XD75RE is an orthogonal keyboard with 75keys. Here with my blank XDA profile keycaps.
Welcome to the new family member
Today I finally finished building my latest keyboard – the XD75RE. This time I went for an Orthogonal type keyboard which basically means that the keys are aligned in rows and columns (and not staggered as on normal keyboards). This is my first of this type and I am looking very much forward to trying to use it more.
The keyboard has 5 rows of 15 keys and all of them are identical in size – 1u (i.e. like a normal single character key). I have it pre-installed with the TMK firmware but I have already started to implement my target keymap in QMK (Quantum Mechanic Keyboard) Firmware instead.
I have some SA Icecap keycaps coming that I plan to use on this keyboard. I am however pretty happy with the cheaper XDA profile keycaps I have on it right now so might end up sticking with those – we’ll see how it goes.
I might share some insights on the build process later – right now I will keep it at this short intro.
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XD75RE – A bit of specs:
Modifying the layout in keyboard-layout-editor.com
- XD75RE (75 u1 keys in orthogonal layout)
- underglow RGB lights (currently not showing as it is inside the case
- PBT XDA profile blank keycaps
- Cherry MX Brown switches
- Hotswap board for easy modification
- MicroUSB port,
- Stainless steel case
Layout ideas
My plan is to turn it into my daily driver for when I am programming. I hope to make a layout with the most common braces/brackets ([],{}, (), <> etc) in the center area where they can be directly available. Hopefully this should make it easier for me to program on the longer term – initially I will need to learn the new layout in my fingers.
Below is the default layout I use right now. It is something similar I want to make but more programming-centric and with more different layers (plus some sort of access to the Danish characters ÆØÅ).
Alternatively I could go for at least one layer that resembles the layout of a normal keyboard but orthogonally placed:
It will probably take some time to find the exact layout I will end up having.
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im also looking alternative keyboard, i also works with symbol often, like your layout, what do you prefer, xd75re or viterbi keyboard from keeb.io?
They are quite similar and very different at the same time. Split vs full, case vs sandwich etc.
I personally swap a lot between using full and split and here they give me the possibility of having same key layout.
On my work-desk there however tend to get a bit dusty so I usually try to use keyboards in a closed case there.