Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Homebrewed Macro Keyboards?

Posted by Cliff on from the building-it-yourself dept.

MightyMaus asks: "So I've been checking out various hardware websites lately, paging through computer retail catalogues, and basically pining for a better-paying job. But one device that's really caught my eye is the Programmable Keypad. Looks pretty cool, but $140? No way. Even the smaller version carries a hefty $90 price tag. Now, it seems like making one of these should be relatively easy; but the almighty Google returns nothing but more places to buy these things. So where do I turn? To Slashdot. Has anyone hacked together one of these before?"

2 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Gateway AnyKey by Quixotic137 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Gateway used to ship "AnyKey" keyboards with all their systems. You should be able to find one if you look around a little bit. They are basically standard keyboards with a bunch of extra keys that you can program. There's a picture of one here on Google, although it appears the linked site is down. Anyway, they come in both PS/2 and DIN-5 varieties. There should be more information on Google.

  2. Free Linux/*nix version by PeterClark · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You already have everything you need if you run Linux or any other *nix: just remap your current keyboard. For example, you can make a keyboard map of the number pad with whatever macro you want, and then toggle between the regular keypad and the macro keypad with a rarely-used button, like PrintScreen or Scroll Lock.

    :Peter