Keyboard Idea - LED Indicator Caps for every cap (formerly 1980s LED Backlit)
Posted: 20 Sep 2019, 22:24
I'm sure someone's thought of this, but I didn't see one in the search.
ALPS & Cherry both had/have caps with LED windows back in the 1980s and probably earlier. As everyone knows, they were usually used for the Num Lock, Scroll Lock, Caps Lock, etc.
At my local recycler, they have lots of vintage LEDs. The diffused, soft glow kind from all the old tech. Usually monocolor red, orange, yellow, or green, but they also have some cool tri-color red/orange/green or red/yellow/green LEDs. Not like those stupid blindingly bright LEDs everything has now.
Looking at those vintage LEDs made me want a keyboard that's all LED window keycaps with old-school tri-color LED. Have different LED options when you press a key such as Always-On, On-On-Press, Off-On-Press, Blink-On-Press (1 time, 2 times, 3 times, etc.), Fade-On-Press ... you get the idea. Make sure it's compatible with XT, AT, and USB. Will probably need auxiliary power of some sort when not used with USB.
This is the keyboard layout I came up with. Had fun with the layout designer. It's black & charcoal because my 486 is black & charcoal, but could be any color obviously.
A couple new keys. Nav Lock to toggle between 8-way nav and T-nav. Meta Lock makes the Meta function the default operation for a key. You can program Meta Lock using Prog + Meta Lock (not Meta, that's for something else.) Meta Lock-Reset will clear all saved Meta Locks.
Programmable Function keys in blue. These can be programmed via the Prog key. Hit Prog, hit a PF key, then type on the keyboard. Hit Set to set the key. Repeat for others. The red Meta key lets you program the Meta Fkeys. Prog, Meta, MF key, type away, then Set.
You can Save, Load, and Delete profiles to the keys. Prog, Save, PFkey, Set to save all currently programmed keys. Prog, Load, PFkey, Set to load. Prog, Del, PFkey, Set to delete a saved profile. Up to 24 different profiles can be stored between the PFkeys and MFkeys.
Prog-Reset will reset all programmable keys. Prog-Delete-Reset will clear memory. Alt-Super-Meta-Control-Reset will reset the entire keyboard to default settings and clear memory.
Super Lock is for disabling the Windows key. Not so useful on a Mac that utilizes the Super instead of Control.
Below are examples of windowed keys, including 0.5u windowed keys.
ALPS & Cherry both had/have caps with LED windows back in the 1980s and probably earlier. As everyone knows, they were usually used for the Num Lock, Scroll Lock, Caps Lock, etc.
At my local recycler, they have lots of vintage LEDs. The diffused, soft glow kind from all the old tech. Usually monocolor red, orange, yellow, or green, but they also have some cool tri-color red/orange/green or red/yellow/green LEDs. Not like those stupid blindingly bright LEDs everything has now.
Looking at those vintage LEDs made me want a keyboard that's all LED window keycaps with old-school tri-color LED. Have different LED options when you press a key such as Always-On, On-On-Press, Off-On-Press, Blink-On-Press (1 time, 2 times, 3 times, etc.), Fade-On-Press ... you get the idea. Make sure it's compatible with XT, AT, and USB. Will probably need auxiliary power of some sort when not used with USB.
This is the keyboard layout I came up with. Had fun with the layout designer. It's black & charcoal because my 486 is black & charcoal, but could be any color obviously.
A couple new keys. Nav Lock to toggle between 8-way nav and T-nav. Meta Lock makes the Meta function the default operation for a key. You can program Meta Lock using Prog + Meta Lock (not Meta, that's for something else.) Meta Lock-Reset will clear all saved Meta Locks.
Programmable Function keys in blue. These can be programmed via the Prog key. Hit Prog, hit a PF key, then type on the keyboard. Hit Set to set the key. Repeat for others. The red Meta key lets you program the Meta Fkeys. Prog, Meta, MF key, type away, then Set.
You can Save, Load, and Delete profiles to the keys. Prog, Save, PFkey, Set to save all currently programmed keys. Prog, Load, PFkey, Set to load. Prog, Del, PFkey, Set to delete a saved profile. Up to 24 different profiles can be stored between the PFkeys and MFkeys.
Prog-Reset will reset all programmable keys. Prog-Delete-Reset will clear memory. Alt-Super-Meta-Control-Reset will reset the entire keyboard to default settings and clear memory.
Super Lock is for disabling the Windows key. Not so useful on a Mac that utilizes the Super instead of Control.
Below are examples of windowed keys, including 0.5u windowed keys.