As the most direct interface between computer and programmer, keyboards can be a deeply personal, sometimes almost religious thing.*Some find solace in their vintage IBM Model M, or luxurious leather keyboard,*but maker [Carol Chen] took things into her own hands, quite literally.*[Carol]’s Maker Faire exhibit has a half dozen specimens of interesting commercial*tactile and ergonomic options…but [Chen]’s personal keyboard, where she commits to her work as a full-time coder,*has been made to her own exacting specifications.
Cherry switches are available in different colors corresponding to varying tactile feels. These can either be scrounged from existing keyboards (as [Chen] does for the key caps), or vendors such as Digi-Key can source the different colors if you want custom pressure for each finger (as on some commercial ergonomic models).*A laser-cut acrylic backing plate holds the key switches in place, while wiring was soldered in point-to-point fashion rather than etching a PCB.*Custom-fabbing the keyboard allows [Chen] to tailor the layout to her*vim-heavy coding style. Note the miniature space bar, and curious placement of modifier and macro keys around the periphery. A YouTube video shows an earlier iteration of the keyboard in action:
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Filed under: classic hacks
