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Dharma

Side view of Dharma keyboard

Design

Dharma’s design is defined by carefully balanced curves. The side profile swoops up, revealing the bottom piece as an accent. This allows for interesting keyset pairings while giving a sense of depth to the design. Instead of using standard quarter circles on the corners, Dharma has curves slowly accelerating into their 90 degree turn. This gives the impression of the side walls forming one uninterrupted surface, removing any distracting lines.

Top view of Dharma keyboard

Layout

Dharma uses a compact yet extremely functional layout. Even though it features a full numpad it comes in just a thumb wider than a TKL keyboard or about 60mm slimmer than a standard full-size keyboard. This both puts the keys closer to the homerow and means you don't have to stretch as far to use your mouse, ensuring optimal ergonomics.

Bottom view of Dharma internals

Mounting

Dharma utilizes a gasket mount system, sandwiching the plate between 12 pieces of custom-cut Poron® strips. This reduces vibrations while typing and creates a cleaner, more uniform sound profile.

Render of the mounting plate for Dharma keyboard

Plate

The plate on Dharma provides curated options for normal/stepped caps lock, split/full backspace and split/full numpad +. Keeping these options limited makes for an easier building process while not creating uneven flex. Dharma comes with a full plate made out of anodized aluminium in the box with full poly carbonate and leaf spring aluminium plates being available as add-ons.

Render of the PCB of the Dharma keyboard

PCB

Dharma features a PCB designed by Xelus. Instead of going with a standard 1.6mm thickness we opted for a 1.2mm thick PCB with included risers for stabilisers, aiding in a softer bottom out and more pleasant typing experience. The PCB is fully QMK and VIA compatible for easy configuration and is paired with the standardised USB C daughterboard we've all come to know and love.

Colours

MoDo

Minimal

Info

Case

  • LayoutFRL Compact-1800
  • Material6063 Aluminium
  • FinishingAnodising, Electro-coat
  • Angle7 deg
  • Dimensions17.87-33.25 x 392.923 x 125.28 mm

Plate

  • Layout optionsFull/Stepped Caps-Lock, Full/Split Backspace
  • Material6063 Aluminium, Polycarbonate
  • FinishingAnodised, Frosted
  • ConfigurationsSolid, Leaf-spring
  • Thickness1.5mm

PCB

  • Layout optionsFull/Stepped Caps-Lock, Full/Split Backspace
  • MaterialFR4 finished with matte black soldermask
  • Thickness1.2mm, 1.6mm at stabiliser areas with included raisers
  • Supported softwareVIA, QMK

Collaborators

  • Darin Kishore AKA Saturatedfat
  • Typeplus
  • Omnitype
  • Xelus