Custom Firmware Keyboard
Summary
I’m going to be designing a custom 60% keyboard but using a open-source version called the Bakeneko65! I will also be creating a custom firmware for my keyboard off of a fork of an existing program called QMK. The keyboard will be used for everything I do (home & school) on my setup. I’m excited to build this because it’s always been my goal to build a mechanical keyboard and modify it’s firmware to make it my own. It’ll be my first time building a keyboard as well. I’ve also never done C programming and I feel this project can help introduce me to it. As for what I am going to do for the firmware, I will customize it to include custom macros (shortcuts), layouts, and more. Hopefully this will be a experience for me to learn C programming, and building own keyboards and tinkering with electronics/modding them!
Plan
For the first 2 days, i’ll work on creating my keyboard using the Bakeneko65 that I purchased. For the next 6 days, i’ll study the C programming language and familiarize myself with QMK firmware. I’ll also look at several guides online about customizing the QMK software and developing it from scratch. I will also start developing the custom software. The remaining 2 days will be for me to finish up any software code that I have remaining, and making sure everything works, then placing it on my setup! I plan on using https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G85idvuUlSk&ab_channel=Chokkan, https://matt3o.com/building-a-keyboard-firmware/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzOpWWt3EPQ, https://keebsforall.com/blogs/tutorials-for-beginners/how-to-flash-pcb-keyboard-with-qmk to help me make the firmware.
Budget
Materials
Product | Supplier/Link | Cost |
---|---|---|
Case/PCB | Bakeneko65 CNC | $195.00 |
Switches | JWICK Black | $16.80 |
Keycaps | NicePBT BoW | $35.00 |
Subtotal | $246.80 | |
Total | $262.58 |
Budget
Materials
Product | Supplier/Link | Cost |
---|---|---|
Case/PCB | Keychron Q2 | $159.99 |
Switches | Gateron Milky Yellow Pro | $24.86 |
Keycaps | Mistel Gray/Yellow | $45.99 |
Lubricant | Krytox 205gO | $7.95 |
Switch Puller | TX | $8.00 |
Brush | Divinikey Brush | $1.95 |
Total | $250.31 |