Optimus Keyboard Pre-Orders In Mere Hours

godzillopiteco sends timely word that Art. Lebedev Studio is finally going to accept pre-orders for the Optimus Maximus Keyboard — in just under 11 hours at the time this story posts, according to the countdown timer on the site. (Late last year we were primed to pre-order in December 2006.) Read the project's blog for some recent developments.

Comments

More details

[Southpaw018]

I'm less interested in the pre orders and more interested in the "description and detailed specifications," to be released at the same time.

This thing has sounded, looked, and felt like another Phantom since the start...

Re:More details

[LiquidCoooled]

The phantom was just another games console.
People actually want to do this, but the only thing stopping them is technology.

I guess at some point or other we have cursed keyboards for having fixed symbols and wished for something better, I remember the cards you used to place above your Fn keys for word processing and graphics programs, we all get freaked out remembering the keys to games and I would love to see my keys change fonts to match what I am typing.

This keyboard will give you all that, its not just another console - its new.

Having said all that, you can probably currently just keep a few customised boards and switch as needed for less than the current expected price.

Re:More details

[khephera]

$1500?? I think I'll stick with my blue-led-backlit Deck (http://www.deckkeyboards.com), thankyewverymuch.

Re:More details

[AKAImBatman]

This thing has sounded, looked, and felt like another Phantom since the start...

I don't think that's really fair. The Phantom was constantly promoted as "coming soon!" The Optimus OTOH, started life as a conceptual design. Optimus never promised a product from the design, and in fact stated that it would be too expensive with current OLED prices.

The only reason why they're making this keyboard is because there has been unprecidented demand for it.

Re:More details

[nacturation]

Agreed... this is something I would consider buying, were it not for the extraordinary price. Now the three button version of it for about $150 is certainly interesting for a few applications. However, the countdown timer to take a preorder is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. The fact that it's a preorder means you're going to have to wait before they're even made. And that there's a countdown means that they're making you wait before you start waiting. If they're in the preorder phase, then just start taking down names already.

Re:More details

[fyngyrz]

Hey... thanks for the pointer. I've been looking for some backlit keyboards for my Mac Minis, and these people have 'em - plus, they look really nice. Much appreciated.

Re:More details

[Seumas]

The only detail that matters to me is that it's $1500 and it doesn't even come in a fucking ergo/wave format. I wouldn't pay $10 for a non-ergo keyboard - much less $1500. I don't care if it comes with a "summon the slave girls to come orally satisfy me" button -- if it ain't ergo, it ain't worth it. I spend way too much time at the keyboard to try and cram my hands into an unnatural straight-edge keyboard position.

I probably wouldn't spend $1500 for it, anyway. But once it hit the $600 to $800, I absolutely would - as long as it was in a ergo/wave form.

Re:More details

[cp.tar]

Yes, it looks like a nice thing to have... but not at that price.

Actually, I'm just about to order a good old IBM-Model-M-like buckling spring keyboard from Unicomp... And it seems I'll have to order a blank one at that, because no-one had ever requested a Croatian keyboard from them before.

But really... the first thing I wondered when I saw the Optimus concept was "how would it feel to type on that thing?"
Most of the time you don't bother looking at the keyboard; it just takes your eyes from what you're doing.
But if you type a lot, the feel of the keyboard is of utmost importance.
My guess is - for the specs have not been announced yet - that it'll be a scissor-switch keyboard, which I guess is OK, but far from optimum for such an expensive keyboard.

Re:More details

[ThePeices]

You have to remember that if the keyboard turns out as well as we expect, then the high price is not a problem. There are a very large number of rich people around the world, and having something as useful and good looking as we hope the Maximus turns out to be, it would become a status symbol. All the rich geeks can get to have one and brag about it...Thats all assuming the reviews are positive, but this is such a great and good looking idea its a guaranteed sell. Gamers would love it, Photoshop users would love it, hell i would love it. With the demand the price will come down as production scales, its just a matter of time until it becomes affordable. Ipods cost alot but plenty of people still buy them, one of these could be as must have as the ipod.

Re:More details

[Propaganda13]

$1500 Hmmmmm, two 24" LCD monitors or the pre-order of a keyboard that changes icons that I won't look at and if I did, would be covered up by my hands. Well, at least I've got a couple of hours to think about this.

Re:More details

[complete loony]

Woohoo I can order one in 0-1:0-1:0-1:0-1 seconds....
Someone needs to tell this guy how to test a web page.

Re:More details

[complete loony]

And now... 500 server error...

Re:More details

[asninn]

Indeed. 1500+ USD for a keyboard? My whole computer didn't cost that much.

Re:More details

[Hal_Porter]

I don't care if it comes with a "summon the slave girls to come orally satisfy me" button -- if it ain't ergo, it ain't worth it

It doesn't, but you could program it to have one.

Slave girls not included. Slavery maybe illegal in your country

Re:More details

[Anonymous Coward]

Delusions.

Re:More details

[rblancarte]

That only goes so far. I mean, it is one thing when you are looking at a price difference of maybe 20-30%. I think even 100% in some cases is fair. You talk about the iPod, but it's cost is on par with other similar sized MP3 players. But for this to be pretty much 2000% more expensive than most keyboards! That is a no go for me. I mean, sure it is a great idea and such, but only goes so far. I mean, the kind of functionality help, I don't see it being worth $1500.

I don't see them being sold at an sort of rate that is going to drive down prices.

I have to agree, I think my G15 is going to work fine for me.

RonB

Re:More details

[admactanium]

Thats all assuming the reviews are positive, but this is such a great and good looking idea its a guaranteed sell. Gamers would love it, Photoshop users would love it, hell i would love it.

being a photoshop user (retoucher) i woudn't use this keyboard for that kind of work. there's no point and it's needlessly expensive. i can remember the keys that i need. also, many of the tools in photoshop require multiple presses of the same key to invoke. for instance, you can toggle between the many types of lasso tool (freeform, rubber band, magnetic) by pressing the "L" key.

this keyboard wouldn't really offer any benefit to a user since, at best, it can either display the current tool, or the next tool in the heirarchy of that button. in either case, i already know how to toggle to that next tool and i don't need the keyboard to tell me what the next tool is.

for $250 i might buy it. but for $1500, i'd recommend any photoshop user buy more ram, a bigger monitor (or a secondary or tertiary monitor) and a wacom tablet and still have some money left over.

Re:More details

[TheCarp]

Ive never had this problem.

I just learned to type on a normal keyboard with my hands at a natural position.

The motions that my hands make are, essentially, a very fast version of the motions that I learned when I had to look at the keys, I use, maybe 7 fingers total. However, I type as fast as I reasonably need to, and don't need to buy a special keyboard, which is good, since I spend most of my time on a laptop.

-Steve

Re:More details

[Anonymous Coward]

Even cheaper are :

http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/eclispekey.htm

I've had one for about 2 years and it's been pretty good to me.

Re:More details

[Bogtha]

I don't care if it comes with a "summon the slave girls to come orally satisfy me" button -- if it ain't ergo, it ain't worth it.

To be perfectly honest, I think the slave girls will do more to combat repetitive strain injury in your wrists than an ergonomic keyboard ever could.

Re:More details

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, someone, somewhere will buy anything - Optimus will probably sell a dozen or so at this price.

The trouble is, most people who've made a pile of cash have done so by not spending it! Mainly, they enjoy the job that they do (or enjoy building the business that they started). There's a very small portion of these who wave their money around. Where I live, we call these people "flash bastards" or "drug dealers". They may well be first in line when the new M5 comes out, but they aren't really going to give a toss about a keyboard - no-one else will see it!

(and this, children, is why geeks will never get rich)

Re:More details

[Dogtanian]

And why in the hell is the word in my image confirmation "incest"? Maybe it's trying to tell you to go fuck yourself?

Re:More details

[Anonymous Coward]

not that i approve prostitution but for 1500$ you can get two girls a night for a whole week in my country. Use 700 800$ to get here, and have one girl a night for a week :)

Re:More details

[mqduck]

With the demand the price will come down as production scales, its just a matter of time until it becomes affordable.
In keyboard terms, there's a HUGE difference between $1,500 and "affordable." You do realize people can get good PCs for half that much, right?

Re:More details

[fyngyrz]

Thanks.

Re:More details

[Douglas Goodall]

I have to agree, I think my G15 is going to work fine for me.

Would that be a Bendix G15?

Re:More details

[RockDoctor]

Price: 43 990.00 rub.
approx. 1564.37 US$
approx. 1256.86

Since I'm looking at building a new machine for the wife, with a Cyrillic keyboard of course, this was worth a look. Budget for the whole machine was in the order of £500 / US$1000/ 800. I think I'll order a Cyrillic/ UK keyboard, and a spare, and then cease to worry about it.
Hmmm, hunting around, two UK suppliers ; one with 50% bad reviews on PriceRunner, the other with 99%+ positive feedback on ebay. One with a phone that's engaged and a complex register-before-you-get-to-talk-to-sales system and one with the usual eBay forms. Phone is still engaged - oh well, Kikatek lose, the ebayer wins.

Re:More details

[Hoi Polloi]

Of course it would be MUCH more useful if apps supported it. Rich people would probably prefer to have someone provide the key images for them instead of having to develop their own for all their keys for each app. That will only happen if enough people buy these keyboards to make it worth the software company's time and $, and that will only happen if they bring the price down so it just isn't a rich person's toy.

I'd also hope the Optimus folks make the keyboards open enough to allow people to develop their own keyboard mods and post them freely. THAT would really increase their desireability.

Re:More details

[Hoi Polloi]

"it comes with a 'summon the slave girls to come orally satisfy me' button"

Ummm, $1500 you say? Hold on, let me get my wallet...

Re:More details

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

I have a G-15 from logitech. I dont' sit at it typing all day, but it's backlit keys and LCD screen are great for what I do at home. It also has 15 programable keys that can be assigned to one of 3 custom definitions (M1,M2,M3) for a total of 45 key definitions. If your looking for a typing board, I prefer the MS Natural Pro. It has a great feel to the keys and is very comfortable.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details /US/EN,CRID=2166,CONTENTID=10717 There is a new version the G11 wich is about $25 less, and looks like it removes the LCD screen.
OR
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard /ProductDetails.aspx?pid=022&active_tab=overview
Heh, I gues its the MS Natural "ELITE" now...

Re:More details

[obeythefist]

I prefer the Logitech G15, also backlight, but with a lot of other functionality.

Certainly it's the prime gaming keyboard of our time, even Logitech has yet to release a product that comes close.

*Yawn*

[Giolon]

I was really excited about this keyboard back when they first announced it and they posited that it would cost approxmiately $100. Now that it's finally becoming a reality several years behind schedule, and is going to cost approximately $1500, I don't know how anybody can really still be looking foward to it.

Re:*Yawn*

[networkBoy]

Oh, I'm looking forward to it. I'm not too sure I'll ever own one at $1500, but if they pave the way then knockoffs should be available within another decade.
-nB

Re:*Yawn*

[master811]

I don't remember them ever saying it would cost $100, I knew it was going to be cheap, and was sure they mentioned the price would be around $200-$300, which I admit is is still not cheap, but no where near the extortionate price they are charging for it.

Re:*Yawn*

[suv4x4]

I was really excited about this keyboard back when they first announced it and they posited that it would cost approxmiately $100. Now that it's finally becoming a reality several years behind schedule, and is going to cost approximately $1500, I don't know how anybody can really still be looking foward to it.

You must be dreaming, they claimed since the very beginning that it'll cost around the price of a high-end cellphone.

Re:*Yawn*

[rhyder128k]

That's not that steep. Depends what the specs of the free complete system that they are going to throw in with it .

Re:*Yawn*

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

A cellphone, not a smartphone or a pocket PC type deal?

Well, a "high end cellphone" costs from $49 (with contract!) to $499. This is 3x the price of a high-end cellphone.

Re:*Yawn*

[DAtkins]

How is this modded insightful?

The exciting thing is going to be if there are enough pre-orders for them to start fabrication. If they can stay in business passed this point, and OLED manufacturers start ramping up, it's only a matter of time before the price comes down. I remember when plasmas came out priced around $20000 for a 42" (if it was that big). Now you can get them for much less. We don't know how their planning on fabrication at this level. With such a small production schedule, it would suggest hand assembly. If they managed to sell out that production run, whats to stop them from licensing it to a foreign manufacturer? You know, like we do...

Re:*Yawn*

[jollyreaper]

I was really excited about this keyboard back when they first announced it and they posited that it would cost approxmiately $100. Now that it's finally becoming a reality several years behind schedule, and is going to cost approximately $1500, I don't know how anybody can really still be looking foward to it. 1. Make $1500 keyboard nobody would want
2. Stick an "i" in front of the name, making it an iBoard.
3. Profit!

There are only a few products this will not work for, specifically jetpacks. The iSoar did not test very will with focus groups.

Re:*Yawn*

[adrianmonk]

Now that it's finally becoming a reality several years behind schedule, and is going to cost approximately $1500, I don't know how anybody can really still be looking foward to it.

Yeah, it's a lot of money, but on the other hand, there are plenty of people, thousands and thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people who spend $300 on a new video card every year, or even every six months. People routinely spend way more than $1500 in a year just modding their own computer to do nothing but achieve higher frame rates on a game (getting the "extreme edition" of some processor, buy water cooling rigs, etc., etc.). So how is this all that different? It is, at least, a new thing that the computer is doing, rather than a case of it doing something that it already did but doing it better.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not buying one. But the reason I'm not buying one is that it doesn't seem like a good use of $1500. But then that's the same reason I don't spend thousands of dollars on overclocking or fancy new rims for my car either.

Re:*Yawn*

[rob_squared]

Once they get over the initial hurdle the price should drop. If people can save up for a little while, they might be down to $500. Still hella expensive, but I'd pay that much.

Re:*Yawn*

[enharmonix]

I don't remember them ever saying it would cost $100, I knew it was going to be cheap, and was sure they mentioned the price would be around $200-$300, which I admit is is still not cheap, but no where near the extortionate price they are charging for it. According to the last /. story, it was "a little less than a good cellphone," I think the editors guessed under $400, but I'm not sure. But if you think about it, people spending even $100 for a keyboard is pretty unusual. The idea of a keyboard in the $200-300 range probably does not sit well with anybody with the ability to invest in the manufacture and packaging of something like this, which is no doubt what these guys are looking for (I doubt they have their own factory). The few that can be pre-ordered are probably all hand-built at this point, in which case a $1500 price tag is not bad for what is essentially a prototype. But if they post their count-down, it hits /. and of those readers, 200 geeks pay $1500 each for one of these, that's probably a pretty big indicator that something like this just might do well at $200-300 on Best Buy's shelves, and this outfit can probably convince somebody to invest in mass-producing them for the rest of us. Just a thought, tho. Cheers.

Re:*Yawn*

[DrXym]

I was really excited about this keyboard back when they first announced it and they posited that it would cost approxmiately $100. Now that it's finally becoming a reality several years behind schedule, and is going to cost approximately $1500, I don't know how anybody can really still be looking foward to it.

Quite, the concept is cool but we're talking about a keyboard with programmable icons on it. Big deal. I would hope that self-claimed l33t gamerz would be capable of remembering keys without having pretty pictures to show them.

Re:*Yawn*

[electr01nik]

There are only a few products this will not work for, specifically jetpacks. The iSoar did not test very will with focus groups.

I'm sure if you can fix the 'hot-jet-exhaust-down-the-backside' problem inherent with jetpacks, your focus groups will sit much better.

Re:*Yawn*

[suv4x4]

Well, a "high end cellphone" costs from $49 (with contract!) to $499. This is 3x the price of a high-end cellphone.

It definitely is. But saying they initially promised a $100 price is also quite off. That positions it in the general market and it was never a general consumer peripheral. It's targeted for a tight niche.

Re:*Yawn*

[hughk]

A high-end phone for just $499? That's cheap. You might just get a Nokia 8800 for that. Ir won't buy you a Vertu phone though ($2000 to $20000). In Russia, mobile phones are jewellery not just functional objects. There are people who will spend $$$$ on a mobile phone not because it has a BT diddlywhat but because it looks good and shows that the owner has lots of money (poss more money than sense). This keyboard will appeal to the same people. Keyboards in Russia are messy with both Cyrillic and Latin characters. This would certainly look far cooler on the desk of a high-ranking Gazprom exec.

Re:*Yawn*

[jollyreaper]

How the hell did this get modded down as overrated when it was never modded to begin with?

Re:*Yawn*

[jollyreaper]

There are only a few products this will not work for, specifically jetpacks. The iSoar did not test very will with focus groups.

I'm sure if you can fix the 'hot-jet-exhaust-down-the-backside' problem inherent with jetpacks, your focus groups will sit much better. To ruin the joke with a serious reply, I've seen designs that have fixed that problem. The biggest drawback with jetpacks is that there's simply no margin for error. Engine dies when you're 40 feet up? You've got 40 feet of freefalling to do now. Misjudge the landing? Your legs are the landing gear. Ouch! And for all that you've still only got about a 30 second flight time.

All that being said, I still want my Rocketeer-style imaginary rocket belt.

Re:*Yawn*

[palewook]

think people with too much money are looking for a "status" keyboard..who else would spend 1500.00 for a keyboard.

Re:*Yawn*

[Hognoxious]

They should drop the price to around 200 dollars. Sure they'd be selling at a loss, but they'd make up for it in volume. Take a lesson from India.

Re:*Yawn*

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

And people wonder why Russia can't pull itself out of the gutters..

Re:*Yawn*

[Anonymous Coward]

'Cause there's no "-1, waste of space".

Re:*Yawn*

[Anonymous Coward]

Right on the spot. I didn't bother searching for one of the previous Slashdot posts on the Optimus Keyboard in which it was announced that the device would probably sell at a price equal to that of a "good mobile phone" (or something along those lines IIRC). In such a case, one might think of $300,- to $400,-. Now that it's finally available at a whopping $1,500,-, I think I'll pass (read: I'll definitely pass and I personally think they're out of their minds for charging an amount like that, but that's just me). Too bad, I really would have bought one at $400,- (or EUR400,- for that matter)...

Re:*Yawn*

[Anonymous Coward]

This. Is. Tiny Town!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/Mrf_ 1.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/3AJD 05Jetpack.jpg

Re:*Yawn*

[Stef1303]

I'd rather scream than yawn. This gizmo is an environmental disaster. At 1500 $ it probably won't sell in large quantities. Which is just as well since a power consumption of a whopping 100 W isn't exactly eco-friendly. Imagine what switching just 1 percent of the computers in the world to this type of keyboard would do to the CO2 emissions...

Re:*Yawn*

[srmalloy]

From the website, it appears as if the first batch of 200 pre-orders has already been taken; they're saying the next batch of pre-orders will be fulfilled in late December.

Re:*Yawn*

[Hoi Polloi]

Just watch Ebay, I'm sure the first stolen ones should start appearing there soon at a fraction of the price!

Re:*Yawn*

[jollyreaper]

Anonymous Coward the Bold, sniping and trolling from the safety of obscurity. Wanker.

Wow... that's cool

[LBArrettAnderson]

When I first saw the picture of it, I thought that all of the buttons had the icons/letters painted on... and I thought to myself dang... you know what would be cool? If each key had its own display...

Then I kept reading. I will definitely be getting myself one of these!

Re:Wow... that's cool

[LBArrettAnderson]

oops... I take that back... sorry... didn't see the price tag... maybe later.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[smbarbour]

You know what else would be really cool? A "Rolling Stones" button! (3rd key down, 2nd column of icon keys, right below Firefox)

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Cyberax]

Well, you can afford to buy http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/vilcus/ :)

Re:Wow... that's cool

[BrokenHalo]

Then I kept reading. I will definitely be getting myself one of these!

I won't. I fail to understand the attraction of these dubious bells and whistles when the whole idea is that we shouldn't need to look at the keyboard when we use it...

Re:Wow... that's cool

[MichaelSmith]

we shouldn't need to look at the keyboard when we use it...

You could use one of these

Re:Wow... that's cool

[AchiIIe]

Don't be so excited. How often do you look at the keyboard ?
Each and every time you take your gaze off the monitor, off the code, your brain has to look at the keyboard. This is a little bit like saving a register on the stack doing an unrelated task and then loading the register back up again.

In short, spillage will slow you down a bit, the best way to become more productive is to memorise the shortcuts and not have to look at the keyboard.

I personally have and use the das keyboard. It's completely blank and the feel on the keys is amazing. I'm a proud owner of an IBM Model M13. I happily bang away on it at work, but the keys are a bit heavy. Compared to my m13, macbook pro keyboard, and Das keyboard I have tested myself faster on the Das.

On top of that I would like to add reviews of the optimus mini 3, they were 'sticky' and did not have a confortable click to them.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Nullav]

You got that far? I stopped wanting it just after I flipped my keyboard upside down to see what came out.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[aflat362]

Oh yeah - Rolling Stones - Street Fighting man . . . GEEE SEVEENNNN! . . . ."Dude, you just hit G8"

"if you like pina colladas"

//sorry, obscure

Re:Wow... that's cool

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Any man who liked "Dirty Work" is OK in my book.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Sparr0]

Is it sad that I knew you were linking to the black keyboard without clicking on the link?

Re:Wow... that's cool

[geminidomino]

I fail to see how a keyboard with blank caps is worth $80... especially if you're NOT looking at it.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[mr_matticus]

You shouldn't need to look at the keyboard while TYPING.

Keyboards are about far more than typing, though. Just think about games--I don't usually get too far into games anymore because I don't want to spend half an hour memorizing the keys. A game is supposed to be fun. If I can look down and see what each key does, I can start playing immediately. The keyboard could be switched out of text mode to allow me to eliminate on screen palettes and toolbars in Photoshop. It can show users what keys do in iTunes or GarageBand. Hell, it can act (with an A/B typing/interface switch instead of a scroll lock, for example) as a complete replacement for most kinds of toolbars in most any application.

Lots of people didn't think the mouse served a purpose. They could do it all with the keyboard. That's still true, but I for one am glad I was given the choice.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Fred Ferrigno]

Agreed. I have an IBM Model M which features keys that can be removed and switched around to accommodate different keymaps. Once my roommates decided to remap my keyboard to say "FUCK" on the home row. It was weeks before they broke down and finally told me to look at the keyboard.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[arth1]

I fail to see how a keyboard with blank caps is worth $80... especially if you're NOT looking at it.

1. It's on ThinkGeek, which usually adds a one-born-every-minute margin to all prices.
   
2. It's backordered, which means that quite a few people most definitely found it worth $80.
   
3. It's a clicky keyboard. The type that got replaced by the much cheaper to produce and shorter lasting rubber dome keyboards. Not only will it last a decade or more, but it provides tactile feedback. Many of us oldtimers who used the mechanical clicky keyboards truly miss them, especially the IBM ones.
   

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Achoi77]

Isn't the 2nd version a buckle-spring keyboard? (you know, like the old school IBM keyboards with the extra 'clicky' sound) That would account for the price increase. Buckle-spring keyboards, although noisy and not too friendly in a business environment(mostly due to the noise), give off a very satisfying audible and tactile feel upon each keypress, unlike the more common membrane keyboards. Plus, buckle-spring keyboards do not wear out like membrane keyboards. I have a buckle-spring, and while it's a bit heavy and (quite frankly) pretty ugly, I cannot complain about the performance of the keyboard. Those things are solid, and (it's probably a psychological thing) encourages the user to learn to type faster and 'lighter' if that makes any sense. But they aren't cheap.

I know the first generation das keyboard was not bucklespring, but even the feel of the first generation das keyboard is excellent (I own a first gen das keyboard as well). The first gen keyboard has a 'light' touch to it as well, but nowhere near my bucklespring.

Over time, I've noticed that membrane keyboards have gotten quieter, but the offset is that you cannot tell whether or not you've confirmed the keyboard press. I'm talking about soft keyboards, like the current dell, apple, and (overall)laptop keyboards. Those things were built for business where visuals play an overrated importance, unfortunately not designed around performance. (fyi for a membrane keyboard, the first generation das keyboard was pretty noisy and had 'light' keys, somewhat like the oldschool compaq keyboards)

Re:Wow... that's cool

[arth1]

I use a keyboard on a tray under the desk. I can't look at the keyboard without pulling it out. This improves my typing speed quite a bit, and at the same time allows me to sit closer to the desk, with the monitor further back, giving me ample room for paperwork and other essentials like coffee mugs. When I start typing, I feel around for the dents on the F and J keys, and then I'm all set.

On most computer desks with trays, you have to lower the tray a bit for this to work comfortably, and adjust the chair and monitor height accordingly. But I find it well worth it.

In other words, no Optimus for me :-)

Regards,
--
*Art

Re:Wow... that's cool

[geminidomino]

Ok, I'll give you the clicky. I spent $90 on a model-M myself last year about this time.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[jim9000]

Clicky keyboards are nice, but why pay $80 for the Das Keyboard when you can get a newly manufactured Model M for less money?

Re:Wow... that's cool

[arth1]

Clicky keyboards are nice, but why pay $80 for the Das Keyboard when you can get a newly manufactured Model M for less money?

Well, perhaps someone prefers black to off-white, or they have a computer without a spare PS/2 port (no, not all computers have two) and thus want USB? Or they want to pay $20 extra for the novelty factor?
Let them :-) It's still less than the $1460 extra paid for the Optimus novelty factor...

Re:Wow... that's cool

[joystickgenie]

Oh I completely agree for typing and programming this keyboard would only slow you down. However for just about everything else you use the key board for it would be pretty nifty.

I don't know the exact functionality of the keyboard but I do know enough about it that it supports colors and animations on every key. There are just so many things you could do with this.

It could be used to help you learn hot keys in programs. You wouldn't have to study the manual for your programs to learn what the hot keys are if you have them displayed right in front of you. Eventually you will memorizes the positions of the hot keys and no longer need to look at the visuals but I con only imagine that you would learn the locations of them much faster with the visual reminders constantly reminding you of them.

Then gaming is a whole slew of interesting ideas. In an fps it could display the control keys and even better only display the control keys that are currently applicable. It could be used for game play mechanics as well where the keys would change depending on the current position in the game and what knowledge s available to you. So if you don't have the bgf yet the key would be off or if you just don't have any BFG amo the hot key to switch to it could be grayed out. Or if the keyboard isn't used in the game all the key could be used as a secondary display device removing the hud from the screen putting it on the keyboard. It's another place to connect interactively with the player and could be put to great use. The options for gaming are just staggering.

I have been looking forward to this keyboard for a long time. But for $1500 there is no chance I'm willing to buy it off the first production line. However if the price comes down and they prove to have a good lifespan then absolutely. though I would still have a normal key board on my desk for whenever i have to code or write for lengthy amounts of time.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[senatorpjt]

If $600 is too much for a game console, $1500 is too much for a game controller.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[senatorpjt]

On the other hand, every APL programmer will buy one of these.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[fyngyrz]

I type in English part of the time, and in phonetic Korean part of the time, and the rest of the time I'm trying to get Chinese characters (actually Korean han ja, but very similar in scope... thousands of characters from the Chinese set) out of various keystroke combinations. It would be quite a boon to me if this thing could remap on the fly. Even worth $1500. But I'm not buying one until I know it'll do what I want. I'm also curious about the lifetimes of the OLEDs. My keyboard is powered up 24/7.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[mr_matticus]

Absolutely. But $10,000 is too much for a computer, too. $1000 is too much for a microwave. $5000 is too much for an HDTV. Prices come down.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[mobby_6kl]

Say that again after you memorize this and this (zipped pdf) layout, and then maybe I'll change my mind and agree with you.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[JCWDenton]

You can always get the budget version.. http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-mini/ Can anyone tell me what the purpose of it is? It's not wireless and only has three buttons so would barely function as a remote (volume up, down, pause toggle?) Or would you need to remember various key combinations ala morse code to start typing away with it? Also, has anyone noticed the displays/keys are 48/48 pixels (of the full version). Would the firefox logo look anywhere near as good as potrayed on the product page? At least it is able to animate at 10fps..imagine having a roommate with a arcade hall k/b when trying to get to sleep...

Re:Wow... that's cool

[IAmGarethAdams]

That would be the cover to Abbey Road, the Beatles album?

Re:Wow... that's cool

[smbarbour]

It is now, it was the Rolling Stones logo before (a mouth with the tongue hanging out)

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny but then either you're lying (it's still funny) or you ain't a real touch typist. I've got a very special, self-modded, Model M (actually I've got 4 of them) as my main keyboard: it's a "blind" keyboard (nothing written on the keys) *but* the 'f' and 'j' keys have the little bumps that allow touch typist to put their hand in correct position (wheter you are a middle-row or a top-row touch typist, you still use the middle row's two bumps to position your fingers *or* you're making mistakes when first placing your hand on the keyboard) without looking at the keyboard. Without these bumps you simply can't touch type as well as a real touch typist (and, yup, I type in the 3 digits wpm range ;)

So if what you're telling it's true you probably didn't learn to really touch-type, which is why a real touch-typist shall write faster than you.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[jim9000]

They make a black version with gray keys as well as a USB version. They also have one with the Windows keys which I have re-mapped to other functions in Linux.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[nauseaboy]

I bought my model M about a year ago. I cannot stand anything else these days.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Fred Ferrigno]

I'm not lying and honestly I wasn't trying to be funny. It's just something that happened to me that seemed relevant to the topic, so it's actually pretty interesting to me that other people think it's funny.

Yes, my keyboard has the F and J bumps too. IIRC, the way they arranged it, F was where it normally is, so that was fine, but K was in the J position. If not noticing that the J dot was missing makes me a bad typist, eh.. whatever. I never claimed to be an excellent typist, but I do have the keyboard memorized. I type around 80-90 wpm, which fast enough to keep up with my speed of thought. (I'm not pulling that out of thin air, I just took a test.)

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Anonymous Coward]

And where did he actually say he learned proper touch typing (outside of the strange little world in your head filled with straw men)? Many programmers can type blindly just fine, never having learned touch-typing and ignoring completely the middle row bumps.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Raenex]

But it's gold-plated ! That must be worth, umm, something?

Re:Wow... that's cool

[sc0ob5]

I have to say that I have one of these DAS keyboards and I think it's great. Sure you could use an IBM Model M but when you use PC's that don't have PS/2 ports it's a little hard. Also it stops people from using my PC at work, well worth the $80usd in my book.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Grym]

Just think about games--I don't usually get too far into games anymore because I don't want to spend half an hour memorizing the keys.

Might I recommend the Nostromo Speedpad 52. The 16 keys on it are fully programmable and it automatically changes key assignments depending on which program you're using. Since I got mine about 3 years ago I haven't gone back. It's great. When I get a new game, I just assign the keys to places on the speedpad as I see fit and never worry about it again.

When you consider that it also has extensive macroing capabilities and a pricetag of about 40 dollars, there's no reason not to have one as a computer gamer.

-Grym

Re:Wow... that's cool

[zobier]

Well, that ones just a joke design but the linked product rozetkus is definitely cool.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[mr_matticus]

Interesting. I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

Re:Wow... that's cool

[Sobrique]

Actually, it is a rather nice keyboard. The different keys have different weights, which makes it rather a pleasant experience to type on. The 'no keys' though, is just a showoff gimmick.

Re:Wow... that's cool

[RESPAWN]

Actually, back when I used to do desktop support, I would occasionally rearrange keys on users who really pissed me off. I tried to keep it as subtle as possible. Usually just swap the N and M keys and the ; and ' keys since neither of those are really obvious at first glance. Occasionally, I'd also swap the numpad keys around so that they were in the phone keypad style, but on a lot of keyboards, that's immediately noticable since not all of the numpad keys are shaped the same on some of them.

It was always a lot of fun to see their reaction, though. :)

A bit pricey

[bubbl07]

At $1564 USD, the price is a bit steep for most of us, but I'm sure it'll find its niche.

Re:A bit pricey

[eclectro]

At $1564 USD, the price is a bit steep for most of us

I'm in, as long as it comes with a free copy of Duke Nukem Forever.

Re:A bit pricey

[Chris Mattern]

At $1564 USD, the price is a bit steep for most of us, but I'm sure it'll find its niche.

At that price, I'd expect to get the Optimus *Prime* keyboard, and it better transform into the leader of the Autobots, too!

Chris Mattern

Re:A bit pricey

[Anonymous Coward]

At that price, I'd expect to get the Optimus *Prime* keyboard, and it better transform into the leader of the Autobots, too!

Sorry, but the autobots are at least an order of magnitude more expensive. For $1500 you can get the GoBots though.

Re:A bit pricey

[John3]

It will likely become a cool device for geeks to show their grandkids ten or twenty years from now. I predict the initial production run will be the only production run.

Re:A bit pricey

[Miseph]

They're like the K-Mart of Transformers.

Re:A bit pricey

[suv4x4]

At that price, I'd expect to get the Optimus *Prime* keyboard, and it better transform into the leader of the Autobots, too!

You have it. All Optimus models so far are like this: Optimus 101, Optimus 103, Optimus 113.

All of those are prime numbers, and I doubt it's coincidental.

Re:A bit pricey

[TheoMurpse]

At that price, I'd expect to get the Optimus *Prime* keyboard, and it better transform into the leader of the Autobots, too!

And, taking a page from Apple, for an extra $100, the keyboard will have lips!!!

Re:A bit pricey

[jim3e8]

Ah, a keyboard ... how quaint.

Re:A bit pricey

[jaredcat]

Well I'm one of the few people who set his alarm clock for 4am PST (just after 3pm moscow time when the pre-orders start) just so I could order my Optimus. I did the same thing with the Tivo Series3. I was even on the pre-order list for the Roku for those of you who remember what that waste of money is.

The trouble is, Artlebedev's draconian shopping cart software is so bad, that after 20 minutes I just gave up. It takes about 15 pages to place an order, it doesn't know how to ask for a US address-- (city and country, no state?)... and then it doesn't know what my VISA card is. What a piece of shit. If these guys can't even get their shopping cart working properly and have it tested for their target market, how are they going to produce a quality complex physical product like the Optimus keyboard?

I don't know if one of my many order attempts went through.. But after having a few hours to think about it, if it didn't go through, I'll just wait for the first round of reviews to come in.

Re:A bit pricey

[Hoi Polloi]

I think I speak for most consumers when I say "Thank You" for being a bleeding edge v1.0 tech buyer and weeding out and debugging the market for the rest of us v3.0 buyers.

Re:A bit pricey

[jaredcat]

Update...

Artbeledev emailed me today letting me know that they had some kind of problem with their servers, and they sent me a link which allowed me to complete my order. So now I will be the proud owner of a $1600 keyboard in a few months. I don't even own a desktop PC, and my workplace does not allow outside peripherals. I'll probably end up using the Optimus as the dedicated keyboard for my PS3 :).

Unless..

[Anonymous Coward]

Can anyone justify $1500 with a reason other than:

1. Impress your friends.
2. It just looks cool..

Inquiring minds want to know.

Re:Unless..

[elysiuan]

As the car industry has known for years those are both very valid reasons!

Look at the import tuner market... non-functional body kits, huge spoilers on front wheel drive cars, 'carbon fibre' overlays for regular steel hoods, etc etc etc.

Supplying expensive equipment for the gullible is a very profitable business! Just ask the audiophiles! ;) *ducks*

Re:Unless..

[Anonymous Coward]

If anything, Apple has shown that the poseur market is one where you can make some money.

Re:Unless..

[binaryspiral]

Too right, audiophiles and tuners... a market of suckers.

Oh, and I just bought my oxygen free gold dipped hand braided carbon fiber triple analog 186.2 bit digital monster extreme seat covers with pleather inlay...

they added 50hp and 20dB to my civic.

Re:Unless..

[GrievousMistake]

Maybe
1. Impress your investors.
2. It looks cutting edge and professional.
would make for a better market at the current price, though I'm sure some high-paid techies will find your posted reasons sufficient.

If I wanted the kind of dynamic graphical shortcuts that this keyboard offer, I'd just as soon keep it separate from text entry, and mount a small touch screen beside the keyboard.

Actually, it kind of comments on the inefficiency of the mouse as an input device that it is so much faster to use a physical button compared to an onscreen one. The mouse is mainly useful as a FPS game controller, and needs to step down from the UI throne. I'm looking forward to when this hits mainstream, though I won't hold my breath. I saw a pretty impressive demonstration of a interactive whiteboard a while ago, though I know it's old news to people that are keeping up with this thing. Isn't touch technology getting cheap enough to reach the main desktop market soon?

Re:Unless..

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, this needs to get modded all the way up.

Its a keyboard, a fancy one sure, but a keyboard. I got my first Treo two months ago and just the other day found the voice activated software for it. Yes, its Microsoft's software, but it keeps me from getting in car accidents. How does this pertain to this keyboard...it doesn't...other than I want a new input device for my computer.

I have a giant monitor, a computer that costs more in electricity than my AC and two completely inefficient ways of communicating with it. I would love voice software and why can't I have it?

I don't want to have to say this though:

"Start"
"All Programs"
"Bethesda Softworks"
"Oblivion"

And then hear, "Would you like to run Oblivion?"

I want to say "Email mom" and my email program comes up with her address filled in and the cursor blinking in the subject line. I also want to be able to do this if I'm in the kitchen making dinner or two miles away walking my dog.

Screw the "uber" keyboard and mouse. I want something different.

Re:Unless..

[Anonymous Coward]

they added 50hp and 20dB to my civic. They added 20d12 to your civic? Dude that is some serious damage! What do you call it, the Fireball? ;)

Re:Unless..

[robaal]

Actually, it kind of comments on the inefficiency of the mouse as an input device that it is so much faster to use a physical button compared to an onscreen one. The mouse is mainly useful as a FPS game controller, and needs to step down from the UI throne.

I find mouse gestures comparable to keyboard shortcuts in speed; plus you don't need to have your other hand on the keyboard (...) which is much neater if you aren't sitting at a desk but in some comfy chair and want to just read/watch stuff on the net (I suspect a wireless trackball would be ideal).

Re:Unless..

[zitch]

Shouldn't that be 32d11? I mean, if you really want to combine Hex geekery with D&D...

Where can you get an 11-sided dice?

Re:Unless..

[zitch]

And yes, I noticed my grammar mistake. Please remove that "an" in my question from the record...

Re:Unless..

[binaryspiral]

This is slashdot... grammar is just a speed bump to the submit button.

Re:Unless..

[Planesdragon]

And yes, I noticed my grammar mistake. Please remove that "an" in my question from the record... That's not a grammar mistake. It's a grammatical variance.

The standard rule is "if it starts with a vowel, use an." As this is a vocal, rather than typographic, rule, you're correct to use the a/an as if you had written out "eleven." "An eight-sided die" is correct, for example -- but so is "a 11,500 car."

In the long run, it's a silly rule that you can happily give raspberries to if you care to. :)

Re:Unless..

[zitch]

The issue isn't "a"/"an". It's the fact that "dice" is a plural noun. The correct phrase should be either "eleven-sided dice" or "an eleven-sided die".

I do submit that I might be incorrect in that matter, but I do think it's more fun to grammar-nazi myself. ;)

But thank you for the info about that rule!

Re:Unless..

[Hoi Polloi]

Don't make fun of tuners. Don't you know that they discovered that the noiser your exhaust the more powerful your car becomes? Just by slapping a stainless steel sewer pipe to your car you can add 40hp! If it makes life miserable for people in the neighborhood then it's 50hp.

Advertising

[Animats]

This isn't a story. This is an ad.

If it's a real, successful product, it will be available tomorrow, the next day, probably next week, and at a lower price in a few months. If not, well...

Re:Advertising

[Rakshasa Taisab]

How did you manage to pass the geek certification exam?

Please turn in your card on the way out.

Re:Advertising

[maxume]

The fact that you can only turn in your card to someone geekier is refreshing, isn't it? Somewhere out there, geek prime is laughing at us sll.

Re:Advertising

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Mr. Elitist Nerd, maybe you're the one who should be on his way out.

And you can keep your membership cards.

Re:Advertising

[Daychilde]

First of all, this thing has been a long time coming. It's created a lot of interest. It's a valid story.

Second of all, if you'd read TFA, you'd know that the first three runs will produce a total of 800 keyboards, in December 2007 and January 2008.

I don't expect the price to drop soon.

I can't afford one, otherwise I would be jumping - even at $1500. This is one of those things that would be worth every penny. I desperately crave one of these things, and I have since the time I first learned of it.

The only problem is that it's not ergonomic. Well, okay, and I can't afford it. :P ...but I want one. Desperately.

And hey - don't knock any geek's desire of one of these. I'm not into case mods - I don't understand the point (well, I do, I just don't care) -- but I understand how having a custom case or case mod is a valid expression of coolness and/or geekyness... This keyboard is the same thing - only to me, much better.

Practicalities: Since it can be customized to match a particular application - and my understanding is that the keys can change if you hold a modifier key (e.g. ALT, SHIFT, etc), this is handy for keyboard shortcuts...

And hey... it's mondo spiff, man... :)

Re:Advertising

[SydShamino]

If you are a software developer, the latest release of Perl 7.8 Extreme! might be significant to you. For hardware engineers, this is pretty darn cool.

Re:Advertising

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

This isn't a story. This is an ad. Whether or not it is an advertisement does not preclude it from being a story. The first keyboard with fully software remappable symbols on each and every key is absolutely news for nerds.

I'm in.

[hejog]

I think i'll preorder one -- I spent tons of time in photoshop / FCP / games / etc and having one keyboard rather than *looks* four dangling off my wall will be a life saver.

and I'm sure chicks will dig it!

Re:I'm in.

[jmashaw]

I definitely agree with this assessment.

It will probably not be too useful for regular use, but for video production and all, it will be a lifesaver. I have one of those final cut pro kb's at work and it is a pain to try and read all the little color-coded icons, and all the letter, but having the ability to switch back and forth would be really cool. Plus I could customize my hotkeys and the icons would automatically change.

I would definitely snag one,

But will it run Linux?

Re:I'm in.

[hejog]

I expect it'll run /on/ Linux...

I'll be impressed if many Linux Hackers are willing to break a $1500 keyboard to try and install Linux, there is dedication!

Re:I'm in.

[gerrysteele]

Well they did say they would support linux at some point.

But then again this was back in the days before they even thought about doing a feasibility study on the proposed product. And when it would be about 200 squid.

Re:I'm in.

[larry bagina]

unfortunately, the price of squid has gone up to $73.

Staggered keys are so 1800's

[Anonymous Coward]

Typematrix, kinesis and maltron have figured it out, how did these guys miss it?

Besides, this has been vaporware for so long I reckon anyone who parts with their cash has more money than brains.

What would be more practical...

[commlinx]

Rather than having every key with an in-built display what would be more practical is leaving the alphanumeric keys as standard and just having the displays on the left block of special function keys and F1-F15. Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost. I'd go for one at $200 odd if when I switched applications I could replace the function keys with alternative icons and alternative keystroke codes. No wonder the unit cost is so high though - they don't seem to be planning to manufacture many units so it seems to be aimed at people with a surplus of cash.

Re:What would be more practical...

[tepples]

Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost. Except "multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages" is exactly the application around which this product is designed. Look around the photos on the page to see Cyrillic and the like.

Re:What would be more practical...

[shird]

Well I suspect it will be programmable. Imagine when holding ctrl and seeing the 'S' become 'Save', the 'V' become 'Paste' etc.

Also, within vi/vim, depending on whether you are in command or input mode, the 'hjkl' keys could be arrow keys (as well as appropriate symbols etc for the other keys).

Of course.. all this assumes you actually look at your keyboard while using it. Strange that the das keyboard has not markings on its keys at all, and is proud of it. There is some logic to it.. I suspect having displays on your keys will actually slow you down quite a bit.

Re:What would be more practical...

[nbert]

if it would cost just a 100th it would be really cool for people with non qwerty layouts, because it actually happens quite often that one has to type qwerty on a keyboard with different labels.

For me it's usually not so bad, because I touch type and my layout is qwertz, which isn't that different (I actually prefer qwerty, but I need 4 letters which don't exist on qwerty). If I install an OS which I haven't localized yet it gets quite annoying finding special keys, which are not that common (e.g. []|{}).
 
  Since the optimus costs way too much I should stop complaining and get a printed version of the qwerty layout I guess...
 
Another idea: Why think of this keyboard as a device for people using multiple layouts? Might just as well be very useful for internet cafes with customers from all over the world - in this case the price tag might even be right...

Re:What would be more practical...

[Bogtha]

Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost.

Different keyboard modes have a much wider scope than layouts and languages. It's for displaying the right icons for when you are playing Quake, for displaying the effects of shortcuts when you are in Photoshop, for displaying the right functions when you switch modes in vi, for showing the right characters when you hold down Alt Gr when you want curly quotes, em dashes, etc.

I think a keyboard like this could be very useful even to computer novices — perhaps especially to computer novices. I've been using computers for decades, and I haven't memorised a fraction of the keyboard shortcuts I could find useful. It would be a lot easier for me if I could hold down Ctrl and look at my keyboard to see the right key to press. If a power user like me can't learn all the shortcuts, how could a newbie?

The real problem is that they went all out for the full-colour display, the animation, the integrated USB mass storage, etc, when you can get 99% of the value of this thing with a monochrome, high-latency, no-hard-drive version for a fraction of the cost. There's no way I'd pay this much for a keyboard, but I'd certainly jump at the chance if somebody were offering the cheaper version I describe. I've heard of various proof-of-concepts, but nothing for sale to end-users outside of the USA.

Re:What would be more practical...

[value_added]

Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost.

Might work for you, but I don't think I'm alone in making keyboard purchases based on the placement of those keys you're referring to as standard. It's been too many years to bother counting when some semblance of standard was replaced by design considerations which, in turn were based mostly on aesthetic considerations.

Specifically, the placement, shape and size of the Control, Caps Lock, Escape, Enter, Bracket and Pipe/Backslash keys are the most problematic, and are keys I use more frequently than most others. Then, there's absence or inclusion of one or more "Windows" keys and the Menu key, all of which vary from model to model. As those keys get resized or shifted around the placement of surrounding keys gets changed in subtle but possibly significant ways. Punctuation keys aren't just for punctuating sentences. Then there's the top row Function keys. I've not made much use of the them since using Wordperfect in the DOS days, but for any user who considers them important, this particular keyboard's design choices (again, mostly aesthetic) would be a no-starter.

No big deal? For many perhaps. And even easier to dismiss the entire argument as insignificant when you consider that most people rely on a mouse.

I'd be the first in line to buy a well engineered keyboard with new features that I can make use of, and but this one doesn't isn't. That said, it does appear that a lot of thought has been put into it, and it does look a lot better than the crappy keyboards most of are accustomed to using.

Re:What would be more practical...

[suv4x4]

Rather than having every key with an in-built display what would be more practical is leaving the alphanumeric keys as standard and just having the displays on the left block of special function keys and F1-F15. Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages I can't think of any reason re-programming the standard keys is useful and it must add stacks to the cost. I'd go for one at $200 odd if when I switched applications I could replace the function keys with alternative icons and alternative keystroke codes. No wonder the unit cost is so high though - they don't seem to be planning to manufacture many units so it seems to be aimed at people with a surplus of cash.

Many apps have too many shortcuts and people are too accustomed to their usual locations, but could benefit from the extra visual feedback (even if just to show their kb to their buddies).

There are A4 tablets out there for $100. Then why the hell is everybody spending $1000 on a Wacom? Me including? I'm not even rich, and I don't have $1000 I won't look back on.

Keyboards and pointing devices, next to monitors basically are our hands and eyes on the computer. You'd give anything for better hands and eyes, since it helps you so much.

The problem I see here with Optimus are two: first, nice, very visual and so on, but definitely not ergonomic. The ergonomics of this keyboard are the worse I've seen in a keyboard for the last 20 years.

And second, durability. I know that if I hammer my TFT, pixels ill start dieing soon and it worse things may happen. It'll be interesting to see how long the keys of Optimus last under normal daily usage pattern.

Re:What would be more practical...

[treimor]

On the contrary, I believe there are many reasons to have the alphanumeric keys with displays.

Imagine if you're using Maya, 3d Studio, autoCAD, etc... and whenever that application is in the foreground all the function keys that are mapped to the alphanumeric keys are displayed. I don't know if the keyboard allows that kind of customization, but it would be especially productive if they changed their images when secondary keys (control, shift, etc..) were pressed as well.

All it would take is one person to set up the template and release it, and voila! you have a readily available, interesting, and functional keyboard for some non-textual applications.

I know there are times in those programs you would like to use standard alphanumeric input, but I'm sure its easier to remember the characters normally represented by each key than the hundreds of shortcuts built into these programs.

Re:What would be more practical...

[Anonymous Coward]

But I can change the font on my kets and that is really cool!

Kind of how a R-type sticker on a honda add's 25hp and neon and a sky hook wing adds another 30hp. Oh a loud fart can making your 1.8L pissbox engine with 150,000 miles on it sound less like a lawnmower.

It's for the wanna-be's Just like the fake import tuning that goes on. The real tuners don't put all that Fast and Furious bullshit on their cars. only the posers that dont even know what a wrench is do.

Re:What would be more practical...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's funny that the "Command" key is marked "Ctrl" on most keyboards. If that's short for "Command," what language is it?

Re:What would be more practical...

[Anonymous Coward]

Fail, because as far as I know, the Command key isn't even on most keyboards. Undoubtedly you PC users have some pedantic-minded, needlessly complicated set of alternatives (like Left Alt, Right Control, Windows/Tux keys, etc., etc., etc. ad nauseam).

Re:What would be more practical...

[mrchaotica]

If you wanted fewer fancy keys you could always get the mini version...

Re:What would be more practical...

[Daychilde]

"I suspect having displays on your keys will actually slow you down quite a bit."

Except that it's useful for the times that you'd be wishing you had a keyboard shortcut list handy.

Heck, you could even set this *up* to emulate a das keyboard (i.e. blank keys) until you hit CTRL or ALT or whatever - in which case, you could get those pesky hard-to-remember application shortcuts... :)

Re:What would be more practical...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you look at the concept, the idea is that the QWERTY keyboard can change in order to show available keyboard shortcuts, so that learning hotkeys in Photoshop or Quake would be more natural. This would be a good idea, if the developers that could make it a reality didn't have a target audience of about 200 people...

By the way, what happened to the idea that they had interchangeable OLED and regular keys, so you could buy a keyboard where only part of the keys were OLED (the rest being regular keys) and buy more display keys later when you got rich(er)?

Re:What would be more practical...

[Mike1024]

I've been using computers for decades, and I haven't memorised a fraction of the keyboard shortcuts I could find useful.

For some applications you can buy a keyboard with preprinted shortcuts on keys - Final Cut, for example.

At $150 this keyboard would have been extremely competitive with such products; special keyboards can easily cost $200. However, at $1500, it's less relevant.

Michael

Re:What would be more practical...

[darthflo]

the integrated USB mass storage, etc, when you can get 99% of the value of this thing with a monochrome, high-latency, no-hard-drive version

The mass storage controller (and SD slot) discussed in their development blog wasn't referring to a hard drive inside the keyboard but rather the communications interface from your pc to the board.
To make the thing more platform-independent, they chose to make it's layout storage (which can't be stripped away quite well) available as USB mass storage, so (in theory) you could use it without any problems in linux, windows, solaris, (insert your favourite os supporting usb storage devices here). :]

Seeing the SD card slot on the newest pictures leaves me a bit puzzled about it even having this internal layout storage. We'll have to wait and see...

Re:What would be more practical...

[gurutc]

This may be redundant, but how much more does it need before it's the whole shebang? Network, a bit more RAM and an App CPU and you're home. But coffee spills... Oh the Humanity! - gurutc

Re:What would be more practical...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Ctrl" is an abbreviation of "Control". PCs don't have a "Command" key, Macs do. The troll somehow seems to think that everyone is using a Mac and thinks that the strange four-leaf-clover "Command" symbol next to the Apple symbol is being confused for Control, which it isn't. Stranger still, Mac keyboards actually spell out the word "control" on the key.

Wide keycaps

[Wookie Monster]

Ever used an Atari ST keyboard? The keycaps were too wide on top. Although it sounds counter-intuitive, it made typos too easy. If your fingertip hit the desired key just a bit to the side, it was likely to hit the neighboring key too.

The screenshot of the Optimus keyboard shows keycaps which look even wider on top than the Atari ST's. I can't imagine ever using this keyboard for any serious amount of typing.

Re:Wide keycaps

[Anonymous Coward]

iam looking at my Atari STE keyboard right now and the KB has the same size caps all over (bar the usual ctrl/shift etc), the only ones that are wide are the function keys and they are well out of the way of the main KB
maybe you are thinking of a different manufacturer

Re:Wide keycaps

[Wookie Monster]

The keys have the usual 3/4 inch spacing, but the width of the keycap on a "normal" or laptop keyboard is about 1/2 inch. Atari ST was about 5/8 inch.

Careful now

[tttonyyy]

Great, as soon as I've figured out how to stop my wife/kids dropping food crumbs/coffee into it I'll order this funky new keyboard. Previously not been too bothered about chucking an old one and replacing with a new one for this reason. So as much as I'd love to own something so geek-attractingly cool, I'll have to pass this time...

a new marketing avenue !

[pytheron]

Imagine some unscrupulous person coding something that updates your keyboard to bombard you with direct marketing, using the keys like a limited dot matrix.. or indeed, if the keys mapped fast enough, you could create cool music pulse effects etc. I must admit, I'd like on of these.

Re:a new marketing avenue !

[Abuzar]

Imagine some unscrupulous person coding something that updates your keyboard to bombard you with direct marketing, using the keys like a limited dot matrix.. or indeed, if the keys mapped fast enough, you could create cool music pulse effects etc. I must admit, I'd like on of these.

wow! That's a very cool idea! I just happen to be doing this adult webmaster job, and I'm sure it'll be great for marketing pr0n. And the fact that anyone who's buying this keybaord is on the wealthier side will really help in targetting for higher value clientelle. Really, you should charge for advice. Become a marketing consultant :-)

Lifespan?

[Anonymous Coward]

What kind of OLEDs do they use? Standard, blue OLEDs will last less than a year.

Wow, hard to believe

[edwardpickman]

Then the rumors of it being bundled with Duke Nuke em Forever aren't true? Or are they taking preorders for Duke as well?

Re:Wow, hard to believe

[Anonymous Coward]

Or are they taking preorders for Duke as well?

They do, it just takes forever to complete one.

Cool

[kitsunewarlock]

Except I'd rather buy 30 different cheap keyboards and hand-paint or print out my own custom keys.

Finally! Well, Eventially!

[ScentCone]

I'm so pleased about this advance warning, giving me a chance to cogitate on the early stages of beginning to anticipate the eventual opening moments of the new dawn of an opportunity to gear up for a period when, soon, there will be a new, imminent development foreshadowing the approaching onset of the start of my chance to, on a first-come, first-served basis, pre-order this thing.

They were right

[rlbond86]

It does cost less than a good cell phone!

Re:They were right

[Eric Smith]

Sadly, even Bill Gates cannot afford a good cell phone.

This looks interesting. I hope the succeed.

[Tokimasa]

If they manage to market this and people like it, then perhaps other companies will begin to do this. Competition always brings prices down.

way too much

[digitalsushi]

For 1500, I'd want a multitouch interface. Screw the keyboard. Everything should be a key.

Good Ol' Dependable

[byronne]

Maybe I'll be classified as a Luddite for this, but I really love using my IBM Model M. Best keyboard ever in tactile response and sheer typeability (if that's a word). I've been collecting backups off eBay even though I know you can throw one off a building and still plug it in with no worries. Simple, robust and failure-proof, aside from the sometimes flaky cables, I just love that it's a keyboard with steel in it.
Besides, shortcut keys are for the lazy folk, IMHO.

Re:Good Ol' Dependable

[Stormwatch]

For keyboards that work just like good old Model M, buckling springs and all, check Unicomp.

Re:Good Ol' Dependable

[wadia]

After about a dozen Northgate Omnikeys (best keyboard ever) have died another model M user checks in. Long live people who need a happy medium between the typewriter and a laptop.

Re:Good Ol' Dependable

[m0ng0l]

You and me both. 3 Model Ms at home, and one at work. Only problem I've ever had was when the wife somehow managed to jam hers into the keyboard jack on the PC, and broke off the plastic alignment key...

Keyboard probably still works, although I've got it tossed in a closet for now...

Re:Good Ol' Dependable

[rhizome]

You're not a Luddite, you're just one of the people who are guaranteed to post "I love my Model M!" in any story involving keyboards. So, I'd say you're more of an Evangelist or Proselytizer.

Re:Good Ol' Dependable

[KlausBreuer]

Yup, second that!

I plugged my '86 version into the PC at work, and it *works*. Spill some coffee over it, and it still works... and if you feel like cleaning the coffee up - easy as pie.

Man, these things have a high quality, and a great typing feel. I have about five of them, just in case :)

Oh, and another *major* advantage: none of these idiotic Windows Keys.

Um, it's a keyboard.

[mikek2]

Ummm... it's a fucking keyboard. (And I think video card geeks need a life!)

Well then

[Wicko]

Give me an ergonomic version, make it about 1500 less, and I'm sold!

Re:Well then

[halcyon1234]

And make it wireless! Ever since I went wireless keyboard, I can't go back.

Re:Well then

[Wicko]

That would suck the juice right out of those batteries, by rechargeables or prepare to stock up. :)

Re:Well then

[halcyon1234]

Already got a ton of them. A local warehouse shop had a bulk deal on them. Glad I did, because a regular wireless keyboard+mouse goes through them mighty fast.

I guess you're right about the Optimus eating batteries:

Dear Mr. Br
WARNING KEYBOARD BATTERY LOW

{change change}

ian Boytan
WARNING KEYBOARD BATTERY LOW

"$1,564.37" hahahaha...

[Anonymous Coward]

"$1,564.37" hahahaha... "$1,564.37" hahahaha... "$1,564.37" hahahaha... sorry.. i'm using my 7 Euro keyb... "$1,564.37" hahahaha... "$1,564.37" hahahaha... i'm so sorry.. but.. "$1,564.37" hahahaha...

for "$1,564.37" i can buy all keyboards in all languages in this world and throw them away every day...

Re:"$1,564.37" hahahaha...

[Anonymous Coward]

not all of them, http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

Re:"$1,564.37" hahahaha...

[linuxci]

"$1,564.37" hahahaha...
sorry.. i'm using my 7 Euro keyb... "$1,564.37" hahahaha... "$1,564.37" hahahaha... i'm so sorry.. but.. "$1,564.37" hahahaha... Stop bragging about your expensive keyboard. The way the dollar is going I'd suspect 7 euros is well over $2000 now :)

Why for Odin's sake...

[belgar]

....does Slashdot act as the marketing arm of Lebedev? The number of pre-annouce, pre-production, pre-order shite having to do with this marginally cool keyboard is wee-todd-did.

Re:Why for Odin's sake...

[Locklin]

In other news, Slashdot.org was purchased by the owners of Digg today...

Re:Why for Odin's sake...

[slack_prad]

Ads = money. What did you think? Slashdot gets donations?

Re:Why for Odin's sake...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's "news" in the same sense as the Phantom console and Duke Nukem Forever -- i.e. it's an award-winning piece of vapourware. It's a neat idea (who wouldn't want one of these keyboards, were it cheap and functional?), but people were justifiably skeptical of it from the start (and look at the crazy price!). So, if there is an announcement that it might be making a transformation into, uh, solidware, it might be worth mentioning.

I suppose if DNF is released it wouldn't be newsworthy?

Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you want a keyboard with displays on the keys? Do you ever even look at the keyboard?

What I want

[danimrich]

What I want is a USB Keyboard extension that is maybe twice as large as the number pad and consists of buttons that can be labelled individually. Then I'd like to be able to assign a sequence of key presses/characters to every one of these keys.

I want to be able to press, for example, a key that's labelled instead of typing /mu. I don't need no fancy displays, I just want more keys!

Re:What I want

[bladesjester]

something kind of like this?

DX1 Input System

Re:What I want

[lightversusdark]

Art's got you covered. Here.

Re:What I want

[am 2k]

The X-keys Professional is one of those. You can insert little printed pieces of paper for the key caps, and the software allows you to program macros for every key. There are other models available on that page, too.

(No, I'm in no way affiliated with them, I don't even own one myself.)

Re:What I want

[seebs]

I do own one of their older models, and I like it. The company is friendly, too; when I wanted docs on the USB protocol it uses for defining macros, they sent them.

Re:What I want

[Trogre]

You mean, like programmable function keys? My keyboard has 10 of 'em on the left-hand side like this Optimus, and lets you program each one with up to 15 characters. Get one.

Re:What I want

[danimrich]

Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for! Now I wish it were a bit less expensive ;-)

Re:What I want

[danimrich]

Thanks, but this is quite probably really really expensive.

Wings on FWD cars

[Osty]

Look at the import tuner market... non-functional body kits, huge spoilers on front wheel drive cars, 'carbon fibre' overlays for regular steel hoods, etc etc etc.

I assume you meant "wings" when you wrote "spoilers"*. Anyway, a wing or spoiler on a front wheel drive car is not counter-intuitive. Many racing series use wings on front wheel drive cars (for example, see SCCA's Speed World Challenge touring series, where a number of FWD cars from makes such as Acura and Mazda implement wings). Your assumption is that the wing is there to provide traction via downforce, which is definitely the case, but a wing/spoiler (especially a spoiler) also counteracts lift. The fact that the force is being applied to the rear of the car doesn't neccessarily mean the benefit is only seen by the rear wheels. The front wheels benefit as well, making it a useful addition in a high-speed racing scenario (as opposed to a low-speed racing scenario like autocross). A front splitter/spoiler is usually used in conjunction with the rear wing to help apply force to the front of the car as well as the rear.

That said, the park benches sold as wings to import tuners really are stupid, which was your original point. However "tunerz" wouldn't be buying non-functional cosmetic bits if there weren't functional reasons for the initial look. Tunerz buy aerokits and wings because race cars legitimately use aerokits and wings. The difference is that tunerz will never drive fast enough to see the benefit, and the kits they buy are intentionally exaggerated to emphasize form over function.

* A wing's core function is to generate downforce via negative lift -- it's an upside aerofoil; a spoiler's core function is to reduce upward lift by spoiling the airflow over the car's inefficent aerofoil shape that would otherwise lead to lift via Bernoulli's principle. While a wing may have a spoiling component, and a spoiler may also have a downforce component, the different designs maximize different effects.

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

First of all, tl;dr.

Second, the cars you're defending are usually first gen Dodge Neons painted in "ass kicking" primer color and they don't go over 55 mph unless it's down hill with a STRONG wind behind them.

You did geek out a bit more than a Star Wars fan after hearing Vader called "Kirk" but that's ok, you're on /. and we're your people. But, dude. Chillax. He didn't stab your mother.

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[Daychilde]

I read the post, and I didn't find it too long. I also found it interesting. I also think that if you *had* taken the time to read the post, your reply wouldn't have been needed. In other words, "tl; dr" to *you*. *raspberries* ;-)

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[Osty]

Second, the cars you're defending are usually first gen Dodge Neons painted in "ass kicking" primer color and they don't go over 55 mph unless it's down hill with a STRONG wind behind them.

Because you didn't read my post, you wouldn't have known that I wasn't defending the ricers/tunerz. I was only defending the legitimacy of using a wing on a FWD car in a high-speed application.

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I assume you meant "wings" when you wrote "spoilers"*. Anyway, a wing or spoiler on a front wheel drive car is not counter-intuitive. Especially if you have poured Red Bull in the gas tank!

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[modecx]

Sure, a wing on an FWD car make sense in race applications, because:

1) They put it there for the negative lift, like you say, but it also likely enhances negative lift from various ground effect/underbody aerodynamic tricks. Two birds, one stone. Ricers are generally not known for their knowledge of aerodynamic principals.

2) The air dam on the front of a race would be expected to actually work, unlike those pieces of kit that ricers enjoy so much, causing a significant down force on the front tires to counter the torque along the axis of the rear wheels, from the down force provided by the rear wing.

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

But, if you yanked your head out of your ass long enough to COMPREHEND the original post that you replied to, you'd see that he was only insulting the Dodge Neon 40' Wing crowd, and not your people.

Re:Wings on FWD cars

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course most real race cars are rear wheel drive.

does anybody even look at the keyboard

[theeddie55]

i personally won't be getting one of these, even if they come down to the same price as a normal keyboard, i've not really looked at my keyboard since i bought it, and the only time i ever get a new keyboard is the once every 6 months i spill coffee on my old one.

Why should I give a damn?

[massysett]

The summary does not include a link to anything telling me what this keyboard is. There's some countdown timer, and a picture of a keyboard--wow. I followed several links under the "Related Links" and burrowed two or three links deep, and I still couldn't find a description of this thing (some links were dead.) The blog does not have a description of what this keyboard is. In short this just looks like a keyboard--who cares? Ooh, pre-orders in hours--I can't wait!

Re:Why should I give a damn?

[luckymutt]

You mean you missed the "Optimus Concept" link at the top?

Re:Why should I give a damn?

[Anonymous Coward]

There were two links on that page that took you to a TON of information on the keybord. You couldn't find them?

I sure hope you aren't doing anything "important" for a living. Your lack of observational skills and lack or patience would scare the hell out of me!

$1500 for mild functionality?

[wellingj]

I'd rather spend my money on one of these keyboards, and then get a touch screen lcd
Then you could make a huge custom touch pad that also had software buttons for whatever you wanted.
Disclaimer: this is prior art =P

Re:$1500 for mild functionality?

[oaklybonn]

I've been using HHKL2s for about 5 years now (Mac OS X) and I've got 5 of them for my various work and home machines. The key feel is so much better than the crap keyboards apple sells, its not even funny. I never use a numeric keypad, and for my money, caps lock should require to people to crawl under the desk and simultaneously turn their "LAUNCH" keys to enable it.

For the old timers, its feel is something like a mix between the old Mac II "battleship" keyboard and the Sun 3/60 keyboard (which I still prefer...)

Biggest downside is that its a USB 1.x device, and its downstream ports are too slow for data storage.

Has anyone got any comments on their "professional" model? Clickier?

looks nice but does it have...

[bobsalt]

an "any key"???

Re:looks nice but does it have...

[644bd346996]

No, but that will be the first and only use of the displays supported by the Linux driver.

Re:looks nice but does it have...

[Daychilde]

Yes, amusing, but the point is that *every* key can be any key.

Re:looks nice but does it have...

[joystickgenie]

Well considering that you can change the display on the keys dynamically you could actually make a program that will change the text on every key on the keyboard to say "any" whenever you are asked to press any key.

Re:looks nice but does it have...

[vux984]

Except, if you press shift/alt/ctrl or capslock the thing refuses to move forward.

I can't beleive how many people actually had trouble with that prompt. Between not being to find an "any" key and then once they clued in to what it was asking for they'd get tripped up by the fact not every key actually worked... it was a really badly thought out prompt.

It really should have prompted you to push the space bar or something.

Innovative yes, Mass Production - maybe?

[Imp00]

Very interesting. If it catches on well enough and there are a high amount of purchases it might help pave the way for more mass production and other companies licensing the design and producing units thus making it a little more affordable and/or palatable for the rest of us. I know one thing though, I'd have to invent a new curse word to describe the anger I'd have if I spilled my beverage of choice on it.

Better Come With a Happy Ending

[jestill]

I agree. At $100 I really wanted one, but at $1500 it is going to have to come with a happy ending for me to get one.

specifications

[Ep0xi]

Does it include the key "Clean Exit"?

Any /. ers own a Deck keyboard?

[Dystopian Rebel]

I've heard they're good quality: Deck keyboards.

Re:Any /. ers own a Deck keyboard?

[Breakfast Pants]

Nothing I've seen beats the black IBM M-13.

Re:Any /. ers own a Deck keyboard?

[Pym]

Yep, I have a Deck (the red one) and /love/ it. The keys are a joy to type on, and I was at normal typing speed with it right from minute one. The letters on the keys glow so you can see them in the dark, and, thusly, they don't wear off the keys with heavy use.

Love it. Would be hard pressed to replace my Deck even if I wanted to speed 4 figures for the Optimus. Would highly recommend for a realistic keyb.

Linux

[spockrock]

Does this work in linux??

Re:Linux

[cos(x)]

Does this work in linux??
Most likely - no. Their current three button keyboard is Windows only with a Mac driver currently in development. It's all closed source as well. This is stupid of course as their innovation is in the hardware design, not the driver code, but it probably will take someone to reverse engineer the USB packets used by this thing before Linux support becomes available.

Re:Linux

[Blakey Rat]

Considering it doesn't exist, I'm going to go out on a limb and say... no.

It also doesn't work on Windows or OS X.

Re:Linux

[the_greywolf]

Given that the Optimus Three has an alpha driver available, I'd say it's reasonable to guess that the full keyboard will have support very, very quickly; and based on some of the things they say about all of their input devices (open standards and all that), and given that they seem to fully approve of the Linux driver (with a link to it from their own website), the new keyboard's driver will probably be based on the existing Optimus driver.

Re:Linux

[Door in Cart]

Does this work in linux??

Nope. As they state in their just-released faq:

Why isn't there any Linux software?

Because first we want to let 95% of people to work with the keyboard.

Oh yeah? Well I wasn't gonna buy one anyway! I'm perfectly happy with my Model-M.

Re:Linux

[darthflo]

As far as I understood their "public development", layouts will be stored on this baby using the usb mass storage protocol. This would probably mean that only some limited functionality (dynamic switching between different layouts (based on os' keyboard settings or currently active app)) would miss – something I suspect might be built very quickly... :)

Re:Linux

[linuxci]

Does this work in linux??

Nope. As they state in their just-released faq:

Why isn't there any Linux software?

Because first we want to let 95% of people to work with the keyboard.

Oh yeah? Well I wasn't gonna buy one anyway! I'm perfectly happy with my Model-M.

Although 95% of people may run Windows I seriously doubt 95% of their target market runs Windows so perhaps they should ask when pre-ordering what OS you plan to use it under and dedicate resources appropriately.

Re:Linux

[mqduck]

Although 95% of people may run Windows I seriously doubt 95% of their target market runs Windows

Of course it does. What Linux user has any use for this? This is for gamers and Photoshoppers (many of whom run Mac OS, but not Linux). That doesn't mean there won't be a Linux driver, of course.

Re:Linux

[the_greywolf]

What Linux user has any use for this?

*raises hand*

I can actually think of a couple very nice uses for it - one could better learn Emacs or Vi keys if there were a visual reference on the keyboard, for example. Additionally, I occasionally type in Japanese, and I acquired a Japanese keyboard for just that purpose. Imagine hitting Zenkaku and SCIM automatically changes the keys to display Japanese characters! Or, imagine keys being off when they wouldn't do anything anyway - kinda like George Carlin's lightbulb ("a lightbulb that only shines light on things worth looking at ... nah, too idealistic...").

Or, maybe you don't like the font that your keyboard uses. Or perhaps you'd want to have it display random letters or words or pictures on every key and change them every few keystrokes.

There's no reason *not* to have a keyboard like that, IMO.

Optimus. Because people quit caring about Amiga.

[itomato]

New Amiga hardware coming soon!!! Screaming fast PPC chips! Just as fast (or faster) than anything from Apple!!
Coming soon! Lookit - here's a prototype board (photo)..
Be ready for Amiga OS 4 - NOW!!

There are some things that you can rely on in this world. One of them is the protracted development period for specialized hardware/software.
Sometimes vapor does condense..

Looks cool but...

[vengeful_ferengi]

Damn, $1500 for a keyboard? If you're looking for a cool expensive keyboard, you can score a Logitech g15 for like $99 online. Badass keyboard right there, and you can spend the other 1400 clams on a very nice upgrade for your rig, or.......save it?

I see a market for this, small anyway

[guruevi]

There are only a few people that are going to want to buy this. Uber-rich geeks wanting a new flashy keyboard, some snobs and yuppies, movie sets and producers for more realistic sci-fi, hi-tech dentists and doctors that need a keyboard with specialized buttons at the operating table and finally, DJ's, VJ's in clubs and music studios that run their sets on computers.

Right now all the professionals among those people either have to buy a specialized keyboard or input device or stick little tabs on or above the keys. And I can tell you from experience, if you're doing a quick dj gig and have to use any type of bright light to see what you type, or if you have little stickies on your keys, it's hell. I would kill at some moments for a keyb that would change to lit-up letters when you search your library and back to your 'buttons' when you go back. I know there is stuff out there that emulates the real sets (like the Hercules DJ stuff) but it's not all that and quite impractical.

There is a market for it, although small. I'm too poor to pay for one but if they drop down like say to 10% of their current price, I think they're going to be able to sell a whole lot more.

Re:I see a market for this, small anyway

[mrchaotica]

Good thing, too -- according to the page, they're only planning on making about 400 of them per month anyway.

What is this thing?

[deuist]

I went to the website and have read through the Slashdot comments and still can't figure why this keyboard is supposed to be so great. Does it scratch your balls when you're typing an email? Does it protect from terrorism? Will it sing me a song so I can fall asleep at night? Or pour me a drink whenever I crave a martini?

Re:What is this thing?

[larry bagina]

I sat around scratching my balls wondering why 1) anybody cared and 2) why it was so expensive. Instead of silkscreened letters like a standard $5 keyboard, this thing has programmable OLEDs. On each key. So the key display can be altered by software.

Re:What is this thing?

[mother_reincarnated]

I went to the website and have read through the Slashdot comments and still can't figure why this keyboard is supposed to be so great. Does it scratch your balls when you're typing an email? Does it protect from terrorism? Will it sing me a song so I can fall asleep at night? Or pour me a drink whenever I crave a martini?

Yes. You can also program it to make each key display pr0n.

Re:What is this thing?

[daverabbitz]

SO

FUCKING

WHAT.

I never actually look at the keyboard when I am typing, so I can see absolutely no advantage whatsoever to having bling keys.

For example if I want to draw a rectangle in gimp I type ctrl-r without thinking about it. I don't need to look at the keyboard for a stupid rectangle icon.

This keyboard is either for people who are cerebrally challenged or people who masturbate over their computer 24 hours a day because it has gold-plated heatsinks and neon underglow.

LAME.

Re:Saitek FTW

[Anonymous Coward]

'SUP SAITEK CORP. ASTROTURFER

Any true nerd should have a display so huge that even the dull glow of a terminal late at night is enough to illuminate the keyboard. And they should be competent enough at typing to not really need the light anyway. Still, the blue one does looks somewhat cool ... the number one criterion is how nice it is to type on, though.

From the country that brought you the Fabergé

[Anonymous Coward]

At this price and with the VERY limited production schedule, you'd think the bloody things were hand made by the czar's jeweler.

Vaporware Promisses

[TavisJohn]

When the keyboard was first announced I was soo interested.
When they said it would be the price of a good cell-phone I was interested.
When they announced a release date, I was ready with $400.00 to get one.
Then they delayed the release date. I was disappointed but still ready to purchase.
Then they decided to release a 3 button wimpy device first, I was disappointed but waiting for the real thing.
Then they announced it would be B&W, then they changed their minds a day or so later and said it would be color again. I realized that they did not care about anything except yanking people's chains. I became disinterested.
Then they announced a $1,200+ price-tag. I am no longer interested.

They way they have handled themselves acting like a rock-star when they have YET to release an "OMG I have to have it" device so they have not earned that attitude yet.

Now that fancy OLED keyboard has decreased in value to me from $400.00 to $30.00 or less. If I happen to see one in a discount bin somewhere for less than $30.00 then I might consider getting one, maybe. However I might also just pass on it. I would hate to give my money to a company that behaves like they are the king of the world, when they are far from earning that title.

1500?

[nurb432]

Ummm no thanks unless it also has a built in nanoATX + bluetooth/wifi or something.

Snicker - LiveJournal - Snicker

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I would totally spend $1500 on a keyboard from a company who's main marketing tool is LiveJournal.

Finally...

[SirKron]

a keyboard that will let me have an ANY key.

Why not...

[PhotoGuy]

Wholy crap, the price is just numbing. And probably actually justified by the tech that had to go into it.

Why couldn't they do something simpler? Like an LCD panel under the keyboard, and each key just spies down on a portion of the panel, maybe with some optics to make it look nice and focused, etc.. (I call patents!) Seems a lot more sense than having a separate OLED on every single key, which is probably what led to the outrageous price of this beast.

Given the beating most keyboards take, I'm assured this company will tank. For $1500, you want to be assured your asset will last, and I can't see this one living up to the promise.

Re:Why not...

[oaklybonn]

I think what everyone fails to grasp here is that this is a design studio, not a chinese keyboard factory. These folks do industrial design for a living and really couldn't care less about whether they sell 100 or 10k of these. At the limited runs they're making (400 this year was it?) I guarantee that they're barely breaking even at that price. Custom tooling is expensive, even in .ru. Frankly, I'll predict that in 10 years, reconfigurable keyboards will be the norm, and will be reasonably priced. It'll just take Apple to license their patents and place an order for 105,000,000 OLED keys... (Since I'm sure Dell won't be able to get the drivers right :-P)

Re:Why not...

[dangitman]

It'll just take Apple to license their patents and place an order for 105,000,000 OLED keys...

Hey, I want more keys too, but I don't think I need more than 200 keys on my board. 100 million would be somewhat unmanageable, even for AutoCAD users. Besides, wouldn't Apple rather design a single-button keyboard?

Re:Why not...

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides, wouldn't Apple rather design a single-button keyboard?

No, if there's any truth in the rumors that apple bought Fingerworks, they are aiming for the zero button Keyboard.

Spilling a coffe on this one...

[Ruvim]

... is going to really suck at the $1600 price tag!

By the way, here is the production schedule...

Too much money....

[mark-t]

I have yet to ever own a keyboard that lasted me more than five years. Most last me two.

Re:Too much money....

[Dr_Barnowl]

Get yourself an IBM Model M or a Cherry G-80 3000, seriously. These things last. I spilt coffee in the Cherry the other week, it just kept on trucking thanks to the internal design.

Re:Too much money....

[mark-t]

I had one of the IBM ones... my first keyboard, and easily the best one I ever had. It was also the only keyboard I ever had that had a latex membrane cover that protected the keyboard from spills, etc. It held up for about five years before the space bar stopped working reliably.

a good cell in Russia costs more then USD 1,564.37

[Joe The Dragon]

is that with a 2 year plan or not?
as they said this will cost less then a good cell phone.
phones at that price are about the same as the i-phone with a forced in to a 2 year $40 a month data + voice plan.

I don't get it.......

[proadventurer]

Why do people need extra-super-neat-ninja keyboads that cost more than most PCs?

it's sweet, but it's a $1200 keyboard!

[DragonTHC]

The friggin keyboards on the space shuttle don't cost that much!

then again, the space shuttle doesn't have bitchin cool oled keyboards!

BSOD

[Tribbin]

It would be cool to have the buttons go blue, with in the middle the white letters on your keyboard.

Not as good as the original Optimus

[jollyreaper]

The original design kicked so much ass, the new one sucks. Who was the idiot who thought it needed flame decals? Lame!

Audio/Video/Graphics editing

[Shawn Parr]

I'm sure someone else has already pointed this out, but this could be great for people that use multiple pro audio/video/graphic editing apps. Well designed pro apps (Pro Tools, Final Cut, Aperture, Photoshop, etc.) all have key commands on every key of the keyboard, sometimes multiples either triggered via modifier keys, some with multiple key presses. For people that are newer to the environments, or switch between them constantly, having icons or specialized symbols available would be a great boon.

I'm not likely to buy it for $1500, but for $100 to $200 with key overlays for the pro apps, I would probably budget it in. I would also try to get the University I teach classes at to pop for some in the lab to speed up the learning curve. Those keyboard shortcuts are there for a reason, and they can make you really fast in those programs.

What Will the IRS Think?

[banished]

I wonder if anyone in the IRS will bat an eye if I claim depreciation on a keyboard?

They are only producing 800

[hutchike]

Come on Slashdot - this is not news for 99.9999% of us, since they are only producing 800 keyboards by Jan 2008 (according to TFA). Feed me something tasty and available, like Oreo cookies...

Good flat keyboards not so rare now

[greg1104]

One of the reasons I was originally interested in this product is that I wanted a relatively flat keyboard that had a good typing feel to it while requiring minimal key impact. While I love my Model Ms, I'm finding the amount of wear and tear on my hands typing on it leaves behind exceeds my tolerance nowadays.

Unfortunately for Optimus, they've now taken so long that I have a solution I'm perfectly happy with that I'm already typing on. I picked up a Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard recently. Great typing feel, much less hand movement to type and less resulting pain than any keyboard I've ever owned. Despite the label it works fine across lots of operating systems without even installing their crappy software; only some of the useless keys aren't supported with the generic keyboard drivers in Linux and Windows 2000. It has a decent trackpad mouse as well, and it's wireless.

Retail is $200, but considering how well it works and the fact that's it's pretty sexy as such things go I feel it's fairly priced. Optimus, not so much

Re:Good flat keyboards not so rare now

[Anonymous Coward]

While I love my Model Ms, I'm finding the amount of wear and tear on my hands typing on it leaves behind exceeds my tolerance nowadays. I recognize that everyone's needs are different, and that I don't know your situation, but I would like to say that one of the things that make the Model M great is that the key activates before it bottoms out, and that the tension releases to indicate when this occurs. This makes is possible to type quickly and accurately while using a very light touch. I used a Model M until I recently replaced it with a Unicomp keyboard (same switches). I can work at my computer for hours while sometimes typing at up to 70wpm. When I use even a decent quality membrane keyboard, my speed and accuracy go way down, and even then, I'm only good for about 10 minutes before I need to stop.

I would love to get a split keyboard, but there were only two made with the Model M's keyswitches: The M15, which is almost impossible to find, and the Northgate Evolution, which I have, but it's buggy enough to be almost unusable.

input devices

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't one use a tablet with a touchscreen as a form of instantly changeable keyboard? Just use that as the input device for your more powerful normal desktop/workstation if you need fast changes all the time. You can buy those now, no waiting. Ya, the give and feedback isn't that great, as in non existent, but still, if you really need to have a slew of different keyboards constantly, well what the heck, it might work right now.

Moscow time?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone think this is anything other than a bunch of Russian scammers? These are probably the same Russian scammers selling iPhones on eBay already.

The recongfigurable keyboard is already here...

[phystor]

A cheap(er) recongfigurable keyboard already exists:

Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/>

It's a projected keyboard so the ergonomics is even worse than on the Optimus, but hey for "only" $179.99 that's what you get. Anyone interested in writing drivers to make it reconfigurable?

p

Re:The recongfigurable keyboard is already here...

[darthflo]

Not indicating any knowledge of this particular model I suspect you won't be able to change it's layout by simply replacing it's driver.
Afaik most of those laser projection thingies will have a tiny little mask/lens thru which the laser beam is "formed" keyboardy.

Why a new keyboard just because of some coffee?

[Anonymous Coward]

A good keyboard, even a cheap one, can handle that much. I've had everything from coffee to lemonade, to curry and even ice cream in there. After cleaning it out, it typed just like it always did. Must admit the curry took a bit of work though.

What?

[Private.Tucker]

Ok. Its a keyboard. Say that over and over until you realize that's all it is.

Breasts

[Anonymous Coward]

I would get this and put breasts across the whole keyboard. That way when I am typing it will look like I'm cupping... Well you get the picture!

Do we have to pay in advance?

[Anonymous Coward]

Taking into account what is going on in Russia the last 10 years and the reputations Russians achieved around the world, I would never pay $1500 to this guy for something that even doesn't exist ... most probably I wouldn't see neither the keyboard, neither my money ever again.

Space cadet keyboard

[jimmydevice]

This is the ultimate geek pissing contest toy and will get the owner -10 HP with the opposite sex.

Jim D.
I have a space cadet keyboard, and the Symbolics XL1200 it's attached to. Good for -100 spouse HP.

Actually, all that stuff has a function.

[Colin Smith]

It's the "getting laid" function. Not that most of the people here would understand that.

Re:Actually, all that stuff has a function.

[Hal_Porter]

Hey baby! Wanna see my solid copper audio cables? Yeah, they feel real heavy don't they? Thousand bucks a piece.

Re:Actually, all that stuff has a function.

[FromellaSlob]

It's more like the "getting infected" function if you sleep with the sort of girl who is impressed by that crap.

Re:Actually, all that stuff has a function.

[fractoid]

Actually, TBH, that may have something to do with it. My personal experience is that most girls don't like fast cars. They actually like slow, noisy cars that look fancy. They just *think* they like fast cars until they get in one and fatuously answer "sure, go ahead" when asked "do you mind if I push it a little?" Ricers have the right idea - all the extra junk limits performance to the point where their terminally blonde passengers won't get scared if they floor it.

Thank god my gf's different... when she gets stressed she asks me to take her out drifting to blow off steam. :D

Re:Actually, all that stuff has a function.

[Anonymous Coward]

You wrote that entire comment just to mention that you have a girlfriend. Too bad it ain't true. ;)

Re:Actually, all that stuff has a function.

[mink]

Do you have a third clock set to Tokyo time?

OMG PONIES

[Anonymous Coward]

Apart from the site imploding all around me as i tried to place the order i finally got this message:

Order payment

Your order has been accepted.

will there be an API for it?

[Artifex]

What bugs me about the way it's configured is that it looks like these will all be static images, only changing when you need a language change.
I want to see bitmap graphics on this thing. I want to see programs changing these on the fly.

No, really, imagine taking some animated ANSI graphics from the BBS days, like the guys kicking soccer balls to each other, and sticking that on the keyboard when the computer is idle as a sort of "keyboard saver." :)

Re:will there be an API for it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out the screenshot of the configurator utility. There appears to be some sort of screensaver functionality.
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/confi gurator_screenshot.jpg

Re:will there be an API for it?

[Hoi Polloi]

I'm going to program my colon key to turn into an animated smiley.

For those who want to "try" it

[soilheart]

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/demo/

Too bad it's missing a key for us swedes... (the leftmost part of my keyboard shows totally wrong on the demo keyboard too =P)

"They ain't sellin' them"...

[darthflo]

Yep they are. (Or at least so they say):

According to their "public development" blog, they have presold some 75 keyboards in the first 45 minutes of taking preorders. If they continue to sell 'em at this rate, they should already be out of december batch keyboards :)

Re:Optimus. Because people quit caring about Amiga

[Watson Ladd]

Like the POWER 5?

did you count them?

[toby]

Short of multiple users who want to swap between QWERTY, Dvorak and other languages

There are rather a lot of those. The market among expatriate Russians alone (it's no coincidence that this is a Russian development) would be in the tens of millions. Then add bilingual Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian subcontinent languages - gosh, we're into the billions of potential users already (bilingualism is practically universal in the information industry).

Taking a standard keyboard and pencilling Cyrillic/whatever next to the Roman letters is a PITA. $1500 - obviously a short run - is a pricey cure, but there is a market of millions when the unit cost comes down.

hot, not cool

[Anonymous Coward]

In Optimus AC-powered?
Yes, a PC would not be able to power the keyboard (19V, ~6) on its own. That's about 114 Watt!
I think this thing will become warm to the touch...

I told you so......

[Slugster]

...but I was kinda off, I suppose....

Way back in another Optimus thread I posted that the cheapest these OLED displays could probably be had for was $5-$7 per key, and that I'd be amazed if they could make them for less than $700 (-retail for a key-sized OLED would have been somewhere around $15 each at that time).

There's $30 cell phones with color OLEDs at Wal-Mart now, so maybe there's been some downward shifting on OLED prices, but certainly not a 50% shift.

So the price is not right, but was I closest?
What do I win, Johhny?
~

For a product that everyone said they wouldn't buy

[dafragsta]

... this has got to be one of the most successful hype campaigns ever. Seriously. I've seen the Optimus keyboard in music magazines, every tech website known to man, and in the comments, when available, everyone has said they'd never spend what's expected to be the street price of the damn thing. Yeah, I guess there is a bit of wow factor, but at that price, it's like saying wow to a Bentley, only you wouldn't be laughed at for salivating over a beautiful car. This is a keyboard with little displays in the keys. Yeah, at some point, all input devices might have polymorphic indicators on their surface, but these guys are gonna be doomed if they can't ship the product at a widely accessible price. At $200, they'd have a hard time keeping them in stock, assuming the quality wasn't sketchy.

Doesn't work on a Mac...

[argent]

Hitting command gets control, and control and alt get nothing.

Surely they'll have Mac drivers for this. I mean, given how Apple is able to sell awful hardware to Mac users because it's cool, I suspect the proportion of Mac users who'd go nuts over this is a hundred times greater than PC users.

Even given the market share differnce, that's a good deal.

Not ready yet...for games

[RedlumF]

Well, wake me up when it can do 20fps on Unreal/Quake...It would be way too cool to be able to see what's going on behind your back on FPS games by a quick glimpse on the keyboard ;-)

oh boy!

[pak9rabid]

Now to find a buyer for my car so I can afford one.

Apricot did this 24 YEARS AGO(!)

[Dogtanian]

I guess at some point or other we have cursed keyboards for having fixed symbols and wished for something better, I remember the cards you used to place above your Fn keys for word processing and graphics programs, we all get freaked out remembering the keys to games and I would love to see my keys change fonts to match what I am typing. You know, someone came up with a solution to this almost a quarter of a century ago... the ACT Apricot PC (released in 1983) had a keyboard which included six special keys with a programmable LCD display above them.

It's surprising that this idea never took off elsewhere. Granted, it would probably have been moderately (but not prohibitively) expensive then, but I'm sure that the cost would have come down. Maybe ACT had patented it, but if that was the reason, why would they sit on it?

I remember first coming across a photo of the Apricot PC keyboard in the late 1980s, six years after its release, and it *still* looked cool (I didn't realise it was that old at the time).

Given the amount of "extended functionality" PC keyboards over the years, it's surprising that this hasn't been done. It might not be as pretty as the Optimus keyboard promises to be, but it would have been a cheap way to add useful (or "cool") functionality, even moreso a few years ago. It seems like this would have been functionality lots of people would have liked at an affordable price, so why did it never appear?

Seven months... $1500... Russia... are you kidding

[Excelcia]

Let's get this straight - they want me to send $1500 to Russia to pay for a keyboard that isn't even scheduled to come out for seven months? You've got to be kidding me.

How long before they realize (if they haven't already) they have an idea worth more than their little company ten times over, that they don't need to produce anything, and that the rest of the world hasn't a hope in hell of ever seeing their money again if they just run with it? They could prolly drag it out for another six or seven months. Oh, our technology had a setback - we've fixed it but things are delayed. Oh, our (unnamed) Taiwanese manufacturer had difficulty tooling up for our complicated design... we'll have the keyboard out in two more months... but the good news is the production run will be larger so we can take more preorders.

Maybe that's all completely unfair... in fact I'd even stipulate that it's probably unfair. But I'm not sending this kind of cash to a country trying to restart the cold war.

Nice idea, next time post from a real account

[Dogtanian]

The organic LED's are capable of animation. If anything, they are a capable drawing surface that could be mapped each to an X server itself

Can you imagine:

Multiple-choice selections for a Quiz
Wack'a'mole
Memory
Wheel of Fortune
Fish Screensaver

All the things a Unix operating system would adapt onto, because you can!
Buy today! /slashvertisement There's actually quite a good idea in your comment. It's a shame you posted it under that stupid SlashdotTroll account that defaults to a score of -1.

I think having a separate X server for each key sounds horrid though. You'd need over 100 instances, and even though X isn't horifically resource hungry by today's standards (it was when it first came out), that's still a silly amount of overhead just to run a keyboard.

That aside, interesting idea.

Wow

[Trogre]

Something like this has almost limitless potential. Looking past the obvious animated rotating rockets over the '5' key when playing DooM, these things have the very real possibility of making Blender, well, usable.

Imagine all your keycaps changing when you hit the 'CTRL' or 'SHIFT' key in your favourite editor.

If it wasn't for the unfortunate price tag I'd have mine pre-ordered now.

Cintiq 21UX isn't much more

[cgenman]

The Wacom Cintiq is a 2.5 thousand dollar monitor with built-in pen input. It's far, far more expensive than just a monitor or just a pen input. But the combination of the two raises productivity and art quality to such a degree that it is worth buying for your employees. People time is thankfully still far more expensive than computer time.

If this ridiculously expensive keyboard makes a 50k dollar a year employee just 2% faster, it will have paid for itself in the first year. They'll need to do a lot of application switching to justify that price, but it is definitely possible. And maybe it functions best in a kiosk situation, or with your least-well trained employees, or what have you. Maybe for your corporate training applications?

It seems like there should be a perfect niche out there for the optimus to fill. So long as they don't flood every circuit city across the world with them, they should be poised to take over that niche.

This is useless for me.

[dudeman2]

I'm a touch typist. I do not look at the keyboard unless I'm trying to hit some strange combination like alr-ctl-F11. If a program is going to tell me something, it better output to the screen.

This is excellent news

[Keith_Beef]

When I was 11, we had a Sharp MZ-80K in the computer room. It had little transparent keycaps, and you could change the paper slips below to change the symbols. Decades later, I found myself typing in a mixture of languages, and wished for LCD or LED image keycaps. Here they are, at long last. At over $1000 for a keyboard, I'm not going to be an early adopter... but when the price drops I'll be on for one! Heck, if the price drops to around $250, my boss might get me one. I can get by with a standard AZERTY or QWERTY keyboard for most languages, but for Russian and Greek, my typing speed slows dramatically if I have to keep looking at the paper copy of the keyboard layout. Beef.

Re:This is excellent news

[Hoi Polloi]

I would love to have this just for the sake of actually being able to use programmable function/macro keys. I program them then can never remember what key does what and end up not using the keyboard functionality I paid for. I don't want to use labels because I want to have different sets of funcs for different apps.

IBM / Unicomp

[splutty]

They don't just 'work as good', they're actually the same keyboard.

IBM keyboards were later made by Lexmark and later yet again by Unicomp. They're the same design, same functionality, same noisy bastard you can kill a co-worker with as the old IBM bricks.

(And yes, it's the keyboard I type the fastest on, because of the force feedback feel)

Optimus Maximus?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather have Fortress Prime.

Offtopic Grammar Snobbery

[AP31R0N]

Preorder means before order, which is to say "not yet order", but the site is allowing orders. This is article is about a pre-release order (order before the product is released). For instance a car's states of ownership are Pre-owned (new), then owned, then post-owned (used). Pre means "before". If you substitute "not yet" where you see pre, and it still makes sense, that is the correct use.

This has been your offtopic grammar snobbery of the day. Feel free to ignore this and continue using impact as a synonym for effect and ending sentences with prepositions.

DOES work on a Mac...

[argent]

OK, correcting myself... it DOES work on a Mac, the flash demo is just PC-only.