• CustomKeyboards

Things I could hack into a cyberdeck

Including these because I'd customise the body into something else, or try to anyway.

There's quite a few offerings when it comes to wireless mechanical keyboards these days, they're very well featured and should suit a lot of people looking for 60% form-factor boards.

Common features include

• Wireless to dongle, or bluetooth connectivity
• A long-lasting rechargeable battery
• Charging via USB-C, and of course lets you use the board hardwired to the PC
• A choice of mechanical switches

Purchasing concerns and criteria

• Physical footprint
• Weight, because this is likely to be like half of the weight of the finished deck
• Mechanical switch choice
• Overall thickness
• Key layout and practicality for hacking
• Backlit keys

Products

• https://www.pccasegear.com/products/55745/keychron-k7-wireless-lp-hot-swap-mech-keyboard-optical-brown

• https://www.pccasegear.com/products/55755/keychron-k6-wireless-abs-rgb-hot-swap-mech-keyboard-gat-brown

• https://www.pccasegear.com/products/56099/durgod-fusion-navigator-wireless-mech-keyboard-mx-brown

• https://www.pccasegear.com/products/48043/ducky-one-2-sf-rgb-mechanical-keyboard-cherry-brown

• https://www.pccasegear.com/products/51841/cooler-master-sk622-w-wireless-rgb-mech-keyboard-lp-red

Compare

Reassessment in mid 2024

Wireless in an integrated unit is kinda dumb and pointless, go with wired. Better yet, go cheap and see how awful it is first.

So I went trawling on Aliexpress, there are a lot of offerings. Criteria is still about the same:

• Small
• Lightweight
• Backlit keys
• Decent switch feel
• USB-C cabled, no hardwired cable

What I found:

1. 60% wired USB-C
   • Red keyswitches
   • Backlit
   • Minimal or no bezel, might not be too chonky

   • About $10 AUD depending on shipping: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005709112214.html

2. 60% wired USB-C
   • Blue switches
   • Backlit
   • Has bezel, somewhat chonky

   • About $13 AUD: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006863948085.html

3. 60% wired USB-C
   • Red keyswitches
   • Backlit
   • Comes in blue
   • Very chonky, narrower bezel, has side desk lighting too

   • About $9 AUD depending on shipping: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006678124579.html

4. 60% wired USB-C
   • Red keyswitches
   • Backlit
   • Left-side USB-C cable
   • A bit more colourful than other options

   • About $17 AUD: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007171050895.html

5. 60% wired USB-C
   • RED AND WHITE
   • No backlight
   • Probably heavy

   • About $28 AUD: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006404345389.html

6. 60% wireless
   • More colourful
   • Dual wireless only, no wired
   • No backlight

   • About $11 AUD: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006782725990.html

What I bought

I went with option #1, you can't go past a total price of about $11.50 and fitting the rough physical criteria.

It's 450g, sturdy enough, detachable USB-C cable, has LED backlit keys, and hotswappable mechanical switches. The switches it came with are linear and feel really heavy, but it'll definitely do the job. It's absolutely unreasonable how decent it is for the price, and comes with a couple of spare switches, keycap and switch pullers, and a USB A-to-C cable that's a couple metres long.

On the downside, the LEDs are very garish and you don't get to pick the colours - from top to bottom the rows are orange/green/white/pink/orange. I'll need to remap the keys in linux so I can have arrow keys without hitting FN, as I need it for command line all the time.