About Split Keyboards - Microcontrollers
Which microcontrollers do I need?
A microcontroller forms the brain of your keyboard.
Applies to DIY kits only. The choice will already have been made for you in preassembled kits, and your kit's product page
will tell you more about its capabilities.
Which microcontroller you need, depends on what you want to do with it.
For any Aurora Series keyboard, including the Kyria rev 3, you'll need a Pro Micro form-factor controller. This form-factor is one of the most common in use in split keyboards, and we offer a few options you can choose from:
- If you're making a wired keyboard, we recommend using the Liatris.
- It makes use of a RP2040 controller, which is very capable, reliable and won't limit you in the use of firmware functionality. Older controllers (such as the Pro Micro and Elite-C) used an ATmega32u4, which provided limited space, RAM and speed.
- We designed it ourselves, which allowed us to implement a semi-automatic quality assurance process. This greatly reduces the chance of you discovering something wrong with it after you start to use it. Alternatives often aren't individually tested.
- Alternatives such as the Elite-Pi can be suitable depending on your use case.
- If you're making a wireless keyboard, we recommend using a nice!nano.
- There aren't many alternatives available for wireless controllers. The alternatives that do exist have usually made poor choices when it comes to component selection (resulting in higher battery draw), or have slight compatibility issues that may or may not be noticeable depending on the keyboard you use.
In general, though: try to use two of the same microcontroller to ensure compatibility and to make the process of compiling firmware and flashing it a little easier.
Questions? Help us improve!
Do you have questions after reading the documentation? Do you have feedback about this page, or about the documentation in general? Please send us an email. You can use the buttons below which will open your mail client or app with a template, or send your mail to support@splitkb.com.