{"guid":"708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","title":"DIY: Build your own mechanical Keyboard","subtitle":null,"slug":"glt25-541-diy-build-your-own-mechanical-keyboard","link":"https://pretalx.linuxtage.at/glt25/talk/H7AVKF/","description":"The keyboard is your main interface to the computer and most of us use it for hours everyday.\nTherefore, it makes sense to have the keyboard customized to your liking.\nWe will explain what mechanical keyboards are and what different levels of customization are possible and why you may want them. Additionally we present the necessary tools, skills and resources you need and show you how easy it is to either modify a commercial keyboard or create your own - completely new from scratch.\n\n# DIY: Build your own mechanical Keyboard\n### Why, how, and how deep is the rabbit hole?\n\nImproving the office setup usually doesn't go much further than buying an\nergonomic chair or maybe a wrist rest.\nHowever, the keyboard is your main interface to the computer and most of us use\nit for hours everyday without ever thinking about it.\nTherefore, it makes sense to improve the experience and have the keyboard\ncustomized to your liking.\n\nThis can be done with mechanical keyboards, which are often seen as\nsuperior to the more common membrane keyboards. \nThey usually offer a better typing experience with options for tactile and audible (clicky) feedback,\nare more durable and damaged keys can be easily replaced, while switches can even be hot-swapped.\nAdditionally they allow all kinds of customizations up to a completely custom build.\n\nFirst, we will explain what mechanical keyboards are, how they work and why you may want one.\nTo illustrate this, we will briefly tell about our journeys and different\nreasons why we finally ended up building our own keyboards.\n\nNext, we will talk about different levels of \"building your own\" keyboard. \nStarting from programming different layouts and exchanging switches on a\ncommercial one, over changing the firmware up to completely building a\nkeyboard, either from some open hardware project or from scratch,\ncreating your own unique keyboard.\n\nWe will explain in detail the different customization options, which skills and\ntools are necessary, which resources are available and how easy it really is to\nbuild a keyboard.\nAdditionally, we will show demos of what can be built and what can be achieved\nwith different levels of customization.\n\nAt the end of our talk you will know about:\n- All required components of a keyboard\n- What level of customization you might want\n- How and where to start with your own mechanical keyboard project\n\nLicensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","original_language":"eng","persons":["Martin Lechner","Patrick Thorbauer"],"view_count":267,"promoted":false,"date":"2025-04-26T16:00:00.000+02:00","release_date":"2025-04-26T00:00:00.000+02:00","updated_at":"2026-04-19T09:30:04.860+02:00","tags":["541","2025","glt25","Hardware","HS i13","glt25-eng","Day 2"],"length":2807,"duration":2807,"thumb_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/glt/2025/541-708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d.jpg","poster_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/glt/2025/541-708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d_preview.jpg","timeline_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/glt/2025/541-708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d.timeline.jpg","thumbnails_url":"https://static.media.ccc.de/media/events/glt/2025/541-708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d.thumbnails.vtt","frontend_link":"https://media.ccc.de/v/glt25-541-diy-build-your-own-mechanical-keyboard","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_title":"Grazer Linuxtage 2025","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25","related":[],"recordings":[{"size":42,"length":2807,"mime_type":"audio/mpeg","language":"eng","filename":"glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_mp3.mp3","state":"new","folder":"mp3","high_quality":false,"width":0,"height":0,"updated_at":"2025-04-26T18:29:03.665+02:00","recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/glt25/mp3/glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_mp3.mp3","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/87263","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25"},{"size":26,"length":2807,"mime_type":"audio/opus","language":"eng","filename":"glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_opus.opus","state":"new","folder":"opus","high_quality":false,"width":0,"height":0,"updated_at":"2025-04-26T18:28:29.568+02:00","recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/glt25/opus/glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_opus.opus","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/87262","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25"},{"size":225,"length":2807,"mime_type":"video/webm","language":"eng","filename":"glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_webm-hd.webm","state":"new","folder":"webm-hd","high_quality":true,"width":1920,"height":1080,"updated_at":"2025-04-27T00:17:07.078+02:00","recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/glt25/webm-hd/glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_webm-hd.webm","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/87358","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25"},{"size":86,"length":2807,"mime_type":"video/webm","language":"eng","filename":"glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_webm-sd.webm","state":"new","folder":"webm-sd","high_quality":false,"width":720,"height":576,"updated_at":"2025-04-26T23:58:56.715+02:00","recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/glt25/webm-sd/glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_webm-sd.webm","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/87356","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25"},{"size":79,"length":2807,"mime_type":"video/mp4","language":"eng","filename":"glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_sd.mp4","state":"new","folder":"h264-sd","high_quality":false,"width":720,"height":576,"updated_at":"2025-04-26T18:40:42.317+02:00","recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/glt25/h264-sd/glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_sd.mp4","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/87266","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25"},{"size":303,"length":2807,"mime_type":"video/mp4","language":"eng","filename":"glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_hd.mp4","state":"new","folder":"h264-hd","high_quality":true,"width":1920,"height":1080,"updated_at":"2025-04-26T18:16:26.963+02:00","recording_url":"https://cdn.media.ccc.de/events/glt25/h264-hd/glt25-541-eng-DIY_Build_your_own_mechanical_Keyboard_hd.mp4","url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/recordings/87260","event_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/events/708a54b0-f0d8-5fe8-9858-d4c65b0beb5d","conference_url":"https://api.media.ccc.de/public/conferences/glt25"}]}