How many times, while setting up htpc for your TV or tinkering with your Raspberry Pi, do you wish you had a small keyboard handy? Or perhaps you find touch keyboards not convenient enough to use for serious typing on your phone or tablet?
The goal of this project is to develop a heandheld keyboard for thumb typing. With the power of qmk I believe this goal can be achieved!
It's been quite a while, but I have some updates to my project.
All thanks to PCBWaywho provided me with high quality PCBs for this project!
I managed to put together a prototype keyboard that wasn't as bad as my first prototype.
This time I used omron B3F-1052 switches which are much better than the ones I used in the previous attempt. And using the right PCB is much easier than running thin wires on a prototype board.
I settled on a 5x5 key layout for each hand. Now it seems optimal to me. I'm thinking of adding the missing functios using layers.
I continue to learn to type on this keyboard. I can say that it feels pretty good in the hands. I was afraid that the clicking of the switches would bother me, but so far this has not happened.
I also want to work on the keyboard layout. The classic "qwerty" layout seems to me extremely not optimal for typing with two thumbs. I want to keep finger movements to a minimum and learn to touch-type on a new layout.
After I soldered the switches to the board, I found out that they hold up well on their own, due to the fact that their legs spring themselves a little in the mounting holes. This openes the way for quick replacement of switches. This is all the more useful considering that branded switches, to my surprise, are quite expensive.
I also have some ideas on how to 3dprint shoulder buttons.
Finally, I create something that I can actually use to get a feel for the project.
It looks like the cheap switches I used are garbage because they feel different. Some are clicky, others are mushy. There may be the problem with the caps or the case as well.
I plan to learn how to touch type on this keyboard. Perhaps I should put marks on the caps.
Has there been any additional progress in this project?