Puzzle keyboard

[philpirj]

Puzzle Keyboard is a design by Wan Fu Chun that takes a modular approach to typing. It's truly a custom keyboard that fits your needs. If there are a handful of keys that you never touch on that traditional QWERTY board, then just remove them from sight. It simplifies the layout and makes better use of space.



http://www.yankodesign.com/2013/03/26/p ... -keyboard/

Will we take over and implement this?

[matt3o]

this is something I was already pondering... but with standard mx or alps switches. basically you have a sensitive base where you stick the switches in any way you want. definitely a complex design

[Halvar]

You'd need some circuitry in every switch that identifies the switch in some way.

As far as I can see, the design concept says nothing at all about how this is supposed to work. I dont even see any electrical connectors between switches in the picture. Some switches are not even mechanically connected to any others in the bottom picture. So every switch would need its own battery and probably radio.

[Muirium]

Let's take the picture as only that. We're maybe close right now to being able to make snap together modules like this, but not wireless ones. Just on cost alone. Let alone the complexity of tiny, independent yet dependent batteries.

Key caps come in 1/4 unit increments, right? 1.0, 1.25, 1.5 and so on. I'd make that the key. Think of Lego bricks which snap together using regular subdivisions. Indeed, I remember some electric capabilities in Lego Technic (vaguely, from maybe 20+ years ago) where lines of metal joined the appropriate corners of the dimples. An all-electric version feels feasible at first sight.

One special component could be the master. It houses the USB / Bluetooth controller and talks to all the other key modules. If there's a battery involved, it goes there.

Going with mechanical switches (as if we wouldn't) won't make anything as slim as this. We'd have sizeable thickness from the switch bodies alone. Plenty of space for a crafty connector every 1/4 unit along top and bottom edges, plus a straight one on left and right sides. Could it be done without a chip for every module though? I've a suspicion there could be a way to make a self-building matrix, somehow, from metal contacts alone.

[Icarium]

hm...
obligatory link: http://deskthority.net/news-reviews-f4/ ... t3213.html

[Muirium]

hm...
obligatory link: http://deskthority.net/news-reviews-f4/ ... t3213.html

Obligatory skepticism:
The keys just slide around? How is that supposed to work?

[Icarium]

No, they have sticky pads at the bottom. They are actually quite hard to move, even when you want to.

If you have more questions concerning the Ergodex it would probably be better if we continued discussing it in that thread.