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Making a Keyboard with Mutating Keycaps?

Posted by Cliff on from the keyboards-of-the-future dept.

Montreal Geek asks: "I'm currently working on a pet project of mine for which I now find myself with the financial resources to bring to completion: the International Keyboard from Heck. The basic idea (most of the electronics and software for it have already been written) is that the keyboard has a variable layout (and a nice interface to change that layout) with the actual images on the keycaps changing to match what glyph/code-point it will generate. My problem is that I am unsure of which hardware solution to use for the actual, physical keycaps. My original prototype keycap uses a 7x9 array of leds under a lexan surface, but the power requirements of this many leds on a whole keyboard (even when scanning) is a tad prohibitive, and the lexan doesn't feel very good under a finger. Although glowing red keycaps look cool at first, I'm a bit worried that they will end up overly aggressive and annoying in the long run. Can you think of better alternatives? Keep in mind that the design must be resistant to repeated impacts (it is a keyboard after all) and, preferably, have fairly low power consumption so that the device remains practical for laptops." Although a few years from being truly affordable, might OLED technology be appropriate for this project? What other ideas might work out well for such a piece of hardware?

3 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. LCD keycaps by Hurga · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check http://www.lcd-keys.com/

    Hurga

    1. Re: LCD keycaps by Montreal+Geek · · Score: 3, Informative
      Those are indeed very cool, but they do not "feel" like a traditional keycap (yes, I have one I've been playing with).

      LCD also suffers from angle of vision; you'd be surprised at how faded a keycap looks when it's at the edge of the keyboard. Place yourself in a confortable typing position and look at the numeric keypad on a typical PC keyboard: already over 30 degrees of angle for most people.

      OLCD [as the editor suggested] looks promising, but very expensive.

      -- MG

  2. Switches with built in graphical LCD's by ikeleib · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you are made of money, check out these push buttons with built in graphical LCD's. They even have multicolor backlights.

    www.screenkeys.com