Background

The keyboard name Piantor (Pi-antor) is the portmanteau of “Pico” and “Cantor”. As the name suggested, it has the same strong column stagger layout as the Cantor Keyboard created by u/diepala and is powered by Rasyberry Pi Pico or other compatible RP2040 boards (e.g. WeAct RP2040 and WaveShare RP2040-plus).

Features

• RP2040 MCU: Low cost yet powerful microcontroller. You can enable a lot of features and layers without worrying about the firmware size limit. Rasyberry Pi Pico is reliable and easy to source too.
• Breakable pinky column: Easily convert the PCB from a 42-key to 36-key layout
• Hotswap (Kailh Choc v1 Hotswap Sockets) or soldered-in low profile choc switches: Experiment with different key switches with the hotswap sockets, or solder the key switches for a more stable build.
• Cantor layout - Ergonomic strong column staggering for short pinkies.
• Diodeless - A more robust build with fewer things to solder or break.

Firmware

• QMK - supported
• Vial (based on QMK) - supported
• KMK (Python/CircuitPython) - support planned (No ETA)
• Remap - support planned (No ETA)
• PRK (Ruby) - support planned (No ETA)
• keyberon (Rust) - support planned (No ETA)
• ZMK - waiting for wired split support

Case

In addition to the Cantor case designed by chewiedies, there is a new low profile case that includes a pair of 3D printed switch plate and bottom case. It’s less wobbly using switch plates in the build with hotswap sockets.

The case is available in the Piantor repo now https://github.com/beekeeb/piantor

The project is open source. The source files (PCB, BOM and firmwares) are in https://github.com/beekeeb/piantor.

Please let me know if there are any additional features you would like to have.

More photo in https://showcase.beekeeb.com/piantor-keyboard/