A maker-friendly QWERTY handheld USB keyboard with a silicone keypad.
Solder Party were having increasing difficulty sourcing the parts for their BB-based keyboard products. So they created the KeebDeck Keyboard - a fully-custom silicone keypad, designed with makers and hackers in mind.
KeebDeck Basic is Solder Party's first product that features the KeebDeck Keyboard. It's a fully assembled handheld keyboard that's easy to incorporate into your projects and cyberdeck builds. You could also connect it to your phone if you prefer to type on a physical keyboard!
It exposes the key presses as a USB HID over USB Type-C. The board includes an unpopulated Qwiic connector footprint on the back, and test points with an I2C interface compatible with previous BBQ10/BBQ20 boards.
What you get
- A KeebDeck Basic handheld keyboard, assembled and ready to use. Just add a USB-C cable!
About KeebDeck Basic
By default, the board is running the QMK firmware, an alternative FW can be flashed to enable the I2C interface. With this firmware, you can use the same BBQ10/BBQ20 libraries as with previous products.
Since the board implements a standard USB HID keyboard interface, it can be used with desktop computers (Windows/Linux/Mac OS), smartphones (iOS/Android), and SBCs (Raspberry Pi, etc).
The KeebDeck Basic is powered by the STM32F042 microcontroller. The board itself uses two PCBs sandwiched together, keeping the KeebDeck Keyboard in place. Threaded SMD standoffs are soldered to the back cover, and Phillips-head screws are used to keep the front cover attached.
The board also features an unpopulated footprint for an optional Boot button on the back (not required for normal operation). Because of a small design bug, if the footprint is shorted by a finger when plugging in the USB cable, the device might boot into the bootloader. To counter this, nail polish has been applied on top of the Boot button footprint. Note that the boot button is not required to boot into the bootloader, all you have to do is hold the Esc button while plugging in the USB cable, and the QMK firmware will boot the microcontroller into the bootloader. However, if you do want a dedicated boot button, the nail polish has to be removed before soldering.
Solder Party have created a 3D-printable frame for the board. This optional frame gives the board a more rounded shape and acts as a good starting point for your own 3D designs for the KeebDeck Basic.
The board also features unpopulated footprints for LED backlight circuitry. You can solder the missing parts to add a backlight to the keyboard.
Note: The MCU GPIOs are not 5V-tolerant! (USB still works as expected)
About the KeebDeck Keyboard
The KeebDeck Keyboard is a compact (85x48mm) 69-key alphanumeric silicone keypad with an orthogonal layout based on standard PC keyboards. It has all the keys a hacker would expect and a few extra ones that can be used as macros. The keypad sits on a snap dome sheet, giving it a tactile feel that's comfortable even for extended thumb-typing sessions.
The keyboard utilizes a sandwich-style design, requiring a specific footprint to be placed on a PCB so that the adhesive dome sheet can be applied on top of the footprint. The silicone keypad then goes on top of the dome sheet and requires a top case (another PCB, a 3D-printed/milled/etc. cover) that will keep the keypad in place. The required spacing between the two surfaces is 2.0mm.
Find out more at www.keebdeck.com!