Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) Ortho PCB

14.00 inc. VAT

Choose Your Own Adventure Ortho (or CYOA Ortho for short) is a simple Pro Micro compatible ortho PCB that you can freely adjust to your preferences by snapping off rows or columns to make your perfect size keyboard.

Ortho (short for ortholinear) boards are boards where the keys are not staggered (like they are in the majority of keyboards) but instead in a grid layout. This not only gives a great aesthetic effect, but may be a more comfortable typing experience. CYOA Ortho is a simple and easy way to try this type of layout without going all in.

The board is a 5 row x 12 column board to begin with but with the perforations on the board you can make it almost any size down to 3 x 3. So you can build ortho layouts like the Preonic (5×12), Planck (4×12), Gherkin (3×10) or even a macro or num pad.

Features:

  • Incredibly flexible size options (anything from 3×3 to 5×12 is possible)
  • Configurable bottom row layout (can have 1 or 2 2u keys)
  • An optional rotary encoder (for things like volume, next/previous track)
  • Bare PCB for you to mount or put in a case in whatever way you like best
  • Open source and licensed with the CERN Open Hardware License

See what’s included and what’s not included in the description below. Find the build guide here, the firmware here and the flashing guide here. 

You will need a separate microcontroller to build this keyboard. It’s not included, but we sell them here (Pro Micro), here (USB-C) and here (RP2040 Pro Micro).

Availability: In stock (can be backordered)

SKU: 017 Category:

What’s included:

  • Black printed circuit board (NB no base plate or switch plate is included like our other kits, this is just the PCB)
  • Diodes (60)

What’s not included (and you’ll need you source yourself):

  • A case (3D printed case designs are sold here and available to print yourself here)
  • A switch plate (this is optional, the PCB has 5 pin holes so you can go plateless on your build)
  • MX or choc (v1 only) compatible switches (3 pin or 5 pin, up to 60 of them depending on the layout)
  • A controller (Pro Micro, Pro Micro USB-C, RP2040 Pro Micro or compatible footprint controllers like the Elite-C, Nice!Nano, or RP2040 based controllers with a Pro Micro footprint)
  • Keycaps
  • PCB mount stabilisers (if you have a 4 or 5 row layout then you can optionally have 1 or 2 2u keys (‘spacebars’) in the middle of the row)
  • Rotary Encoder (we sell these here)

What tools and equipment will you need to build this keyboard:

  • A soldering iron
  • Solder
  • Flux (optional but recommended)
  • Flush cutters (these are super helpful in snapping the board to your preferred size)
  • A small amount of electrical tape (for preventing shorts on the keys directly above the controller)

Supported layouts:

 

   

5×12 Keyboard layout editor link and 4×12 Keyboard layout editor link

Supported layouts include:

  • Bottom row options (for both 4 row and 5 row variants, but not 3 row):
    • 2 x 2u in the middle
    • 2 x 1u, 1 x 2u
    • 1 x 2u, 2 x 1u
    • 1u, 2u, 1u
  • A single rotary encoder in one of 8 places (marked with e)

 

Weight 0.06 kg
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