
Atreus – kit to build your own mechanical keyboard - gnocchi
http://technomancy.us/173
======
Animats
That's still an electrical keyboard; it just has switches that click.

As I've mentioned previously, I restore pre-WWII Teletype machines, so I often
type on real mechanical keyboards with electrical outputs. A Teletype keyboard
is a motor-driven mechanism where, when you push a key, a clutch is released,
a shaft revolves one turn, and, via levers and cams, contacts close and open
and the bits are encoded and sent. During this time, which is about 200ms on
the older machines, you cannot press another key - the keys won't move. You
can't press two keys at once. Everything is mechanically interlocked. The best
way to use one is to type at a steady 5 characters per second, like playing a
piano.

Key travel is about half an inch, and the newer (1930 and later) models have
spring-loaded green keytops with a nice cushioned spring mechanism. This
provides about 0.100 inch of travel before the key lever starts to move. So if
you type a little too fast, you don't blunt your fingers. The 1924 model
doesn't have that; it has hard Underwood typewriter keys.

That huge key travel, combined with a low key pressure (the motor is doing all
the work, unlike a manual typewriter) is rather relaxing. Teletype operators
were expected to type with few errors; there is no way to backspace or
correct. Full-time Western Union operators often typed "blind" on a machine
with a keyboard and tape punch, but no printer or display. That's a lost art
today.

~~~
creshal
> That's still an electrical keyboard; it just has switches that click.

Not even. Cherry switches are linear, they only have a plastic latch glued to
them to fake the clicking sound of a buckling spring switch.

~~~
IE6
"They only have a plastic latch glued to them to fake the clicking sound of a
buckling spring switch." \- I do not think you understand how the cherry
switches function as this is an inaccurate statement. They are often described
as linear, tactile, and tactile click. The latter being the type you attempted
to describe.

"A Teletype keyboard is a motor-driven mechanism where, when you push a key, a
clutch is released, a shaft revolves one turn, and, via levers and cams,
contacts close and open and the bits are encoded and sent." \- Is it a true
statement that these switches essentially open and close a contact which in
turn opens or closes a circuit? If so I would argue that although probably
much cooler they accomplish the same thing as cherry switches :)

~~~
creshal
> The latter being the type you attempted to describe.

From the schematics it seems that all Cherry keys have the same "mechanic"
internally, the tactility is added with external plastic latches – unlike
buckling spring keys, where the spring itself clicks during actuation and
drives the switch.

> Is it a true statement that these switches essentially open and close a
> contact which in turn opens or closes a circuit? If so I would argue that
> although probably much cooler they accomplish the same thing as cherry
> switches :)

No doubt that all electrical switches, be they IBM or Cherry, are less cool
than true mechanical ones. :) But there's still noticeable differences between
the different technologies.

------
O____________O
I like the hacking/DIY aspect, but IMO there is still no keyboard that has
anything on the Kinesis Advantage (or the older Classic, same layout):

[http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage-lf-for-pc-
mac/](http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage-lf-for-pc-mac/)

The _only_ flaw is the row of horrible, rubbery, membrane function keys. I
don't know why, but they just won't fix them. That said, I just remap my
common F-keys (Visual Studio user) to other key chords and get on with my
life. The firmware allows on-keyboard remapping and macros, by the way, so my
Caps Lock ==> Esc remap follows my wherever I go.

If anything, I'd rather that the separate key wells were even a bit further
apart. I don't know how people can type with their wrists jammed so close
together, even with the Atreus's angled halves.

By the way, on the Kinesis, the hand wells are actually dished. They achieve
this using a flexible PCB that's split into separate 'fingers' for each row of
keys. To my knowledge none of the 'hacker' keyboards are dished like this.

~~~
dmnd
_The only flaw is the row of horrible, rubbery, membrane function keys._

These horrible rubber keys are being removed in a new version which is
supposed to begin "beta testing" in 1-3 months. Source:
[https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36195.msg1424727#msg142...](https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36195.msg1424727#msg1424727)

~~~
O____________O
Oh, that's _fantastic_ news! I've been sending them emails every few years
requesting it, and they always said vague things like, "yeah, we're thinking
about fixing that."

As it stands, I keep a $5 105-key cheapo membrane keyboard behind my Kinesis.
Works okay for function keys, and Windows happily accepts input from multiple
keyboards simultaneously (e.g. key chording).

------
fallat
I've been eyeballing this for awhile now. The keyboard layout is so ingenious.
The ergonomics are derived from ErgoDox. The only thing missing is a version
where it is literally 2 halves of a keyboard which would make it more portable
and essentially a smaller version of the ErgoDox. Seems like a great project
for an amateur electronics engineer too.

 _Sigh_ , if only I had the time, money and skills.

~~~
to3m
You could try something like this, but (a) you can't get it yet, (b) even when
you can, somebody will be building it for you, and (c) its thumbkeys may prove
insufficiently avant garde:
[https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/](https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/)

Me? I'm waiting for one that doesn't have half its keys missing :(

------
kfihihc
I like mechanical keyboard. The past few months, I build a GH60[1] open source
mechanical keyboard. And the ErgoDox[2] also an amazing open source ergo
mechanical keyboard.

Now, I plan create my own keyboard, some features i want: 1\. Bluetooth
supported (BLE) 2\. Integrating Gestures Sensor. It supports left, right, up,
down, wave, etc. It means I can control my app without mouse. 3\. Ergo, same
as ErgoDox 4\. The main board which consists of BLE IC, power management etc
is separate from the Keyboard PCB.

Any advice?

[1]: [http://blog.komar.be/projects/gh60-programmable-
keyboard/](http://blog.komar.be/projects/gh60-programmable-keyboard/) [2]:
[http://ergodox.org/](http://ergodox.org/)

------
nfoz
This looks very nice to combine with the Novena:
[http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-
laptop](http://www.crowdsupply.com/kosagi/novena-open-laptop)

~~~
pingswept
I just got a Novena in the mail a few weeks ago, and today I assembled the
switches of a Phantom keyboard [1] that I'm working on. Glad to hear that
someone else has the same idea-- makes me feel less crazy!

[1]:
[http://deskthority.net/wiki/Phantom_instruction_guide](http://deskthority.net/wiki/Phantom_instruction_guide)

------
Palomides
I've built and am currently using an Atreus, open to questions.

~~~
infecto
Are there any good kits or exact instructions/part lists?

~~~
Palomides
you can grab a full kit here:
[http://atreus.technomancy.us/](http://atreus.technomancy.us/)

but it's pretty easy to source the parts, see
[https://github.com/technomancy/atreus/](https://github.com/technomancy/atreus/)
(which also has links to build instructions)

------
bnastic
Has anyone tried using this with an iPad + USB connection kit from Apple?
How's the power draw?

Most keyboards are hit & miss for me (Poker draws too much power, and so does
HHKB 2 Pro. Older pre-shine Ducky on the other hand works fine. Matias Laptop
Pro is fine over BT but rather chunky). I would get this in a heartbeat if it
would mean I could reduce my mobile hardware list to just a 4G iPad and an
Atreus.

------
flashman
I don't think my brain will ever accept a non-QWERTY keyboard layout, but I
admire people with the compulsion and skills to try things like this.

------
sir_charles804
Another good option for DIY keyboards is the Planck
[http://planckkeyboard.com](http://planckkeyboard.com). I'm typing on mine
right now and quite enjoy it. Here's my build log:
[http://imgur.com/a/fWAvM?gallery](http://imgur.com/a/fWAvM?gallery)

------
alexkehayias
Big fan of hackable mechanical keyboards. I built the Ergodox recently and it
was pretty straight forward to put together and program layouts. I like the
idea of a more portable mechanical keyboard because I end up bringing my
keyboard back and forth to work :-)

------
chromaton
If you want to design your own keyboard layout and get the CAD files
automatically generated, check out this tool:
[http://builder.swillkb.com/](http://builder.swillkb.com/)

------
TylerE
I wish MS would sell a version of their ergonomic kb with To pre switches. I
prefDr the MS layout over some of the more extreme layouts.

Once I tried To pre switches nothing else compares.

If I ever have real RSI issues that might change.

------
cgag
I have an erdgodox at home and really miss it when I work at cafes, I'm kind
of paranoid about something that doesn't have []{}(), etc on the may layer
though.

~~~
technomancy
Atreus creator here.

While it's true that most keyboards have [] on the main layer, {} and ()
already require shifting on a conventional keyboard. The Atreus layout uses fn
to hit these keys instead of shift, but apart from learning a new location,
it's the same number of keystrokes. (There are no keys that require fn _and_
shift to hit.) The only difference is that these keys on the Atreus layout are
much closer to the home row, making them quicker to hit accurately.

~~~
sooheon
As long as I'm not using my right pinky for every key and its shifted mother
:)

