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...
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 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.
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
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.
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
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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 :)
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
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'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 the project, good to know its still alive and kicking. You might want to check out Adafruits magnetic connectors for your module interconnections.
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).
12:40 - I knew some cables had internal connections for grounds / shields. I did NOT know the 80-wire UDMA (IDE) cables had some pins connected inside the plugs until about six years after first using them. lol It makes sense now, though, so the motherboard can detect a UDMA-capable cable, then each drive can be forced into Master or Slave mode, depending on which colour of plug is used.
13:24 - What about making the cutout in the main board fit larger, so the whole MCU/USB module fits flush "into" the main PCB? I've seen some projects do that successfully, with the ESP8266 or ESP32 module.
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
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!
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.
13:30 you probably can make a cutout and footprint for the xiao module and solder it flipped upside-down and on the other side have an edge-mounted usb-c connector so both connectors are the same height
Good idea, but the USB port is 3.2mm high, so the PCB would need to be 1.6mm to center it. Mid-mount USB-C plugs are designed for 0.8mm boards, so they can't line up.
@@ZackFreedman Aha, we are talking about different connectors! There is a single-side yet mid-mounted connector. Look up USB4155. PCB would indeed need to be 1.6mm thick. Just a word of caution, check availability. I designed one into a product only to find all the remaining stock snatched the next day. Also, it's a pain to hand-solder.
In regards to the clickly oled buttons breaking over time, this is because you had made the screen part of the structure, if you had instead placed a piece of acrylic in slots i the plastic held above the oled then the force of pressing the button would be withstood by the chassis containing the screen and not the screen itself, similar in principle to how wooden shipping boxes protect the contents from external force.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I would love to get one of these, but I can't do ortholinear for the same reason I never tried to learn Colemak or Dvorak - most of my typing is done at hot desks I can't control the configuration of, so getting used to using a non standard format would make it harder for me to type most of the time
What I don't understand: Why don't you use standard PCB connectors? they got the same mounting height, are available with 2 to 35 pins. and they hold together better than just the headers at 5:20
16:24 can someone please explain why this is only possible with a second I2C interface? Isn't the whole point of a bus system, that you can connect a lot of devices via addresses to it?
It's a hub-and-spoke system - it expects a single controller to issue commands to multiple peripherals. The halves would need to figure out who gets to be the controller, without talking over each other in the process. Multi-master systems are a nightmare.
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!
E-ink module for functional keys sound very interesting. But it's abhorrent to place it on the right side. One of my personal reasons to switching to the mechanical and later diy keyboards was 70% and less layouts. the 3u wide display on the right is a total no go.
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
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.
I almost got burned on the sata cables doing a hardware split, so I switched to a USB type c cable, which probably has enough connections for you, but not enough for the hardware split I was working on. Note type c has plug orientation to track and connected internal wires.
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.
The eink touch pad would be a game changer. I've integrated a pimoroni trackball to my custom keyboard running QMK and that's okay, not the best. Blackberry mouse resolution on a 4k monitor is a bit meh.
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.
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.
The removal of the display buttons is a mistake 😭😭😭 I can understand your e ink idea, but I want display buttons. How about making them tactile by placing small vibration motors under the display so it’s simulate a click like the trackpad of MacBooks or newer iPhones do? Then you could mount them static
Gotta say, this is a way, waaay better design and layout -overall- than the previous design (to me). Obviously there are some bad parts but overall it is way better Good work
So, i do use zeals. My current kb is a keeb kbo5k, which is a split, with a usbc bridge. I'd spring for a 3 way, and would put some lpots on one of the 3.
might i recommend using Ethernet jacks for the halves of the keyboard? its click-in nature makes it ideal imo. also cheap. OR even better, old style Midi/gamepad ports or Serial for that extra flare of 90's energy and the screw-in tabs are useful. Sata is NOT sturdy nor reliable though
What about a magnetic pogo pin interface on the sides and some sort of lock to lock the “halves” together or for a more split look use a braided x-pin din type cable with adapters that mag to the mag pogo pin connectors.
Thanks for the design files I want to make it a little easier to use so I’m a switch the sate cable for some magnets so it can connect :) or use nickel strips solder wire to it and put magnets behind them son it works like a full keyboard without a big cut in the middle
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 may consider this "Hacktic" feedback. The splitable keyboard is still a good idea, thought I would have gone with USB-C rather than SATA cables. If you add a USB hub and simply map the keys to their appropriate counterpart it should work.
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.
if you go with the right side modules I really hope someone makes a tiny beatmania controller for it. 9 keys and an encoder so it's also pop'n compatible.
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?
I believe this could be the elite HTPC keyboard. Add a trackball (or a trackpad if you're a heathen), scroll wheel, mouse buttons at the corner. Make it Bluetooth and you're golden. I'd say the corsair k83 is one of the better htpc keyboards but the key ghosting makes it unusable. Plus the trackpad is hard to use. The one thing it does right is the placement of the mouse buttons.
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.
For the USB plug at a different height than the socket: could you make a Xiao-sized cutout in your board with edge plated pads, slide the Xiao in flat and solder it laying on the table? Then the connector would be at the correct height.
I have a not too appealing idea but I'm gonna say it anyway why not make the e-ink screen/knobs as a split module so I can still have the option to not have it on the keyboard or have a combination of knobs and screens
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
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. ☝️
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 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?
would love to see qmk support for this. (it supports rgb per key, without running the data line for rgb)
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!
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?
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
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.
This video appeared to me like a mirage
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
👀 I took a shot every time he said MiRage and I'm dead now
The last keyboard I would need! Amazing hardware and hopefully powerful and accessible software to match!
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.
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.
Dude your amazing to watch and listen too. I love the energy. I love the knowledge. The world needs more like you.
"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!
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.
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
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'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.
Zack! - but your sponsor transition is no longer smooth like butter the moment you mention how smooth like butter it was!
Love the project, good to know its still alive and kicking. You might want to check out Adafruits magnetic connectors for your module interconnections.
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.
12:40 - I knew some cables had internal connections for grounds / shields.
I did NOT know the 80-wire UDMA (IDE) cables had some pins connected inside the plugs until about six years after first using them. lol
It makes sense now, though, so the motherboard can detect a UDMA-capable cable, then each drive can be forced into Master or Slave mode, depending on which colour of plug is used.
13:24 - What about making the cutout in the main board fit larger, so the whole MCU/USB module fits flush "into" the main PCB?
I've seen some projects do that successfully, with the ESP8266 or ESP32 module.
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
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!
This rocks! Thanks for not giving up on the I-O after the first week!
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.
13:49
instead of 2 TRSS connectors
Another solution is using cables like Micro HDMI or Micro display port
Or USB-C? It has 12 pins on each side. Or just for trolling do USB-A 3.1 on each side and use one of those dumb double-male cables
13:30 you probably can make a cutout and footprint for the xiao module and solder it flipped upside-down and on the other side have an edge-mounted usb-c connector so both connectors are the same height
Good idea, but the USB port is 3.2mm high, so the PCB would need to be 1.6mm to center it. Mid-mount USB-C plugs are designed for 0.8mm boards, so they can't line up.
@@ZackFreedman Aha, we are talking about different connectors! There is a single-side yet mid-mounted connector. Look up USB4155. PCB would indeed need to be 1.6mm thick.
Just a word of caution, check availability. I designed one into a product only to find all the remaining stock snatched the next day. Also, it's a pain to hand-solder.
Thanks
Last of the big spenders. GREAT work!
In regards to the clickly oled buttons breaking over time, this is because you had made the screen part of the structure, if you had instead placed a piece of acrylic in slots i the plastic held above the oled then the force of pressing the button would be withstood by the chassis containing the screen and not the screen itself, similar in principle to how wooden shipping boxes protect the contents from external force.
I kinda want it to be a 200% keyboard. Like those 2m long ones from Cyberpunk
104 macro keys
@@Draggins at least
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.
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.
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.
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.
I did the same mistake with the internally connected ground in design, was great.
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.
Great video, I made a Sick68, naturally I am now addicted. Bring on MiRage!
I would love to get one of these, but I can't do ortholinear for the same reason I never tried to learn Colemak or Dvorak - most of my typing is done at hot desks I can't control the configuration of, so getting used to using a non standard format would make it harder for me to type most of the time
What I don't understand: Why don't you use standard PCB connectors?
they got the same mounting height, are available with 2 to 35 pins.
and they hold together better than just the headers at 5:20
16:24 can someone please explain why this is only possible with a second I2C interface?
Isn't the whole point of a bus system, that you can connect a lot of devices via addresses to it?
It's a hub-and-spoke system - it expects a single controller to issue commands to multiple peripherals. The halves would need to figure out who gets to be the controller, without talking over each other in the process. Multi-master systems are a nightmare.
What do you think about making a wireless one with pi pico w? a thought for 3/4
I second this if only because I know how much Zack loves feature creep.
And also so I can flex that I managed to get a pico W
The Pico is so crazy huge, fitting it on the board would be a nightmare. There are ESP32-based Xiao modules that would work, though.
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.
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!
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!
E-ink module for functional keys sound very interesting. But it's abhorrent to place it on the right side. One of my personal reasons to switching to the mechanical and later diy keyboards was 70% and less layouts. the 3u wide display on the right is a total no go.
The touchscreen is awesome! Like using it as password or macro manager, using it as a sound mixer or whatever is awesome!!!
Make the display a module you can put at an angle like the rpi400 cyberdeck display from adafruit
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.
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 fucking love all the nerdiness and flowing dialogue in your videos, it’s just *chef’s kiss*
BRO YOU HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY!!!! freakin hilarious the little jokes you hide in the videos😂😂😂i love your videos and projects!
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.
In what price range is it at the moment. just so i can plan if i wait till it comes out or i cbuy something else because it's to exspensive for me.
Zack, you always speak-a-my-language.
A joy to see. Love your face. Best of luck!
I almost got burned on the sata cables doing a hardware split, so I switched to a USB type c cable, which probably has enough connections for you, but not enough for the hardware split I was working on. Note type c has plug orientation to track and connected internal wires.
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.
Zack is really good in extreme high wordcount/minute without ruining the videos with jumpcuts or worse zoom-cuts.
The eink touch pad would be a game changer. I've integrated a pimoroni trackball to my custom keyboard running QMK and that's okay, not the best. Blackberry mouse resolution on a 4k monitor is a bit meh.
Ok hear me out…
Gridfinity keyboard
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.
For the MK3 maybe use a pico w, raspberry pi announced a pico with LAN
Best sponsorship segment I've seen in a while! Keep it up!
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.
The removal of the display buttons is a mistake 😭😭😭 I can understand your e ink idea, but I want display buttons.
How about making them tactile by placing small vibration motors under the display so it’s simulate a click like the trackpad of MacBooks or newer iPhones do? Then you could mount them static
Hopefully it will become a module you can attach. That would be cool
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.
Gotta say, this is a way, waaay better design and layout -overall- than the previous design (to me). Obviously there are some bad parts but overall it is way better
Good work
Those brandy/whiskey glasses are sick!
For the V3 you should add some drainage holes. If you can print a clam shell that actually protects your keys major step forward
So, i do use zeals. My current kb is a keeb kbo5k, which is a split, with a usbc bridge.
I'd spring for a 3 way, and would put some lpots on one of the 3.
might i recommend using Ethernet jacks for the halves of the keyboard? its click-in nature makes it ideal imo.
also cheap.
OR even better, old style Midi/gamepad ports or Serial for that extra flare of 90's energy and the screw-in tabs are useful.
Sata is NOT sturdy nor reliable though
What about a magnetic pogo pin interface on the sides and some sort of lock to lock the “halves” together or for a more split look use a braided x-pin din type cable with adapters that mag to the mag pogo pin connectors.
Thanks for the design files I want to make it a little easier to use so I’m a switch the sate cable for some magnets so it can connect :) or use nickel strips solder wire to it and put magnets behind them son it works like a full keyboard without a big cut in the middle
You triggered my PTSD when you said the words "it works fine for me".
Hate those words so much.
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!
New drinking game: Take a shot whenever he says "Mirage". I bet half of you will be blackout drunk before the intro even finishes lmfao
Due to capitalization, I read this as My Rage. I now see that was perfectly correct. Looking spiffy!
You may consider this "Hacktic" feedback. The splitable keyboard is still a good idea, thought I would have gone with USB-C rather than SATA cables. If you add a USB hub and simply map the keys to their appropriate counterpart it should work.
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.
Gotta say Zack, I really enjoy your channel, a large part of that is your freestylin' cybertalk! 🙂
honestly, brilliant work. Can't wait to see how this pans out. Definitely some money here
if you go with the right side modules I really hope someone makes a tiny beatmania controller for it. 9 keys and an encoder so it's also pop'n compatible.
I want a track pad (with physical buttons) and a scroll wheel.
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?
I believe this could be the elite HTPC keyboard.
Add a trackball (or a trackpad if you're a heathen), scroll wheel, mouse buttons at the corner. Make it Bluetooth and you're golden.
I'd say the corsair k83 is one of the better htpc keyboards but the key ghosting makes it unusable. Plus the trackpad is hard to use. The one thing it does right is the placement of the mouse buttons.
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.
For the USB plug at a different height than the socket: could you make a Xiao-sized cutout in your board with edge plated pads, slide the Xiao in flat and solder it laying on the table? Then the connector would be at the correct height.
Would HDMI have been appropriate for the pinout requirements?
I know this qn is now redundant. Curious.
or micro hdmi?
@@flamestoyershadowkill Niiiiiice. 😎
"everything always goes to plan as long as I write the plan last" is a legendary line that I am absolutely stealing
I have a not too appealing idea but I'm gonna say it anyway why not make the e-ink screen/knobs as a split module so I can still have the option to not have it on the keyboard or have a combination of knobs and screens