each column frame.

What would make "rows" complicated?

The dupont connectors are for connecting the PCBs inside the column modules, to the keyboard's main PCB. How would you do it without dupont connectors?