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Input Devices

New Keyboard Technology 208

Posted by CmdrTaco from the oh-please-gimme-some-of-that dept.
An anonymous reader sent in linkage to a story running on a few places about a new customizable keyboard. It's a bit beyond anything you've probably seen before. Also tom's has more.
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New Keyboard Technology More

New Keyboard Technology

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  • Available in retail outlets? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CyricZ ( 887944 ) on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:34AM (#12914553)
    I always hear about these great keyboards, and I'd love to try one out, but they're never available in retail outlets like Circuit City or Masters Electronics. I always see your typical rectangular keyboard there, or those ergo keyboards. But never any of the really innovative ones like this! If they could get these sold in larger retail stores, then perhaps people would actually start transitioning to them. As long as I have to order them online, I won't buy them.
    • As long as these keyboards continue to be $140+, we probably won't see them in retail outlets (at least, none of the big chains). These things just don't sell like a regular keyboard would (to your average consumer).
    • My take on it is that I'd love to try it out... Maybe I could find a way to use it after playing with it in the store...perhaps if there was some type of demo set up to show the advantage of using the thing in word/excel and doom3.

      But all I can see is a picture of a guys hand situated over a glossy black box with keys scatterd about.

      Too bad, becasue the thing probably is cool...but probably doesn't get my $140.

      wbs.

  • Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)

    by charon_1 ( 562573 ) on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:35AM (#12914558)
    Now I can have my CTRL+ALT+DEL keys in range for easy access!
  • Looks good for fragging.

  • Pictures (Score:5, Informative)

    by SiGiN ( 679749 ) <sigin@NOsPaM.dephine.org> on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:36AM (#12914563) Homepage
    Picture 1 [com.com]
    Picture 2 [com.com]
    Quite neat concept.

    • Re:Pictures (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Bastian ( 66383 )
      I find it rather amusing that the keyboard is called "Ergodex," but in the photo the guy who is using it has his wrist folded back on itself, which is supposedly one of the worst no-nos in input device ergonomics.

  • Bad solution to a problem which is already solved (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tweakt ( 325224 ) * on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:37AM (#12914568) Homepage
    That thing looks painful to use. I have enough trouble with a normal keyboard layout, but there's really no point to putting keys anywhere but directly under your fingertips where you don't have to move to reach them.... which is exactly what the CLAW has solved:

    http://www.claw.com.au/ [claw.com.au]

    (It's been out for 5 years now too)
    • You totally miss the point. The keys have glue on the underside, so you can put them in just about any way you like. Just because they put them stupidly in the review, you don't have to do it!
    • The Belkin Nostromo n52 (http://www.tomshardware.com/game/200403061/ [tomshardware.com]) is sort of the same concept, with a bit of a compomise between features and ergonomics. Not all of the buttons are directly beneath a finger tip, but the use of shift states increases the number of configurable buttons to 104. D-pad and scroll wheel are there, too.
    • the CLAW

      The CLAW has 10 "keys" and every FPS made in the last 5+ years has dozens of keys that are needed to play well. The reviews I've seen don't mention any way around this problem, which to me says there isn't one.

      And don't bring up that you can map the keys to do different things. That's not what I mean, I want to be able to move (4 keys), walk, crouch, jump (3 more), go next/previous weapon (2 more), select each weapon type (usually 9), talk (1) with only my team (1) or with everybody nearby (1).
      • Admittedly I dont play FPS as much as I used to, but I used to play with my MS Explorer mouse. Two main buttons, a clickable scroll wheel, and two more on either side (the back and forward ones).

        Mouse direction took care of moving, scrolling cycled through weapons, clicking the scroll was jump. Main button shoot, secondary open door. Back button crouch, forward button jump.

        So from your list all that is left is:
        - Run (or just move, mouse only sets the direction it doesn't actually get you going)
        - Walk
        - Tal
        • One of my favorite "uncommon" mappings was what I used to use for Half Life. That game brought back the "use" button I had left behind with Doom 2, and also required manual reload. Mouse wheel down was reload and mouse wheel up was use. It was very natural, and a much better use of the wheel than weapon cycle. Also, neither reload nor use are such drastic commands as to make a mapping for Mouse3 (i.e. wheel click) un-desirable.
    • It seems like this keyboard only gives you the power to make your situation worse.

      On a normal keyboard, with the keys staggered, each finger can reach five keys easily - the one it's hovering over, and the two above and two below it.

      On this fancy one, they have the keys arranged in a grid (which is the only other basic key pattern I can think of when you're working with a flat surface). In this situation, each finger can only reach three keys easily. And I fail to see what advantage straight up and down
    • That claw doesn't look to comfortable to me...

      I have CTS (Carpal Tunnel) and my wrist bones have been fused in both hands since birth. I can't use any funky gadget like that one.

      However.. having a keyboard where I could put the keys anywhere I want is a rediculously great trade up for me, and it'll help speed up my typing even more. One of the problems I have with English are the letters like Q and X. I'd much rather have a button like "Qu" and "Ch", or how about "Ea" and "ou", or any other super comm

  • Cool.. but pricey (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Thomas DM ( 895043 )
    Looks like a pretty cool keyboard for hardcore gamers. But I just can't justify spending $149 on a keyboard.

  • wow (Score:3, Funny)

    by pHatidic ( 163975 ) on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:39AM (#12914580)
    Press Command-Spacebar to switch the layout from Qwerty to Dvorak in 10.4 - 0 dollars

    Getting your own thread on Fark with pictures of Darwin after you starve to death clutching your $150 keyboard -- priceless

  • I hve 1 (Score:5, Funny)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:39AM (#12914582)
    eve though there re oly 25 kes it works gret

  • Egonomic? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:41AM (#12914587)
    How exactly can they claim that this is ergonomic, when they leave the layout to users, who may know nothing about ergonomics, and thus, create joint-damaging layouts?
    • I think the presumed market is people who stop doing things that hurt, ie "hmm ... the key over there makes my hand hurt. *move key*". Obviously there are large segments of the population who would note "hmm, this really hurts" and continue to do it anyway. It's the old story of the man who visits his doctor, "doc, it hurts when I bend my arm like this", and gets the reply, "hmm, interesting. I'd suggest you not bend your arm like that".
  • I haven't had a problem with keybords after I got my Logitech Ultra-X.

  • Where's the damn keyboards with LCDs in the keys? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26, 2005 @11:46AM (#12914612)
    Seems obvious, really. If I want to switch to an APL or Dvorak keyboard (or in a multinational european environment, different people using the same computer have different national keyboard preferences), the glyphs on the keyboard should change!

    Combined with repositionable keys like the subject of this story, that would be pretty interesting.
  • ... NEXT: the UBëRDX1*

    now not only do you have to memorize blank keys, you you have to memorize where you placed them! Genious!

    *extra cost of 100 dollars to remove paint.

  • ...but I seem to have misplaced my "post to slashdot" keys...

    I dunno... it seems cool, but I've spent my whole life getting used to the standard "QWERTY" setup and it seems I'd just be confusing myself rearranging the keys.

  • Fire mouse click event from the keyboard. I think my productivity would increase a great deal if I could do this. I've looked and haven't seen this anywhere.


  • By shipping with a variety of "hax" built in.

    Just what every gamer needs.
  • Well, maybe not.... I doubt your average high end gamer can do much better then the already available input modes for games that have had billions of dollars and over a dozen years of research put into them. And isn't this what hotkeys are for? Maybe for $50, I'd get one, but for $150, nah, I think this $12 IBM keyboard (or another alternative that isn't too much over $50) will do just fine....

  • I actually have one of these (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Gavin Scott ( 15916 ) * on Sunday June 26, 2005 @12:38PM (#12914823)
    When I heard about this a couple months ago it was of course a new and uniqe gadget and so I couldn't resist ordering one. Got the second set of keys and a spare plastic top panel so you can swap between a couple key layouts quickly.

    The hardware is well made, the keys are high quality, and the software works fine (running under XP SP2 on a Dell gaming laptop).

    I haven't done that much with it really yet. I think the problem with the device is that it basically does a good job of putting a lot of buttons within reach of your hand, but then a $10 keyboard also does an excellent job of doing this.

    But the product does what it claims to, so if you want lots of customizable buttons I would have no reservations about recommending the Ergodex.

    G.

  • I use one everyday (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bazuul ( 561189 ) on Sunday June 26, 2005 @12:39PM (#12914831)
    I bought an Ergodex keyboard exclusively for gaming a few months ago. It took them 4 weeks to fill the order -- apparently, they haven't been able to scale large enough to distribute through the retail chains.

    Being able to move the keys around is just one of many features that make the Ergodex valuable to me. You can also program complex macros and key-chords to a single keystroke on the fly. You can fine tune the timing of the individual keystrokes to the millisecond.

    Right now I have my Ergodex set up for World of Warcraft. Anyone who has a few high level characters in the game know how quickly you fill up your toolbars with hotkeys and macros. The ergodex allows me to have an extra couple rows of hotkeys placed exactly where I want them. It also lets me chain precicely timed combos in a way that WoW's UI won't let you do at all.

    The Ergodex will store profiles for different programs and automatically switch to that profile when you run the program as well. The buttons have great tactile feedback, and when you anchor them on the Ergodex they do not shift or wiggle one bit. You can also buy extra keys and an extra clear transparent keytray so that you can swap out entire sets.

    At $150, it's not cheap. But considering that i've spent $400 for my graphics card that I'll end up replacing in 2 years, I expect to get a lot more bang for my buck with this upgrade. I wouldn't consider gaming without one now.
  • The system, which sells for $149.95 on the Ergodex site, started shipping in March. It will soon be available through resellers such as online retail gear seller ThinkGeek and game PC maker Falcon Northwest.

    WHat a coincidence, you'll be able to buy it at ThinkGeek.
  • A keyboard for EMACS!

  • Buckling spring? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by vidarlo ( 134906 ) <vidarlo@bitsex.net> on Sunday June 26, 2005 @01:30PM (#12915084) Homepage

    No, I tought so. I'm still clacking away at my old IBM Buckling Spring [wikipedia.org] keyboard. This keyboard has lasted since 1987, and is the best one I've ever came by to write on. So it's such a pity that they can't make new keyboards, with all the fashionate hotkeys, and loose keys (yes, I know this keyboard has loose keycaps) and such, with proper Buckling Spring switches under each key.

    Sure, it'd cost twice as much, but maybe I for once would get a new keyboard? Ok, I'm not the target group for this new keyboard, but still. If I found a new and attractive keyboard (which I find all the time, like logitech's wireless), but with real buckling spring, I'd buy it at once, even if it'd cost a few hundred dollars.

    Those rubber-dome keyboards is just shitty to write on! So if anyone knows of a black keyboard, that ain't so deep as the Model M, has some hotkeys and has real Buckling Spring mechanism, I'll buy it at once.

    Me wants a real keyboard!

    • Re:Buckling spring? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Noksagt ( 69097 ) on Sunday June 26, 2005 @01:45PM (#12915167) Homepage
      I love my Model M. If you want new buckling spring boards, the place to get them is pckeyboard.com [pckeyboard.com] (which was actually linked in that wikipedia article). Not only do they have many ayouts [pckeyboard.com] (some with a windows key or even an integrated trackball or one of those nipples that is on the thinkpad), but they do custom builds.
      • I have a PS/2 keyboard, model #06H5283. Not sure if it's buckling spring, but I can type very fast on it and have kept it through several upgrades.

        I have a bunch of the original clicky PC AT keyboards in the attic. They are really heavy but if anyone wants to pay £10+postage...
        • That is an IBM Basic keyboard, which is a rubberdome keyboard. It probably isn't of much interest to most people.

          The PC AT keyboards are most likely buckling spring (which is what makes that distinctive clicking sound). You can probably haw those on fleebay, as there are converters to allow them to be used via PS/2 (or, if you have a model with a detachable cord, you may just get PS/2 cords).
    • Typing on a strange Model M right now (it is actually a Lexmark - but has buckling spring and the IBM logo - plus the part I think is best, too - supposedly, the Lexmark version isn't suppose to have all this) - and I love it. The thing I really like about it, besides the great tactile feel and the "heaviness" of the keyboard (makes a great bludgeon) - is the spill handlers!

      The Model M was a design which I haven't seen repeated since - it has a channel system so that if you spill something on the keyboard,

      • Those spill channels was added by Lexmark, they were not on the original Model/M! But yeah, I agree. I wash mine once a year in the dishwasher... Works quite fine. Bake it in the oven for 5-6 hours @ 50C afterwards!
        • Interesting - I could have sworn I had read somewhere that the original spill channels were on the original Model M, then when it was sold to Lexmark the Model M lost buckling spring but kept the spill channels - which is why I look at mine as weird: it has the buckling spring switches? Hmm - I will have to research this further...
  • but company is effectively out of business, bought by unnamed company.

    http://www.fingerworks.com/ [fingerworks.com]

    Their Touch Stream keyboard rocks, its pressureless, works just like a mouse, costed 300$US. And was completely reconfigurable. Its not clear why such successful company stopped making its wonderful and very popular product, when it was bought out. It even has vim and emacs compatibility modes.

    The keyboard described is auxiliary controller, not a keyboard, mostly made for games, graphic manipulations and su
  • The site says it comes with Win2k/XP software. Anyone have one of these working in Linux? And/or OSX?

    I'd love one, at $149 it's a steal, IMO. A controller with a custom layout would work amazingly well for a number of things... not just games. MIDI sequencer controller, GIMP/Photoshop controller, etc. Heck, having a lot of extra custom keys in vim/emacs would be nice, as most of the keyboard is already assigned.

    A lot of people are saying "you can already do this in Linux", which isn't true. Sure,

  • "An adhesive substance keeps the keys firmly attached to the pad"

    Those keys are going to come right off, in the hands of any "avid gamer". One of the best advantages even the original Ataris had over their competition was their tough joysticks. And even those eventually got ripped to pieces. These stick-on keys are going to get trashed faster than their then-paralyzed player will get fragged.
    • Kidding, yes?

      Those old Atari joystics broke by the dozen. Flimsy plastic, cheap construction and too small.

      Now Wico joystics.. THOSE were awesome. Wico made joystics for arcade cabinents. The Atari/C64 joystics they made had steel shafts and were tougher than anything else around, then or now.
      • Most Atari joysticks survived - you can still see them in garage sales. Their competition, like the Intellivision discs, Odyssey rod/gimbol gizmos, and the littler competition, all broke way before the games got boring. But yes, we did snap our share of Atari joysticks - especially in racing games, as I recall. So, for the stronger and more destructive of us, we preferred Discwasher joysticks (also with a longer stick for more throw).
  • Take you original 10$ keyboard, might be even wired one. Pull out ANY KEYS and leave only the key combination you desire, there are practically countless combinations(!!!).

    Now all you need is a software like Girder [promixis.com] or any macro related application and fire your personal shooter away.

    Here [theregister.co.uk] are some [lurquer.com] examples [demon.co.uk].

    140$ saved!
  • If anyone has ever seen the USB HID keyboard spec they will know that a modern USB keyboard pretends to be a early 80's style 8051 based IBM keyboard with all its odd ball scan codes. This means that about 20 keys have hard coded special meanings and you can't even build a keyboard with a Euro button or a Japanese symbols water fall. In the case of the Euro about all you can do is get a keyboard that sends Alt-Shift-5 or whatever windows sees as a Euro.

    Its a shame that the cheap keyboards are are killing

  • This is not news... (Score:2, Informative)

    by DiniZuli ( 621956 )
    Read about this last year:
    http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1555134 ,00.asp [extremetech.com]
  • If you can go without tactile feedback, there's a neater toy you could buy. Check out the Fingerworks Touchstream LP [fingerworks.com]. The entire thing is reconfigurable. The key layout shown is just an overlay. You can replace it with one for a dvorak keyboard or create your own. It also has the added benefit of mouse emulation so you don't have to take your hands away from the "keys." The technology is similar to the trackpad used on a standard laptop, only a bit more sophisticated. It can track all your fingers at
  • Looks like a cross between an Asgard [gateworld.net] control panel and Professor Chronotis' abacus-controlled time machine [amazon.com]. Good thing neither of them have patents.

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