Foone🏳️⚧️
so I've been idly designing a "ultimate workbench keyboard", a sort of keyboard that's designed to be usable with anything from bluetooth/usb/ps/2/xt/etc with easy software-defined additions for new protocols, right?
It's got a small screen for configuration and such, but I recently thought it might be handy to put TOTP/HOTP support, and have it just type out the codes for you.
But I thought of a worse use: a sim slot, for receiving SMS messages. THE ULTIMATE 2FA KEYBOARD!
Foone🏳️⚧️
I'm gonna have to include some kind of modular extension mechanism, because I don't want that in the base build. I'm not trying to make a 500$ keyboard here, because mechanical keyboard nerds are not my target audience
Foone🏳️⚧️
I would make this keyboard rubberdome on membrane if I could
Foone🏳️⚧️
I basically want the most boring keyboard ever made, but with a screen and open microcontroller for reprogramming to different protocols. The layout is going to be so boring I'm probably going to steal it from an old Packard Bell keyboard from 1991
Foone🏳️⚧️
I will make it out of the most beige plastic I can find
Foone🏳️⚧️
it'll be available in regular and pre-yellowed variants, of course.
Foone🏳️⚧️
The funniest part of designing this is I keep thinking I'll put some buttons around the screen to control it.
Because obviously you need some input for the screen!
on a ... keyboard.
Foone🏳️⚧️
IT ALREADY HAS 105 KEYS
Foone🏳️⚧️
I think it's gonna have just one key that's "shift into screen mode" (it'll light up, or I'll just reuse the screen backlight to indicate screen-mode) and from there you can use the arrow keys and enter/tab/etc to select options
Foone🏳️⚧️
maybe I'll make it modular and use that for the connectors. I was planning to just have a couple ports like USB-B, PS/2, AT and you hook them up with the proper adapters, but if I made it have several modular ports, you could pick which ones you wanted.
Foone🏳️⚧️
this'd also open it up to using keyboards that use Weird Voltages, because each little adapter could have the needed voltage regulators/level shifters on it.
Foone🏳️⚧️
although one of my goals is to make a keyboard that will Just Work for just about any computer you need a keyboard for. Digging it out and then going "shit, where's my RS232 serial module?" kinda goes against that.
Foone🏳️⚧️
This is what I'm planning it to look like: Standard PC layout, but an extra key and a screen.
Foone🏳️⚧️
It's a wedge shape (like early PC keyboards) so that it has room for connectors along the back, and it'll have a slot for an 18650 battery. This won't be necessary, but it'll be available for things like Bluetooth mode.
Foone🏳️⚧️
@irina The key labels are placeholders, since I didn't change 'em for this. You could totally set up a layer that has all those extra keys, by remapping the right modifiers to be whatever you want, as long as you can define what they mean in the protocol you're using
irina 🌷🐇 friend of eggbug
@foone gotta have control and command! and altgr, maybe throw in hyper
i designed my own over-complicated keyboard but i don't even want to think about the cost of trying to make it
Foone🏳️⚧️
It'll have a (female) USB port as a well, which'll be useful for fun things like loading new layouts and code off USB flash drives, but it'll also let you do fun things like putting a text file on there and letting you select it from the screen (or set up a macro to trigger it).
So you could put BEEMOVIE.TXT on there and when you do CTRL-ALT-B it types out the whole script for you
Foone🏳️⚧️
@jamie I'm definitely going to have a DE25 or similar connector for this sort of thing (where you need to define a new keyboard protocol that needs a custom cable) but I definitely want to have AT/PS/2/USB ports because those are common and cheap and are going to be the most common types used.
Jamie Booth
I was thinking this. Just give it a DE25 port and then make the cables from that to the target connector. Then your microcontroller just needs to know how to map the signal correctly (which pins to use and protocol) for that particular connector type.
Novyx
@foone All of this has me thinking that you’re like a half step from recreating a word processor that can double as a keyboard.
Foone🏳️⚧️
@Novyx I probably will make it a wordprocessor too, at least for basic text editing. The screen isn't going to be big enough to really do much, but why not?
Foone🏳️⚧️
obviously the USB storage will support USB floppy drives. this is my project, after all
Foone🏳️⚧️
@irina I already own some "keyboards" (actually a wedge PC in a keyboard shape) with a floppy disk drive on the side, so it's definitely doable!
Honestly I think I will have enough space, if I'm careful with it and use one of the thin laptop 3.5" drives
irina 🌷🐇 friend of eggbug
@foone can you fit a built-in 3½" drive, or is that pushing it
Foone🏳️⚧️
I have no idea what purpose this would ever serve, but I still need it, because I'm me.
Foone🏳️⚧️
The other possible purpose of that USB host port is mouse support. It'd be nice to be able to support mice as well, since a lot of old computers also need mice with weird protocols. That might be something to look into for a Ultimate Bench Keyb 2.0
Foone🏳️⚧️
I've also thought about making the numpad modular: Yank it out and install a trackball/trackpad
Foone🏳️⚧️
@jimp yeah that's on my todo list too, but firmly in the "bad ideas for keyboards" camp :)
Jim P.
@foone Make the entire keyboard a mouse you move around with pinball style paddle buttons on the sides to click.
Or not, because you want it to be good and not cursed.
Foone🏳️⚧️
@old_angry_queer I'm not planning on making a Bloomberg terminal!
Cameron 💙🏳️⚧️🦌
@foone do you have a headphone jack in there?
Foone🏳️⚧️
@gunstick I don't want to encourage people by having it be a touch screen. This is a keyboard for people who hate virtual keyboards
gunstick
@foone just use the screen as key. So to go into screen mode, tap the screen.
No extra key needed.
０７６萌ＳＮＳ is a social network, courtesy of ０７６. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.2-beta0, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All ０７６萌ＳＮＳ content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.