Unsplitted ergo Keyberon

Presentation

A handwired unsplitted ergo keyboard. It uses keyberon for its firmware.

The case is totally parametric: you can customize a lot of things, including:

• number of rows
• number of columns
• number of thumb keys
• angle between the two halves
• column stagger

Gallery

First version

Second version

The dev board has a dedicated cutout.

6×3+4 layout with a bit more stagger.

Third version

The "plate" is now thick and play the role of case, with just a flat sheet for the back.

Default version (6×3+4):

Minimal version, for testing, with

nb_cols=2;
nb_rows=2;
nb_thumbs=2;

Fourth version

Choc height and spacing (optional), aligned thumb cluster (optional).

Side view, with choc switches on the left, and MX switches on the right. 5 euro cent coin (21.25 mm of diameter) for scale.

I use this keyboard mostly over the laptop keyboard.

Bill of Materials

• a WeAct MiniF4 development board
• a 3D printed plate
• a 3D printed case
• 44 Cherry MX compatible keyboard switches (for the default parameters)
• 44 Cherry MX compatible 1U keycaps (for the default parameters)
• 44 1N4148 diodes (for the default parameters)
• Polyurethane Enameled Copper Wire 0.2mm
• 8 4mm M3 screws (or 9 if you opt for center screw in the parameters)
• 8 3mm M3 brass inserts (or 9 if you opt for center screw in the parameters)
• a USB-C cable
• a soldering kit

Everything can be found for less than $60 new on Aliexpress without the case.

Building

You can follow the building guide of keyberon grid or any other handwiring guide. I recommand to read a few to have different visions.

For the wiring of the dev board, refer to the source code for the pins.

Compiling

Install the rust toolchain

curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
rustup target add thumbv7em-none-eabihf
rustup component add llvm-tools-preview
cargo install cargo-binutils

Compile the firmware

cargo objcopy --bin keyberon-f4 --release -- -O binary keyberon.bin

Flashing using DFU

Put the developement board in DFU mode by pushing reset while pushing boot, and then release boot. Then flash it:

dfu-util -w -d 0483:df11 -a 0 --dfuse-address 0x08000000:leave -D keyberon.bin

The LED on the board should react to caps lock (if you push caps lock on another keyboard, the light should toggle), and the user button send space.