Flexiglow Illuminated Keyboard

BigMan writes "You probably have seen a few of these keyboards (illuminated) before but this one is from Flexiglow who are known for making very nice modd products. We will look closer into this and see how bright it really is and if it's nice to type on and use."

Comments

Mirror , just in case

[pigscanfly.ca]

Just in case the server crashes and burns (like they usually do),I have put up a mirror.
The mirror of http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Flexiglow/Illumikey board/1.php is at http://mirrorit.demonmoo.com/r_4/www.rbmods.com/Ar ticles/Flexiglow/Illumikeyboard/1.php

This is not new.

[eagle8635]

I think this product is new, but the concept of a lighted keyboard is not new, they have been selling one on Think Geek for years.

Re:Tips for newbie "reviewers"

[Osty]

One more tip: If you're going to submit your own review to Slashdot, try to write a separate blurb than simply the first paragraph of your review. This is doubly important if you're submitting someone else's review and not your own. Also, if it's your own review, it's a good idea to state that in your submission.

only one color

[SuperBanana]

I remember hearing about the Apple TiBook 17" having a keyboard which glowed different colours for various alerts.

I'm typing on one right now, and the only color it does is white. It's one(or two, I can't remember) LEDs connected to the keyboard via fiber optics. The LEDs are on the right side, either under or next to the keyboard.

Brightness is controlled by software that polls two ambient light sensors under the speaker grilles; it doesn't even come on unless it gets fairly dark. You "train" the display and keyboard backlights over time; it learns what ambient light level equals what adjustment. The backlight actually can make the letters/numbers the same "brightness" as light reflected off the keyboard, making them essentially disappear, which is a little odd.

The keyboard backlighting is great for planes, dark meeting rooms, etc...but beyond that it's a novelty. The automatic screen backlight adjustment is actually much more useful. If you get tired of it you can even set it back to manual...

that model is also featured on 24

[Anonymous Coward]

in the latest third season of 24 , you can see that keyboard in action, at the offices of CTU.

Compgeeks has these cheap

[Jack William Bell]

Compgeeks has these for 22.95. I bought this one several months ago and am quite happy with it.

The only thing is; they don't have the Flexikey logo. Other than that they are exactly the same, right down to the graphics on the special function buttons across the top.

Re:I like these...

[wfberg]

These do look nice, but the killer feature on a keyboard for me would be a built in trackball somewhere near the middle of the main key area. The reason that I avoid using the mouse a lot is that the latency of getting my hands from over the main keys to the mouse and back is so high, having a trackball under a thumb would be ideal.

Not exactly in the arrow-key area, but it does have "IBM model-M" clickety-click buckling springs.. Available in PS/2 and serial.

Unicomp on the Ball.

Or perhaps you enjoy a keyboard with a clit?

This one has a trackball below the space bar. Or you could get a keyboard without numeric pad and place a trackball where the numeric pad would be. Perhaps buy a separate numeric keypad to go next to the trackball (or on your left, if you're lefthanded).

Or a keyboard with a touchpad?

Or steal a 1U keyboard/trackball drawer from your work's datacenter?

Re:How often do you look at you keyboard?

[toasted_calamari]

Apple ships their 15" and 17" laptops with illuminated keyboards. I've used them, and they work really well. Only the print on the keys light up, rather than the entire key like the flexiglow. It doesn't appear to kill the batteries to badly, and the light and screen intensity are controlled automatically by light sensors.

yeah, cute, whatever

[jjeffries]

You could get one of these to sit on your desk and, err, light up, or you might prefer a keyboard that you can actually type on...

in that case, I suggest you acquire a man's keyboard, the IBM model M. Springs hold your fingers up so you don't get carpal-tunnel in 10 minutes like with a mushboard, and you can use it as a very effective weapon, should it come down to it. But I suspect that I am preaching to the choir.

Re:How often do you look at you keyboard?

[silverfuck]

If you read the article (okay, okay, I know this is slashdot), then you would find that there is a switch for turning off the illumination when you want to get a (rare) couple of hours kip at night.

Re:How often do you look at you keyboard?

[linzeal]

I use a USB light when I am computing in dimly lit bars or on trains at night with my laptop. I actually use it oddly enough when working on my server as well because it makes reading the steel imprinted letters on PCI cards easy as it sticks in one place as opposed to a flashlight where I have to hold it in my teeth like a metal dildo or nestle it between my shoulder and neck uncomfortably. Nevr thought you would use those USB ports on your server, think again.

EluminX pending law suit

[adzoox]

After trying to geta Mac version of the eluminX keyboard (the 1st company to market illuminated keyboards) - I found out that they were granted a patent on the illuminated keyboard - using luminous material.

If you notice, they haven't released a USB version - I have been made aware that they will be seeking an injunction against ALL knockoffs before they release the new version.

Re:How often do you look at you keyboard?

[Martin Kallisti]

IBM's X31 laptops, and probably most others in the same series, come with a little light installed at the top of the screen, which can be switched on to illuminate the keyboard if in darkness. It is not nearly as pretty as Apple's Powerbook solution, but it works well enough.

Re:But is it washable?

[lazypenguingirl]

I have an eluminX which I absolutely adore. My guy friends hate my keyboard because it seems smaller than normal ones, but for my small hands it's perfect. It's a very lightweight keyboard which is very comfortable for me to perch on my knees with my feet kicked up on my desk. (yah, great keyboarding habits, i know). Bright lights really hurt my eyes, so although I don't work at the computer in the dark, my light conditions are generally dim. Dim lighting is good for gaming too (reduces glare off the screen for me), and my hand-position when gaming isn't normal typing position, so being able to periodically glance at the keyboard really helps. About the cleaning.... I am bad about eating at the computer. I've gotten much much crud in my keyboard. For the most part, I just pull out my can of compressed air and that takes care off most of the crumbs. As far as visible spills (dripped ice cream), I can see them and spot clean with a q-tip, and in general I can still just give it a good wipe-down. There was one time I had a crumb under a key that got wedged, and prying the key off and reseating it wasn't a really big deal at all. I've never put a keyboard in the sink, if that's what you're getting at, but these keyboards work just fine with my normal cleaning protocols. :/

Re:How about F-keys with software-controlled LEGEN

[BrK]

You must not've been around much in the DOS days. Print Screen did actually used to do exactly that. Now it is just used (in Windows at least) to grab an image of the screen to the clipboard.

As far as keys with custom text, Preh makes an LCD button switch that has a (IIRC) 64x64 pixel tiny LCD on it. I have looooong wanted to get ahold of some of these keys to build a custom keypad, but never seem to actually find a distributor that returns calls. Online ordering would be great, but I have never found them anywhere.