I love the option of just having an open space for Eink, knobs, etc. A gridfinity-esc part of the keyboard where people mod it to fit who knows what peripherals; like (not good ideas->) A pcb solder heat plate, a peltier module drink holder, (better ideas->) A grid-eye sensor for gesture and light dimming control, a flight controller flash and setup plate with mini servos to calibrate it. The possibilities!
I do think the possibility of a swappable module where the e-paper screen is would be a good idea. I don't want to give up those cyberpunk OLEDs as much as you, so even if I have to separate the buttons or give them up entirely, I'd like the chance to have to make such a module of my own
“Indie hardware development is an unrelenting bleak money pit” are the words that ring most true in my skull. Stay strong, and may your magic pixies never escape ✊🏻
its already cloned, though those companies do not know or are not aware of the BAD PCB design, that is prone to failure under normal usage conditions. [AKA plugging in a Sata cable]
make it so that each individual key is the keyboard, and each key is on its own using magnets to stick together to form any shaped keyboard you want. I WANT MORE OPTIONS!
I switched from saying "the most hackable keyboard" to "the most hacktical keyboard" because Adafruit released that numberpad where every row is a breakaway strip. There's a point of diminishing returns...
I think making the space for the display into a plugin module is definitely the way to go. It makes the keyboard infinitely more hackable and customizable.
Beware ordering the microcontrollers with lots of pins when building a custom keyboard. You'll find yourself doing wacky crap like throwing in a trackpoint and an analog stick and 4 rotary encoders. Then you have to write the software to make 4 rotary encoders and an analog stick do something useful. Ew, desktop apps. Gross.
adding hardware then thinking about what to do with it, sounds like me xD Right know I'm building handwired ortholinear Preonic-like keeb with RP2040-Zero with KMK.
I'm looking at all the bits and bobs I have on my desk, various encoders, analog sticks, so on, and thinking all the wonderful human interface devices I could make from them that I 100% know I would never use
ZACHHH FRIEDMAN! You can run the IO Expanders off of 5V as far as I know! I2C is a pull-down communication protocol, so all it detects communication through lows, not highs so this difference in voltage between the expander and the microprocessor won't matter. but double check you won't end up as a Fried-man, man.
Y'know, you could counter the depth issue for the E-Ink panel by having a battery pack sit there and the panel itself sit on top of that with standoffs. This of course implies that you should totally make this wireless and the headache involved with that will surely be a fun time
When will this be available. This seems like the most exciting keyboard I've ever seen. 60% 100% southpaw numpad dials touchscreen the possibilities are literally endless..
I was thinking the same thing. My keyboardio model 01 uses this, and I'm pretty sure the model 100 uses the same. And I don't know about you, but I have far more spare Ethernet cables kicking around than sata cables.
Amazing work! As a keybard enthusiast myself I will definitely try to buy one to costimuze monstrously. However I would like to add that north facing LEDs/switches are generally not recomended because some very popular keycap profiles interfere with most chery style switches when northfacing.
I need to collect feedback on this. South-facing LEDs make shine-thru legends visibly dimmer, and printable shims can prevent Cherry cap collisions. The MiRage will likely be most users' first mech keebs, as well.
@@ZackFreedman it's only cherry profile keycaps and only some of them, tho. newer ones tend to have slightly different inner supports and work with north facing leds too
"That is one supporter I support right back" You are already my favourite content creator, but this comment just elevated your status to "Supreme being". Thank you for your support Zack! Also, the keyboard is looking beautiful, and I will definitely be buying one when you release it, probably at around v600 :)
If you make the center post hole a little bit larger and add a hole for the alignment pin, you could also support choc v2 switches. This will give folks the option to have a low profile switch with an MX keycap. The regular switch pins are in the same places as choc v1 switches, which means that they're compatible with the same hotswap sockets.
Holy shit, with this sort of modularity, the simulation community is gonna have a field day with this! Never a dull day when you appear in my YT feed, Zack
For the interactive e-paper display, what about something like a multifunction display instead of a touch screen? Would cost a little screen real estate, but physical buttons can be a lot smaller than touch targets and still be easy to use.
@@OhSoTiredMan I have a keyboard with one of those nubs. It's a worthless gimick and innacurate at best. And I spend a couple days learning and adjusting it so I could justify its existance. It's the most useless choice of input device compared to the rest of the tech we have today. I'd honestly prefer a resistive touch screen... And I don't like those either.
I don't take enough time to appreciate how much time, work, and money Zack puts into this videos, with all the humor sprinkled throughout. And of course also much appreciation to the lovely Patreons and their glorious usernames.
Thanks so much for going into the code and the technical bugs!! It is really reassuring as someone starting in the tech field to see that just nothing works sometimes
And when you try to search for a solution on Google and you get no results you know you’re breaking new ground. It’s terrifying and empowering. I hope you have a moment like that in your future career. Everyone should experience it.
Love the project, good to know its still alive and kicking. You might want to check out Adafruits magnetic connectors for your module interconnections.
Very nice work mate! I built the Sick-68 for the wife after seeing your video way back when and the Redox Handwire for myself. On other projects I generally use the mini-e LED’s simply because I can solder them on the under side of the board and they protrude through an opening in the PCB which (as you stated) keeps them flat.
I think an optional third half could be really cool. It would be super useful for audio/video editing too. Keep the footprint small for the first two halves, move the cool stuff to the third one.
Maybe consider RS485 instead of I2C? It's a multi-drop bus, so you can have all nodes directly on the same 2 wires. You'll only need one UART on the uC, and a GPIO for enabling the TX driver while sending. Plus a tiny RS485 driver like MAX3082 (or any other RS485 driver chips, there are many options). You can either roll your own half-duplex protocol, or use e.g. MODBUS which is designed to go over RS485. And as it's a differential bus, you can safely use it over pretty long cables without fearing the EMI demons... (which I2C is not very good at).
I've had an idea bouncing around in my head for a while, if you like it, please run with it: each module (which like you said can work independently or together) can be connected to one another via magnets and spring loaded pins (aka pogo pins). Super fast and modular hot swap!
I might experiment with this in the next version. My gut check is that most people will want to "set it and forget it" instead of regularly switching between configurations.
@@ZackFreedman thanks for the reply! My original idea for wanting it is for a modular number pad which I can add or remove when I need, and to also be able to take it and use solo with my laptop when I'm away from my main PC.
Love seeing the progress on this Zack! Keep it up! I have never done a custom keyboard before, but I think this may sway me! The customizability is awesome!
Incidentally, the idea of a split mechanical with a touch e-ink is basically perfection. It can do anything you need, and doesn't require batteries from heaven to power it. I'd be in on Kickstarter if the entry level options for a two piece were within my (admittedly unemployed) means. But I know that keyboards seem to be going for insane prices these days. Good luck with this!
Really good conceptual progress, I like the idea of just making the e-ink part effectively a breadboard either directly connected to the micros extra pins or left with footprints for 0R bridges and bodge wires selectively for maximum modularity - so many off the shelf dev boards that are good on breadboard pinspacing.
Is there a possibility for a version with south-facing LEDs? I know it hurts RGB a bit, but north-facing switches interfere with cherry profile key caps, removing compatibility with a large portion of key cap sets.
This seems like an amazing backbone for a media keyboard using the epaper as a touchpad (just using the rage half to control VLC for example). Wonder how hard it would be to add bluetooth and a battery.
Looking forward to the 2x2 key mount component and keyboard gridfinity backplane so that I can easily swap my keys around. Add another gridfinity component that houses the e-ink display and I can lay out my keys in whatever insane order I desire!
Put the screens on the left! If they're on the right, they add distance from your mouse to your keyboard. Whereas if they're on the left, they're useful and out of the way.
Thought I'd share a quick tip for those like me who don't have access to a 3D printer, You can use things like Cigar Flight Cases and make the nostalgic "Cigar Box Computer". I use 2 small flight cases(Mayitr New Waterproof Dust-proof Shockproof Travel 5 Cigars Caddy Case Box with Black Humidor 230*125*49mm) as clamshell holders for my Dual 7" HDMI Touch Panels and a larger one to hold the Rpi and associated tangle of wires fans Hdd's speakers batteries and power regulators. The ingredients sound simple but the results are professional looking. I don't even alter the Cigar boxes so they retain their waterproof capability and can be used for other purposes if need be. As for the E-paper display, I would maybe try putting a touch panel there like the ones laptops use for their mice, would be interesting if you could maybe put a touch panel membrane over the e-paper and increase it's usefulness exponentially. Maybe even integrate the Mouse into the Keyboard laptop style, perhaps adding a nipple mouse as an option as well?
There's connectors named "magnetic pogo pin connector" that are great if you can get a stable base to connect them it's basically the connector used in tablets to connect keyboards but diy
Hey, if you want to connect the two halves of the keyboards together, use USB-C with alternative mode negotiation, and that'll make it possible to connect the two halves with usb cables, while talking between each other with whatever protocol you would like to use. As a bonus, you can then use the same usb-c port to connect directly to a PC.
Zack, buddy this isn’t the first time I’ve heard you mention making an error when you made the footprint. If you need someone to double check your footprints I have a long win streak of error free footprints. I’m happy to double check them for you. 8 eyes are better than 4.
OMG!!!! I finally found you back!!! I saw your MiRage video a while back.. a few months later, I've try 10 key less keyboards and I fell in love, but they are far less ergonomical than my good old ergonomic key board that is way to large. So I wanted to try a split keyboard and I wasn't able to find the MiRage back! I lost hope and bought an commercially available one and I'm happy with the split... I just hate the layout of the keys and I miss my mecanical keys.... Funny enough last week youtube proposed me your DLP video, I liked it and subscribed to your crazyness.. Today I just wanted to watch your old content and what did I see the MiRage!!!!!! Now.. let's find how to make/buy one! Thanks!
OK now that I've finished the video about the Mark II, I'm so stoked! I love the idea of making the keyboard infinity expandable and change the order of the boards. I want to split my key board so I can have the pads inline with my shoulders and that's why I was looking into a 10 key less design because I don't want the mouse to be pushed too far. The biggest problem I had with the design with the e-ink screen and the macro was the extra space used ~around~ the keybooard, now, if I can switch the left and right board, I can have the e-ink screen and macro keys in the center of my board, you know, where there's free space that I use to put my phone or my food plate because it's empty! I can't wait to get my hand on one. In the mean time tho, I have projects to test with that e-ink touch screen! Thanks for the design files, not to build it in it's totally unusable state, but to make a prototype e-ink touch screen setup so I can write code for it and maybe, if that work, make that code public for everyone to use, but not before a working prototype. Thanks alot for fuelling my "totally not caused by you" new passion about custom keyboard and my real need for a split keyboard.
I once got some cheap VGA cable for a project thinking "I need 9 cables, this one has 15, so there should be no problem, right?" WRONG!! Several pints were not connected, others were shortened together, which in the end gave me less lines than I needed. All this was discovered after hours of frustration. Later it turned out that fully wired VGA cables do in fact exist but are rare and expensive AF
Ahhh, and now it's off the playlist and I'm guessing unlisted. Well, hi I suppose! Edit: Oh! This isn't even on the Patreon, very neat. I get super secret early access by complete accident.
10:20 regularly-spaced hole grid for mounting screen/knob/joystick/slider PCBs on standoff pillars to provide custom functionality anywhere within the key grid at an adjustable height that matches the height of the keyswitches and keycaps you've installed.
Great video as always and the progress is great. Seeing the headaches you went through and the bodged wire is standard for the path you are taking. Think back to the old days and how many units came with wires added on! Still happens in a lot of China knockoffs too. Thankfully, most seemed to figure out the difference in power rails between countries, so stuff doesn't catch on fire as much.
Your video about custom mechanical keebs sent me down a rabbit whole which I nor my wallet can ever forgive you.. that said I was hyped from v1 and I'm even more hyped from v2, can't wait to see v3.
FYI, other connectors that also have multiple ground wires connected to each other are: usb 3.0 and usb-c, hdmi, displayport, and probably a bunch of other high speed serial interfaces.
you can have mx and choc at the same time by just putting the mx sockets up top and the kailh sockets down below. just gotta have the chocs rotated 180 degrees relative to the mx switches
I, personally, would love the idea of a small screen integrated into my keyboard. I'd personally use it to monitor my PC's vitals: temps, usage, fan speeds, etc.
NXP does make a chip that is the I2C equivalent of a network switch. I use this all the time when I need to control more than one device on the same I2C address. I put each one on essentially it’s own I2C bus. With this you can multiplex the bus almost an infinite number of ways. There is a bit of I2C over head for the micro because it has to tell the “switch” which port to push the following data out.
The expandable concept is interesting, and could expand this project greatly. I imagine a nav and num pads will be the first two non-half expanders, then program/workflow specific macro/dial/switch/touch/etc. pads. I could also see center expanders for split keyboards that include pointer navigation, like joysticks, circle pads, trackballs, etc. Hopefully someone can recreate a 6dof mouse as a module. The MiRage ecosystem could get super interesting beyond just a splittable keyboard with a non-standard function area on one side.
Micro-Hdmi is a horrid connection, and the support for it is dwindling. USB-C would be a fair bit nicer, excluding the whole "tiny fuck-off pins" deal for the headers
@@aviaviavian never suggested micro hdmi. But with full sized HDMI you have a very reliable connection, costs nothing, with plenty of usable pins. I don't see the problem. The cables are even the most standard you can find out there. Type-C ones have the transactional chips inside, so unless you plan to use them as a real USB connection.. good luck.
If you flip (not to the other side of the pcb, but rotating it a 180 degrees) either the MX sockets or the Choc sockets, you can have them both there at the same time, so you won't have to choose a socket type since you can solder both and you can hotswap from MX to Choc and vice versa
Make cutouts in the PCB for the LEDs and solder them onto the other side -- LEDs recessed into the holes. This way there's no interference with the the switches.
Honestly the circuit python was what I loved about the original design. Being able to customize the code / macros easily without needing to install a toolchain is really nice.
hot take: the E-paper pad would be best used in place OF the full size num-pad with the option of acting AS the num-pad. the arrow keys could be entirely replaced by a physical joystick/D-Pad, leaving only "insert, Delete, Home, and End" to be merged with the left-hand board. the E-paper should have something extra rigid behind it like a small chunk of fiberglass, with a layer of foam between that and the PCB to boost height and add impact absorption against users fingers. with something like that, this would become something i would 10000% buy.
MiRage NewsLetter SignUp WebPage: lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/IT2S7ta/mirage
This needs Pinning to the top...
I forgot the pinned comment! 🤦♂
I love the option of just having an open space for Eink, knobs, etc. A gridfinity-esc part of the keyboard where people mod it to fit who knows what peripherals; like (not good ideas->) A pcb solder heat plate, a peltier module drink holder, (better ideas->) A grid-eye sensor for gesture and light dimming control, a flight controller flash and setup plate with mini servos to calibrate it. The possibilities!
Have you thought about just straight up using an RJ45 jack? :D
I do think the possibility of a swappable module where the e-paper screen is would be a good idea. I don't want to give up those cyberpunk OLEDs as much as you, so even if I have to separate the buttons or give them up entirely, I'd like the chance to have to make such a module of my own
“Indie hardware development is an unrelenting bleak money pit” are the words that ring most true in my skull. Stay strong, and may your magic pixies never escape ✊🏻
Viva La Capitalism!
It is bleak, but also vivid with opportunity.
Hey Maks!
Yea but its soooooo cool.
boy, I really hope this project doesn't get cloned by some Chinese company before it's even finished. looks great though!
how dare you invoke the forces of irony like that
its already cloned, though those companies do not know or are not aware of the BAD PCB design, that is prone to failure under normal usage conditions. [AKA plugging in a Sata cable]
Oh it will, but I want a Zack board, so he'll still make plenty of money. :)
That would save me a lot of work
It most likely wouldn’t be nearly as good as Zacks finished keyboard
make it so that each individual key is the keyboard, and each key is on its own using magnets to stick together to form any shaped keyboard you want. I WANT MORE OPTIONS!
gridfinity keyboard, but then mini gridfinity, like LEGO's are to DUPLOs
i could make that happen....
That's going to get expensive real quick, and they'd have to be really strong, but I'd love to see something like this.
I switched from saying "the most hackable keyboard" to "the most hacktical keyboard" because Adafruit released that numberpad where every row is a breakaway strip. There's a point of diminishing returns...
@@Noah-ek8hp aight show me😜
Listening to Zack feels like someone has taken my ADHD inner monologue and weaponized it.
I mean this as the highest compliment.
this. ☝️
I think making the space for the display into a plugin module is definitely the way to go. It makes the keyboard infinitely more hackable and customizable.
imagine running an emulator on it and playing oldschool gameboy stuff on it...
Looking forward to the Gridfinity mount that holds a full Mirage MK3 with all the additions. It’s the VoidStar Labs version of an MCU crossover event.
Gridfinnty based cyberdeck when?
This video appeared to me like a mirage
Beware ordering the microcontrollers with lots of pins when building a custom keyboard.
You'll find yourself doing wacky crap like throwing in a trackpoint and an analog stick and 4 rotary encoders. Then you have to write the software to make 4 rotary encoders and an analog stick do something useful. Ew, desktop apps. Gross.
adding hardware then thinking about what to do with it, sounds like me xD Right know I'm building handwired ortholinear Preonic-like keeb with RP2040-Zero with KMK.
I'm looking at all the bits and bobs I have on my desk, various encoders, analog sticks, so on, and thinking all the wonderful human interface devices I could make from them that I 100% know I would never use
👀 I took a shot every time he said MiRage and I'm dead now
would love to see qmk support for this. (it supports rgb per key, without running the data line for rgb)
ZACHHH FRIEDMAN! You can run the IO Expanders off of 5V as far as I know! I2C is a pull-down communication protocol, so all it detects communication through lows, not highs so this difference in voltage between the expander and the microprocessor won't matter.
but double check you won't end up as a Fried-man, man.
Except that his last name is actually spelled "FrEEdman," so you know, he'd end up as a "Freed-man," which isn't exactly PC, ya know?
Y'know, you could counter the depth issue for the E-Ink panel by having a battery pack sit there and the panel itself sit on top of that with standoffs. This of course implies that you should totally make this wireless and the headache involved with that will surely be a fun time
A bluetooth module isnt too difficult to implement
Wireless? Wouldn't that completely remove the need for the I2C pins? Mesh network of modular keyboards... hmm...
@@faridwakim Also wireless adapter.
Sounds like spicy pillow potential
And it should Qi charge!
When will this be available. This seems like the most exciting keyboard I've ever seen. 60% 100% southpaw numpad dials touchscreen the possibilities are literally endless..
You could switch from sata to rj45. It has 8 instead of 7, but that's just expandability for the future.
They probably thought it was too thic to fit. But Id prefer the reduced costs of it tbh
@@slep1654 it would be taller than the sata, but no taller than most keycaps. So the overall form factor wouldn't take a hit.
You can put any amount of wires from 1 to 8 in an RJ45 connector. Regardless, the problem is there aren't a lot of pretty ethernet cables out there.
@@pastellexists on the other hand, they're pretty easy to DIY so it does open up the ability to sheath and crimp your own custom lengths
I was thinking the same thing. My keyboardio model 01 uses this, and I'm pretty sure the model 100 uses the same. And I don't know about you, but I have far more spare Ethernet cables kicking around than sata cables.
Zack! - but your sponsor transition is no longer smooth like butter the moment you mention how smooth like butter it was!
Amazing work! As a keybard enthusiast myself I will definitely try to buy one to costimuze monstrously.
However I would like to add that north facing LEDs/switches are generally not recomended because some very popular keycap profiles interfere with most chery style switches when northfacing.
I need to collect feedback on this. South-facing LEDs make shine-thru legends visibly dimmer, and printable shims can prevent Cherry cap collisions. The MiRage will likely be most users' first mech keebs, as well.
@@ZackFreedman it's only cherry profile keycaps and only some of them, tho. newer ones tend to have slightly different inner supports and work with north facing leds too
"That is one supporter I support right back"
You are already my favourite content creator, but this comment just elevated your status to "Supreme being".
Thank you for your support Zack!
Also, the keyboard is looking beautiful, and I will definitely be buying one when you release it, probably at around v600 :)
Actually made me cry a little
@@somehow_sane I often wondered whether the user with that screen name was being ironic. But Zacks reply to it made my day!
If you make the center post hole a little bit larger and add a hole for the alignment pin, you could also support choc v2 switches. This will give folks the option to have a low profile switch with an MX keycap. The regular switch pins are in the same places as choc v1 switches, which means that they're compatible with the same hotswap sockets.
Holy shit, with this sort of modularity, the simulation community is gonna have a field day with this! Never a dull day when you appear in my YT feed, Zack
For the interactive e-paper display, what about something like a multifunction display instead of a touch screen? Would cost a little screen real estate, but physical buttons can be a lot smaller than touch targets and still be easy to use.
He could add a nub like those thinkpad nubs that can be used to navigate the e ink display.
@@OhSoTiredMan I have a keyboard with one of those nubs. It's a worthless gimick and innacurate at best. And I spend a couple days learning and adjusting it so I could justify its existance.
It's the most useless choice of input device compared to the rest of the tech we have today.
I'd honestly prefer a resistive touch screen... And I don't like those either.
I don't take enough time to appreciate how much time, work, and money Zack puts into this videos, with all the humor sprinkled throughout.
And of course also much appreciation to the lovely Patreons and their glorious usernames.
Ooh, I currently have a separate numpad on the left despite being right-handed.
So this keyboard would be great for me, if it releases.
Thanks so much for going into the code and the technical bugs!! It is really reassuring as someone starting in the tech field to see that just nothing works sometimes
And when you try to search for a solution on Google and you get no results you know you’re breaking new ground. It’s terrifying and empowering. I hope you have a moment like that in your future career. Everyone should experience it.
I kinda want it to be a 200% keyboard. Like those 2m long ones from Cyberpunk
104 macro keys
@@Draggins at least
This rocks! Thanks for not giving up on the I-O after the first week!
Love the project, good to know its still alive and kicking. You might want to check out Adafruits magnetic connectors for your module interconnections.
Zack is really good in extreme high wordcount/minute without ruining the videos with jumpcuts or worse zoom-cuts.
Very nice work mate! I built the Sick-68 for the wife after seeing your video way back when and the Redox Handwire for myself.
On other projects I generally use the mini-e LED’s simply because I can solder them on the under side of the board and they protrude through an opening in the PCB which (as you stated) keeps them flat.
I think an optional third half could be really cool. It would be super useful for audio/video editing too. Keep the footprint small for the first two halves, move the cool stuff to the third one.
The last keyboard I would need! Amazing hardware and hopefully powerful and accessible software to match!
Maybe consider RS485 instead of I2C? It's a multi-drop bus, so you can have all nodes directly on the same 2 wires. You'll only need one UART on the uC, and a GPIO for enabling the TX driver while sending. Plus a tiny RS485 driver like MAX3082 (or any other RS485 driver chips, there are many options). You can either roll your own half-duplex protocol, or use e.g. MODBUS which is designed to go over RS485. And as it's a differential bus, you can safely use it over pretty long cables without fearing the EMI demons... (which I2C is not very good at).
This is a winner of an idea, RS485 and MODBUS.
I fucking love all the nerdiness and flowing dialogue in your videos, it’s just *chef’s kiss*
Due to capitalization, I read this as My Rage. I now see that was perfectly correct. Looking spiffy!
I did the same mistake with the internally connected ground in design, was great.
I've had an idea bouncing around in my head for a while, if you like it, please run with it: each module (which like you said can work independently or together) can be connected to one another via magnets and spring loaded pins (aka pogo pins). Super fast and modular hot swap!
I might experiment with this in the next version. My gut check is that most people will want to "set it and forget it" instead of regularly switching between configurations.
@@ZackFreedman thanks for the reply! My original idea for wanting it is for a modular number pad which I can add or remove when I need, and to also be able to take it and use solo with my laptop when I'm away from my main PC.
wow that transition was way too smooth, didn't even see it coming!
As someone that has been a tech for 20 years and LOVE your videos, I have no idea what you're talking about. At all.
Love seeing the progress on this Zack! Keep it up! I have never done a custom keyboard before, but I think this may sway me! The customizability is awesome!
Dude your amazing to watch and listen too. I love the energy. I love the knowledge. The world needs more like you.
The Baudrillard reference in the middle of a keyboard video made this explicitly for me
Gotta say Zack, I really enjoy your channel, a large part of that is your freestylin' cybertalk! 🙂
Incidentally, the idea of a split mechanical with a touch e-ink is basically perfection. It can do anything you need, and doesn't require batteries from heaven to power it.
I'd be in on Kickstarter if the entry level options for a two piece were within my (admittedly unemployed) means. But I know that keyboards seem to be going for insane prices these days.
Good luck with this!
Really good conceptual progress, I like the idea of just making the e-ink part effectively a breadboard either directly connected to the micros extra pins or left with footprints for 0R bridges and bodge wires selectively for maximum modularity - so many off the shelf dev boards that are good on breadboard pinspacing.
Even if I am not particularly interested in the video topic, I always watch your videos for the puns, word play and overall fantastic scripts.
My favorite part of this channel is how well he knows the audience and slams them at the same time.
Is there a possibility for a version with south-facing LEDs? I know it hurts RGB a bit, but north-facing switches interfere with cherry profile key caps, removing compatibility with a large portion of key cap sets.
The touchscreen is awesome! Like using it as password or macro manager, using it as a sound mixer or whatever is awesome!!!
Finally! I can have a keyboard the ENTIRE length of my desk! Something I didn't know I wanted until now!!!
I hope that this mighty modular beast will one day grace the desks of Britain! Finally a device worthy of my tea cup ridden realm of robotics!
Ok hear me out…
Gridfinity keyboard
Zack, you always speak-a-my-language.
A joy to see. Love your face. Best of luck!
This seems like an amazing backbone for a media keyboard using the epaper as a touchpad (just using the rage half to control VLC for example). Wonder how hard it would be to add bluetooth and a battery.
Looking forward to the 2x2 key mount component and keyboard gridfinity backplane so that I can easily swap my keys around. Add another gridfinity component that houses the e-ink display and I can lay out my keys in whatever insane order I desire!
You triggered my PTSD when you said the words "it works fine for me".
Hate those words so much.
I see you’ve taken the “melt your circuits” advice onboard
For the V3 you should add some drainage holes. If you can print a clam shell that actually protects your keys major step forward
Put the screens on the left! If they're on the right, they add distance from your mouse to your keyboard. Whereas if they're on the left, they're useful and out of the way.
"everything always goes to plan as long as I write the plan last" is a legendary line that I am absolutely stealing
13:46 when that bug puts on a top hat and starts tying people to train tracks it will need its own video
you could probably 3d print a hinge system to keep using OLED displays as buttons with less click to avoid putting too much pressure on them
I'd personally separate the buttons from the bezels entirely, maybe have two to the left and two to the right of each OLED.
BRO YOU HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY!!!! freakin hilarious the little jokes you hide in the videos😂😂😂i love your videos and projects!
Thought I'd share a quick tip for those like me who don't have access to a 3D printer, You can use things like Cigar Flight Cases and make the nostalgic "Cigar Box Computer". I use 2 small flight cases(Mayitr New Waterproof Dust-proof Shockproof Travel 5 Cigars Caddy Case Box with Black Humidor 230*125*49mm) as clamshell holders for my Dual 7" HDMI Touch Panels and a larger one to hold the Rpi and associated tangle of wires fans Hdd's speakers batteries and power regulators. The ingredients sound simple but the results are professional looking. I don't even alter the Cigar boxes so they retain their waterproof capability and can be used for other purposes if need be.
As for the E-paper display, I would maybe try putting a touch panel there like the ones laptops use for their mice, would be interesting if you could maybe put a touch panel membrane over the e-paper and increase it's usefulness exponentially. Maybe even integrate the Mouse into the Keyboard laptop style, perhaps adding a nipple mouse as an option as well?
There's connectors named "magnetic pogo pin connector" that are great if you can get a stable base to connect them it's basically the connector used in tablets to connect keyboards but diy
Bruh, the "MAIL MFER" tone was my msg alert for YEARS...starting in middle school. Take that how you will lol.
Those brandy/whiskey glasses are sick!
Great video, I made a Sick68, naturally I am now addicted. Bring on MiRage!
very excited to build one whenever this project is done
Hey, if you want to connect the two halves of the keyboards together, use USB-C with alternative mode negotiation, and that'll make it possible to connect the two halves with usb cables, while talking between each other with whatever protocol you would like to use. As a bonus, you can then use the same usb-c port to connect directly to a PC.
Zack, buddy this isn’t the first time I’ve heard you mention making an error when you made the footprint. If you need someone to double check your footprints I have a long win streak of error free footprints. I’m happy to double check them for you. 8 eyes are better than 4.
Wasn't expecting a Baudrillard joke. How do I like this video twice?!
OMG!!!! I finally found you back!!! I saw your MiRage video a while back.. a few months later, I've try 10 key less keyboards and I fell in love, but they are far less ergonomical than my good old ergonomic key board that is way to large.
So I wanted to try a split keyboard and I wasn't able to find the MiRage back! I lost hope and bought an commercially available one and I'm happy with the split... I just hate the layout of the keys and I miss my mecanical keys....
Funny enough last week youtube proposed me your DLP video, I liked it and subscribed to your crazyness.. Today I just wanted to watch your old content and what did I see the MiRage!!!!!! Now.. let's find how to make/buy one!
Thanks!
OK now that I've finished the video about the Mark II, I'm so stoked! I love the idea of making the keyboard infinity expandable and change the order of the boards. I want to split my key board so I can have the pads inline with my shoulders and that's why I was looking into a 10 key less design because I don't want the mouse to be pushed too far. The biggest problem I had with the design with the e-ink screen and the macro was the extra space used ~around~ the keybooard, now, if I can switch the left and right board, I can have the e-ink screen and macro keys in the center of my board, you know, where there's free space that I use to put my phone or my food plate because it's empty!
I can't wait to get my hand on one. In the mean time tho, I have projects to test with that e-ink touch screen! Thanks for the design files, not to build it in it's totally unusable state, but to make a prototype e-ink touch screen setup so I can write code for it and maybe, if that work, make that code public for everyone to use, but not before a working prototype.
Thanks alot for fuelling my "totally not caused by you" new passion about custom keyboard and my real need for a split keyboard.
I once got some cheap VGA cable for a project thinking "I need 9 cables, this one has 15, so there should be no problem, right?" WRONG!! Several pints were not connected, others were shortened together, which in the end gave me less lines than I needed. All this was discovered after hours of frustration. Later it turned out that fully wired VGA cables do in fact exist but are rare and expensive AF
Ahhh, and now it's off the playlist and I'm guessing unlisted. Well, hi I suppose!
Edit: Oh! This isn't even on the Patreon, very neat. I get super secret early access by complete accident.
10:20 regularly-spaced hole grid for mounting screen/knob/joystick/slider PCBs on standoff pillars to provide custom functionality anywhere within the key grid at an adjustable height that matches the height of the keyswitches and keycaps you've installed.
Best sponsorship segment I've seen in a while! Keep it up!
Great video as always and the progress is great. Seeing the headaches you went through and the bodged wire is standard for the path you are taking. Think back to the old days and how many units came with wires added on! Still happens in a lot of China knockoffs too. Thankfully, most seemed to figure out the difference in power rails between countries, so stuff doesn't catch on fire as much.
Your video about custom mechanical keebs sent me down a rabbit whole which I nor my wallet can ever forgive you.. that said I was hyped from v1 and I'm even more hyped from v2, can't wait to see v3.
So.. you just made a joycon keyboard. I love it!
Dude, this was such an emotional roller coaster.
FYI, other connectors that also have multiple ground wires connected to each other are: usb 3.0 and usb-c, hdmi, displayport, and probably a bunch of other high speed serial interfaces.
Great opening. Poetry doesn't begin to describe...
This is finally the keyboard I've always dreamed of.
honestly, brilliant work. Can't wait to see how this pans out. Definitely some money here
I've always wanted a macro style mechanical keyboard. I like the straight key rows that macro keyboard use.
Ah yes, immediately classic content for consumption. You have my thanks.
you can have mx and choc at the same time by just putting the mx sockets up top and the kailh sockets down below. just gotta have the chocs rotated 180 degrees relative to the mx switches
I, personally, would love the idea of a small screen integrated into my keyboard. I'd personally use it to monitor my PC's vitals: temps, usage, fan speeds, etc.
NXP does make a chip that is the I2C equivalent of a network switch. I use this all the time when I need to control more than one device on the same I2C address. I put each one on essentially it’s own I2C bus. With this you can multiplex the bus almost an infinite number of ways. There is a bit of I2C over head for the micro because it has to tell the “switch” which port to push the following data out.
The expandable concept is interesting, and could expand this project greatly. I imagine a nav and num pads will be the first two non-half expanders, then program/workflow specific macro/dial/switch/touch/etc. pads. I could also see center expanders for split keyboards that include pointer navigation, like joysticks, circle pads, trackballs, etc. Hopefully someone can recreate a 6dof mouse as a module. The MiRage ecosystem could get super interesting beyond just a splittable keyboard with a non-standard function area on one side.
your advertisment was the first I ever fully watched
Use HDMI to connect two boards together. Or put 2 micros and have them i2ciing each others as you suggested.
Micro-Hdmi is a horrid connection, and the support for it is dwindling. USB-C would be a fair bit nicer, excluding the whole "tiny fuck-off pins" deal for the headers
@@aviaviavian never suggested micro hdmi. But with full sized HDMI you have a very reliable connection, costs nothing, with plenty of usable pins. I don't see the problem. The cables are even the most standard you can find out there. Type-C ones have the transactional chips inside, so unless you plan to use them as a real USB connection.. good luck.
If you flip (not to the other side of the pcb, but rotating it a 180 degrees) either the MX sockets or the Choc sockets, you can have them both there at the same time, so you won't have to choose a socket type since you can solder both and you can hotswap from MX to Choc and vice versa
Make cutouts in the PCB for the LEDs and solder them onto the other side -- LEDs recessed into the holes. This way there's no interference with the the switches.
Honestly the circuit python was what I loved about the original design. Being able to customize the code / macros easily without needing to install a toolchain is really nice.
I have not gotten into programming on your level but love your projects
i like this guy's PCB design philosophies; everything all at once or it doesnt get made!
I chose the right time to start researching building my first keyboard
But can it be expanded far enough to replicate Tom Scott's emoji keyboard?
hot take: the E-paper pad would be best used in place OF the full size num-pad with the option of acting AS the num-pad.
the arrow keys could be entirely replaced by a physical joystick/D-Pad, leaving only "insert, Delete, Home, and End" to be merged with the left-hand board.
the E-paper should have something extra rigid behind it like a small chunk of fiberglass, with a layer of foam between that and the PCB to boost height and add impact absorption against users fingers.
with something like that, this would become something i would 10000% buy.