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so I've been idly designing a "ultimate workbench keyboard", a sort of keyboard that's designed to be usable with anything from bluetooth/usb/ps/2/xt/etc with easy software-defined additions for new protocols, right?
It's got a small screen for configuration and such, but I recently thought it might be handy to put TOTP/HOTP support, and have it just type out the codes for you.
But I thought of a worse use: a sim slot, for receiving SMS messages. THE ULTIMATE 2FA KEYBOARD!
I'm gonna have to include some kind of modular extension mechanism, because I don't want that in the base build. I'm not trying to make a 500$ keyboard here, because mechanical keyboard nerds are not my target audience
I would make this keyboard rubberdome on membrane if I could, just to keep their grubby fingers away from it
I basically want the most boring keyboard ever made, but with a screen and open microcontroller for reprogramming to different protocols. The layout is going to be so boring I'm probably going to steal it from an old Packard Bell keyboard from 1991
I will make it out of the most beige plastic I can find
it'll be available in regular and pre-yellowed variants, of course.
The funniest part of designing this is I keep thinking I'll put some buttons around the screen to control it.
Because obviously you need some input for the screen!
on a ... keyboard.
IT ALREADY HAS 105 KEYS
I think it's gonna have just one key that's "shift into screen mode" (it'll light up, or I'll just reuse the screen backlight to indicate screen-mode) and from there you can use the arrow keys and enter/tab/etc to select options
maybe I'll make it modular and use that for the connectors. I was planning to just have a couple ports like USB-B, PS/2, AT and you hook them up with the proper adapters, but if I made it have several modular ports, you could pick which ones you wanted.
this'd also open it up to using keyboards that use Weird Voltages, because each little adapter could have the needed voltage regulators/level shifters on it.
@foone@digipres.clubalthough one of my goals is to make a keyboard that will Just Work for just about any computer you need a keyboard for. Digging it out and then going "shit, where's my RS232 serial module?" kinda goes against that.
This is what I'm planning it to look like: Standard PC layout, but an extra key and a screen.
![A 104-key keyboard layout, but with a Config button above Numlock, and a small LCD/OLED above the numpad. It says:
Protocol: [PS/2]
Battery: 100%
[ NumLock ]](https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/113/693/889/811/495/189/original/77d85f597a8f9dfe.png "A 104-key keyboard layout, but with a Config button above Numlock, and a small LCD/OLED above the numpad. It says:
Protocol: [PS/2]
Battery: 100%
[ NumLock ]")
It's a wedge shape (like early PC keyboards) so that it has room for connectors along the back, and it'll have a slot for an 18650 battery. This won't be necessary, but it'll be available for things like Bluetooth mode.
It'll have a (female) USB port as a well, which'll be useful for fun things like loading new layouts and code off USB flash drives, but it'll also let you do fun things like putting a text file on there and letting you select it from the screen (or set up a macro to trigger it).
So you could put BEEMOVIE.TXT on there and when you do CTRL-ALT-B it types out the whole script for you
obviously the USB storage will support USB floppy drives. this is my project, after all
I have no idea what purpose this would ever serve, but I still need it, because I'm me.
The other possible purpose of that USB host port is mouse support. It'd be nice to be able to support mice as well, since a lot of old computers also need mice with weird protocols. That might be something to look into for a Ultimate Bench Keyb 2.0
I've also thought about making the numpad modular: Yank it out and install a trackball/trackpad
@foone but will it run doom?
@cinebox it's a keyboard I'm making, of COURSE it'll run Doom.
@foone love this idea!
@foone All of this has me thinking that you’re like a half step from recreating a word processor that can double as a keyboard.
@Novyx I probably will make it a wordprocessor too, at least for basic text editing. The screen isn't going to be big enough to really do much, but why not?
@foone It just struck me that a word processor with an e-ink screen to be even more like a typewriter could actually be kind of neat.
@foone It should present two virtual floppy drives so it can be located at B:\MOVIE.TXT
@kirb hah!
@foone can you fit a built-in 3½" drive, or is that pushing it
@irina I already own some "keyboards" (actually a wedge PC in a keyboard shape) with a floppy disk drive on the side, so it's definitely doable!
Honestly I think I will have enough space, if I'm careful with it and use one of the thin laptop 3.5" drives
@foone Make the entire keyboard a mouse you move around with pinball style paddle buttons on the sides to click.
Or not, because you want it to be good and not cursed.
@jimp yeah that's on my todo list too, but firmly in the "bad ideas for keyboards" camp :)
@foone It would probably still be more accurate and easier to use than a TrackPoint stick.
@foone the North Pole elves are going to have fun this year...
@foone touch sensitive trackball with each numpad key painted onto an area of the ball? Rotate to the 'key' you want and tap! Also you can't disable the trackball functionality while doing this
@voxel great plan.
@foone evergreen phrase
@foone to run Doom on it, obviously
@foone making me wanna try again to figure out the pinout on this goofy drive I've got
@foone this is starting to sound like a grown-up version of the alphasmart... :'D
@elfi a bit! But that's just Fun Extra Stuff I'm thinking about adding, the prime purpose of this keyboard is the interoperability.
But since it's got the capability, why not add more fun stuff to it? it's just software, and I'm a programmer.
@foone I would absolutely try to set it up for running a word processor off a TTL serial display given the opportunity
@foone all up sounds kinda like the idea that crossed my mind to use a Raspberry Pi 400 as a very programmable keyboard for other computers.
@foone Love the “No” key.
@foone gotta have control and command! and altgr, maybe throw in hyper
i designed my own over-complicated keyboard but i don't even want to think about the cost of trying to make it
@irina The key labels are placeholders, since I didn't change 'em for this. You could totally set up a layer that has all those extra keys, by remapping the right modifiers to be whatever you want, as long as you can define what they mean in the protocol you're using
@irina @foone I built a keyboard of similar size, and the end-to-end cost is probably about $500.
From JLCPCB:
* PCBs ~$60 for 5
* Mounting plates ~$70 for 5
* Case ~$120 (resin-printed). You could instead use a second plate and some metal spacers as "sandwich" case
* Postage ~$50, possibly combinable
Switches: ~$50 for one board worth
Keycaps; $30-60 for cheap mixed
Stabilizers: $15
Misc: $40 (MCU module, encoder, diodes, OLED, cable)
You get 4 spare PCB/plates to amortize the costs over.
@foone, there's only one correct place for an extra key: between left Shift and Z. 
@foone rpi zero (or similar) can do USB host and client duties - splice one into the USB cable and add a screen hat?
@mherbert I've thought about that, but I'm not sure I want to do bare-metal pi coding and I do not want a keyboard that runs linux. I'm too impatient for that.
@foone yeah, sorry, I should have asked first why we were having the conversation and what your goal was, apologies ... :)
@foone Now, jump deep into the ergonomics rabbit hole, until you reach a biblically accurate keyboard.
@foone Use an ISO keyboard that already has an extra key? :)
@foone
This is almost exactly the layout of my Rosewill keyboard. I don't understand the modern keyboard trend of flipping the home insert page up block sideways, so a keyboard that puts insert in the right place is huge for me (Ctrl-Insert and Shift-Insert work for copy and paste most everywhere, even on Windows when I have to deal with it)
@foone just use the screen as key. So to go into screen mode, tap the screen.
No extra key needed.
@gunstick I don't want to encourage people by having it be a touch screen. This is a keyboard for people who hate virtual keyboards
@foone I've also wanted to do something like this for a long time. Even fantasized about building it all into a desk with built-in ports and, like, patch cables to switch between. Video too. OSSCs are nice, but you still have to dig out the right cord every time. This would be the ultimate KVM.