GOLEM — How to build your own keyboard (hub)

• Source: https://golem.hu/
• Category: research — background knowledge, archived per keyboard-decision.md
• Role for KN-86: the master index of custom-keyboard knowledge. Reference only — we are not building a custom keyboard. Also a rich source of vintage-terminal-keyboard aesthetic seeds for KN-86 legends/typography.
• License / caveats: see the GOLEM site for per-page licensing. Aesthetic references (vintage terminal photos in the gallery) carry their original authorship — treat as moodboard, not vendorable assets.

What it is

GOLEM is a long-running, deeply organized hub for building your own mechanical keyboard from scratch: concept→reality walkthroughs, cardboard prototyping guides, plate manufacturing (laser-cut services, DXF/SVG tooling), keyboard-matrix theory, firmware/flashing for the common controller families (Pro Micro, RP2040/Pi Pico, KB2040), build logs, a 300+ keyboard sound database, an 800-term keyboard lexicon, a split-keyboard list, and — most relevant to KN-86’s aesthetic thread — a gallery of vintage terminal/portable keyboards (Reuters 1985, Tatung 1984, IBM 5155 Model F, Kaypro 10, Epson HX-20 and HX-40, DEC LK-201, and more).

For KN-86 the hub serves two distinct roles:

1. Custom-build knowledge — archived. Per the keyboard decision, KN-86 is building on the Ferris Sweep, not a custom PCB. GOLEM’s how-to material is reference for if we ever need it, not the actioned path.
2. Vintage terminal aesthetic — actively in use. The gallery of Reuters/Tatung/IBM 5155/Kaypro/Epson HX-20/DEC LK-201 keyboards is directly relevant to KN-86 legend design and on-screen TUI typography styling. The KN-86 Deckline identity is in the terminal-keyboard lineage; GOLEM’s gallery is the visual reference for what that means historically.

Key takeaways for KN-86

Aesthetic — the vintage-terminal gallery (actively used)

• The vintage-terminal-keyboard gallery is the strongest single GOLEM contribution to the KN-86 aesthetic. Each device in the gallery (Reuters 1985, Tatung 1984, IBM 5155 Model F, Kaypro 10, Epson HX-20, Epson HX-40, DEC LK-201) is a chunky, terminal-domain, function-key-rich keyboard with legend typography that pre-dates the laser-engraved-keycap era. The keycap legends are printed, occasionally dye-sublimated, often double-shot, in a vocabulary of fonts (Univers, Helvetica, condensed sans-serifs, custom domain typefaces) that read as deliberately period-correct without any single style being canonical.
• Direct citation for KN-86 keycap legend design alongside ADR-0022’s locked legend manifest. GOLEM’s vintage gallery is the prior-art evidence for the design language ADR-0022 is in lineage with.
• Cross-link to the Batch-2 Casio Organizer Retrofit — same family of vintage-terminal-typography references; GOLEM’s gallery extends the reference set with non-Casio devices in the same era.

Custom-build knowledge — archived

• The custom-build pipeline (concept → cardboard prototype → plate manufacturing → matrix design → firmware → assembly) is documented in depth at GOLEM — see the linked sub-pages GOLEM Plate Manufacturing and GOLEM KMK Firmware for the two we’ve captured separately. We are not following this pipeline. KN-86 buys a Ferris Sweep from holykeebs; we don’t iterate a custom PCB.
• GOLEM’s split-keyboard list is useful for context. The Sweep sits inside that list as one of dozens of split designs; reading the list confirms the Sweep is a well-represented, well-supported choice in the broader split-keyboard ecosystem.
• GOLEM’s controller guides (Pro Micro / RP2040 / Pi Pico / KB2040) are useful as fallback firmware reference if we ever need to debug controller-level behavior on the holykeebs RP2040.

Other GOLEM resources worth knowing about

• The 300+ keyboard sound database — recordings of different switch/keycap/plate combinations. Useful if KN-86 ever scopes acoustic tuning for the Sweep (gasket-mount? PE foam dampening? PCB-mount mod?), but premature for v0.1.
• The 800-term keyboard lexicon — useful glossary for getting precise about terms. The vocabulary in keyboard-decision.md and holykeebs-buyers-guide.md should align with GOLEM’s lexicon where reasonable so KN-86 docs read consistently with the broader community.

Image

The GOLEM site logo, sized 512×512.

Notes

• Cross-link keyboard-decision.md — the decision context that places GOLEM in research/ rather than prototype/.
• Cross-link golem-plate-manufacturing.md and golem-kmk-firmware.md — the two GOLEM sub-pages captured separately in this batch.
• Cross-link casio-organizer-retrofit.md — same family of vintage-terminal aesthetic.
• Worth a periodic re-scan. GOLEM continues to grow. A quarterly check for new vintage-keyboard gallery additions and new controller guides is worth the few minutes.