Au Revoir Microcontrollers! This Keyboard Is FPGA-Powered
Custom DIY keyboard "Clavier" packs FPGA power, 106 keys, a 1,000Hz polling rate, Cherry MX switches, and an open source design.
Doesn’t it seem like everything sounds better in French? I mean, who wants a sandwich when you can have a croque monsieur? And who would rather listen to a song on the radio than a chanson? For that matter, why not ditch your keyboard for a clavier? Alright, so hardware may be the same no matter what you call it, but the custom keyboard built by L. Sartory is pretty exceptional in any case.
Named Clavier for reasons that should now be obvious, Sartory’s build is a full-size 105-key keyboard. Well, actually it has 106 keys, but that extra key has been set aside for the special purpose of locking your computer when you need to step away for un café. A custom four-layer PCB was designed for the project, and was populated with some nice and clicky Cherry MX switches.
Unlike most DIY keyboards, Clavier is not powered by a microcontroller. Rather, it packs an FPGA for the ultimate in speed. Because of this, it has a 1,000Hz polling rate and will never fail to register all key presses when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously. New gaming keyboard, anyone?
The keyboard circuit includes a JTAG interface for programming the FPGA, and a CH347F chip for handling USB communication with the host computer. Some of the FPGA’s GPIO pins are also exposed so that you can do some more advanced things with Clavier, like control external hardware.
A case for the keyboard can either be 3D-printed or CNC machined, depending on what equipment you have available to you and how fancy you want to get. All of the design files and firmware have been released under permissive licenses on GitHub. Go grab them and get hacking!