System76 unveiled its first keyboard, which also happens to be the first open-source configurable mechanical keyboard. It is easy to swap out the keys, choose the type of switches (Royals which offer a muted clack, and Jades which produce an addictive click sound), can fully remap the key layout in software, it has RGB lighting, as well as it acts as a high-speed USB hub to plug additional USB devices into it.

That said it is fairly pricey at $285 and may lack the additional keys that gamers like to have (media control keys with volume, macro program keys, and number pad), and in my case I like the actual keycap lettering to be lit through the keys (that allows the RGB lighting in effect to change the "colour of the key" and can be quickly changed per game without mechanically removing the keycaps. It is possible though that in future, transparent keycaps could be available that will anyway achieve this, so it may not be a big drawback.

It is well-built though and has certainly packed some requested features in, and the split spacebar makes better use of space. Being open source hardware there is also a good chance of 3rd party support for keycaps and other features. My Redragon Yama mechanical keyboard for example has limited Linux support for the customisation side and I had to use Windows to program it.

See https://news.itsfoss.com/system76-launch-mechanical-keyboard/

#technology #opensource #hardware #keyboard #system76