Description
The Charybdis is a powerful ergonomic keyboard with a trackball designed to bring you the best of ergonomics available on the market, with a feature-full keymap and powerful thumb cluster. Its concave shape reduces finger travel, and ensures the keys are optimally placed under your hands. The trackball completely replaces your mouse with plenty of shortcuts available, and is conveniently placed close to thumb. Fully open source, it can be easily configured to fit your exact needs.
The Charybdis is a reference in the enthusiast ergonomic keyboard world for more than 4 years, and has been consistently upgraded to bring you the best experience possible.
Powerful trackball keyboard
Feature-full keymap
The keyboard comes with a Qwerty keymap, and multiple mod keys on the thumbs like Alt and Control.
It also includes convenient shortcuts like right and left click, and even scrolling!
You can check out the video below, or check out the full details online.
Easy to customize
Use the VIA online visual interface to easily change the keys, RGB, and even macros on your keyboard.
If you want to go further, you can do so with QMK and we provide extensive online documentation that guides you through every step of the way.
Build it yourself
If you are ready to build your own curved ergonomic keyboard, this is the ideal way.
Each kit comes with high quality parts, and detailed build guides. Grab high quality 3d printed parts from the shop, or print them yourself!
The controllers come flashed with a default keymap that’s easy to use, and easy to customize.
Detailed build guides
We put multiple years into developing our DIY kits, to make sure that they are easy to build and – if necessary – to fix.
The build guides contain very detailed explanations, with pictures included. They are also regularly updated based on user feedback.
Email and community support
Did something go wrong during the build or use? You can check the various self-help topics on the online docs, email us for support, or ask the Discord community.
All of our keyboards are designed from the ground up to be easily fixable, with schematics available and detailed instructions for the most frequent issues.
Purposefully crafted
Made in The Netherlands
We design all of our keyboards from the ground up in The Netherlands, EU.
All of the kits are produced and packaged in-house, in our office in Dordrecht. They go through multiple steps of Quality Assurance and testing, and rigorous processes to ensure a consistently high quality. Along all those the years, we upgraded the design based on user feedback, to make the designs easier to build and use, more reliable, more powerful.
We ship internationally, with regular and express options.
High quality components
When creating our kits, we choose only the best components available. This includes the Prusament Galaxy Black PLA from Prusa3d, carefully selected durable screws, custom PCBs. We run each of our designs through hundreds of iterations and multiple stress tests including dropping, bending, heat, to make sure that you get a bulletproof product.
We keep tuning and upgrading our printers to ensure the best visual quality possible, and working with manufacturers to get higher quality PCBs and internal components.
When you get a Bastard Keyboard, you buy the best keyboard we ever made so far.
Future-proof
All our keyboards use the powerful RP2040 chip and a big memory chip 16MBit), which make them ready for years of use and firmware updates.
Store multiple keymaps, add special RGB modes, craft an auto-complete dictionary… the limit is your imagination! (and technical skills 😉 ). We are also actively working on new firmware, to bring you all the latest bells and whistles, crush bugs, and make the user experience smoother.
With an included 3 years of warranty, you can rest assured your keyboard will only get better with the years.
Open values
All Bastard Keyboards are fully open-source: 3d models, PCBs, Bills of Materials, firmware.
They have been forked on Github countless times, and inspired a whole wave of new DIY ergonomic keyboards – serving as a reference and example.
Their hardware is designed to be modified, reused, adapted for other creations. They are also easy to repair, with open schematics and detailed guides and examples.
User feedback
For years now, we take the feedback of our users at heart – modifying the 3d design, firmware, documentation to make sure you get all the tools needed to use and customize your keyboard. Whenever we change something or bring a new feature, we discuss it with the community to make sure the change makes sense and brings a truly better quality of use.
Community
Our Discord community is full of builders, creators, enthusiasts. You will feel right at home!
This is also where we brainstorm new ideas, and share progress on projects.
Online support
We stand behind our products, and on top of our warranty you will find extensive documentation to guide you through using and customizing your keyboard.
We are also always available by email or Discord, and will provide spare parts and replacements on demand if anything goes wrong.
Technical specifications
- Print: .15mm layer height, .4mm nozzle, Prusament Galaxy Black PLA, printed on Prusa MK3.5s + Prusa MK4s
- Controller: custom RP2040 Splinktegrated with 16MBit of memory
- Sensor: Custom PMW3360-based PCB
- Connection: TRS cable + USB-C cable, included
- Firmware: QMK
- Keycaps: MDA (optional). Compatible with: MT3, DSA, XDA, SA, PBT profiles
- PCBs: custom .6mm flexible PCBs
- Warranty: 3 years