CAD renderKeBe v2
Mechanical keys in straight columns, with Dvorak's letter order.
Pre-order. Currently shipping November 30.
Pre-order price, plus shipping.
Pre-order: plus shipping, calculated at checkout, and charged in full there; you can cancel for a full refund until it ships. Currently shipping November 30, to Canada and the US. Pre-order terms
FCC notice for US orders. KeBe v2 is subject to the rules of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and its FCC equipment authorization is not yet complete. Delivery to you is conditional on KeBe v2 successfully completing that authorization: no board ships to a US address before it does. The FCC's rules do not address the applicability of consumer protection, contractual, or other provisions under federal or state law. If the authorization is not completed, we cancel your order and refund it in full. You can cancel any time before your board ships for a full refund within 5 business days (see our pre-order terms).
Before you pre-order
Will I have to relearn typing?
Yes. Nothing sits where a standard keyboard puts it, so you learn KeBe as a new instrument instead of unpicking old habits one key at a time. Switching takes practice, and the first weeks are slower. The free typing trainer on this site teaches the layout one letter at a time, so you can start before your board arrives.
Does it work with my computer?
It is a USB keyboard: plug it in by USB-C and it types, with nothing to install.
How do I pay, and can I cancel?
By card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Link, in full at checkout, through Stripe. The card number goes to Stripe, not to us. You check out as a guest, with no account needed.
Cancel any time before your board ships for a full refund within 5 business days. If we can't ship by the date shown, we email you before it with a new date, and you can cancel for a full refund.
Why the keys are where they are
Dvorak's letters, in straight columns
KeBe's keys sit in straight columns on an 18 by 17 mm grid, so each finger moves straight up and down its own.
The home row does the work
The row your fingers rest on reads A O E U I under the left hand and D H T N S under the right. Add up how often each letter turns up in English and about 71% of the letters you type land on that row. On QWERTY's A S D F G H J K L it is about 34%, so two letters in three are a reach.
Symbols in the middle
The - = [ ] / \ keys a standard board leaves to your right pinky sit in the two middle columns, where your pointer fingers take them: far stronger fingers than your pinkies.
Typos fixed in the keyboard
The firmware carries a dictionary of common misspellings and corrects a word the moment you finish it, by itself, on any computer you plug into: accomodate becomes accommodate before you look up. Fn + A switches the whole thing off.
Also: 68 keys, ortholinear, Matrix-Dvorak · 4 × USB-C: 1 to the computer, 3 as a USB 2.0 hub · Kailh Choc v1 Brown: low-profile, tactile mechanical switches · Per-key RGB, 68 SK6812MINI-E LEDs. Full specifications
None of the v2 pictures here are photographs: the plain renders and the 3D model come straight from v2's CAD, and the desk, studio and night pictures and the clip set that CAD model in AI-generated scenes. For a built KeBe, see KeBe v1's photographs.
About the board
KeBe v2 is the mechanical KeBe: v1's 68-key Matrix-Dvorak keyboard with a USB hub built in. Four USB-C ports sit on the back edge: one goes to your computer, and the other three are a USB 2.0 hub for a mouse receiver, a flash drive or anything else that draws little power.
The case is one piece of black-dyed nylon, 8.65 mm tall against v1's 9.45, and it holds the board, switches and plate with snap-fit catches instead of screws. Kailh Choc low-profile mechanical switches sit in hot-swap sockets, so a switch changes without solder; sixty-eight SK6812MINI-E LEDs light the keys one by one, and the STM32F072 runs QMK, so a v1 keymap carries straight over.
Everything you see is black. The plate is FR4 with black soldermask, and the keycaps are black-coated, with the legends laser-engraved through the coating, so each LED lights its key's legend; the two 2U thumb keys are plain. Where a key has an Fn-layer legend, it sits below the main one.
Each keyboard is assembled by hand in Canada. None of the pictures or the clip are photographs: the plain renders and the 3D model come straight from v2's CAD, and the desk, studio and night pictures and the clip set that CAD model in AI-generated scenes.
Specifications
- Layout
- 68 keys, ortholinear, Matrix-Dvorak
- Switches
- Kailh Choc v1 Brown: low-profile, tactile mechanical switches
- Sockets
- Hot-swap: change switches without solder
- Keycaps
- Black-coated, with laser-engraved shine-through legends (the two 2U thumb keys plain)
- Lighting
- Per-key RGB, 68 SK6812MINI-E LEDs
- Connection
- Wired, USB-C
- Ports
- 4 × USB-C: 1 to the computer, 3 as a USB 2.0 hub
- Controller
- STM32F072, running QMK
- Case
- Black-dyed nylon, screwless snap-fit
- Plate
- FR4, black soldermask
- Case size
- 256.7 × 89.2 × 8.65 mm: the case; the switches and keycaps stand above it
- Assembly
- By hand in Canada
Shipping
A pre-order, charged in full at checkout and shipped to Canada and the United States. Currently shipping November 30.
Shipping goes by Canada Post. You choose the service at checkout, and it is added to the price.
US orders go by Canada Post with the US duties already paid, so there is nothing more to pay on delivery.
Questions about an order: support@grounders.app
Questions
- How is KeBe v2 different from KeBe Lite?
- The controller, the USB hub and its four USB-C ports, the per-key lights and the firmware are the same. The keys are not. KeBe v2 is mechanical: Kailh Choc low-profile switches in hot-swap sockets, under separate keycaps, so you can change a switch without solder. KeBe Lite is the slim, membrane one: hard plastic key tops on rubber domes, all 68 one moulded keypad, 10.95 mm to the key tops, at a lower planned price. KeBe Lite is planned, not made yet: its keypad needs moulds that don't pay off until enough people want one, so it has a free waitlist instead of pre-orders.
- See KeBe Lite
- What is Matrix-Dvorak?
- KeBe's layout: 68 keys in straight columns, with August Dvorak's letter order. The row your fingers rest on reads A O E U I under the left hand and D H T N S under the right, and the - = [ ] / \ keys sit in the two middle columns, where your pointer fingers take them. The free typing trainer on this site teaches it one letter at a time.
- Open the typing trainer
- Do I set my computer to Dvorak?
- No. Set it to, or leave it on, US English (QWERTY): KeBe makes the Dvorak letters itself, so a computer set to Dvorak would move them a second time. There is nothing to install: plug it in by USB-C and it types.
- Which switches fit?
- Kailh Choc v1 low-profile switches, the kind it comes with (Choc v1 Brown). The sockets are Kailh's Choc v1 hot-swap sockets and the plate is cut for Choc v1, so you change a switch without solder.
- Which keycaps fit?
- Keycaps made for Kailh Choc v1 switches, no deeper than about 16.8 mm front to back. The keys sit 18 mm apart across and 17 mm apart from row to row, and some Choc caps are about 18 mm deep, too deep for these rows. The two space bars are 2U, on stabilisers.
- Can I change the keymap?
- It runs QMK, the open-source keyboard firmware, and every key and the Fn layer are set in it. There is no VIA or Vial: you change the keymap in the firmware source, build it with QMK and flash it. Hold Esc while you plug the board in to start its bootloader; that also clears its saved settings.
- KeBe's firmware source and build guide
- What do the three extra USB-C ports do?
- They are a USB 2.0 hub inside the board, for a mouse receiver, a flash drive or anything else that draws little power. The keyboard and everything plugged into it reach your computer through the one cable, and take their power from it.
- Can I cancel, or return it?
- Cancel any time before your board ships for a full refund within 5 business days. Return the board within 30 days of delivery, in its original condition, for a refund; buyer pays return shipping. Defects are repaired or replaced for a year.
- Pre-order terms