E80-1800 VS kbct

Depends a lot. If you want it fully assembled, you have to go to larger fab houses like PCBway, and spend a few hundred bucks on a 5pc batch. If you can hand-solder some parts (in this case, the Bluetooth module and the USB connector) and design the rest around jlcpcbs libraries, you can get away with 20-30USD per unit (MOQ of 5) plus shipping/customs. Then add another 10USD for the bluetooth module and USB connector.

A simpler wired design like my E80-1800 (https://github.com/ebastler/E80-1800) can be completely assembled by jlc for ~30ish USD per unit.

Oddly enough, small-batch prototyping at jlc can be cheaper than medium sized (50-150 pc) runs at other fabs.

Hope this doesn't sound like an ad, I've compared a lot of prices and nobody came close to jlcpcb, but With their limitations (limited stock, limited finish/color choices, frequently chnaging stocks and component prices) and sometimes far-from-ideal QC (some scratches can happen, in rare cases even missing components that were present in the BOM) they are not really my first choice for production runs. For prototypes or small unofficial-ish batches with a few friends though - god tier.

Some options include but are not limited to TKC1800 PCB, E80-1800 PCB, GH80-3000 or 3003 PCB.

I had a similar problem with the Tecurs KB510 I got at work. The only way I found to type F1-F12 keys on Linux was to set up a hack with kbct [0] and the Super key... until I tried the configuration described in the gist you linked. Thanks a lot for that !

[0] https://github.com/samvel1024/kbct

I use KBCT and encourage others to support it: https://github.com/samvel1024/kbct

kbct

>Creating a "standardized experience" like Windows usually means that configurability goes right out the window. It's how you get abominations like dconf or the GNOME music player

I don't understand how you connected these dots and I'd suggest against calling things abominations. You don't have to use dconf or the GNOME music player, those aren't standardized. If someone does like them I think they're perfectly fine, they do exactly what they're advertised to do. It's also fine if you don't like them, they're just two options from the many configuration databases and media players that you can choose from.

>But why shouldn't I be able to run xbindkeys or sxhkd or whatever hotkey dameon I want?

In some ways you actually can but it depends on the hotkey daemon and how it's implemented. The reason for that is technical, those are implemented with X grabs which have a number of usability and security issues. There are a few key rebinding daemons that use evdev directly so they work with Wayland:

https://github.com/samvel1024/kbct

https://github.com/snyball/Hawck

But these also do have similar security issues to X key grabs, in that they effectively operate as keyloggers. If you're looking for an API that works purely within Wayland and lets unprivileged clients request key rebinding, that doesn't exist yet. Somebody would need to specify what that API looks like and figure out a good way to make it secure. What would the end goal of the API be, and how could the system (and by extension, the user) tell the difference between a legitimate hotkey daemon and a malicious keylogger? And would it actually be any better than the approach of snooping evdev? I don't know the answer to these questions but you may have more experience with this than I do.