Hotswap
Ergonomic
Mechanical
Super compact
Until you see an Atreus in person, it's hard to comprehend just how compact it is. But don't let that tiny package fool you. This is a real mechanical keyboard, with full-travel keyswitches mounted in an anodized aluminum plate and the same generous 19mm key spacing you'll find on a traditional desktop keyboard. Inside, it's powered by the same chip that's inside an Arduino Leonardo. It's completely customizable and comes with firmware source code, as well as a graphical configuration tool.
Hotswap
Ergonomic
Mechanical
Super compact
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Speed Copper Tactile
Kailh Speed Copper switches have an early actuation point and a nice tactile feel.
BOX White Clicky
Kailh BOX White switches make a satisfying click when you press them. Don't get these if you work in an open-plan office.
BOX Silent Linear
Kailh BOX Silent Linear switches are whisper-silent with a smooth keypress. They're great for gaming and steno.
No switches
If you love the Atreus form-factor, but want to install your own MX-mount switches and have a favorite keycap set already picked out, this is the choice for you. This keyboard comes with no switches or keycaps.
Kailh Speed Bronze
These 50g switches are lightweight, tactile, and clicky. All "Speed" switches feature an early actuation point, which means that your computer notices your presses sooner.
Kailh Noble Yellow Switches
These heavier 65g tactile, clicky switches are incredibly satisfying to press, but aren't dead silent.
The standard keycaps shipped with the Keyboardio Atreus are black, laser-engraved keys in the XDA profile. They're made out of PBT, a high-quality plastic beloved by keyboard enthusiasts for their resilience. The standard F and J keys installed on the keyboard include homing bars, but we also include extra F and J keys without homing bars with each Atreus.
The firmware powering all our keyboards, Kaleidoscope, is open source and freely available on Github. If you want to build complex macros, add in joystick emulation, change how the Atreus speaks USB, or make keys do things we haven't thought of yet, Kaleidoscope is where you'd start.
Kaleidoscope is incredibly powerful, but we've done our best to make it newbie-friendly. We built it on top of the Arduino core, to make it easy for folks who aren't familiar with embedded development or C++ to be able to do amazing things. At the same time, you're not restricted to the Arduino IDE when working with it. If vi or Emacs is your weapon of choice, everything's set up to build from the command line using standard tooling.
Kaleidoscope supports all the things you'd expect, like layouts stored in EEPROM, serial communications, full NKRO, mousekeys, and crazy USB tricks. Most new features can be added to Kaleidoscope as plugins, of which we have many already.
QMK, another popular open-source keyboard firmware also fully supports the Keyboardio Atreus.
Unless you're buying the 'barebones' model which comes with neither switches nor keycaps, your atreus comes fully assembled with your choice of several different kinds of switches.
All of our switches are made by Kailh, one of the best switch makers in the world. Kailh rates all of these switches for at least 70 million keypresses.
The Keyboardio Atreus features hot-swap sockets designed to let you remove the switches with a standard keyswitch puller (not included) and replace them with just about any MX-style switch, no soldering or disassembly required.
Very. At just 24.3 x 10 x 2.8cm (9.6 x 3.9 x 1.1 inches), it's easy to bring your keyboard with you everywhere.
To get a better sense of just how compact the Keyboardio Atreus is, you can print out this PDF:
Downloadable papercraft Keyboardio Atreus
(Make sure your computer is set to print things at actual size, rather than shrinking or stretching them to fit on a sheet of paper. It should fit on a standard sheet of A4 or letter / 8.5"x11" paper.)
Thanks to its customizable layout and layers (that work just like your laptop's "function" key, but better), the Atreus can fit far more than 104 keys of functionality in to just 44 keys. Read an introduction to the Atreus layout.
Until you see an Atreus in person, it's hard to comprehend just how compact it is. But don't let that tiny package fool you. This is a real mechanical keyboard, with full-travel keyswitches mounted in an anodized aluminum plate and the same generous 19mm key spacing you'll find on a traditional desktop keyboard. It connects to your computer or tablet over USB.
The Atreus’ layout puts all the keys in columns aligned to your fingers, so you never need to stretch or twist to reach a key. The keys are the same size as on a regular desktop keyboard, but they're laid out in a much more compact way that matches how your hands work. Everything you need is easy to reach.
The Keyboardio Atreus fits all the same functionality of a 104 key Keyboard into just 44 keys. The secret? Layers. With up to nine customizable layers available, you have access to every key you need (and then some), and can assign them where you want them.
With uniform DSA keycaps, you can customize your Atreus' physical layout just by popping off the keycaps and rearranging them.
From there, just open up Chrysalis, our free online configuration tool and tell the keyboard where you want each key. Dvorak, Colemak, or the layout that you just invented are all just moments away.
So…Is the Keyboardio Atreus your type?
I have been in the alternate keyboard and layout communities for a number of years now, have designed several popular layouts (such as Apt and Canary), and built many custom keyboards. Still, after all of this time, I like my Atreus the most. I did end up putting QMK + Vial on it which I prefer to Kaleidoscope, but as a device it's been a consistent workhorse for me for several years now.
I attached some screenshots of how I generally configure my layers (using Colemak as the layout right now), in case it's useful to anyone.
Love this thing!
Of all the keyboards I've tried (normal keyboards like the WASD Code and DAS and ergonomic keyboards like the Kinesis and Keyboardio Model 100), the Atreus is my favorite. The columnar layout is very comfortable and its small size make it so all keys are close by, minimizing unnecessary finger movement while also making it highly portable. I also got the orange case, which protects it great when I'm traveling. I've recommended this to many of my coworkers looking into getting a small ergonomic keyboard. The software for modifying the key layout also works great.
For V2, the only suggestions I have are 1) make it a 3x6 layout, i.e. have additional column outside the column where the pinkies rest (while also keeping the inner 4 keys (Esc, Super, Enter, Fun in my layout) as I've found them very useful and reachable); and 2) replace the bottom row with dedicated thumb clusters (i.e. add more thumb buttons and make them more angled to reflect the natural way the thumb wants to extend in). I've found I try to primarily use the home row and rows immediately above and below it; the outermost keys in the bottom-most row (`, -, ', \ in my layout) are the hardest to reach with my pinkies. I would also appreciate a greater selection of keycaps with homing bars (i.e. official matching key caps with homing bars on the "t" and "n" for us Colemak users).
I have bought two Atreus keyboards with box brown switches, one for work and the other for my home. I am very happy with them. After the switches on the first keyboard became a bit scratchy I switched them to
Kailh Super Speed Copper, but they are beginning to behave as if one is double tapping them and I am currently switching them to Kailh Speed Copper as they go bad.
I have two of them, one at home and one at the office. As far as ergonomic keyboards go, this one has pretty good value in my opinion.
I love the amount of control it gives - with hot-swap switches and Chrysalis software, you can customize it however you'd like. Mine is modded with some angled keycaps and steel bearings as homing markers.
The size makes it very comfortable for small hands. The limited amount of keys definitely takes some getting used to though, but layers are your friend here. Having all the symbols right at my fingertips, I definitely find coding much more comfortable than on a regular keyboard.
All that being said, I'd love for them to make an Atreus+, as I have two gripes with the current model:
1) I wish there would be at least a tiny bit of horizontal tilt on both sides towards the center. This is not a big issue, but noticeable during some longer typing sessions.
2) I wish there would be an extra column of keys to the sides for the pinkies. The lack of keys is especially noticeable when gaming. If you switch your left hand to use WASD, the pinky is left there hanging, whereas on a regular keyboard it would be used for keys like Shift, Tab, Ctrl, etc. This results in me starting every game by rebinding the controls for 10 minutes.
Overall, it's a great keyboard, and still my go-to 2 years later.
Main keyboard for over two years. iMac at home and iPad Pro on the move. It is my go-to production keyboard. I own several high-end, spit ergo keyboards (none of them cheap) but my Atreus gets all the love. It's just too easy to use. I program mine with QMK. I really should buy a second one...
