Possible to build square layout?

[kikim792]

Hi,

I am interested in building a keyboard with a square grid layout. Couple of motivations behind are:

- Other than a historical reason, modern keyboard does not need to follow legacy layout.
- With square layout, it would be easier to enter numbers using keys UIO/JKL, etc

Is it possible to build one using commercially available kits? Any pointer to get me started is appreciated.

Thanks.

KK

[plegnic]

ortholinearkeyboards.com. Looks like the Atomic might be more what you are looking for?

[kikim792]

@plegnic,

It's nice except it is missing the top row for ESC and function keys.

Thanks.

[suicidal_orange]

Another option would be a point of sale board, such as the Access one in this classified.

[SonOfSonOfSpock]

If you are okay with scissor switches, your picture looks a lot like the TypeMatrix 2030 keyboard. I know that doesn't answer your question about building a keyboard though.

[davkol]

You definitely want separate halves, or a at least a hole between them. The grid forces quite aggressive ulnar deviation otherwise, if you touch type using the standard technique. It's not that bad on a low-profile keyboard, such as the TypeMatrix, but sucks with more profiled, tall keys.

There are plenty of POS matrix keyboards. Usually from Access-IS or Tipro. The latter usually support daisy-chaining. There's been the Humble Hacker project and later GH36x2 as well, but it seems samwisekoi has abandoned it…?

I don't see the point of not going the whole way to a columnar layout with dedicated thumb clusters though, unless you're on budget and want to reuse existing parts.

[Oobly]

You definitely want separate halves, or a at least a hole between them. The grid forces quite aggressive ulnar deviation otherwise, if you touch type using the standard technique. It's not that bad on a low-profile keyboard, such as the TypeMatrix, but sucks with more profiled, tall keys.

There are plenty of POS matrix keyboards. Usually from Access-IS or Tipro. The latter usually support daisy-chaining. There's been the Humble Hacker project and later GH36x2 as well, but it seems samwisekoi has abandoned it…?

I don't see the point of not going the whole way to a columnar layout with dedicated thumb clusters though, unless you're on budget and want to reuse existing parts.

+1

[qisqaqas]

Possible. Check this guy's project here. He did something similar