Sat, 16 Aug 2025 04:45:00 UTC
a while back i saw the strange but wonderful pain27 designed by uuupah [ref 1]. it is a keyboard with only 27 keys - one for each letter and a spacebar. it is truly one of the most minimal keyboards i have ever seen. but i couldnt shake the feeling that it was possible to go further. i sat on the idea for over a year but nothing changed. i knew what i needed to do: remove the spacebar.
introducing the agony26 - it has all the keys you need and none of the keys you dont. thats right, spacebars are a scam made up by big keyboard to sell you more keycaps. to input space on the agony26 simply chord any two adjacent bottom row keys excluding z. the rest of the keymap is nearly identical to the pain27 but with a couple minor changes. details are in the git repo's readme [ref 2] if you're curious. what, that's not simple? what do you mean "you shouldnt need big words to explain how to type a space"?? here, weve cooked up this helpful image to explain it.
the case is 3d printed with PLA and TPU, for an integrated rubberized foot. the part warped while printing so the TPU only really contacts on the left and right sides, reducing its efficacy greatly. if the print stayed flat i think it would have worked out. i printed the case on the Snapmaker U1 since it has a toolchanger, meaning i can print the TPU and PLA in one go without changing filaments manually. do note that this printer is a beta unit, i didnt wash the bed, and i never dry my filament. basically any print quality issues are my own fault, dont judge the U1 by looking at this print. ill definitely be trying this technique more in the future even though it didnt work perfectly here.
image: agony26 from the bottom
i didnt want to design a pcb for a one off meme keyboard so i chose to handwire it. i like handwiring boards so this didnt bother me. i did take it as an opportunity to learn artistic deadbug soldering or however you call it. basically i used bare copper wire to make all the connections. just dont let the wires touch, easy, right? actually yes, quite easy. i used 18 gauge uninsulated copper wire for the build and its thick enough to hold its shape when bent. the listing didnt say anything about the wire's hardness but its probably "dead soft" wire given thats what most of the listings are. i learned a lot about the process for doing this kind of soldering and look forward to building some really neat things with the technique. ive had the idea for a walnut keyboard with a glass bottom window kicking around for a while and i think it would look really nice if i did this with brass wire.
i use meme keyboards as opportunities to learn new things. if it seems like a strange move to spend all this time and effort soldering an objectively bad board so artistically, it kinda is, but only if you dont factor in the learning and practice. the TPU foot thing is the same way. i didnt do it because the board deserved it, i did it to learn. also the reason the bottom is just open like this is because i dont care. its a no stakes meme board. plus it looks neat.
oh yeah, the keyboard build itself. i guess keyboard people like to know specs or whatever. here they are:
thanks again to uuupah for designing the pain27. you should go check out their blog and art and stuff[ref 3]. pretty good things in there. i learned theres two different kinds of popcorn ceilings and a lot of guides only tell you how to remove one of them. i love autism lol
ref 1: https://github.com/uuupah/pain27_kb
