The Qwerkywriter - Typewriter Inspired Mechanical Keyboard

Grond · 11 Jul 2014, 11:50

I think this is strictly for hipsters and must be awful to type on those flat caps, still it looks nice. It sports Cherry Blues apparently.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/95 ... ef=popular

matt3o · 11 Jul 2014, 12:27

he should find a better solution for the mods

Grond · 11 Jul 2014, 12:35

Yeah, at the end of the day this is is little more than a keyboard with costum keycaps, if you exclude the typewriter stuff on the top – which I don't even think is functional.

matt3o · 11 Jul 2014, 12:42

yes, I agree it's just an exercise in style. anyway it likes a lot looking at kickstarter.

Muirium · 11 Jul 2014, 13:50

Ah, he got it funded! The guy himself was over here with a thread about this project when it was starting out on Kickstarter. Perhaps our chorus of hmm… didn't inspire him to come back! $200 (plus a lot of non-US shipping hikes as I recall) made this a tough sell for us. But he must have had a tech blog or two point enough people his direction.

I'm amazed the kind of things that succeed on Kickstarer. But less so the ones that live on to become longterm products. We'll see…

Findecanor · 11 Jul 2014, 14:22

I think the black case should have a textured finish like fake leather or hammerite, as you would sometimes find on vintage typewriters.. or vintage equipment in general.

Muirium · 11 Jul 2014, 15:06

Here we go:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/typ ... erkywriter
http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/typ ... erkywriter
http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/the ... erkywriter

Did anyone here back this? I doubt it!

Grond · 11 Jul 2014, 15:26

Weird, three threads and I don't recall any of them. Sorry for posting this again!

Muirium · 11 Jul 2014, 15:30

Well, you reminded me it exists! I'd quite forgotten. Nice to see it's funded now. It's not really something for me, or perhaps any of us, but it's an eye-catcher and might even draw a few new people to investigate the mysterious switches that lie underneath.

Grond · 11 Jul 2014, 15:42

Yes, anything that shows that mechanical keyboards don't always have that tacky "gamer's" look is welcome.

vivalarevolución · 11 Jul 2014, 15:56

The timeline shows that it may not be produced until a year from now. We'll see how successful it is. As an efficient typer, it will be terrible, but it certainly will have appeal among the old typewriter enthusiasts. I could see this appearing in Skymall during an airplane flight in the next couple years.

Recreating the typewriter feel with a keyboard will be near impossible. It has the appeal only in the looks department.

Muirium · 11 Jul 2014, 16:14

It's essentially a big steampunk mod, so correct!

I could see this becoming quite a fashion accessory though for a certain kind of nerd. Something to be seen, more than used. Especially if the media has come to your startup's office and are looking for shots of artsy cool…

Fortunately the Qwerkeywriter is a mechanical keyboard. It could be a gateway for some. Although, you're right, far from the same feel as a real typewriter. An authentic model with a USB mod is a much better way to get that.

Findecanor · 11 Jul 2014, 17:07

matt3o wrote: ↑he should find a better solution for the mods

Yeah. For all the keys larger than 1u.
Btw, I think that while having Cherry MX Blue, Green or White on the alphanumerical keys is good, I think there should be MX Clears on the Shift keys ...

Grond wrote: ↑Weird, three threads and I don't recall any of them. Sorry for posting this again!

I recall telling him off to stop thread-spamming.

Findecanor · 11 Jul 2014, 17:39

Muirium wrote: ↑Fortunately the Qwerkeywriter is a mechanical keyboard. It could be a gateway for some. Although, you're right, far from the same feel as a real typewriter. An authentic model with a USB mod is a much better way to get that.

... You mean a modified Teletype?
Some teletypes were modified typewriters, and some electronic typewriters could also function as a teletype.

Grond · 11 Jul 2014, 18:18

I think Muirium refers to this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-Typewriter/

Muirium · 11 Jul 2014, 18:35

Yup, and this:

http://www.usbtypewriter.com/

It's been done. A real pre-beamspring IBM Selectric, converted in the era, is much cooler though. Anyone round here got one to show off?

Grond · 11 Jul 2014, 18:59

I've never used a Selectric. Is that better than modern keyboards?

Muirium · 11 Jul 2014, 20:09

The Selectric was the board that IBM's beam spring was designed to feel like. So if you like beam springs, it ought to be great! Naturally, most of us have never touched a beam spring. But if you can imagine a smooth version of buckling spring with a nice swing to it, beam spring is like that.

Completely different to anything MX.

jacobolus · 13 Jul 2014, 08:21

At KeyCon today we saw both the Qwerkywriter and a Selectric!

The Qwerkywriter was even super-cuter in person than in pictures.

matt3o · 13 Jul 2014, 08:37

it's a pity the author doesn't reply to technical inquires.

vivalarevolución · 18 Jul 2014, 14:45

jacobolus wrote: ↑At KeyCon today we saw both the Qwerkywriter and a Selectric!

The Qwerkywriter was even super-cuter in person than in pictures.

Besides looks, how was the typing experience?

Grond · 18 Jul 2014, 17:24

Like a Cherry Blue keyboard with flat keycaps, I guess.