What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
I have finished my small DIY project with this switch I mentioned earlier. I chose not to wait to get the switch from Massdrop, but directly purchased from Novel Keys themselves.
I laid out a 6cm*6cm PCB for the big switch, used a pro micro as the controller and put 4 WS2812B RGB LEDs onto the board, as well as a small push button to control the light. It was not easy soldering the SMD LEDs by hand when I don't have access to a small tip soldering iron, but thankfully managed to do that without a major failure.
(The lay out is ugly, for a board like this I just used auto routing)
Here's a picture of how the PCB fit, before I put the components on there
I chose qmk as the base for the firmware, and wrote a set of configs for a two key keyboard, compiled them with msys2 on my PC and flashed it into the pro micro, and...... It works!
And that was my small project, hope you'll find it a little interesting. Let me know if you are doing something similar and need help or whatsoever.
The RGB is set to loop between colors in a smooth fashion, here are some more pictures