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Building the Developer's Dream Keyboard

Posted by Soulskill on from the where's-the-button-that-finds-the-missing-semi-colon dept.

New submitter mondalaci writes: This article is about building the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard step by step, starting with an Arduino. Lots of pictures and nerd talk included. It's a mechanical keyboard that can split down the middle and re-merge, and it has four layers of keymappings to keep the design compact. It will support custom keymaps as well. They're planning to release the firmware and design files under the GPLv3, and they're working on repair instructions, too.

7 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Gee, what a coincidence by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Funny

    This keyboard seems to have already filled this role.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    1. Re:Gee, what a coincidence by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The design actually looks awful for programmers and people who do a lot of non-document typing.

      There is no number pad. There are no F keys, you need to press a modifier to access them. Gets even more fun when you need to press mod-ctrl-F5. Many commonly used keys like page up/down and home/end are hidden behind the modifier key. The space bar is tiny to allow room for this modifier key.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Gee, what a coincidence by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The design actually looks awful for programmers and people who do a lot of non-document typing.

      This isn't "the ultimate developer's keyboard".

      This is a vanity project by one guy to create his ultimate keyboard.

      It's kinda cool, kinda neat, and definitely geeky.

      But it's entirely about the build, and nothing to do with what makes a good keyboard.

      So I applaud him, but I have precisely zero interest in the extra buttons and stuff he's got.

      I would say he's made a terrible keyboard, but a cool DIY thing. He probably thinks it's awesome.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Gee, what a coincidence by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The title of his blog post is "How I Built the Developer's Dream Keyboard". The post includes some C code, so he seems to be a C developer. He goes on to write "This realization was followed by an overwhelming feeling of excitement as I thought about customizing the best keyboard for developers".

      He is claiming it is the best keyboard for developers. He is a developer himself, in a language that benefits from use of the keys I mentioned.

      My guess is that he has an unusual way of working with IDEs, hence the inclusion of some mouse keys. His claim doesn't stand up though, for most developers this thing is unsuitable.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. What a piece of shit by KlomDark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No arrow keys, no side numeric keypad? Not interested.

  3. You mean nightmare by silas_moeckel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No arrow, function or pretty much anything useful keys, seems like a nightmare.

    The perfect keyboard has been around for a long time an IBM M13 mine is nearly 20 years old and in perfect working order. While I like the larger keyboard with f13-24 it's a pita to get many OS's to use them. You can also bludgeon an intruder with it and go back to typing.

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    No sir I dont like it.
  4. Esc by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Have to change modes to hit esc is a big fail. Real developers use vi!