Numpad galore

[matt3o]

I must be doing something terribly wrong, but the couple of arduinos I have takes few seconds to boot from power-off

[Vierax]

That's not a bad idea. It will be a nice companion of a small keyboards or an extension for some macros. As davkol said a couple of 5x5 could be a sweet and tiny splitted keyboard.

[vivalarevolución]

The Sidekick seems like the best option of those two. Personally, I prefer a numpad with an extra row of keys on top, like the Leopold:

Spoiler:

tp210_061_th620x400.jpg (117.99 KiB) Viewed 4509 times

But the Sidekick allows for a lot of flexibility without having to worry about layers.

[fyx]

I like the plain numpad layout. However I would suggest triple zero key instead of the double zeros. Any rough price estimation?

[pyrelink]

I like the plain numpad layout. However I would suggest triple zero key instead of the double zeros. Any rough price estimation?

Since, it will be using a Teensy, with custom firmware, all of the keys are able to be remapped. While you may find it difficult to locate a triple 0 keycap, you can surely make the key register as three zeros.

[matt3o]

I just sent the order for the first prototype. I'll keep you posted on this.

[fyx]

Since, it will be using a Teensy, with custom firmware, all of the keys are able to be remapped. While you may find it difficult to locate a triple 0 keycap, you can surely make the key register as three zeros.

That sounds pretty great, thank you.

[rockin_munki]

Hey, new guy here. Recently got my first mech but have been considering building a programmable numpad for a couple of weeks. As an animation student, I want something portable with all my hotkeys stored so I can just plug and play across different OS's and a numpad would leave plenty of deskspace for a graphics tablet. My preference would be the 60% companion.

Also, with the teensy, could I set up several layers I could toggle between? e.g. to have hotkeys for different applications.

[matt3o]

yes of course the numpad would be 100% customizable, with layers too

[jpatters]

I think adding a top row to the Sidekick layout would add significant utility:

SIDEKICK.png (30.03 KiB) Viewed 4335 times

However, I'd be in for one either way.

[matt3o]

this is actually very nice.

I'm waiting for the prototypes to show up at my doorstep. I'll keep you posted!

[DerpyDash_xAD]

I think the top 4 buttons could be like FN/shift, to minimise footprint.

Edit: locking cherrys, hell yeah! Also, I think we should leave controller selection open, if possible - I would rather attempt to self program a pic than use a teensy. (cheaper )

[pyrelink]

I think the top 4 buttons could be like FN/shift, to minimise footprint.

Edit: locking cherrys, hell yeah! Also, I think we should leave controller selection open, if possible - I would rather attempt to self program a pic than use a teensy. (cheaper )

Again, any buttons you want, can be programmed on the numpad. So you can have FN/Shift if you want, or something else entirely. This will be Teensy based as its one of the easier (and not too expensive) methods available. There is a thread here where you can find cheaper Teensy alternatives. Including a $4 or something board from Hong Kong, that requires only a little bit of extra effort to work...

[Perrko]

How are the prototypes coming along?
Thinking of maybe get one of these numpads and then perhaps one of the group builds you are working on.

[matt3o]

I'm waiting for the CNC to come to my place to ease the prototyping phase

[jacobolus]

What are these numpads supposed to be used for? If it’s data entry type jobs, I think you could do a *lot* better. Ideally you’d want to ask some folks who actually need to type numbers into spreadsheets for a living, but here’s one stab:

[matt3o]

it's a small project, we are not going to produce thousands of these. I'm not an avid numpad user, the suggested layouts came out from a discussion on another thread. I more than welcome any suggestion from spreadsheeters

[Phenix]

I would take on, but depends on the price

[scottc]

Surely you've noticed that the last post to this thread was a year and half ago?!

[Phenix]

I would prefer the Sidekick.

But would it be possible to split the sidekick into two parts (1x arrow - 1x numpad)?
Could be better because you are more flexible at positioning it

[davkol]

Surely you've noticed that the last post to this thread was a year and half ago?!

I have a hypothesis, that Phenix cannot, in fact, read.

[Phenix]

I can, but most time Im zoomed so that Ive only text. Will keep an eye on the date stamp