My new keyboard, with Rhino logo

This is very very cool, thanks for sharing the details… So are you saying you just drive the mouse movements and click from this keyboard while coding, whenever needed?

Plus, good tips on the ergonomics! I like the whole setup with lower-center screen. Next time I redo my workspace I’l try to implement some of your ideas.

While coding I use mostly Vim keyboard navigation. Experimenting now with the drawing surface as the middle lower monitor so I can use the pen, but otherwise still trackballing quite a bit. Using the mouse keys on the keyboard I can, but should practice more (stash mouse, trackball and pen somewhere would get me there in a day, but have been lazy).

Today I hope the finish the mounting hardware for getting my arms close to their natural hanging position. I will post pictures when that is done. Also a new video. That all still is doing things the easy way, I want to design a set of cool arms, but that requires learning stuff (:

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So I finished the first iteration of the mounting rig where I can type with my arms down. It feels very nice. Here a very short demo of what it looks like - just the hands though. Was too lazy to make the working spot presentable enough for a full-body video.

The stand has surprisingly much movement in it. I can dampen it a bit by standing against the horizontal bar, but even without doing that the movement isn’t actually much noticable from key-hitting point of view.

Some easy improvements to make: use square tube for horizontal bar so there is no roll due to slippage. Better floor plate to stand on - currently small piece on which the (Ikea) height-adjustable table leg is mounted, and one next to it so I can stand on it comfortable. A bigger piece would be nice. And better structure for the spring mechanism. Springs do work nice to hold the halves in place, but they give in this position quite a bit. Some pieces to slide the hooking hands in a cross configuration would probably help a lot.

Addendum:

a couple of stills of the whole keyboard setup:




And me trying to get the slot cut by hand with tiny metal saw in the living room, sitting on the floor.

Addendum 2:

At least the new setup isn’t impacting my typing negatively:

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It’s nice to see another mechanical keyboard user on here. I print Cherry MX compatible keycaps for fun (SLA and FDM) so let me know if you need anything custom made.

Starts to look like something from Blade Runner. Nice job! :smiley:

Here’s an interesting video by Void Star Lab about DIY keyboards:

(Be aware that his humour might not be everybody’s pair of shoes.)

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IO expander is a great idea. I quite like staggered columns, though. Feels better than linear on the row. But then again, there are many hands, and thus many preferences.

I improved stability of the mounting rig with a couple of bolts. Standing like this with the arms down if very nice.

I cut a bigger wood plate for the thing to stand on, rounded out the corners so I don’t cut my feet, and actually inserted it under the carpet. Since I like to be on bare feet having the carpet on the wooden base makes it feel nicer.

I have now everything set up for some recording sessions, maybe even live coding in the near future. I haven’t planned anything major yet, I’ll probably get just started with some not-very-much-in-advance announced short-ish session where I work on my RhinoCycles code, some Rhino scripting, probably the import_3dm Blender add-on.

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I prefer a staggered layout, too. However, I find his technical explications and break-apart PCB layout quite interesting.

I’ll check that out for sure, either live or recorded. I’d tried your import_3dm Blender add-on yesterday for the first time. It’s great but it tends to crash for big files (>450MB). I’m using the macOS Intel version from your GitHub in Blender 2.93.1.

Short video of this morning, simple monkeytype session

I must admit I haven’t tested with files of that size. Possibly a good item for investigating live (:

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Your typing skill are off the charts! I can’t manage to get more than 45 to 50 wpm with decent accuracy. :smiley:

If you want to see me slow you should wait for a video trying to do steno typing :smiley: I get to 5-10 wpm.

Keyboard will be in coding action tonight: Live coding stream

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Moving, so a temporary setup to type code

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Very nice keyboard indeed. I notice the bi-pod to the right with a row of light on one leg and what could it be on the other leg??? Road flares???

The keyboard has underglow LEDs, currently coded to orange to match the orange key caps. On the piano is just a bit of LED strip from IKEA (:

Pretty cool indeed! By the way, Nathan, I’ve designed a computer case and have talked with a manufacturer; it might come to fruition!!! The ribbed area is all connected to be one piece and easily removed and the two side panels are both hinged and removeable. I’ve attached a few CAD renderings from Rhino V7. I would replace my Cooler Master Cosmos II case with one of these. It’s 3” shorter both in length and height but 3” wider than my Cosmos case. It is in preliminary design at this time until I get to sit down with the manufacturer and go over details.

All the best to you, Rob

From Rob Ladd of Robb Ladd Yacht Design

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That case looks very nice.

The current work horse is encased in a Fractal 7 design. I am contemplating if I want to build a less bulky enclosure in that I want it thin so it could be installed along a wall perhaps. And if possible I’d like to get rid of the monitor by replacing it with a 4K short-throw projector. We’ll see, dreaming is a nice hobby too (:

Cool, so now you’ve added three foot pedals and a massive row of function keys. And the stand for paper-based documentation is genius! :laughing:

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Most importantly: what’s inside that Fractal 7?

Did you notice the notation of the documentation? It is a way to encode mathematical ideas and hide it in plain sight… and sound.

The CPU is getting old already it being a i7-7700 clocked at 3.60GHz. For the longest time there was 16GB RAM, but it was expanded last year or so to 32GB RAM.

Windows 10 Pro edition at version 21H2.

The built-in Intel HD Graphics 630 is driving my drawing tablet Huion Kamvas 13, which is hiding behind the paper documentation. In addition there are currently (only?) two GPUs, an Nvidia RTX A6000 and an Nvidia RTX A5000. I have in a box still an Nvidia RTX A4000 and an AMD WX9100, but those I can’t fit.

There’s this really cool program called Rhino which you can use to model connectors that can be 3D printed, instead of all those crufty hacks. If you need help with installing the program just ask. :rofl:

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