12 ms·
433% Keyboard
- mtVessel 6y agoWhat was it that Dr. Malcolm said?
- EForEndeavour 6y agoYour scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
- c0nsumer 6y agoThis is pretty interesting, but it'd be great if the author explained their reason for building such a large keyboard... even if it's just "for reasons".
- gameswithgo 6y agoGotta be vim or dwarf fortress
- notatoad 6y agofrom the "Completed Projects" list on the sidebar, it looks like just a guy who enjoys making ridiculous keyboards.
- thkoli 6y agothis was also posted on r/MechanicalKeyboards and the reason behind it was something like “I made a 128 keys keyboard, someone else made a bigger keyboard so I had to retaliate”
- SuperPaintMan 6y agoThat's exactly why I made Ginny (the small red keyboard in OP)! It's an exercise in insanity, but it does work as a fully functional keyboard powered by ASETNOIP. I could never daily it (too attached to my 36key GergoPlex) but some users are above 130WPM on 10keys! https://www.gboards.ca/product/ginni https://www.gboards.ca/product/ginni
- dijit 6y agomaybe I missed it in the article, though I read through it twice.. Why do this?
- ecpottinger 6y agoRead the same, asked the same question, WHY?
- Someone 6y agoReading https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24497839 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24497839, there’s a keycap gap. “They” have more keys than “us”, so we must get even more, even though we already have more than we will ever need.
- myself248 6y agoBecause it's there.
- tanseydavid 6y agoThe creative instinct must be satisfied...
- zadkey 6y agoIs there a place a someone could go to buy something like this?
- babo 6y agoYou mean there is a need for this?
- Vivtek 6y agoMaybe not for 450 keys (!), but I would dearly love to be able to type all the diacritical marks and at least select Unicode ranges (Cyrillic and Greek). It's been a really low-priority desire (I won't dignify it with "need") and so I haven't even really worked out a layout or even carefully defined what I'd like, but yeah, the Really Big Keyboard would fill at least a small need.
- Vivtek 6y agoIn A.I. War (book by Daniel Keys Moran), Trent uses a "custom 240-point Unicode board" to code in SuperLISP, which originally put the idea in my head. I asked Moran about this. He made it up whole cloth. No such keyboard exists. Of course, we still have ample time to invent one before the time of that story.
- JdeBP 6y agoIf you persuade your operating system to load up keyboard maps with the ISO 9995 common secondary group, you will get all of the combining diacritical marks at least. They're mostly on level 3 of group 2.
- slim 6y agoAs a Tunisian (north africa) I write mixed texts containing both arabic and latin scripts. I have an azerty/arabic keyboard, arabic letters are on the same keys as latin letters so I constantly need to switch layout when I'm typing. A ~200ish keys keyboard would be Ideal for me. And i suppose it's the same for all non-latin keyboards
- nfoz 6y agoI'd love to try a keyboard where the keys are a bit wider and with a bit more space between them than normal. Probably bad but still, I'd like to try.
- dyingkneepad 6y agoI have one where some keys are wider, and I like it. Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5050 (PP4-00001). The only downside is not being mechanical.
- a_e_k 6y agoWhere do you rest your hands when you pause from typing? Or do you have to go back and forth over the nearer keys all the time?
- WesolyKubeczek 6y agoYour hands don’t rest until you die.
- ardy42 6y agoAll of the images are now offline (some google drive traffic limit?), but the internet archive managed to capture one: https://web.archive.org/web/20200916174120/https://relivesight.com/projects/433/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200916174120/https://relivesig... The image itself: https://web.archive.org/web/20200916210058/https://doc-14-a0-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/ha0ro937gcuc7l7deffksulhg5h7mbp1/5pjjukcud1av1igp69u2gvoa2r8blfj6/1600290000000/11170127954417298430/*/1q99gN9PK-m8a6wxMlPnEBEt9rFs3SRws?e=view https://web.archive.org/web/20200916210058/https://doc-14-a0...
- SippinLean 6y agoThey're all still online if you follow the image URL to its destination https://i.ibb.co/MgzRRbk/7.jpg https://i.ibb.co/MgzRRbk/7.jpg https://i.ibb.co/dQqqtgB/2.jpg https://i.ibb.co/dQqqtgB/2.jpg
- mey 6y agoI like that there is still an elgato stream deck above the keyboard because there isn't enough inputs to map.
- moron4hire 6y agoIs this a troll? I mean, why make a custom keyboard with even one pause/break key, let alone... Three?
- alpaca128 6y agoDid you consider that those keys aren't actually what it says on the labels because one-off keyboards with more than 100% of the standard layout have keys that no correct labeling exists for?
- moron4hire 6y agoDid you consider that this project actually is a troll?
- 6y ago
- varbhat 6y agoWhy are there >3 rows of Fn keys ? Are they all different? Or Are they placed so to quickly access ?
- ardy42 6y ago> Why are there >3 rows of Fn keys ? Are they all different? Or Are they placed so to quickly access ? It looks like the creator just used whatever random keycaps he had. There are also duplicate arrow keys and duplicates from the navigation cluster (e.g. pgdown). The katakana(?) keys also look like they might be incomplete.
- FreeFull 6y agoI know that at least Linux does support additional F keys beyond F12, since there used to be computers/keyboards that had them. I'm not sure how having more than 255 keys works out, though, I haven't looked into how USB HID handles it.
- JdeBP 6y agoThere's enough for 65535 different usages in the keyboard page alone, and there are more available in the consumer and system pages. But nowhere near all of those have definitions. There are defined usages for function keys up to F24, and for all of the dedicated function keys that one could find on Sun and IBM keyboards, such as Stop, Again, ExSel, and CrSel.
- autocorr 6y agoFor some context, this project was basically made to one up someone else, so it's not fully serious. Part of what makes the keyboard funny though is that (a niche of) the custom mechanical keyboard scene has been moving to many fewer keys and programming the firmware to compensate. So it's pretty funny going from seeing several Planck ~49 key layouts to seeing this gargantuan 450 key absolute unit. Sincerely typed by someone on a 44 key layout :)
- codezero 6y agoIs it an Atreus? How do you like that size of keyboard? I'm not too bothered about adopting some chords, but more interested in the general ergonomics / RSI risks.
- readingnews 6y agoI am not OP, but I moved to a 40% (44 key minivan) about a year ago, and I am using it as my daily driver at home and work. I find that the fact that I can reach every key on the board and barely move my hands has helped a lot. The other interesting notation is that I can put the mouse really, really close by. So the motion going from keyboard to mouse is greatly reduced. I find that my wrists are much better off with this.
- EForEndeavour 6y agoWhat sort of WPM did you have on normal keyboards, and whta have you been able to train up to on your current one? I plateaued at roughly 35 WPM on Dvorak as a teenager and have been hesitant to commit to major layout changes since then, despite the ergonomic promises that a lot of them make.
- sascha_sl 6y agoYou can keep the normal layout on a 40%, you just wouldn't have number/function/nav keys without layers 40% is not just plank, and I personally find the ergonomics of a plank board to be rather bad compared to staggered, unless it's split.
- m463 6y agoI think a better layout might be like an organist, where you have different levels. sort of like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Frederik_Magle_playing_organ_2011_%28III%29.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Frederik... And they even have keys (modifier keys?) for their feet. They left that off the table (so to speak) hmm... and maybe some sort of suspension system for your arms, so your arms could float over the keyboard sort of like monitor arms keep your monitor suspended in place but allow movement.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoOr go full Chinese typewriter and have a 2-axis cursor that you position over a tray of glyphs.
- htfy96 6y agoOr if you want just some minor additions, try Sun Oracle Type-7 keyboard which has ~10 keys (including Copy, Paste, Undo, Cut - perfect for Stackoverflow-oriented programming) on the left https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sun_Oracle_type-7_keyboard.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sun_Oracle_type-7_keybo...
- kps 6y agoSun keyboards are mushy, though. Unicomp has 122-key Model M keyboards with 10 keys on the left and 24 function keys at the top.
- m463 6y agowow, brings back memories. I never had an oracle version though. I remember being very happy when sun came out with a USB version of their keyboard so I could use it elsewhere. (previous versions had a sun connector)
- SuperPaintMan 6y agoCheck out Tim Tyler's custom microswitch keyboard, it's pretty similar to that! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9yg3s77nAMQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9yg3s77nAMQ
- fizixer 6y agoHate to be that person, but I'm surprised people like mech keyboards. I ordered one, hated it so much, I actually decided to return it. Too loud, too much force required to type. My ideal keyboard is the low-profile laptop keyboard, especially the thinkpad one, the one before chiclet keys became a fad.
- solarkraft 6y agoI used to think this, but recently using a friend's long travel keyboard made me doubt my position - I typed unexpectedly quickly without any getting used to it. I suppose I'll have to try it out a bit more, but it was definitely pretty surprising to me.
- vcxy 6y agoThis keyboard is clearly silly, but when it comes to normal mechanical keyboards... well, I can barely live without it now. Volume and necessary force do vary though, so what I like might not be very similar to what you didn't like.
- snazz 6y agoThis is perfectly understandable—mechanical keyboards are certainly not for everyone. I’m in the same boat but for slightly different reasons (and my ideal keyboards are the ThinkPad one you described and the desktop Apple Magic Keyboard, which has a really satisfying key feel). I think a lot of people in the mechanical keyboard community think of their keyboards as a hobby just as much as a day-to-day tool. The huge variety of key-switches and keycaps and firmwares and the much greater customization opportunities make mechanical keyboards a very good hobby. And, given the variety, it’s probably possible to find the “perfect” keyboard for everyone. In the end, I was convincing myself that the expensive mechanical keyboard I bought was better than my ThinkPad and Mac keyboards, when I actually still prefer the laptop-style keys. Is there a mech keyboard out there somewhere that would be the perfect fit for me? I’m sure. But I don’t want to spend the time and money searching for it when my current preferred models work plenty well for me. I’d rather spend my resources in other ways.
- sascha_sl 6y agoThere's certainly not just one type of mechanical keyboard. If noise is a problem, you likely had clicky switches or just a really noisy plate / keycaps. Yes, keycaps actually really determine a lot of the noise profile. XDA/DSA keycaps are pretty quiet. Travel distance can also be adjusted, either with o-rings that are used as spacers (that also silence the switch), low profile switches (kailh has laptop-sized switches now) or simply finding a switch on which you wouldn't bottom out (either by making them heavier or by using tactiles with a light bump). I have a 60% board with gateron yellows (mid-weight tier linear switches). Lubed and with double o-rings on the keycaps, it's one of the quietest keyboards I've ever owned, and the travel distance is very comfortable at about half of what these switches are intended to be (around 2mm). If you're not much for building these things yourself and doing all the research, I can always recommend the HHKB.
- stiglitz 6y agoLoving the incomplete set of kana keys.
- croddin 6y agoIf my math is right, a keyboard with every currently defined Unicode character would only be about 16 feet by 16 feet. Someone should make one.
- roywiggins 6y agoHere's one that has all the important Unicode characters... well, all the emojis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AtBE9BOvvk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AtBE9BOvvk
- JazzXP 6y agoNot quite that, but Tom Scott did an Emoji Keyboard that was spread across 3 or 4 keyboards.
- KajMagnus 6y agoThis could be useful for pair programming?
- codetrotter 6y agoYou might even be able to fit a whole octet of programmers around a keyboard of that size. All working together casting arcane spells with the aid of the keyboard. Dialects of programming languages so old and obscure that even Cthulhu himself would flinch at the sight upon such seeing.
- myself248 6y agoI'm picturing piano-four-hands...
- notRobot 6y agoIs it just me or is the text on the webpage completely unreadable with that font and shadow effect?
- na85 6y agoSo can you just bind arbitrary keys to arbitrary characters? Aren't there a limited number of codes (scan codes?) that the keyboard will send out?
- jrockway 6y agoThere are a limited number of scancodes; defined by the USB standard. The annoying thing for keyboards is that the OS controls what scancode maps to what character and that makes it impossible to have certain keys. For example, you can't have an ! key. That is always Shift+1 (with a US layout, that is). QMK and other firmwares will let you make an ! key, but it's implemented by pressing shift, then pressing 1. So you could never make a keyboard shortcut that is Shift+! even though you can press that on your keyboard. The OS wouldn't be able to tell the difference between than and Shift+1. As a corollary, you couldn't rebind your keyboard such that Shift+1 outputs @ instead of !. It's really just a classic case of bad abstraction. All the keyboard hardware does is scan rows and see which columns are also active. That gives you a grid position like (1,2) for "w". It is then forced to translate that to a scancode that it sends to the computer. The computer then sees that scancode and translates it to a letter. Obviously, things would be easier to program if the keyboard just emitted characters, or the OS just read key matrix grid positions. (In the first case, your X key would always be X, no matter what. Annoying for laptop users that want to use Dvorak, of course. In the second case, things like QMK wouldn't need to exist, you could just write a normal program running on your computer to add layers, shifting, tap dances, etc.) The end result is that everything sucks. Isn't it always?
- samatman 6y agoI've thought about this a lot, because I've bumped up against that limitation a few times when customizing my Erogodox layout. My conclusion: QMK could do this, or at least some firmware could do this. It's hard to come up with an eloquent way to express it, however. But there's no a priori reason that pressing shift-1 couldn't be special-cased to instead send shift-2, yielding @. It's all being precomposed by the firmware, after all. It's too bad, because I have a custom key for delete-back-word, and I want shift-thatkey to send delete-forward-word, but as you point out, I can't. But that's a limitation of QMK, not a fact of nature.
- dsr_ 6y agoIt's ortho, but it isn't split. And clearly it needs to be split. For ergonomics.
- SuperPaintMan 6y agoCheck out Flourite, it's a 140% split ergo :)
- TurplePurtle 6y agoCheck again :) (Some of the pictures lower in the page show it's actually split)
- jcrawfordor 6y agoI regularly use what I call a "140% keyboard" which has a total of 140 keys. This is the regular 104-key layout with added keys in various places such as between the alphanumeric and F key section, filling the gaps between cursor keys and the block above it, etc. The keyboard has on-board macro programming and multi-layer logic. I use it for things like having keys which jump directly to specific windows, keys which open various terminal types, and even macros for some common commands (Git operations for example). I don't know that there's any good reason why this isn't more popular other than fashion, which means that an industry has not really built up around plus-sized keyboards like it has around smaller ones. My example was purchased used and was formerly used at a telephone operator's workstation, based on the key legends. There is a fairly robust used market for plus-sized keyboards originally used for specialty applications, mostly POS and dispatchers/radio operators, from companies like PrehKeyTec and Cherry (of the switches). Unfortunately they mostly cost $500+ new and still often demand over $100 used. The majority of these keyboards feature on-board macro programming, but are intended to be programmed in bulk by the vendor of some turnkey solution so the programming tools are a bit awkward (for me, use a GUI keymap editor, export a file, use a command line tool to flash the generated file to the keyboard - I think it actually just produces a full firmware image each time). The only real disadvantage I would report is that the PrehKeyTecs are made with dome switches that feel decidedly mushy when they're old (and my used model is probably around a decade old). The Cherries use mechanical switches, of course, but tend to be more expensive and aren't made in as interesting of configurations IMO.
- mindslight 6y agoDo you happen to have a picture of the layout? I too wish for a keyboard with more keys, especially vertically. But besides an extra row or two of F-keys, I haven't come up with any logical extensions.
- jcrawfordor 6y agoIt's a variant of the PrehKeyTec MCI3100. Photo: https://www.prehkeytec.com/fileadmin/user_upload/global/products/MCI_3100/mci3100-2.jpg https://www.prehkeytec.com/fileadmin/user_upload/global/prod... Note the blanks in the lower right there do have switches under them so you could put keys there as well (that's where mine has Hold and UnHold incidentally). One warning is that the blank keycaps and relegendable keycaps (the ones that are a clear plastic cover you can stick a bit of paper under) are mostly sold in bulk to system integrators and it's expensive to get them in small quantities. So if you're in the market, you probably want one with as many of those as possible. PrehKeyTec's software supports printing legends for them but it's pretty basic so you might want to use something else to design them.
- swsieber 6y agoWhile were on the topic of keyboards, does anyone know of a good nkro keyboard that's small? I want something to lay on top of my dell xps 13 while I use it that's nkro.
- parched 6y ago450 keys but no spacebar?
- einpoklum 6y ago(shrug) don't see how this is useful honestly. You'd just accidentally mistype all the time by laying your hand down to rest.
- knaq 6y agoThat's a surprise. I was expecting keys 433% as large as ordinary ones. It could be for a person who types with feet, arm stumps, or elbows. It could be for a person in protective gear. It could be for a trained animal. It could be for entertainment, such as by hitting the keys from a distance to win a carnival prize.
- sexpositivepriv 6y agoThis probably didn't make it to the western press https://japan.googleblog.com/2010/04/google.html https://japan.googleblog.com/2010/04/google.html
- nullsense 6y agoBrilliant. I love the special keys for faces / emojis.
- tanseydavid 6y agoWhat I need to know is: can I fit the whole thing into a SCRABBLE box for transport? Asking for a friend.
- arvinsim 6y agoI am more interested in the workflow of using one separate keyboard for each hand. That is probably trivial to setup on conventional keyboards but I wonder if it is ergonomically better.
- rgoulter 6y agoSplitting a keyboard has ergonomic benefits. I don't see that "full keyboard for each hand" would be an advantage. One of the more popular split keyboards is the Corne Keyboard. https://github.com/foostan/crkbd https://github.com/foostan/crkbd There are split keyboards with more keys than the Corne, such as the Lily58. https://github.com/kata0510/Lily58 https://github.com/kata0510/Lily58
- russellbeattie 6y agoTwo thoughts: 1) For some reason this thing gives me joy. Imagine sitting at work in front of one of these bad boy keyboards! You'd never get interrupted! People would assume you're running a battleship remotely or something! 2) It seems very Soviet. Or at least very 80s Anime - this is the keyboard we should all be using, only each key should light up in disco colors.
- rixtox 6y agoIt's obviously for emacs users.