Keyboard

BuuKeeb

I've been wanting a decent mechanical keyboard for a while but I've been having a hard time finding something which fit into all of these categories:

• 100% (105 keys)
• ISO Enter
• QMK support
• LED indicators for Caps Lock, Numlock, and Scroll Lock (This one apparently is really difficult to find despite being standard in keyboards for centuries!)

I saw a Glorious PC GMMK Barebones Keyboard for 30€ which seemed to check all of these boxes (including per-key RGB which is a nice to have), but unfortunately the PCB revision I received had a crappy 8-bit MCU, which meant that writing QMK support for it would be infeasible. The case it came with was mostly metal and pretty nice however, so I decided to make a clone of the PCB, but with an STM32. This would also serve as a cool hardware design learning experience for me!

The BuuKeeb™®© features:

• 105 keys with ISO enter for the 0.01% population of the world who types on a Portuguese layout.
• Hotswappable MX switches.
• N-Key Rollover.
• Per Key LEDs on the north side, individually addressible. OpenRGB support. Key colors savable to persistent storage.
• STM32 MCU for QMK support.
• LED indicators for Caps Lock, Numlock, and Scroll Lock (incredible feature, I know).
• My face on the keyboard for added narcissism.
• Functional. Definitely.

Keyboard Macros:

• Alt GR + ESC - Clear the EEPROM
• Alt GR + F1 - Decrease the screen brightness
• Alt GR + F2 - Increase the screen brightness
• Alt GR + F3 - Projection mode (Windows + P)
• Alt GR + F4 - Open search bar
• Alt GR + F5 - Previous track
• Alt GR + F6 - Pause/Play
• Alt GR + F7 - Next track
• Alt GR + F8 - Mute
• Alt GR + F9 - Decrease volume
• Alt GR + F10 - Increase volume
• Alt GR + F11 - Decrease backlight brightness
• Alt GR + F12 - Increase backlight brightness
• Alt GR + PrntScr - Mute microphone
• Alt GR + ScrLck - Eject disk
• Alt GR + Pause - Suspend/Sleep PC
• CTRL + Alt GR + ESC - Save OpenRGB Direct Mode colors to persistent memory

Editing in KiCad

The design uses marbastlib for some components so make sure you have that installed before opening the project in KiCad.

Ordering

The production folder provides all the files you need for JLCPCB. You can zip up the entire folder and feed it to JLC.

During the BOM selection, you can refer to the bom-JLCPCB Assembly Order.xls file to look at what components I used when I ordered my PCBs.

Compiling the QMK Firmware:

1. Download the OpenRGB QMK Community Module repository.
2. Place it inside the qmk_firmware/modules folder and rename it to openrgb
3. If your copy of the qmk firmware does not ship with a buukeeb folder inside the qmk_firmware/keyboards folder, copy the QMK folder from my repository and put it inside the qmk_firmware/keyboards, renaming it to buukeeb (alternatively place a symbolic link instead).
4. Compile the firmware using your preferred method. I am on Linux so I used qmk compile -kb buukeeb -km default.
5. To flash the keyboard, hold down the BOOT button on the back of the board (above the 3 status indicator LEDs) and plug it into the PC. You can then let go of the button and flash it using your preferred method. I am on Linux so I used qmk flash -kb buukeeb -km default.

Special Thanks:

• BigBass for helping me out with a bunch of KiCad questions and reviewing my PCB designs.
• Keyboard Atelier Discord community for helping me and doing a keyboard review. Specific shoutouts to Quark, Indeed, Moo, The Great Advisor Xaetral™, Sune, and SenseiZéッ for answering general questions. Another big thanks to cadiremar, galile0, Jubakuba, and SenseiZéッ for the keyboard review.
• QMK Discord community for helping me bugfix. Specific shoutout to Drashna Jael're for identifying the LED bug.
• OpenRGB Discord community for answering some OpenRGB questions. Specific shoutout to CalcProgrammer1 for answering my questions.