One of the things the Planck Rev 6 PCB made me realize is how important hotswap is for me personally. First, I have _dozens_ of interesting mechanical keyboard kits which are un-built because I simply don't have the convenient time & place to set up my soldering equipment. Second, some of the kits I've managed to build have bricked on me due to unexplained microcontroller problems, and while I have an expensive desoldering gun, it's still a PITA to use/maintain/clean, so hot-swap sockets solve that switch recoverey problem in a very convenient way. Lastly, of course, the ability to change switches on a whim is nice on it's own.

This M60 keyboard builds on all of that by providing a socketed microcontroller, so even if it isn't the layout I prefer, I'll still look into buying one for the sole sake of supporting this work. Open source design & easy-to-program QMK-ish firmware are also huge plusses.

I also love the fact that pictured are the new Kailh Silent Pink switches. I got a small amount a couple weeks ago and want to get more, but they've sold out at US distributors. If the M60 is ever offered as a "full kit" then I hope those switches are an option.

I would love to see more enthusiast scissor-switch keyboards. I learned to type on a mechanical keyboard, and I've tried all sorts of modern mechanical keyboards over the years. But I feel like laptop-style scissor switch keyboards are more precise and comfortable. Personally, I make more typing errors on a mechanical keyboard. My current favorite keyboard is an HP Wireless Elite V2.

This could be amazing. I worked 4 years at Massdrop (now Drop) and used probably close to 30 keyboards. I always wanted one that I could script instead of do a Windows -based rigmarole to flash the layers. If this comes in at or below a $300 price point I will definitely order one.

I don’t suppose there is a way for the SoC to run something besides Python? I appreciate the flexibility of a scripting language and would love to try one of these out, but I feel like a hardware device should have a RTOS (or no OS) and a language that doesn’t have a GC. Can you imagine having jitter/latency randomly introduced from the Python layer?

Something I've wanted for a while is an option to have two different physical keyboards connected to the one machine, with different keymaps. In my particular case, most of the time I want to type in English, but I also sometimes wish to type in Hebrew. I find typing on my keyboard with English keycaps very clunky, especially when trying to add vowel pointing to letters.

There are solutions out there, but they all amount to hacks; what I think I really want is for the second keyboard to not have a keymap at all, but instead to transmit unicode code points, but there isn't a standard way to do that.

Anyway, this project looks cool: I'd really like to buy a hackable keyboard that lets me work on customisation without having to deal with everything else (especially building it from components.)

I'm really not a fan of these minuscule keyboards but I'd definitely be interested in a TKL version.

I've been looking for an "out of the box" MacOS-friendly mechanical keyboard for a while now. So far, the recent Keychron keyboards seems to be the only real contender, and unfortunately from all reports they are just to tall and cause wrist pain.

This seems like it would be a great alternative where you could have a Mac configuration - with media keys - mapped pretty easily with a custom keycap set (unless I'm misunderstanding?).

I wonder how all these maker sellers get along with Bluetooth SiG certification.

Edit: I mean, the product is presented very well. There was a clear investment in time and money. And because of that, this question was the first thing that came to my mind.

A split space-bar version could make it a lot more versatile, without a lot of drawbacks, imho. You could use the 2 halves as layer keys when held or one as space, the other as backspace, or if one half is pressed, then the other half could mean backspace or enter.

There is also the SpaceFn layout, which works with just one space, I know: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51069.0

but it feels like it could be a lot better with split spaces.

I would be interested to know what are the real advantages of using Python, instead of the well-established QMK, and what is the purpose of having a M.2 bay (unless that's where the Bluetooth module plugs in).

The PCB looks cool though, and BLE 5.0 is relatively uncommon nowadays (most keyboards rely on older, thus cheaper, Bluetooth enabled SoCs), but apart from that, I see little appeal for someone already invested in building mechanical keyboards.

What's the point of hand-wiring?

"The Quality Goes In before the Name Goes On. From Zenith, the last TV manufacturer to adopt printed circuits.[1] Not a successful business strategy.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhZ1L8xA_nU&t=32

Is there an off the shelf MicroPython board that can be used to make something like this using wired switches in a Dactyl / Manuform style keyboard. I see a lot of bespoke keyboard boards using socket style microcontrollers as well.

Was the use of the M.2 slot compliant with usual M.2 pinouts? Seems like an interesting choice. I dug a little, but didn't find much.

If what you're looking for is a shorter key throw, you might be interested in the Kailh Choc switches[1]. They are still somewhat in their infancy, but you can find them on a few DIY boards[2] as well as a few pre-builts[3].

[1] https://novelkeys.xyz/products/kailh-low-profile-switches [2] https://keeb.io/collections/keyboard-pcbs/products/nyquist-k... https://www.littlekeyboards.com/collections/new-products/pro... [3] https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-olkb-planck-light-mechanical... https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k1-wireless-mecha... https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/gaming-keyboards/g9...

> But I feel like laptop-style scissor switch keyboards are more precise and comfortable.

I agree. The best keyboard I have ever used was a SteelSeries-branded keyboard in a MSI GT70 Dominator Dragon laptop. The keys had great depth/travel, took a fair bit of pressure to press (only a bit annoying after super long sessions), and coupled with the pressure/feedback, the tactile feel was just amazing. I started with Cherry Reds for a number of years before I realized that the switches were the reason my typing sucked. With Cherry Blues my accuracy got much better but still not perfect, and the switches just felt cheap to press and the clicking noise also sounded cheap/plasticky. Recently I switched to Matias Alps quiet clicks which are reminiscent of that SteelSeries keyboard but still not quite as good - the keycaps don't attach perfectly to the switches so they rattle a bit, and the switches just don't feel as good. I'm going to try some low profile switches once I've convinced myself that it's worth spending another $100-150 on a keyboard which probably won't be that great... Unfortunately I've grown used to a split keyboard with my custom keymap and I love it a lot more than the normal keyboard layout so I'm stuck with shitty switches.

I’ve been very happy with a dell premier wireless (717 not the 616 or whatever) scissor keyboard and mouse combo purchased 3 years ago. I don’t care for the mouse at all (don’t use it). I like the key feel much better than HPs offering that I have also used.

One possibility would be to use your HP elite with an inline USB to USB keyboard controller. You could program it to remap all of your keystrokes to Dvorak, or implement a bunch of crazy macros, etc. they run the same software as the custom keyboards.