A 60% ortho keyboard with a trackpad

It’s been about five months since I released the tamago60. In this dramatically delayed follow-up, I’ve made a few improvements. It’s not 100% done yet, but here’s a preview.

We’ve got an aluminum switchplate, a 40mm Cirque trackpad, and 58 hotswap sockets. All on a board that fits in a standard 60% tray-mount case.

There’s a KB2040 module stuck in the middle of it, which conveniently breaks out USB D+/D-, thus allowing me to relocate the USB port to the normal location on a 60%.

The trackpad is secured firmly to the switchplate by a 3D-printed mount.

I decided to finally try a PCBA service, and it went pretty seamlessly, except for the part where I put the Choc socket part number on the BOM instead of the MX one, thus delaying production by an extra week.

There are a few changes I’d like to make before the full release of this one.

The plan is to add some physical buttons for the trackpad, stick an RP2040 onboard, and maybe add an OLED. I’d like to switch to Choc sockets as well, but I think I recall that they would have interfered with the mounting features.

The design needs a bit of cosmetic polish before it looks like a premium keyboard. However, the typing feel is great. The sound is pretty good too, even without any lube or foam. The stabilizers rattle a little, but that can be easily fixed.

Even in its current form, it is a very usable keyboard. At least the trackpad is more practical than the last version’s joystick.