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A Warm-Feeling Wooden Keyboard (Video)
Plastic, plastic everywhere! Except on most surfaces of the Keyboardio ergonomic keyboard, which started as a 'scratch his itch' project by Jesse Vincent. According to his blurb on the Keyboardio site, Jesse 'has spent the last 20 years writing software like Request Tracker, K-9 Mail, and Perl. He types... a lot. He tried all the keyboards before finally making his own.'
His objective was to make a keyboard he really liked. And he apparently has. This video was shot in June, and Jesse already has a new model prototype under way that Tim Lord says is a notable improvement on the June version he already liked. || Note that the Keyboardio is hackable and open source, so if you think you can improve it, go right ahead. (Alternate Video Link)
His objective was to make a keyboard he really liked. And he apparently has. This video was shot in June, and Jesse already has a new model prototype under way that Tim Lord says is a notable improvement on the June version he already liked. || Note that the Keyboardio is hackable and open source, so if you think you can improve it, go right ahead. (Alternate Video Link)
is it made from quality rainforest hardwoods?, because the governments of those places just slash and burn those trees anyway
One prototype, shown in the video, was made of wood. But from the website it is clear that the keyboard will be made primarily of aluminum. Once again, slashdot editors FTW!
From TFA:
Heirloom-grade craftsmanship
From the best mechanical keyswitches to aircraft-grade aluminum construction, this is a keyboard that will last.
If that's "wooden," I must ask: What kind of tree do you get aircraft-grade aluminum and/or mechanical keyswitches from?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Remember old black and white detective movies where a IBM model M was used as a murder weapon?
neither do I.
Must've been somebody else.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Good god, he needs to learn a bit about concise speaking. That being said, I'll probably still buy one when it comes out.
I like the ergonomic style, pioneered by Apple (AFAIK), who abandoned it, then taken up by Microsoft, which has made ever cheaper and more bloated versions of an originally nice product.
The bottom arced keys on this thing are a complete horror-show, though. And all of the keys are the same size?
I've seen a lot of alternative keyboard designs come and go. I'm not sure this one will come before it goes. /cue Blazing Saddles sketch
He has problems in his hands and arms because he's trying to rest the lower (closer to his wrists) part of his palms on his desk or keyboard. A typing class early in his career would have taught him not to do that.
As someone who still uses a IBM Model M 1391401 everyday. The nicest keyboard I have used recently, other than my old faithful, was a Bloomberg Starboard. Anyone know if they use someone else's keys or are the Bloomberg custom hardware? I would love one.
It's nice that they are providing the source code for the keyboard. If I program the controller myself, I could be pretty sure that there is no keylogger there... Unless I put one in.
A dingo ate my sig...
He should just switch to Dvorak. It's easier. I typed these words on my Dvorak keyboard and you're reading them now.
How original. But I almost read some of it, they need to up the brightness a bit, and make it completely invisible!
Love the huge amounts of wasted space on the website too, again, how original.
Plastic, plastic everywhere! Except on most surfaces of the Keyboardio ergonomic keyboard
The key caps are still plastic, so depending how you count the surfaces that's 94-99% plastic. Maybe if you calculate it by area but exclude the sides of the keys and ignore that you'll almost never need to touch the aluminum portions, it might drop below 50%.
Knowledge Brings Fear
The first 2 minutes of that video chased my woman directly out of the room.
neat looking keyboard though
As I have used the original XT keyboards (and some good ones from before the IBM PC existed), modern ones look "low quality" to me. I'm typing now on an excellent one, but in reality it doesn't even come close to what once existed. When typing was an important occupation, machines like the IBM Selectric had a very nice feeling.
These days, I'd like just to have a key click as an audio feedback. This could be done at the X Window System keyboard driver level, I think. One could adapt the already existing structure: "xset c on" (turn key click on) or "xset c 100" (key click volume as 100% of maximum). Currently, I believe one has to get one of those old 3270 terminals with real hardware audio feedback. Or get an Android phone, for instance, and activate keyboard tone. Too simple for a kernel developer, but in reality we would need a DE integration to be able to easily control such function.
Interestingly, I get a click from the mouse when I use Windows 7. I hope it's not patented...
Back on-topic, as others already said, the keys seem to be plastic. Don't know about everyone, but for me the only interesting part are the keys. It's not a wooden keyboard if the keys are not made of wood. I'd even say the body of the keyboard can be made of plastic, provided the keys are of wood. And, yes, what counts most, for ergonomic reasons, is the mechanism of the keys -- not the material of their caps.
Also, please find a way to provide better sound. A big contributor to video quality, when you interview someone, are clarity of words and intonation. Save bandwidth on the image, not on audio. Or use Youtube. Or, if that's the case, get a good recording device which captures better higher frequencies.
I'm against it. Sign the petition "No more Vashta Nerada at home."
1. "All the Keyboards" didn't apparently include a Kinesis. At least there isn't one visible amongst the few photos linked.
2. The new keyboard looks an awful lot like a Kinesis.
3. I stopped watching the video after the first 10 seconds because it was too awful.
4. The web site shows a keyboard with what appears to be a metal case, and the text references aluminum, as does the blog. Wood isn't part of the equation here. Maybe in the early prototypes, but not in the production models, apparently.
5. Any decent keyboard driver (and there are lots of aftermarket add-ons) support macro definitions. Nice that this new keyboard supports it, but certainly not a defining characteristic.
6. Just go buy a Kinesis. It's been in production for a long time, and they work great.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
http://ciscoccna111.blogspot.in/
For anyone who wants a keyboard like this right now, there is the Kinesis Advantage.
If one is interested in the "Easy access to arrow keys without position change?! Mind blown." aspect mentioned on the page, this can be easily done on your current keyboard. You can use xmodmap on Linux or AutoHotKey on Windows to make Caps Lock a modifier key that you press down with your left pinky to make all navigational keys appear under your fingers. I couldn't live without it anymore. Here is a AutoHotKey (Windows) version for qwerty.
It looks like an amazing product, except... That "ergonomic" split thing. I tried those many times, and I just can never get the speed and accuracy. I realize some people swear by them, but I never felt any more comfortable either, so as far as I'm concerned it's *less* ergonomic being split like that. I sincerely hope they make a version that is more traditional in shape, but with the high quality craftsmanship and materials. I would definitely be interested, at almost any price :)
You could do a lot worse than using Australian Jarrah wood. It's lovely looking, hard, and can be brought to a smooth finish. My speaker cabinets use this wood for their veneer.
https://www.google.com.au/sear...
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Massdrop just started another run on the ergodox that will be ending in about a week, anyone interested in this keyboard would probably want to check that out.
I've never used anything but standard cheap keyboards but I'll be trying the ergodox on this latest run. At a glance they appear very similar. I like this guy's thumb layout better, though I'd prefer the board was split into two pieces one for each hand.
Replying to myself, just for the sake of completeness.
I'd like to add that KDE has a control for "Key Click Volume" (in System Settings / Hardware / Input Devices / Keyboard / Hardware tab, at the bottom).
I don't have great hopes that this will be done via software -- it would be at the keyboard driver level, and maybe it's there (didn't check the sources), but I can easily imagine a whole lot of reasons for it not to be patched, from simplicity to paranoia.
Also, if one has the skill, I suppose a little soldering and toy speaker would do the trick, maybe even without the need of a power source. But, alas, hardware is also not my forte.