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Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

sonderdesign.com

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Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#71

Post by rjeli »

iheartmemcache wrote: post #42
monk_e_boy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it'd be cool for programming, I have RSI and find using the shift key + another key painful. I also rarely use the number keys above the letters (I used num pad) so changing all those keys to the shit_key equivalent would be neat. And rearranging some of other keys would be great. And don't get me started on games, oooooh, how often to I buy a new game and forget what 'm' does? Knife? Grenade? Pickaxe?

Firstly: RSI is no joke - if you're experiencing pain, there's a non-zero chance it'll develop into a serious medical condition. (At MIT's Media Lab, someone's RSI got so bad he couldn't type at all and had to invent an interface using vocal phonemes to encode common OS actions/lexical keywords to control his OS (OS X) / editor (emacs) / language of choice (python)). If you feel even the slightest bit of pain, that's…

If your pinky issue comes back, try Xah Lee's ctrl-palming method[0]. It's even less strain than Caps Lock IMO.

[0]: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_pinky.html

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#72

Post by bajsejohannes »

This seems like a good direction for our keyboards, but I don't understand why they don't let all keys be changed. Specifically, caps lock. Caps lock functionality is completely useless to me, and I suspect most people.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#73

Post by vikstrouss »

I've had a logitec keyboard with a small display on it and the software was terrible. There were enough people writing things that interact with it, so it was useless most of the time.

I think the software is what will make or break this concept. It needs to be hackable. It should probably define a standard generic interface. People need to be able to integrate it into various applications in complex ways. It'll be weird to have multiple applications that try to change the layout in their own ways, so you need a daemon that makes the final decision and you need a simple, intuitive but powerful way to control this behaviour. If not done correctly, it'll be a nightmare and/or completely useless.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#74

Post by Drdrdrq »

belltaco wrote: post #38
the8472 wrote: post #9

Not exactly a novel idea, the optimus maximus keyboard has been a concept design in 2005 and saw a limited production run in 2007. And it supported colors to boot. I think its main problem was that it was too expensive.

Indeed, but e-ink technology has come a long long way since then.

Has it? I haven't heard about any important improvements for quite some time... What has changed? (genuinly curious)

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#75

Post by Hemospectrum »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #50
monk_e_boy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it'd be cool for programming, I have RSI and find using the shift key + another key painful. I also rarely use the number keys above the letters (I used num pad) so changing all those keys to the shit_key equivalent would be neat. And rearranging some of other keys would be great. And don't get me started on games, oooooh, how often to I buy a new game and forget what 'm' does? Knife? Grenade? Pickaxe?

Having recently noticed a little carpal tunnel (though in truth I don't know how to distinguish the two) and got rather sensitive to where my wrists rest on a laptop I can sympathise! I switched to a vertical mouse earlier in the year which has helped massively. My right wrist was always the most affected, and it turns out it was mostly down to mousing. Very true on games. I'd use for this too, and learning. Like som…

> Having recently noticed a little carpal tunnel (though in truth I don't know how to distinguish the two)

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a specific condition where your carpal tunnel constricts around a nerve. RSI is the umbrella term for these types of injuries.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#76

Post by tdy721 »

bajsejohannes wrote: post #72

This seems like a good direction for our keyboards, but I don't understand why they don't let all keys be changed. Specifically, caps lock. Caps lock functionality is completely useless to me, and I suspect most people.

This is the comment I was looking for. I agree, most useless key in the whole bunch and you can't change it...

Then again, sometimes it does take special software to support caps lock remapping.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#77

Post by branchless »

gcb0 wrote: post #69
anexprogrammer wrote: post #15

An interesting idea, but I just don't look at my keyboards. Even so, I can't help feeling this is a much better approach than replacing F-keys with the Mac Touchbar. The touchbar could have been a great idea if above the pre-existing keys. However, if it was a Model M chassis, sculpted full travel loud mechanical keys, E-Ink, and a modern selection of media keys and volume I'd probably buy one. Regardless of how sill…

You are not the target audience. i will pass on this one because they keys are probably garbage, but I change my layout between several languages and i actually have some of the layouts printed out because i am still not very familiar with them. Not my use case either, but visit any audio or video editing room. I will bet you money that every workstation will have colorful stickers on top of all the keyboards to remi…

Yeah I could use this for French, even though the keys probably feel horrible.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#78

Post by RachelF »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #15

An interesting idea, but I just don't look at my keyboards. Even so, I can't help feeling this is a much better approach than replacing F-keys with the Mac Touchbar. The touchbar could have been a great idea if above the pre-existing keys. However, if it was a Model M chassis, sculpted full travel loud mechanical keys, E-Ink, and a modern selection of media keys and volume I'd probably buy one. Regardless of how sill…

Odd that it is based on the standard Mac keyboard.

If you're going to build a premium keyboard, then why not add mechanical keys, full size arrow keys and PgUp PgDn?

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#79

Post by joeldg »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #15

An interesting idea, but I just don't look at my keyboards. Even so, I can't help feeling this is a much better approach than replacing F-keys with the Mac Touchbar. The touchbar could have been a great idea if above the pre-existing keys. However, if it was a Model M chassis, sculpted full travel loud mechanical keys, E-Ink, and a modern selection of media keys and volume I'd probably buy one. Regardless of how sill…

or this https://medium.com/@joeldg/the-collective-ugh-over-the-apple...

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#80

Post by ianai »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #48
ianai wrote: post #5

I really want to like this, but I never look at the keyboard. I wish this were a general purpose display.

A general purpose e-ink display? https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/paperlike-world-s-first-e... I have one. They work fine as a second monitor (no Linux support yet though, Windows and Mac only).

Yes exactly that but affordable.
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