Show HN: A Truly Modular Keyboard (github.com)
105 points by NotARoomba a day ago
Agentlien 2 hours ago
I like the idea but I could only find an image of two keys. It would be great to see a demo of a full layout. With only two keys it's a very early POC and hardly a keyboard.
Does communication work well and feel snappy with a full set of keys? How is the structural integrity of a full one? Can it be easily moved around? That type of questions could easily make this unusable at scale.
NotARoomba 2 hours ago
I am waiting on some key switches to make more keys (5 in total), but for now I just wanted to show the progress on the mechanical/electrical side. I don’t have enough PCBs for a full set of keys yet, but when the key switches arrive and I assemble the 3 other boards I’ll let you know how it goes :D
Agentlien an hour ago
Looking forward to seeing it!
What's the production cost of this per key?
NotARoomba a day ago
A while back I was frustrated when wanting to buy a keyboard that there were no triangle-shaped keyboards or circle-shaped keyboards. This lack of peculiar keyboard shapes gave me the idea to make a keyboard that could be reconfigurable into any shape my heart desired. I’m still working on the firmware and making more keys but I wanted to share my progress so far. Heres the source if anyone’s interested in how I made it: https://github.com/notaroomba/keybytes
darksim905 an hour ago
Just a small suggestion but... maybe re-record your demo without giant floodlights on your desk? :(
mrheosuper 24 minutes ago
The I2C has limit of 127 of different addresses. Also there can be I2C hang, especially when there is that many slaves on the bus.
Maybe using CAN is better.
kaipereira 4 hours ago
This is awesome!
How does the rigidity of the keyboard hold up with many keys and what's the cost of the materials at higher order quantity?
NotARoomba 2 hours ago
Thank you!!
It’s really rigid with 2 keys so far but I have yet to test with longer configurations. At a higher order quantity, each key comes out to be around 6 USD but I’m trying to minimize that as much as possible with future revisons!
wcchoi 2 hours ago
Something similar: https://youtu.be/_u8gV643214
The keys are attached to a board so it can be in any orientation
kvakvs 3 hours ago
Sometimes my keyboards get dropped and lose a keycap or two, but never anything serious. If this is dropped on the floor, my trusty keyboard will turn into a bag of puzzle bits, right in the middle of heated gameplay or a meeting...
NotARoomba 2 hours ago
The magnets are strong enough that most of it should survive lol. I will be doing drop tests to test that theory out soon
IllIIlIlIlIIIIl 3 hours ago
This is a really neat idea for a macro keyboard. If it supported staggered rows and row heights, not to mention structural rigidity it would be good for everyday use too.
NotARoomba 2 hours ago
Thank you! I am currently thinking about adding those in the next revision and it would definitely make it more practical.
eviks 3 hours ago
Is there a mouse module? Can you connect in a "staggered" manner rather than in a linear grid?
NotARoomba 2 hours ago
There isn’t a mouse module yet, but I am going to make more modules that include screens, finger print sensors, and I’ll add in a mouse one too :D. Currently there isn’t support for a staggered manner but I am going to work on it for the next revision.
jasonjmcghee 4 hours ago
This is very cool.
It needs spacers / extensions so it can be laid out as desired.
SV_BubbleTime 3 hours ago
I looked over the PCB and schematic and it looks well polished. Not a first draft obviously.
I sort of don’t get the 4x I2C busses. I’m probably missing something obvious but it isn’t immediately apparent how the units all have addressing worked out.
NotARoomba 2 hours ago
Thank you!
The 4x I2C busses were mainly there to reduce parasitic capacitance and also allows me to know where each key is physically relative to each other in software. I’m still working on the firmware for it, but currently the plan is for each of the keys to remember its “parent”, the neighbor that is closest to the main board, and forward events repeatedly to the main board.
trollbridge 4 hours ago
I’ve wondered when someone would do this (which gets rid of the annoyances of scanning).
The real breakthrough would be reprogrammable key legends in something like e-ink.
aghuang 3 hours ago
Very cool, would really like one
fitsumbelay 4 hours ago
this is extremely cool. would love to see full board
pparanoidd 3 hours ago
Now give them all wheels so they can rearrange themselves on my desk
thenthenthen 39 minutes ago
Was looking in the comments for this^