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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)
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
Monty Python gave the answer ages ago.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
nah, the plastics the leading piano companies use now have just as good a feel, that wasn't true three decades or more ago but there is no point to ivory keys now. yes am pianist
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...
God no. Someone actually offered to sell us some endangered hardwood for the keyboards the other day. The plan is for something reasonably, pretty, reasonably hard, reasonably sustainable and reasonably inexpensive. N
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
Mod this guy up -^ He's the keyboard maker (and has an impressively low Slashdot user#)
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."
nah, the plastics the leading piano companies use now have just as good a feel, that wasn't true three decades or more ago but there is no point to ivory keys now.
I would qualify this slightly and say that the plastics may be "just as good" in some ways, but they do feel different. And I know some people who have strong preferences. Ivory's porousness changes the way keys feel and how easy it is to grip them (or slip), particularly if your hands are sweating (as many people do when performing in front of crowds under hot lights). And on lesser quality pianos, ivory often had a distinctive texture that... well, just feels different. High-end older pianos had highly polished and very even keys (sometimes most "silky" feeling) that might feel similar to modern "perfect" plastic, but most pianos were not as consistent. Personally, it doesn't matter to me, but I can certainly understand those who might prefer one or the other.
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.
Mod this guy up -^ He's the keyboard maker (and has an impressively low Slashdot user#)
Three digit ID or not, it's still yet another silly keyboard for niche users. And it's certainly a "Slashvert", cute, pretty, but revolutionary?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Dvorak is good, but Colemak is also a very good alternative that's probably a lot easier for Qwerty typists to adapt to. Also, some guy did a bunch of research and made a website (wish I had a link, sorry) about different keyboard layouts and found that Dvorak was actually eclipsed in some metrics by both Colemak and another layout he created.
I probably wouldn't call it 'silly', though I have no problem with you doing so. I agree 100% that this is a niche product. I made one because I wanted one. We wouldn't be having a go of making a full production run if people didn't keep trying to buy our personal test units.
If you catch me calling it revolutionary, please make fun of me.
There are a few such sites, but http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/ is probably the most amazing of em.
You should post pictures, or we shall be forced to assume that Sun had a sideline in selling to aliens.
(the type 4s were much better keyboards anyway)
I probably wouldn't call it 'silly', though I have no problem with you doing so. I agree 100% that this is a niche product. I made one because I wanted one. We wouldn't be having a go of making a full production run if people didn't keep trying to buy our personal test units.
A couple of questions if you don't mind please. First, when will they become available for purchase? Second, will they be available at all in a kit form?
Thanks.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
We're planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign this fall. But we'd rather delay the campaign than launch something that we're not confident we can deliver and be proud of.
Initially, we intend to ship fully assembled & working keyboards. We believe pretty strongly that open hardware shouldn't require users to pick up a soldering iron. But we know that some folks _want_ a kit and we hope to get there eventually. If you're looking for something sort of like a Keyboardio keyboard in kit form, check out the ErgoDox on Massdrop: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ergodox. (They require login before you can see things. It's unfortunate.)
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.
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.
Bamboo.
Hard - check
Pretty - check (beauty..eye..beholder..blah)
sustainable - check
inexpensive - check
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
That's it! Exactly the one I was thinking of. It looks like "QGMLWB" is actually the best layout overall, according to his statistical work.
Dvorak is easily selected in Windows, OS X, and Linux, plus it's sufficiently different from QWERTY that you wouldn't get them confused. I'd say that's worth the one-time cost of an extra couple weeks of learning Dvorak.
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
Go read this website. Dvorak really isn't that great compared to other layouts. If you're going to learn a new layout, pick one that performs better. Dvorak was a good idea, but it was designed in the days before computers and modern statistical analysis.
Bamboo is certainly on the list of wood-like things we're considering.
Yep. It's not for everybody. This is the first thing we're making. If it goes well enough, we'll definitely be looking at a 'traditional' layout option.