Designing and Building Custom Keyboards ⌨️ with Python
summary
Shows a complete PCB workflow implemented in Python using GDSFactory and demonstrates a working 58‑key Lily58 keyboard built with an Arduino microcontroller, hot‑swappable sockets, encoders, and LEDs, with firmware flashed using QMK/CMK. Presents typing‑layout metrics (a Dvorak‑style layout placing ~70% of common letters on the home row vs ~30% for QWERTY), and demonstrates Python scripts that extract frequent tokens from a codebase to adapt the key layout, plus a small prototype keyboard that types and controls volume.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Welcome
- 1:44QWERTY history
- 3:51Compact layouts
- 6:44Split keyboards
- 8:33Custom parts
- 10:58The Vor layout
- 12:24Layout tools
- 14:55Practicing layouts
- 17:21Ergonomic improvements
- 19:07Why QWERTY persists
- 21:32Q&A
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