ZSA Technology Labs, Inc. is the company behind the Ergodox EZ keyboard that we had taken a look at in great detail, and appreciated a lot. It was a retail take on the open source Ergodox keyboard concept which, until then, was available as a kit or pre-assembled by artisans in low numbers, and was not a mass-market product. One could argue the Ergodox EZ is still not a mainstream keyboard, but it certainly made things much more accessible via options to choose from for a pre-assembled keyboard, as well as a powerful, GUI-based configurator for those wanting easier firmware access and control.

In that same vein, the parent company has now introduced the Planck EZ which, as the name suggests, is based on the 47-key Planck keyboard design. Designed in conjunction with Jack Humbert, the creator of the Planck, the Planck EZ aims to be a simple, complete, portable, mechanical keyboard built with layers and ergonomics in mind. The Planck EZ goes a bit further with adding in not only multiple switch options, but also backlighting and a buzzer that can also be controlled to play 8-bit tunes from the keyboard- definitely a first in my books! The Planck EZ is up for pre-order now beginning at $180, with an estimated shipping date in June 2019.