Has anyone thought about making a more portable version of the Model 01? I’d like to be able to take my keyboard with me when I travel, but the size of the Model 01 makes that somewhat difficult. Would it be possible to take the guts of a normal Model 01 and put it in a custom case that might be somewhat smaller and more portable? Are there technical/electrical drawings available that I’d be able to use to do that?
Alternatively, are there more portable versions of the Model 01 that might be coming out in the future?
In my opinion, the keyboard is fairly portable, even more so when you connect the 2 halves with the flat connector. It’s just that you’d probably want to put the keyboard in a case or something to protect it from scratches. The official solution is to put it in a 13" sleeve, which adds a significant overhead to its size, unfortunately. That’s when it becomes less portable.
I wouldn’t mind a portable keyboard, similar to the Model 01, with palm keys, but not split, and perhaps fewer keys. I think I could make do without the top row, and the innermost columns (or perhaps even the outermosts too, but that’s stretching it a bit). Add a bit of a bowl shape for the keywell, perhaps… but that’s another direction. =)
We haven’t published them, because we’re running behind (and the final manufacturing versions are all in Chinese.)
We do intend to publish them ‘relatively soon’ - Shoot me mail at jesse@keyboard.io with the things you’d like to get your hands on first and I’ll try to get it onto my task list.
Probably. I want one quite a bit. And that’s how this whole caper started.
Shoot me mail at jesse@keyboard.io with the things you’d like to get your hands on first and I’ll try to get it onto my task list.
No rush at all. It’s going to be weeks or months before I even have a chance to look at them anyway. Thank you for the offer, though!
Right now, I’m on an Ergodox. I just want parity between my travel keyboard and my desk keyboard without having to disconnect and move stuff around. I just want a small lightweight split keyboard to travel with that has the same firmware and such as the Model 01 that I’ll keep on my desk.
I brought this up weeks ago, as soon as I moved space and backspace to the palm keys and discovered OneShot. I never want to chord again on any keyboard. I NEED to figure out how to get my laptop keyboard to have OneShot modifiers.
I’ve had the guts of mine out, measured, traced the outlines, and weighed them, and started thinking about what would work for me. I’m looking at building a custom case for a second set of the current guts, because I’m assuming that will be faster than waiting for @obra to redesign the current guts; that we will be able to purchase just the electronics at some point after the backlog has been cleared.
I was thinking an acrylic base (probably laser cut) for durability and
because I live where it’s perpetually damp, and making the top out of
fabric covered foam cut to form around the buttons- sort of built in wrist
rests.
I’ve done acrylic and I’ve done plywood. The plywood is lighter and has turned out more durable.
The fabric covered foam thing is FASCINATING. I don’t know anything about what fabric to use, but I know what foam I’d want.
Interesting on plywood vs acrylic! Plywood would be MUCH easier to work with, too.
Speak to me of foam.
Fabric is my bailiwick. At a guess, I would probably use a sturdy two way stretch lycra, similar to bathing suits and yoga pants, because it would conform to the shape without wrinkles that would both be uncomfortable and cause friction points that would wear badly. I’m also thinking about linen or bamboo rayon for durability and to be cool to the touch.
Basically there are trade-offs, unsurprisingly. The obvious axis is durability vs comfort. I think there are a couple likely candidates.
It would be easy enough for me to post the fabric pattern on Spoonflower.com as a cut on the lines and assemble as per instructions sort of thing. They have a good selection of high quality fabrics and I love their print to order service, though I’m not sure how their printing process will stand up to heavy wear.
The idea in my head wouldn’t require any sewing, and if the base is plywood I would most likely use upholstery tacks, though prototypes might be built with a staple gun. all of which is idle speculation until I can get into my studio again. :-/
Hmm… Seems like an interesting idea to me to find a case (AliExpress tends to have barrels of this sort of thing) that has a pair of pouches well sized for the two pieces, then mesh bag to hold cabling. That seems safer than having the halves connected.
I’m very keen on a more portable version as well. I’ve been using a 42 key Atreus for a couple months, and it’s been eye opening how cleverly the layers make up for the missing keys. However, the thumb keys are tricky to use, and the fourth/lowest row is still awkward to reach with my pinky, ring and middle fingers.
I could tell out of the box the Keyboardio thumb clusters are going to be easier to work with. I’m a little worried that the palm keys will become indispensable - if you could drop those, and maybe cut down from 7 to 6 columns, the footprint is probably not much bigger than a 62 key Atreus.
That said, I’ve just opened the box, so it’ll take a few weeks before I am comfortable enough with the ‘full-size’ Keyboardio layout to properly assess which keys might be dropped.
Me too! And I wanted to prove to myself I could build one.
I started working on porting Kaleidoscope to the Atreus, but haven’t gotten very far, b/c my M01 arrived and I’ve been busy working on it. I’ve got some hopes of getting back to it eventually, though. It’ll be my first step into the world of firmware, beyond just moving keys around.
I’ll publish instructions for whatever I do, but I know myself better than to sell things.