Hello, fellow Rabbit hole dwellers
Subject of this interest check is a non nonsense dropin printed circuit board for the renowned Alps keyboard known in wider circuits as the "AT-101" or
BigFootAdded a inquiry form due to popular demand
Inquiry FormThere will be several layout options supported beside the original WKL:
1. WKL ANSI & ISO with 7U space (Tsangan?)
2. "101W" with 1.25U modifiers and 6.25U space
3. The 106 JIS option with 108 keys positions some of which are duplicates (backslash key)
4. Each for Alps and/or MX compatible switches (and plates)
The Board is to be powered by 3 options:
A. Time proven
Teensy 2.0 that is gradually phased out as the supplies across the internet slowly diminish (out of production long time now)
B. The excellent WeAct's BlackPill (
STM32F403 or
STM32F411 based) that will make complex ideas in firmware a breeze to pull of should the builder choose this option
C. The yet to come to QMK
Raspberry pi pico or clones of identical footprint - there already are QMK forks running it so inclusion is a matter of time (or patience) (dual core keyboards of the future; past, phew
...)
It goes without saying gone will be the days of converters and or ps/2 ports; of inconvenience and struggle - the novel USB interface from 2.0 onward is at the reach of hand (or just under the table, depending where your actual receptacle is located...). Even the most picky BIOS or host will work if you set the firmware to awake in 6KRO (most comaptible) and many many more options will be at hand.
The other hardware options include:
-the three
status LEDs are
RGB - why pick one color (green) when you can pick many every time later - i found
amber looks even more vintage than
green BTW...
-
OLED - a I2C oled is to be picked by the builder to correspond to the "brain" signal level - unlike the RGB LEDs no level shifter is supplied here to keep the layout simpler.
-
Wireless (
yes, yes we can!) will be an option potentially supported with this build: The pick comes to
Pimoroni pico lipo and Adafruit's
Bluefruit-LE-SPI-Friend as a natural choice... Please bear in mind this is a
proto run - i can't nor would guarantee it will work, i merely lay the foundation for it to be possible / doable or at the very least - with least fiddling and modding the first batch of protos.
Sheesh i hope this is clear (please feel free to comment on this below)...
now the mandatory pictures and diagrams:
While i don't expect this to result in an craze or viral outbreak (pun unintended) if the IC does reach a number close to 10 pieces sought by interested buyers the price might be
around $50 a piece plus shipping and handling and payment fees Updated:
We seem to be close to pass the 10 pieces limit, not there yet, but close...
Update #2:
We are now at the brink of 20 pieces
push it cheaper harder already!
Stay tuned...
