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Giving me major nostalgia for the Optimus Maximus (https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/ https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/) keyboard and its suc

by ics 4y ago

Giving me major nostalgia for the Optimus Maximus (https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/ https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/) keyboard and its successors. This one looks like an interesting take now that displays are even higher resolution, have haptic feedback, etc.

anoonmoose 4y ago
I was coming here to say this- one of those, "everything old is new again" moments.
qubex 4y ago
Also came here to say this — I wanted to love the Optimus Maximus (perhaps because of a bad case of buyer’s regret generating a counter-force to maximise cognitive dissonance) but as a keyboard it was awful. (Combined it with a BMW-designed Level 10 case; quite the looker but monumental and monumentally oversized.)
insonifi 4y ago
Same here :). But original Optimus has a screen in each key. This technically similar to a later design https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/popularis/ https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/popularis/. Which also had a single big LCD and transparent keys on top of it.
- JonathonW 4y ago
  Elgato's Stream Deck is a more mainstream application of the same approach, with a single LCD under all of the keys. The Stream Deck isn't doing anything particularly exotic with its key mechanism, though (from what I can tell, there's a frame between the LCD and buttons with the actual contacts on it; no Hall-effect sensors or anything like that).
  - fmajid 4y ago
    I have the midsized Stream Deck. The mushy feel of the keys is awful.
agentwiggles 4y ago
I remember thinking the Optimus was _so fucking cool_. I think when it was first announced I was still in high school, and I wasn't even a programmer yet, so the utility of it would have mostly been lost on me, and the price tag was laughable. But I just thought the idea was so cool. Definitely my first thought when I saw this too. That brings me back to the good ol' days.

by ics 4y ago

anoonmoose 4y ago

I was coming here to say this- one of those, "everything old is new again" moments.

qubex 4y ago

Also came here to say this — I wanted to love the Optimus Maximus (perhaps because of a bad case of buyer’s regret generating a counter-force to maximise cognitive dissonance) but as a keyboard it was awful. (Combined it with a BMW-designed Level 10 case; quite the looker but monumental and monumentally oversized.)

insonifi 4y ago

Same here :). But original Optimus has a screen in each key. This technically similar to a later design https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/popularis/ https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/popularis/. Which also had a single big LCD and transparent keys on top of it.

JonathonW 4y ago
Elgato's Stream Deck is a more mainstream application of the same approach, with a single LCD under all of the keys. The Stream Deck isn't doing anything particularly exotic with its key mechanism, though (from what I can tell, there's a frame between the LCD and buttons with the actual contacts on it; no Hall-effect sensors or anything like that).
- fmajid 4y ago
  I have the midsized Stream Deck. The mushy feel of the keys is awful.

agentwiggles 4y ago

I remember thinking the Optimus was _so fucking cool_. I think when it was first announced I was still in high school, and I wasn't even a programmer yet, so the utility of it would have mostly been lost on me, and the price tag was laughable. But I just thought the idea was so cool. Definitely my first thought when I saw this too. That brings me back to the good ol' days.