deskthority

I just visited the Facebook page of Topre Realforce Keyboards and found the post:

Do you think Topre keyboards need LED backlight function?

https://m2.facebook.com/story.php?story ... 4&refid=17

Hopefully this keyboard company is cooking something in the production line.

YES! i want three leds on every key. One for backlighting, one for a strobe effect across the board and another that will blind the user when they try to look at the keys. I call this concept "blind-monk touchtyping mastery method".

Ascaii wrote:YES! i want three leds on every key. One for backlighting, one for a strobe effect across the board and another that will blind the user when they try to look at the keys. I call this concept "blind-monk touchtyping mastery method".

I think you should get in touch with the Topre marketing dept.

I would not mind a consultancy job...best for them, I would take payment in keyboards and caps ^^

Maybe if it's subtle it would be good, I'm not a fan of the bright lamps and the bottoms of the keycaps glowing all around. Is it a fashion that's getting worse? maybe it's just my imagination, but backlit keyboards seem to be getting brighter and glowier with each new one that's launched, it's like the manufacturers all decided that anybody who wants back lighting is some kind of keyboard ricer!

I agree IanM. It's a sales pitch for the gamer crowd too. Brighter, more colors, more settings and functions. I doubt Topre will be getting into that.

I sincerely hope not!

Ascaii wrote: ↑YES! i want three leds on every key. One for backlighting, one for a strobe effect across the board and another that will blind the user when they try to look at the keys. I call this concept "blind-monk touchtyping mastery method".

I won't be satisfied unless the keyboard requires an external power supply and could serve as a stand-in for the LED lighting at a Massive Attack show. Who cares if the keys melt every time it's switched on, or that it runs too hot to type without oven mitts?

I think it would be better to use ink or plastic that glows in the dark. Because being able to see the keys in the dark is the real original point of having backlit keyboards in the first place.

Findecanor wrote: ↑I think it would be better to use ink or plastic that glows in the dark. Because being able to see the keys in the dark is the real original point of having backlit keyboards in the first place.

Those don't glow for very long though. I used glow in the dark tape to specify the boundaries of my workshop area when I had a small apartment, so that even with the lights out, anyone could tell where not to walk between the living room and the bedroom/bathroom area. Unfortunately the glow only lasted maybe 30 minutes after the lights went out, and substantially less if the lights weren't on continuously before that. One quick way to bring them up was with a camera flash, but that also lasted only a few minutes.

You can't go using radium for your keys, and tritium would get rather expensive as well as attracting interest from government officials when you tried to procure large amounts of tritium paint for your keys. Tritium is considered a hazardous material even though it's not actually that dangerous, and also can be used to boost the yield of fission bombs.

What about IR-reactive phosphors and an IR emitter mounted on top of the monitor (think ThinkLight, just not visible)?

Mal-2 wrote: ↑...and tritium would get rather expensive as well as attracting interest from government officials when you tried to procure large amounts of tritium paint for your keys. Tritium is considered a hazardous material even though it's not actually that dangerous, and also can be used to boost the yield of fission bombs.

Just to be pedantic, there's no such thing as "tritium paint". Luminous material on watch faces is typically a Luminova or Super Luminova variant; these are strontium aluminate pigments that can be "charged" with ambient light and then glow for some hours afterwards. They were invented in 1993 as a safe replacement for radium-based pigments (thanks, Wikipedia!)

There are very few watches using tritium; Luminox is probably the best known. In these watches the gas is encapsulated in tiny glass tubes whose insides are coated with a phosphor that glows when hit by the beta particles emitted by the tritium.

bhtooefr wrote: ↑What about IR-reactive phosphors and an IR emitter mounted on top of the monitor (think ThinkLight, just not visible)?

Not feasible. IR photons don't have enough energy to excite most (if not all) paints to emit visible light.
You could use "blacklight", i.e. deep violet illumination + usual fluorescent dies, though.

(Personally, don't see the point.)

Topre, please no. No gaming shit, please

orcinus wrote: ↑ Not feasible. IR photons don't have enough energy to excite most (if not all) paints to emit visible light.

What about two-photo excitation!? Or maybe three-photon. OK, you'd have to use rather high intensities in order to get a suitable yield, but otoh you'd get nice and warm as well! :p

You could add an egg incubator in front of the keyboard too!
Talk about a spacesaver!