Qwerkywriter: Typewriter-Inspired Mechanical Keyboard | Hacker News Reader

Qwerkywriter: Typewriter-Inspired Mechanical Keyboard

qwerkywriter.com

24 points_g2lm22 comments

> Qwerkywriter is a celebration of those who have chosen the path least traveled, the underdogs, the ones with the impractical college major.

This sentence makes me want to go crush the life of something beautiful. So goddamn pretentious and hipster.

Where have I heard that before...

> Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

Oh, right. Those people might have been rebellious in 1984, but they're mainstream today.

It is beautiful. I'd probably get one if I had the money.

> Qwerkywriter's Patent-Pending keycaps features typewriter inspired keycaps.

WHAT THE FUCK.

Yeah, I certainly have seen similar keycaps before. No idea what's so novel about those particular caps that they need a patent.

Plenty of prior art if you mean "round old-typewriter-style keycaps on a computer keyboard":

http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard-shtml/

A company also sells these (although they're much more expensive than the one in the article):

http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/keyboards.htm

It might not be as bad as it appears.

There's something called a design patent which IIUC prevents, e.g., Samsung from selling a tablet computer that looks too much like an iPad.

With none of the joys of actually using a mechanical typewriter.

Typing on a real mechanical typewriter is really fun, at least until you get tired. You have to put so much force on the keys that your forearms get into it. Stressed? Take out your frustrations on the typewriter. But the best is that carriage return lever -- SLAM! I used to slam that thing so hard that the typewriter would slowly migrate across the desk, and I'd have to readjust it when feeding a new sheet.

As someone who owns two typewriters (a 1949 Royal Arrow and some electric Smith-Corona that I haven't thoroughly identified yet), I'd love to someday build a typewriter-style computer keyboard that operates by actually smacking electrical contacts, just like how a proper typewriter works. Or perhaps have the levers interact with some photoelectric or Hall-effect sensors instead of relying on direct electrical contact. Whatever the case, it would be fantastic (albeit probably annoying to anyone within a 100-meter radius of my desk :) ).

It's funny, since the only memory I've had of using an actual mechanical typewriter with that sort of keyboard was the tiringly high actuation force and getting my fingers stuck between the keys... I suppose this wouldn't have the former characteristic though.

I think it's odd they chose to include Pause/Break and PrintScreen/SysReq, but omitted the Insert key.

Making a keyboard pretty is not innovative. Making a faster and more ergonomic keyboard is what we need. A few more companies like this, for example:

http://shop.keyboard.io

There are several more efficient keyboard layouts too:

http://xahlee.info/kbd/dvorak_and_all_keyboard_layouts.html

http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/#/main

Ergonomics is key:

https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/the-model-01-an-heir...

Not my cup of tea but it seems nicely done, and Stephen Fry likes it so there's that: https://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/643785572419506176

$300 is a little steep. You can get those keycaps that will fit on any cherry MX switch keyboard for $80-$100. Add a TKL keyboard (one without the number block) for $80 and you have your desktop typewriter.

Agreed. This is really steep for a novelty keyboard. Even a hipster would have to think twice about it at this price.

$300 isn't out of the ordinary, particularly when you throw in a custom metal base and effectively one-off production costs on top of your $200 starting figure.

The Ergodox will cost you nearly as much in materials, more pre-assembled.

So, it's a run of the mill wireless keyboard with typewriter-ish keys glued on it ...

And the carriage return lever seems to be only for show, it would have been nicer if it actually was a return key...

Which run of the mill wireless keyboards have mechanical key switches?

There are quiet a few. For example Matias offers wireless models with Alps key switches. Filco has bluetooth models with Cherry MX switches.

I think the point of the parent comment was that mechanical keyboards (except for maybe the junk Razer sells) aren't considered to be "run-of-the-mill" compared to the millions (if not billions) of rubber-domes floating around, and a wireless mechanical keyboard would be particularly far outside the "run-of-the-mill" classification.

"Qwerkywriter's Return Bar functions as an ENTER key by default. But it's also programmable, remembering up to 5 characters."

What is that to the right of the keyboard on the third slide in the top banner area? Is that some kind of mouse?

Evoluent Vertical Mouse. They edited out its' bright glowing logo from that shot which is at the bottom on the rear of it.

Are the caps change-able? need me that sweet sweet Dvorak

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