Optimus Mini Three OLED keyboard reviewed

Robbedoeske writes "The first Optimums Mini Three keyboards have been shipped to Holland and Tweakers.net managed to lay hands on one of them to review this precious gem." Apparently the drivers crash a lot, consume way to much CPU, the device is capable of only 3 frames per second, and the packaging makes the images look far more crisp than the actual device. And with a price tag of over $100, I'm scared to imagine what the price of a full keyboard will actually be should it ever actually ship. But it still would be neat.

Comments

Don't worry

[tygerstripes]

This is just the basic Optimus.

There's more to the Prime edition than meets the eye.

Re:Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Or do we think this is hardware limitation?

Per the article, the software is constantly updating the images to make sure they have the correct images, this is surely driving the CPU load higher than it needs to be

Re:Don't worry

[rblancarte]

Then why not have some descent embedded controller built into the keyboard that controlled this? IE - the only real communication between the CPU and keyboard (outside of typing) is a refresh of what application is running. Then the keyboard micro-controller would be notified of the change and update the keys accordingly. Then the CPU doesn't even have to worry about what to display - just make sure that the keyboard is aware of current state. Heck, state changes like key-press (changing what the keys look like when you press ctrl or alt) wouldn't even touch the CPU - they would be known about by the controller, and it could modify they keys accordingly.

To me, this is a very cheap way to make the keyboard much more effecient, yet not raise the cost much at all ($10-20 max).

RonB

Any Key

[Apocalypse111]

Am I the only one who wants to make a driver hack for the Optimus so that when the computer says, "Press any key to continue" that there actually IS an Any key?

Re:Any Key

[mwvdlee]

This keyboard allows quick access to the three most commonly used keys; "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Delete". I just wonder whether the design is rugged enough to last a full week of Windows use.

Re:Any Key

[Doctor Memory]

Heh. If you do, you should enable mapping it to every key. No more agonizing decisions over "OK" or "Cancel": just "Fuck it".

Packaging?

[conigs]

...and the packaging makes the images look far more crisp than the actual device.

I am shocked... shocked I tell you to learn that the image on the package looks better than the actual device. How could this possibly have happened? Who would dream of such a thing?

Onto the device itself. I'm glad to see it develop and that it's more than just a concept. The technology is still in its infancy and it will take time for it to improve and come down to an affordable level. I'm looking forward to the day I can get a full keyboard like this.

Re:Packaging?

[jacobw]

Indeed. Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes to go from "buggy, overpriced, and useless" to "cheap and indispensable"? I'm betting 5 years, max.

Of course, when it becomes ubiquitious, there will be certain downsides. You think the "zap the mosquito" ad is annoying now?

Wait until the mosquito starts buzzing around your keyboard.

wrapup

[camusflage]

It's buggy, slow, fraudulently packaged, consumes an inordinate amount of your CPU, has been delayed many times, delivers on only a fraction of its originally advertised functionality, and is extremely expensive.

Has someone let Steve Ballmer know that Optimus has stolen Microsoft's marketing plan?????

Intresting.... but...

[strredwolf]

I read through the article, and it looked like just a normal embedded chip with extra RAM hooked in for the displays. I wouldn't be suprized if the extra CPU on the PC is used to refresh the displays often.

Ugh.

I think a OLED full keyboard would be cool, but maybe if they used a double-USB device scheme it would be better: USB Keyboard and small USB storage for storing GIF files of each key.

dude.... virtual desktops!

[nagashi]

Imagine being able to use those to switch virtual desktops, and having an image of the virtual desktop on those keys! =O As a bonus side effect, that'll clear up a bit of room on the taskbar, which is a pretty big deal for me. I prefer to have as much room on my taskbar devoted to tasks and not other misc stuffs such as applets, a gigantic clock, or thumbnails of each desktop. I'm seriously getting twitchy about the prospect of this xDD

OLED for Monitor

[in2mind]

So we have OLED for keyboard?
What actually happened to those predictions that OLED would soon replace LCD for monitors?? Is anything happening in the mainstream?

Re:It Shows Promise

[MindStalker]

While I don't see much purpose for the 3 button model, I can't wait to see how the full keyboard performs and what sort of price we'll be looking at to purchase one.

Three words, awesome case mod!

But practical use? No, not really, it could good for switching between virtual desktops. In some type of emergency management system you could even have a key blink if its associated desktop has some emergency situation you need to attend to.

Bah... get a real keyboard!

[Stormwatch]

Unicomp. The true one and only heir to the IBM Model M.

Let me be the first to say thanks.

[Grendel Drago]

Thank you, to all the dorks who buy overpriced, half-baked, barely-functional products like this one. You fund the research and development that makes these things useful for the rest of us. We salute you.

...another mini3 review...

[daniel.baker]

Dead Programmer has an informative review over here: http://www.deadprogrammer.com/optimus-mini-three-f ull-review

Got one, been a bit disappointed.

[XMunkki]

I bought one for the gadget-nerdiness-factor (about 8 months ago :). Now about a month ago they gave away the software + programming APIs. I was kinda disappointed at the spot, since this is not really a USB device. Inside, it uses an USB to serial converter. This is why the display refresh rate is kinda low. The screens themselves are 96x96 per screen, 16bit color. They tend to "flash" a little (I guess that's the OLED for ya).

I've been programming this device for a weekends worth now. I checked the software they gave and it was ok. It does crash VERY often, though it's not the device that's causing the crashes. The USB to serial chip they use is made by Porlific and I think it's the PL-2303. Now googling for that seems to indicate prolific has had a bad history with working drivers.

Now being the nerdy hacker type, it seems that for me it only crashes when disconnecting by software. So my solution was to create a stub program in C# that connects to the device, stays connected all the time and listens for incoming TCP connections and routes those to the device. This way the computer stays connected to the device all the time and I can restart the controlling software as often as I like. Haven't had any problems with this approach yet. Still I hope Prolific fixes their serial drivers.

As for when it comes to the performance, I've noticed something weird. All of my software is currently in C# and has not been optimized. But when feeding the device with image data, the program that sends it to the device takes around 9%, while the program that generates the packets takes somwthing like 40%. This seems kinda weird and I do have some hope of fixing it. :)

As for the device itself, the reviews I've read have been pretty accurate. It always makes me feel bad to press a display. And the buttons are not as "solid" as I'd like.

But with enough work I hope to make even something good out of it. I was hoping of making an animated game, but no way of doing that with that serial adapter standing in between.