Sofle v2
Posted Nov 5, 2020, 11:11 PM UTC
12016
What kind of USB connector is that? Magnetic?
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Yes. A Netdot magnetic cable. The idea is not to have to continually strain the pro micro connector.
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Well done on putting this together based on the develop branch! I am happy you managed to figure out all the quirks (was the cutout for encoder in the top plate big enough for your encoders?
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Hah. Thanks. It needed a bit of force to be honest but I got them in there.
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About to put my Sofle v2 together in the next couple days. Any tips woth sharing?
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I wrote up a few things in the comments below.
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A friend and I have a few PCBs of the V2 arriving soon, any tips, or quirks to help us out? :D
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Be careful that the build guide doesn't exist for the second version and there are some differences (pro micro is connected differently, flipped on one half, check shchematic/pcb in kicad). Also I had to file the cutout for encoders in the top plate since they hole was too small. Might differ a bit depending on encoders and manufacturer of pcb's. Good luck
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You can also see how to connect the pro micro's on the image above, that's a good reference.
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I don't think that the pro micro in this build has the same pin configuration as other pro micros. See here: https://www.40percent.club/2018/01/pro-micros.html
The top two pins will be RAW and TX. Just make sure that these go to RAW and TX on the PCB.
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I love the sofle layout.
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It is nice. v2 has a pinkie stagger similar to the Kyria and moves the bottom row in.
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Looks great!
Any interesting keymaps/layers?
Any build tips for people about to order some PCBs?
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I flashed it with the default Sofle keymap as per the readme and it worked fine. My keymap might be a bit unusual to be much use. It uses a modified Colemak layout and a bunch of combos for compatability with much smaller boards. I can upload a fork to github if you're interested.
The build was pretty straight forward. I found the surface mount diodes a bit tricky at first, but they get easier the more you do. Melt a tiny blob of solder on one of the pads, then put the diode on top of the blob before reflowing it.
The tap term is set too low for my tastes, so when I put together my own keymap I had to change that. And then to get it working correctly with the cable on both sides I added #define EE_HANDS to my config and flashed the left and right sides differently following the qmk docs here: https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/using-qmk/hardware-features/feature_split_keyboard#handedness-by-eeprom.
I'm still waiting on a few parts to clear customs but have a few kits left over. If you want one PM me.
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hey friend. im setting up to build myself one. i sent you a pm :)
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I wanted to build a Sofle and thought that I would try version 2. The designer has a writeup about the keyboard here: https://josef-adamcik.cz/electronics/soflekeyboard-evolving.html. Source files are here: https://github.com/josefadamcik/SofleKeyboard/tree/develop. It's a bit bigger than what I've been using the last couple of months (a 4 row Nyquist) and is my first column stagger keyboard. So far it feels very comfortable and I don't think that it will take long to get used to at all.