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:
This is a super cool keyboard. I love the “roller”. I could be tempted to make one of these if it had the number row.
Exactly this. I need a number row for work or gaming which limits the split and ergo keyboard options significantly.
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.
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.
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. 😁
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
Do the layer options not work for you?
@hellweaver666
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).
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).
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.