I’ve made the 0.1 design available to the public now.

Ive been using it for a few weeks myself and its quite nice to use, particularly with the aluminium chassis (the GitHub repo has FDM and CNC designs).

In any case, for those curious the GitHub is here: https://github.com/MickiusMousius/RolioKeyboard

I am working on the V1.0 model, PCB’s should arrive in a few days. I think the V1.0 release should be good enough for others to make. The current model is nice, but there are a lot of improvements in the pipeline particularly regarding aesthetics.

V1.0 sample below:

  • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
    12·
    1 year ago

    That’s so awesome. In amazed you’ve put it all out there for others to sell. I’m sure it’s going to show up on AliExpress pre-made soon. I’d happily buy this.

    • Followupquestion@lemm.ee
      4·
      1 year ago

      Exactly this. I need a number row for work or gaming which limits the split and ergo keyboard options significantly.

      • Siegvar@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Does the Lily58 or Iris fit your needs better then? Or is there something else about this board that trumps those other 2?

        The primary difference to me seems to be roller vs rotary encoder and number row. And while I too, prefer rollers over rotary encoders :D… if the number row is critical to your use case those boards seem to be a better option.

        • Followupquestion@lemm.ee
          4·
          1 year ago

          The Iris looks good, as does the Lily58, but my ideal board for work would be a split with a trackball on the right and a scroll wheel on the left, preferably with a bit of a dactyl style tilt for better ergos. I’m pretty new to mechanical keyboards in general, so if a roller or rotary encoder is what I really need to get those, I humbly apologize for using the wrong terms.

          • Siegvar@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            Ah, okay good to know you’ve seen those. Just wanted to check in case you missed something that suited you perfectly. It sounds like you have a clear image of what your ideal keyboard would be. 👍

            Also I have no idea if I’m using the terms right either but I think the roller is the same as the scroll wheel? And rotary encoders would be those dial knobs.

            I’m with you on having a trackball on the right half and a scroll wheel on the left, that sounds amazing. 😁

            • Followupquestion@lemm.ee
              1·
              1 year ago

              I can visualize it, I just don’t have the necessary skills to bring it to life. Oh, and ideally it would have hot-swappable switches, LED lighting, and be quiet so if I put in silent switches the board wouldn’t interrupt my podcast listening. You know, simple things like all of the above at a reasonable price.

        • Followupquestion@lemm.ee
          3·
          1 year ago

          It’s extra key presses hundreds or thousands of times a day ( I work with numbers). I also need a 10 key, but a separate 10 key is fine. I’ve been eyeing one of the ergonomic keyboards with the trackball because the central trackball would cut my hand movement by 50% (estimated).

          • MickiusMousius@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            This one does have a “math mode”, if the numbers layer key is double tapped it locks in the numbers and other “maths buttons” until the numbers layer key is tapped again.

            Next I’d like to make a macro pad that has a ten key mode for “home use” with some big rotary encoders that matches the style of the Rolio (to be called Twistio).

            That said, I am tempted to make a split with a number row (Rolio Max?). If I do that then there will be enough room for a 5 way stick below the roller encoder, I couldn’t fit that in this one. But this would be more for “fun” as I quite like the Corne after having used both the Sofle and Corne.

            That said, it’ll need to be much later this year, I have a CNC machine on order. I’d not want to prototype something like this again without a CNC machine of my own. The process is a bit expensive, the controllers and displays are a bit pricey too IMO (though still good value given what goes into making them).

            • Followupquestion@lemm.ee
              3·
              1 year ago

              The “math mode” Is cool, but the Max sounds better for a mix of let’ letters and numbers. I saw a one-piece board on here with a central trackball that looked almost perfect but I really like the idea of a split because I’ve got wide shoulders so the angle of most ergo boards is still not enough to make them perfectly comfortable for me. A split with a trackball on one side and a scroll wheel on the other? That could be perfection.

  • UndeadLeech@lemmy.world
    3·
    1 year ago

    It’s interesting to see these rollers popping up some more, especially with two posts about them in such a short period of time(https://lemmy.world/post/4760068?scrollToComments=true). They’re much better than the normal rotary encoders and I’ve enjoyed using mine a lot. Though sourcing them is unfortunately a bit tricky (and thus on the more expensive side).

    I’m currently making a new board using the Nintendo Switch joysticks to replace them, I’m curious how the two compare.

    • MickiusMousius@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I’d love to see that.

      I have a design I’m tinkering with as an idea that has two 5 way sticks. The actuation force is too high IMO, but I could not find a suitable digital switch.

      Are you interfacing to the switch sticks using analog or do you have some nice low power digital solution?

    • MickiusMousius@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thanks.

      I took some hand measurements and this is what it came out with:

      I didn’t add the splay, I started to add it, but decided that in practical terms it likely doesn’t make much difference but it made things quite unwieldy looking.

      In practice I’ve found the pinky column needs to drop by about 3-4mm which is a change I have in the newest iteration.

  • Siegvar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    This is lovely. I’m currently using a lilty58 while leaving the number row empty, and have been looking for a board to downsize to. I don’t feel ready to go down to as low as 42 keys, so the corne is still a bit intimidating.

    This? This looks like the Goldilocks medium I need at the moment. 😆

    • MickiusMousius@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      No worries, you’re very welcome.

      If you’d like I can share the V1.01 files to you too. The improvements are also electrical as well as mechanical (eg some caps to smooth out the rollers). Otherwise I anticipate publishing in about 4ish weeks time.

    • MickiusMousius@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thankyou.

      I’ve started assembling V1 today. Which means I can finish the mechanical design this week. I’m looking forwards to having it, I think it’s going to look very nice.