Acheron Athena

Introduction

Athena is a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard Printed Circuit Board (PCB) which main feature is the multi-layout support. Athena supports:

• 87 (F12) or 88 (F13) TKL function rows;
• ANSI and ISO layouts
• 7U and 6.25U spacebar bottom row layouts
• Split backspace
• Split right shift

Below is a Keyboard Layout Editor image of the layouts Athena supports.

In this link there is a KLE JSON file for the layout.

Both Apollo and Athena line of PCBs were designed to be "universal" TKL PCBs, that is, designed to fit a wide variety of custom mechanical keyboards. The compatibility list is being built as more people check and test. See the Keyboard compatibility section of this README for the available list.

Technical information

• Layout size: tenkeykess (TKL)
• Compatible switches: MX-like only, solderable
• Lighting: single colors per-key through-hole LEDs, RGB underglow
• Microcontroller: STM32 family (see the Joker topologyt documentaton)
• Connector: detachable USB Type C on the top side and JST connector for daughterboard support
• Firmware compatibility: QMK (with VIA support)
• Protection hardware:
  • USB data lines and power rail ESD suppressing
  • USB power overvoltage protection
  • Enclosure grounding pad
  • Overcurrent protection
  • LDO crowbar diode
  • EMI suppression (shielding ferrite bead)
• Current release: release Alpha-RC1 (pre-release candidate)
• Designer: Gondolindrim
• License: Acheron Open-Source Hardware License version 1.3

Keyboard compatibility

Known compatibilities

• Geonworks F1-8X and F1-6X: confirmed by Geon, who tested the PCB 3D files against the case 3D files. Live hardware testing into a machined case is pending.

Known incompatibilities

• ai03 KBD8X MKII: ai03 open-sourced the PCB files for his KBD8X. Alghtough Apollo's edges do fit inside the original PCB's, its connector is more protruded then the original PCB's.

• PrismA18: different layouts on the function row.

Acknowledgements

• Geon, who kindly spent time helping design this PCB to fit his keyboards.

Copyright notice

This project is released under the Acheron Open-Hardware License V1.3. For the license, please refer to the LICENCE.md file.

The "athena with shield" logo was licensed through Adobe Stock in this link; the source file in Adobe Illustrator format, with a converted .svg format can be found in ./resources/athena_logo. The license was obtained in may 06, 2021 and allows the AcheronProject to redistribute the logo as open-source and allows anyone to sell the PCBs commercially, but it does not allow for reproduction, meaning that if you want to use the logo for your designs or products you will have to buy a license yourself.