Random keyboards, lovingly photographed

[mtl]

Finally ready to show this one off.

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[Muirium]

Ooh! You made it. Grats, MTL.

Tantalising mysteries include the MXLOCK (under Begin?) and of course the trackpoint and display. How do the modded caps and switches feel?

[Daniel]

Finally ready to show this one off.

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Wow, is there something like a build thread for this? Where did you get the Vim-Key in SA-Profile?

[Muirium]

It's a long one:
http://deskthority.net/marketplace-f11/ ... ml#p128120

Matt3o plans another group build next year.

[snoopy]

Finally ready to show this one off.

left-angle.jpeg

more pics and infos please

what are you doing with the display?

And I also want that vim key

[matt3o]

Best.

Thread.

Ever.

PS: mtl congrats on your build!

[ماء]

Finally ready to show this one off.

left-angle.jpeg

more pics and infos please

what are you doing with the display?

And I also want that vim key

I want more also
like old keyboard but TKL,really nice

[photekq]

That's amazing MTL!

[hoggy]

MTL, I really want one of those. Fantastic work!

[Aleksander]

MTL, the amounts of awesome in that keyboard is amazing.

[Broadmonkey]

Does keycaps count or is it only for keyboards? (maybe we should create a thread for that?)

From top to bottom: NCR 3077, G80-0559, G80-0924

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(That yellowing!)

[Muirium]

Nice. The Ø key is my favourite, with its disappointed face!

It doesn't matter. As long as it's beautiful, lovingly photographed and keyboard related.

I think you're safe. And so I'll stretch the definition a bit further to cover ABS itself!

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A complete Signature Plastics ABS "colour wheel". The paper's there for white balance. Those colours really are as strong as they look.

Here's clear pictures of the entire set for anyone who wants to see them all.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Yes, I could work tirelessly on the wiki like Beardsmore, but that would eat into all my other keyboard activities …

Tirelessly? I've actually hit the point again of actually not waking up for work as I've worn myself out (just — I did finally wake up only just in time, and for once the bus was on time, but I'm on the edge of my energy resources).

I vaguely remember discovering Wikipedia years ago, and what made it viable was its impressive coverage, from TV shows to cutting-edge physics. No topic was too great or small to be written up. I knew that I could come back to it any time I needed to look something up. (On rare occasions I've been able to add knowledge.)

In order for any source of information to be useful, you need enough coverage from the outset to permit exploration and justify people returning to it, rather than ignoring it due to nothing they want to read up actually being there; I've found lots of similar sites where I've given up wasting my time with it as nothing I'd like to know is covered.

That's one reason why I'm anxious to get the wiki's coverage level up, especially as more countries are becoming aware of it. Another is that we're already near to the point where most official information is lost forever. We probably saved the knowledge of the Cherry M11 switch from extinction, along with a lot of other switches.

Someone mentioned wiki taxonomy — this is supposed to be a community. You can, like, talk to each other and stuff, you know? It's not like anything is arcane, or even fixed in stone. If you can't even talk to each other, then that rules out even last-ditch options like arranging a Google Docs spreadsheet of keyboard make/model/OEM, switch, FCC ID, year etc just to have somewhere to write up what you own.

[mtl]

Thanks for all the compliments, guys! A huge amount of the credit is due to matt3o for his guides and running the group buy.

Tantalising mysteries include the MXLOCK (under Begin?) and of course the trackpoint and display. How do the modded caps and switches feel?

Yes, there are a lot of mysteries that still need to be documented for this board. The modded switches feel amazing. I did something similar before, but the key spacing on this board is superior, plus I was able to vary the switch resistance more finely with springs from sherryton and a Rappoo v7 donor board.

The modded caps feel fine, but don't look the best because they aren't sitting flush with the other keys in their respective rows. It's due to the 90-degree rotation of the underlying switches. It doesn't affect the feel much, but I'm hoping its easily fixed by trimming some of the plastic underneath. In the picture, I'm using some scrap key caps for G, H and B. When the Commando 23 caps arrive, I'll use the real G, H and B caps.

The TrackPoint is still a work-in-progress. I've verified it works, and hasu has since made improvements to the TP support in his TMK firmware. One of the next things I'll do is pull in hasu's TP updates and get it working more smoothly.

More on the MXLOCK key below.

Wow, is there something like a build thread for this? Where did you get the Vim-Key in SA-Profile?

The thread Muirium linked above follows the development of the concept and most stages of the build. I'm thinking of posting a new thread in the workshop forum to summarize things and track the firmware implementation. There is still lots to do in that regard, so in the new year most of the progress will be in software development.

The Vim key cap came from the Vim Escape Key group buy that piggie-backed on 7bit's awesome Round 3.

more pics and infos please

what are you doing with the display?

More pics here!

The display will mainly be used for configuring the keyboard and TrackPoint -- sort of like how DIP switches are used on some keyboards. To also answer Muirium's question about the MXLOCK, my current plan is to switch the keyboard into config mode and transfer "focus" to the display when that key is engaged. The LED next to the display will also change to indicate the keyboard is in config mode.

[Muirium]

Very smart all round. Your keyboard's definitely worth a thread of its own, especially the software side of things. We may have built together, with Matteo's help, but you've gone the extra mile with this audacious project. All I did in the end was put Soarer's Controller on a Teensy!

That screen… perhaps this square iPod nano (useless with a broken sleep button) could give me the square screen I need for an IBM logo and controller interface!

[HaaTa]

If you can't even talk to each other, then that rules out even last-ditch options like arranging a Google Docs spreadsheet of keyboard make/model/OEM, switch, FCC ID, year etc just to have somewhere to write up what you own.

Hmm, I think I may open up my spreadsheet. I'll have to figure out how to blank a couple columns (for various reasons I don't want to publicize how much I paid for a given keyboard and who I got it from). Not all the columns are up to date, but I try to fill in each keyboard as I take it apart and take pictures.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The irony is that I only had a Google account long enough to attach my YouTube account to it before wiping the lot. If I can't log into YouTube without a Google account, I would rather have neither.

I know that in your case I can (with a struggle) find your keyboards (might require checking every bleeding one trying to remember where I saw a particular switch). I was expecting someone else to take care of the spreadsheet, though, not you. I guess kbdb died in a fire along with the two group buys I'm still waiting on.

[Aleksander]

Its not finished yet, but it is looking pretty damned good IMO:

[webwit]

IMO, it's looking pretty damned good too!

[mtl]

Wow.. very nice. I like the look of the carbon fiber and just the overall impression of being thin and light. Is it going to be wireless?

[Aleksander]

I had not planned on making it wireless, but who knows what the future will bring hehe

[tlt]

Looks slick. Is it based on ErgoDox?

[Aleksander]

Looks slick. Is it based on ErgoDox?

Yes, it has the ErgoDox PCBs and the CF plate is based on the acrylic case design that Litster made, I just removed some holes I did not need

[HaaTa]

What the hell, a few more won't hurt


HAL DKB-2010

[HaaTa]

Univac Uniscope 100

[HaaTa]

VEB Schaltgerätewerk Auerbach D2770

[mr_a500]

What the hell, a few more won't hurt


HAL DKB-2010

Ooh... a keyboard with dials! I want a keyboard with dials, metal toggle switches and blinky lights. Why? Why not!

[webwit]

For volume this is pretty good.

[mr_a500]

Nice. It reminds me of paint palettes and choosing colours on the Amiga. Speaking of Amiga, I think this thread could do with another Amiga 500 (...for absolutely no reason):

Amiga500.JPG

[mr_a500]

Actually, I think this thread could use an Atari too:

800XL in living room.jpg

(older photo with cheap camera)