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Optimus OLED Keyboard Pre-Orders Start Dec. 12
Jupix writes, "After almost a year and a half of public development, the Optimus OLED keyboard is nearing completion. According to the project blog, pre-orders for the Optimus-103 will start on December 12. The price is unspecified at this time, but Art Lebedev has said the keyboard will cost 'less than a good mobile phone' (probably about $400). Don't expect to see those 10 programmable function keys on the left on this first version, though, as they will not make their debut until the Optimus-113, released later."
Does anyone know what kind of switches it uses?
At that price I'd expect buckling spring switches (like the old IBM Model M) or mechanical Alps switches (like the old Apple Extended Keyboard II). Although I think only Unicomp makes buckling spring keyboards anymore.
I'd be disappointed if keys that look so nice, just have a squishy feel to them like a cheap rubber-dome membrane Dell keyboard.
Looks like the keyboard is force on an angle. Normally you're able to adjust the height of the keyboard. I generally like my keyboard as flat as possible and my desk/chair set to the right height so my wrists are in a comfortable and flat position instead of being tilted up. Too bad, looks like the keyboard has promise.
I have no signature
Overall changes are one thing (ala Quake), but what I want is to have the display change when I press the CTRL or ALT key.
So that CTRL changes the C key display to COPY and so on. Including the function and specialty keys (arrows, PrtSc).
And an editor that allows me to customize what the keys show, so when I am programming I can set up the display to match my key mapping preferences. With smart focus management to whatever program is in the foreground.
- - - - - - - - - - -
I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
Where do I start queueing?! Let's hope it works with my PS3! /sarcasm
Anyone miss the days when things just "went on sale"?
Is this the thread where we say what we wish we had in a keyboard?
I really like the keyboard on my MacBook, I wish I could find one like it for my PC's
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
-b.
This is the sort of thing that many users would love to get when the pricepoint is right. Both for easy of use (wouldn't you love a keyboard that could change languages at a single click?) and for increased productivity (that photoshop overlay looked pretty slick).
:-)
$400 is over my budget. When it hits $100 it's mine.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Thats basically the only thing that had us excited in the first place! The first release will be lame without it..
The keyboard looks really nice, and would be a cute toy. But, for over $400...(!)
There are opportunity costs in life, and the cost of this opportunity looks a bit steep. If I spend $400 on a keyboard, then I am giving up the opportunity to spend the same $400 on beer. And really, one must admit that $400 can buy you a lot of beer.
Hopefully OLED will continue to come down in price, and eventually this sort of keyboard will be available for around $100. At that price, I may be willing to go for it.
After looking at the site, the Optimus mini three (three keys) runs for $160USD. I do not see how they can sell 103 keys for $400, when they are selling 3 for $160. I know that the price will get cheaper for the keyboard (still has only one usb controller), but at the 3 for $160 rate, the keyboard with 103 keys would run ~$5493USD. I seriously doubt it will be cheaper than a nice cell phone.
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
Damn, they created such an innovative keyboard and they destroyed it by using staggered columns. I personally use TypeMatrix (QWERTY and Dvorak) and Plum keyboards that have a matrix layout, similar to the numeric keypad. You have to use one to understand how much better it is. I would definitely buy an Optimus keyboard if it had a matrix layout, but I have no intention to return to a staggered columns layout just for OLED keycaps.
I don't know about your credit card, but when I charge something, they require something a bit more concrete than "less than the price of a good cell phone".
I'll be waiting on the 'Prime' version.
I like the look, I like the idea... I've waited a long to see these be available... but, around $400???
At that kind of expense, it better have a 100G drive, about 512M memory, and run Linux. (and for an extra $100 - $200, Windows XP...)
I know it's new, I know price points start high, I'll wait.
$400 is 'less than a good mobile phone'? Now granted, I'm not a professional consumer like some people are, but what moron pays $400 (or more??) for a phone? Last time I needed a phone, it was either free, or it was like $50. It definitely wasn't more than $100. Are people really dumb enough to pay $400 for a fucking phone?
Read the blog for details. They scrapped the OLED idea in favor of LCD screens to save cost.
...for an OLED display. The mind boggles.
Does it have drivers for linux?
No, really
I personally would love to own this keyboard, even if it did cost around $400. However, I'm not sure how functional this keyboard would actually be. I mean, how many times do you actually look AT your keyboard. I rarely do, unless i'm peking out number on the top of the keyboard or pressing one of the F keys.
I think that the only real good function that this keyboard would have would be for training purposes. This keyboard would be EXCELLENT for teaching someone what the keyboard shortcuts are for a certain peice of software, and everyone knows that if you know the keyboard shortcuts for a program, you productivity goes through the roof compared to using the mouse. However, to someone who is very familiar with the software and already knows the keyboard shortcuts, this keyboard would only be useful for a WOW factor, and that would be about it.
I was kind of hoping for a completely flat, touch sensitive keyboard (think LCARS) so you could completely redesign the key layouts, or even use as a tablet etc...
Would be great for games as well. Maybe ver 2.0
do you really look at your keyboard?: doing always the same thing, you already know where the keys are ( i hope you know the quake keys if you're playing quake :/). Do you need a flashing 'COPY' when hitting ctrl + c ?
But of course, it's pretty cool to have a keyboard like that.. I wouldn't mind..
Adding new menu items to McDonald's cash register will never be easier!
huh? The squishy feeling is a good thing(tm) Its called a quiet keyboard. I very much dislike the spring keyboards, esp if yo use them for data entry. With quiet keyboards its much easier to press the keys.
Although ultimately it comes down to personal preference, I think that the 'clicky' buckling-spring keys are actually easier to use and less fatiguing. Because there is immediate tactile and audible feedback when the key-switch is actuated, you don't have to press it as far down. When I use a 'soft touch' keyboard, I find that I hit the keys further and harder, because there's not that feedback; I slam each key all the way down instead of (with practice) only pushing each key down as far as is necessary.
The noise of the original IBM Model M's is definitely a downside; if you have to work around other people, I can see how it wouldn't win you many friends. In my opinion, the Apple Extended Keyboard II with the Altus switches is the best of both worlds. It's softer both in terms of pressure and sound than the IBM, but it's not as 'mushy' as a soft-touch (silicone dome).
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
You're not supposed to look at the keyboard. It slows down your typing.
Learn to type on a blank keyboard.
What is the hype? Isn't it just a keyboard? OK OK, it is cool, LCDs etc. but $400+ for a keyboard? But then I am not rich.
OLEDs are cool and all, and support color...
But if they used e-paper for each key, couldn't this be used in laptops and other low-power devices?
Are people really dumb enough to pay $400 for a fucking phone?
There's never been a shortage of dumb people. If the marketing is good enough, it'll sell.
i just dont know alot about OLED but will it burn an image into the keys? that wouldnt be good...but you could have some pretty sweet screen savers on KEYBOARD!
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
Could help bring Dvorak more into the mainstream?
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
Since I need to exchange keyboard setups (from Spanish (Spain setup) to English to Japanese and others at times, I can see usefulness in this thing. Looks flashy too, although looks like it's rather expensive.
I wonder if it works in Linux, too?
I can imagine this being nice to have if you're a heavy user of virtual machines. For example, I run OS X. It would be nice to have a standard OS X layout, then switch to a Windows install in Parallels and have the keyboard switch to having a Windows key. Then switch to Ubuntu and see a Gnome-like foot for the menu. Or KDE and have a big K, or...
You get the idea. Price is somewhat hefty though, especially for something that isn't going to have the side keys. I'll wait until I read reviews about how well it feels before I consider splashing out the daft quantities of cash required. Don't get the wrong idea, I wish them well. I'm just not going to be pre-ordering, that's all.
Cheers,
Ian
Have they spoken with Bloomberg about this? They already remap keys (by ordering custom keyboards in all sorts of funky colors) and it causes no end of confusion among a portion of their users who can't find the delete key any more (it's labeld CONN/DFLT (in big upper case) delete (in lower case) on their keyboard). This seems like the best of both worlds. And Bloomberg has plenty to drop a few hundred more on their systems. They've been shipping wireless keyboard/flat screen sets for at least 5 years and the latest keyboard has a print scanner.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
Did anyone else notice that the model numbers are primes?
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
Contrarians are too tiresome. All the smug dvorak twits are doomed to forever live in obscurity.
Why did they have to fuck up the enter key...
With the old IBM keyboards. There seems to be this kind of reverence for them on /. and I don't understand why. I used to have one (had an IBM desktop). It was noisy and hard to press the keys. I much prefer my current MS keyboard which has easy, quiet keys. The only potential argument I've heard for the old keyboards is durability. Ok, maybe so, but what kind of stress do you subject them to that makes them break? I have, thus far, never managed to wear out a key on a keyboard. I use the hell out of my computer too, it's pretty much all I do with my time.
So what's the deal with the old IBM keyboards? Is it just some kind of geek-tough guy thing? "Back in my day our keyboards could cause hearing damage and by god we liked it!" I just don't understand what the problem with modern, soft, quiet keyboards is. They don't seem to have problems with breaking even under heavy use, so what's up?
I can't wait to use the Optimus keyboard with a Phantom console to play Duke Nukem Forever!
Remember, folks it's less than a good mobile phone IN RUSSIA. Even subsidized phones aren't subsidized as heavily there, and most phone plans are pre-paid. And it's probably the owner of Russia's leading design studio who wrote that post. For him "a good mobile phone" could easily be $1000.
is anyone else just sick of hearing about this thing? more than a dozen of my friends have sent me links to this keyboard's site as if i'd never heard about it before. it's going to be grossly overpriced*, and only marginally useful. 99.99% of people won't get one. can we talk about something else now?
* and I spent $100 for my keyboard
Just raise the taxes on crack.
400$ ???!!
YUCK, no thanks..
i'll wait for the chinese-built version... i bet it will only be 25$ or so maximum.
root@127.0.0.1
Looks at the keyboard when they type?
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
The features that this keyboard provide are widely unnecessary in comparison to the cost regarding home applications. This keyboard, however, would be absolutely perfect for implications such as the recording industry. In the record business, cost is hardly an issue compared to time, And when you're working with digital audio workstations, such as Pro-Tools which has hundreds of key commands that vastly speed up any recording or mixing process compared to just using a mouse, they are often un-intuitive and hard to memorize. A keyboard like this that could intuitively transform its layout upon starting different applications to reveal program-specific commands would be incredibly helpful, and just all around l33t.
"There is no Honor, without Pie."
-Weeble
I wonder if they'll have some kind of sleep mode for the displays to ensure they won't burn out prematurely.
;)
One of the biggest hurdles I'd heard of for OLEDs was their lifespan, particularly for the blue emitters.
I'm not sure if they have issues with burn in, but a screensaver would be nice too. Perhaps a slideshow that spans all the keys, or Pac Man running back and forth across rows
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
... if this can support emacs. Just think of all the layouts it would have to have -- one for each prefix key in the global keymap and variants for each supported major and minor mode! And what would it do if any of those keymaps were customized?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Will it come with a cleaning kit of some sort? I dread the thought of a screwdriver being pushed underneath those OLED keys and prying them loose to get to the dirt... Oh, wait a second. It is a wireless keyboard, right? So the keys have wireless connection to the board? Cool, cleaning problem solved :)
I can't find it because I dunno what username I was loggin in with at the time--but-
/.) I posted a price estimate of $5-$7 for each OLED key. I think at that time, I said I'd be surprised if they could get it out for under $500. I expected it to be further towards $700.
In one of the other stories on this (here on
OLEDs have dropped in price somewhat but not that much, and only for bulk production (which is cell-phone sized displays). I'll stay with my original estimates.
---------------
I think it has its uses, but not as a general-use, full-size keyboard. It'll be fabulously expensive, and people who use keyboards a lot don't need what it can do anyway.
Maybe as a extra special-function keypad, with 12-16-20 keys on it for special programs. For multilanguage support it would work nicely--except that very few people need that on a regular basis, and for those things that do (such as airport info kiosks) we have fairly-cheap touch screens already for this sort of thing.
~
Programmers need to type in dozens of lines of code to express a single idea sometimes
Yes, that happened to me once, when I really needed to use VBA instead of Perl...
they also have another nice project in the works... the Optimus Upravlator
they should think to introduce the Optimus Upravlator to Diebold, ES&S, Sequioa and the other voting machine manufacturers
The Optimus Upravlator seems to have ample space on each key to display a candidate's name directly on each button ( and left-right scroll arrows maybe on the bottom left and bottom right keys, if the list is longer than the available keys can display ).
Moreover, for voting machines you don't need all the electronics for five functions on a single button, one electrical contact per button might be enough, or keep all the electromechanical contacts on a button, for redundancy and button balancing, but wire them together.
This would solve the problems they have with touch screen voting machines that constantly need re-aligning the touchscreen with the display contents.
You would not end up with the machine selecting the wrong candidate, a different one than the one you tried to highlight on the screen.
root@127.0.0.1
A "good" mobile phone doesn't only cost $400. New Motorola and Nokias can easily cost $600. Some of the more advanced phones can go for $800. And if you're looking overseas where they have phones far more sophisticated than anything currently available in the US then expect prices in the range of $1000.
The definition of "good" is fairly broad. Do you mean "good" as in average or "good" as in top-of-the-line?
If you learned to type on royals and underwoods that weighed like 50 lbs, you learned to type as an athletic event. Model Ms feel like a typewriter, and you can really wail away at them, actually get some emotion going on there, hammer them puppies, whereas modern mushboards do not feel or act like that. At least that is my reason. I *destroy* mush boards, literally pound them to brokeness, and throw them away every few months or so, and the only reason I don't have a model M right now is the last one has a few broken keys-but I didn't throw it away, either. Just because.
Don't get me wrong; that's a slick hack. But think about it... how much time do you spend looking at your keyboard. If you're over 12, the answer's not much.
After your first half hour playing quake, you know where the keys are and this thing's gimmick is superfluous.
not to mention expensive, and likely makes the thing easier-to-break.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Hey, You're using an international layout keyboard, aren't you?
zes, how did zou know?
BBH
Am I the only one who doesn't use that combination? Ctrl + c?
I only use ctrl + insert, shift + insert. I find it faster because of the same area keys like arrows/home/end/pageup/pagedown.
And I freeze when I have to use ctrl + c... old habits.
And I hate the new trend to remove the ins/del home/end pageup/down keys.
If I needed an international keyboard, I'd just swap out the caps for the keys. I know I've seen this done some place. Maybe these guys will find a niche market at the UN and other places where many different nationalities frequently sit down at the same keys and don't want to bring their own keyboard. I hope they have planned to recoup their development costs within a small number of units sold.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
for the g15 which can do that and more just without the lcd as keys?....doesent sound like a good deal to me, drop it to the $75 like my g15 was and ill buy it, but until then, thats $325 too much for a keyboard...
-Noc
My bets for the tagline for this keyboard:
Optimus OLED: More than meets the eye.
or
Optimus OLED: Robots in disguise.
'Course, the second may be more of my personal wish than anything.
I do agree with you about the setup.
But XML? I prefer plain text files all the time.
There are APIs to read and write plain text files, if your argument is the "there are libraries!" one.
Hopefully you don't want to make the keyboard "Web 3.0" compatible.
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
Look people, it is going to be expensive, but not 'Oil-sheik-market' expensive. I can see a lot of use for this. The übergamer will love this, of course, and the semi-rich gadget freaks. But I can imagine that this could be useful in many places. First, it is a true keyboard, you can enter character data, it has a tactile feedback, which makes it better than a touchscreen. (Have you ever tried those?) I can see a version of this in banks, restaurants, and other places. Multimedia authors will love it, switching between Photoshopping, movie- and sound editing, and every function is just a keypress away, without memorizing them like a Shakespeare play.
Think outside the box.
Conductive ink seemed to work for me. Still using it, it's 8 years old by now.
However, ony two keys were dead and then fixed, not the entire keyboard.
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
Now for the keyboard they've dropped OLED, dropped the extra function keys and moved back to LCD meaning that you'll need an external power brick to power it.
Meanwhile, the Ideazon Zboard (a range of key sets that include highly customised key shapes) and the Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard (LCD display built into keyboard) have been in the market for ages. And they're affordable.
Unfortunately the 3-key mini-Optimus only supports a refresh rate of 3fps, which I suspect will be too slow for anything other than strategy type games. Of course the full size one might be quicker, but somehow I doubt it...
P.S. Anyone who wants to see what developer tools/information they already have, click here. Good news is it looks like they have a protocol description, for the mini at least.
I have a good cell phone and it cost me less than $200 brand new. A good phone has good reception, good battery life, and sounds good to you and the person you're talking to. Everything else (including a lot of things you probably like and consider important) are irrelevant as to whether or not the phone's any good.
Hello,
You created such an innovative keyboard (Optimus) but you are still using the
old-fashioned staggered columns design. While this may be enough for the
majority of people, it isn't the right choice for customers who focus on
ergonomics.
I personally use TypeMatrix [ www.typematrix.com ] and Plum [ www.plum.bz ]
keyboards that have a matrix layout, similar to the numeric keypad, and
several ergonomic features.
I would consider buying an Optimus keyboard if it had a matrix layout and
ergonomic features like centre keys for important functions such as Enter or
Backspace (a very important step towards ergonomics is balancing the use of
the left and right hands).
I hope you will research the market of matrix and ergonomic keyboards and
consider releasing a more ergonomic version of Optimus, even if its price
would be higher.
Thanks,
--
Nikolaos S. Karastathis (NSK), BSc(Hons), MBCS, MIET, MIEEE, MACS(Prov)
I think i'll stick with cheap keyboards for the moment, unless these things are coffee proof, then it might be worth the investment.
Blazing Spiders
Did you notice where they placed the Enter key? Two whole keys to the right of where it is usually placed. I guess not too many touchtypers would buy this keyboard anyhow...
Keyboard porn.
Make it a puzzle - like Concentration. You have to match up items. Each matched set of items is replaced with a section of the final image.
I suppose the final image could be anything. Doesn't have to be porn. Funny - that was the first thing that sprang to mind...
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
nice keyboard how do you clean it?
the Optimus LCD keyboard can be powered by the PS/2 port. Remember the Cuecat scanner? LCD/LEDs do not require that much power at all.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
What a load of expensive dung. No decent touch typist ever looks at the keys! So what's the point?
I don't care how fancy it is. If I spend $400 on a keyboard, it better have a blowjob button!!!
Won't take Ozzie that long to figure it out.... SHAROONNNNN!!!!!
You moved your mouse. Please restart Windows for changes to take effect.
While we're on the subject of keyboards, does anyone know where I could find a keyboard that either doesn't have the windows keys or they can be disabled or made to do something else?
System Preferences... > International > Input Menu > Keyboard Viewer
[x] Show input menu in menu bar
Nice idea, although they botched the physical layout. That 'Enter' key looks way out there! It goes [L], [;], ['], [Enter]! Duh.
Very few things are done to last as well as computer keyboards.
The one I am using was bought in 1995 and is still going strong.
It is one of the original MS Natural Keyboards, the last product I ever bought from them. I would recommended it but given who they are I don't do so.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Most keyboards nowadays are immensely better and there are many that are ergonomically sound. But nostalgia is an strong feeling.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.