Wanted an Alice. Didn’t want to spend $900 on a used Alice when I wasn’t sure I liked the layout, or needed to drop that kind of money on a Keeb.
Decided to learn pcb design over the holiday break - and this is the result
Running on QMK, still working out some kinks with the firmware (I’m much better at hardware than software) but I’m currently daily driving this board at home and work!
The layout is interesting… more comfy than a standard layout for your wrists (having broken one of mine a couple times, this is a big deal for me as I still get pain from it), but makes you reach for modifiers a bit more than a traditional layout.
The extra key next to N also is a gripe of mine - I hit it 1/3 times I go for N, but I am used to ortho, so that may contribute.
Overall, a very fun project, and a great learning experience!
I do plan on running a group buy of these at some point - everyone keeps asking but I need to get some more quotes on pcb assembly - I also have a version that runs off a teensy I created a pcb for - that may be more practical for me to actually produce and sell.
Anyways, happy Thursday everybody, let me know what you think!
And here I was, throwing around the idea of a Wood/Brass sandwich Alice layout board! Well, hopefully this’ll go into GB soon and we can get it for (relatively) cheap, and I can eventually make my own case for it.
Just another quick iPhone pic I snapped - working on a couple updates to make this compatible with the actual Alice (really just need to add 2 holes - working very slowly due to work, school and several other pcb projects)
Also going to slightly larger than 0402 components on the next revision, as they don’t need to be that small for any reason. Gonna push the board to QMK sometime in the next week, and start getting some quotes on getting a small batch pre assembled
If you could get a buy together for pre-assembled ones with an FR4 pseudo-case until good sandwich cases start getting together, that would be absolutely fantastic.
but I need to get some more quotes on pcb assembly - I also have a version that runs off a teensy I created a pcb for - that may be more practical for me to actually produce and sell.
