Hyper 7 R3
Series: Keyboards
- Layout: 183-key Space Cadet
- Switches: Novelkeys Silk Red
- Keycaps: KAT Space Cadet
- Controller: AT90USB1286
- Firmware: QMK
When you absolutely positively gotta have as many buttons as possible, accept no substitutes. I got this in late 2023 and recently began work on a github fork of the QMK Hyper7 fork, starting with customizing the layout, and maybe someday working towards greater harmony with the QMK mainline. The Novelkeys Silk Reds are a welcome depature from my usual mega-clicky switches and are a lot of fun to type on. The Atmel AT90USB1286 microcontroller was presumably chosen for its wealth of IO lines. It has some to spare, in fact, even on the Hyper 7, so maybe someday I could solder a few more gadgets onto it…
Pros: Own and learn to customize QMK on one of the most unobtainable keyboards in the galaxy. I love knowing that the firmware is a good ole 8-bit C program that runs on a 128Kbyte microcontroller that I can pretty much do anything with, not unlike writing Aztec C on an Apple IIe.
Cons: You pretty much have to re-learn to type for the Hyper 7. It has one hell of a different layout. Not much documentation around. It isn’t even well-documented that the controller is put into programming mode by holding Function and tapping Reset, so there’s a free tip for you. Building the QMK fork is pretty straightforward at least.