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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: Yihui on Thu, 22 October 2020, 22:17:49

Title: PYKB 1.0.0-alpha.1 is released! It's a powerful keyboard firmware
Post by: Yihui on Thu, 22 October 2020, 22:17:49

PYKB is a highly extensible keyboard firmware. It is similar to TMK/QMK. But it is written in Python and is based on CircuitPython.
PYKB 1.0.0-alpha.1 is just released at https://github.com/makerdiary/python-keyboard (https://github.com/makerdiary/python-keyboard). It includes lots of features:

+ USB & Bluetooth LE
+ Up to 10 Bluetooth paired devices
+ A easy-to-configure keymap
+ RGB backlight
+ Powerful Macro and Pair-keys
+ Mouse keys
+ Low latency (about 4.5 ms on USB connection)
+ Low power consumption (about 0.16mA with Bluetooth connection)

One of the goal of the project is to make keyboards more productive. To do that, PYKB introduced the multiple-layers keymap and the Tap-key from TMK. These functions can help us to define a keymap to keep our fingers at the home row for most of the time. For example, we can use D as a Tap-key to access arrow keys more quickly.

(https://github.com/makerdiary/python-keyboard/raw/main/img/d-for-navigation.png)

You may wonder if a keyboard firmware written in Python can be low latency and low power consumption. While, the critical part is written C instead.
We tested the latency of a PYKB powered keyboard with a Raspberry Pi and a relay. The keyboard latency is about 4.5 ms on USB connection.

(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/948283/92581718-9bd18c00-f2c2-11ea-9c0e-4d8bba6180c1.png)

Learn more at https://github.com/makerdiary/python-keyboard (https://github.com/makerdiary/python-keyboard).

Title: Re: PYKB 1.0.0-alpha.1 is released! It's a powerful keyboard firmware
Post by: ycanales on Fri, 23 October 2020, 07:51:24

Awesome! Will check out the linked pages.