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Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

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Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#31

Post by bsdubernerd »

beeforpork wrote: post #19

Of all the colours available for 3D printing, dark brown was chosen? It is not pretty(tm). But the shape is gorgeous!

As someone that owns a 3d printer, I'd guess that was a filament that went either old or unused for too long. Ideal for personal projects where you don't care, or that you might want to post-process anyway (sand/paint).

Happens frequently when you buy a roll of a hard-to-use color, such as this.

By experience I can say that most bright colors would look bad on a project such as this. Bright colors are fine only in very specific circumstances, or for highlights.

In almost every other case, a desaturated color looks better. Off-white and dark-grey are my most-used colors.

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#32

Post by mbreese »

bsdubernerd wrote: post #31
beeforpork wrote: post #19

Of all the colours available for 3D printing, dark brown was chosen? It is not pretty(tm). But the shape is gorgeous!

As someone that owns a 3d printer, I'd guess that was a filament that went either old or unused for too long. Ideal for personal projects where you don't care, or that you might want to post-process anyway (sand/paint). Happens frequently when you buy a roll of a hard-to-use color, such as this. By experience I can say that most bright colors would look bad on a project such as this. Bright colors are fine only in ve…

From: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41422.msg2706316#msg270...

> Most of the parts are printed from a PLA with a low amount of metal-fill, which I found to have exceptional opacity

So, I'm guessing that they wanted the keys to have a bit more weight that the metal-filled PLA would provide? I'm not sure why the opacity of the material matters so much, but the author mentions that a few times.

Edit: nope, not weight... actual light blocking was needed.

From: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard/wiki/Printing-tips-&-...

>Filament choice

> For the clusters and keys, you want as opaque of a material as you can get. Try printing a small 2mm thick solid sheet, and hold a flashlight up to the back. Ideally, you won't see any light leakage through the print at all. I tried a few different filaments that I had on hand, and by far the most opaque was some 5% copper filled PLA by Gizmo Dorks.

After reading this, I think the issue is the optical switches that are used for the keys. Because they are using an IR LED/phototransistor switch mechanism, the material needs to be as opaque as possible to prevent light from coming through and activating the switches accidentally.

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#33

Post by bsdubernerd »

mbreese wrote: post #32
bsdubernerd wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that owns a 3d printer, I'd guess that was a filament that went either old or unused for too long. Ideal for personal projects where you don't care, or that you might want to post-process anyway (sand/paint). Happens frequently when you buy a roll of a hard-to-use color, such as this. By experience I can say that most bright colors would look bad on a project such as this. Bright colors are fine only in ve…

From: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41422.msg2706316#msg270... > Most of the parts are printed from a PLA with a low amount of metal-fill, which I found to have exceptional opacity So, I'm guessing that they wanted the keys to have a bit more weight that the metal-filled PLA would provide? I'm not sure why the opacity of the material matters so much, but the author mentions that a few times. Edit: nope, not we…

Mmh, I wouldn't have used copper-fill on something that goes directly in contact with skin.

I had issues with light leakage with thin layers of poor-quality PETG (with light shining through as a dark-green halo), but I've printed microscope light-shields with plain black PLA and PETG with only 1.5mm thickness.

I'd surprise me if the leakage from the material would be greater than the light that comes in from the hinge itself, but I guess the author has done some tests.

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#34

Post by PAPPPmAc »

blackrock wrote: post #3

I wonder if anyone can invent a 1-handed keyboard?

There are always chorders for that. I use a DIY'd chorder similar to an Infogrip BAT sometimes - I'm much slower and have a higher error rate on it than on my split QWERTY setups (which typically have a trackball sitting between the halves), which see more use, but it's damn alluring.

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#35

Post by Zhenya »

enragedcacti wrote: post #29

Seeing the name JesusFreke is such a throwback for me. He was really instrumental to the early Android hacking scene on the T-Mobile G1. I remember as a teen not-so-patiently awaiting JF firmware versions to drop so I could try out features like bad multitouch and storing apps on the SD card since the internal memory was so small.

I thought the same thing - xda + jesusfreke+usb mini is massive nastalgia.

Found an old thread to take you back: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/modified-rc30-full-versio...

If folks remember one of the first hacks on the g1 was the physical keyboard actually sending keystrokes to the terminal (which allowed to enable SU)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooting_(Android)#Rooting_thro...

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#36

Post by greggturkington »

bsdubernerd wrote: post #25
adolph wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried eye control of the cursor? The below link is software that came up in internet search to check if eye tracking was in fact a thing: https://precisiongazemouse.org/

Not yet, gaze tracking HW was always beyond my economical reach in the past. But this project is super-interesting! Thanks for point this out

MacOS has a "head pointer" built in to their a11y preferences

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#38

Post by JesusFreke »

bsdubernerd wrote: post #5

Kudos to the maker here. This looks gorgeous, and very close to the datahand ads I remember. The datahand was a keyboard fetish of mine, although I always wondered of actually usable it would be, especially considering the learning experience. Keep in mind this keyboard requires chording to obtain all normally usable symbols readily available on a traditional keyboard. Making a clone of my advantage pro (my current a…

Thanks! :)

It does technically require chording, but honestly not much more than a normal keyboard. Just a few extra "shift" keys, more or less. And normal textual input is pretty much all non-chorded.

I'm a tiny bit biased, of course, but I do find it quite usable. Even (or especially!) for gaming. But yeah, I've been using a datahand, and then later my lalboard as my primary keyboard at home and work for probably going on 15 years now.

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#39

Post by JesusFreke »

enragedcacti wrote: post #29

Seeing the name JesusFreke is such a throwback for me. He was really instrumental to the early Android hacking scene on the T-Mobile G1. I remember as a teen not-so-patiently awaiting JF firmware versions to drop so I could try out features like bad multitouch and storing apps on the SD card since the internal memory was so small.

I still have a G1 around somewhere rocking JFMod v1.51! :D

Re: Lalboard – A 3D-printed keyboard inspired by the DataHand

#40

Post by JesusFreke »

Aeolun wrote: post #10

As much as I enjoyed the idea of these kinds of keyboards, experience has taught me that I get too annoyed with learning a whole new layout, so I quickly switch back to a ‘normal’ keyboard. I really need to get that moonlander out of it’s box again, but the hassle is just too much.

I guess it's a personality thing. I actually love that whole experience - both when I switched to dvorak on a normal keyboard, and then again when I switched to a datahand.

I love the process of developing muscle memory, the mindless repetition, and that feeling of improvement. And especially once it really starts to click, and your fingers start going on autopilot.

If you want something to make it a bit less of a drudge, you can take a look at the Amphetype software, which lets you retype ebooks -- so you can basically read a book while practicing typing it.

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