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[M] TestCut? More like TestCubed.

A project log for Tetent TestCut [gd0139]

A cuboid input device.

kelvinakelvinA 10/11/2022 at 20:400 Comments
Yes. This is quite a different look to the reference keyboard I mentioned in the previous log. 

So I was wondering how best to arrange the #Tetrinsic's [gd0041] and decided on going for a vertical keyboard that sat in my lap (which is the current location of my not-so-temporary temporary keyboard as I write this very log). I soon determined that a 90 degree arm-to-arm angle was a good initial ball park estimation. I just didn't know how I was going to get that carved-out-of-marble shape, whilst still having some level of portability and aesthetic. It didn't have to fit in #Teti's [gd0022] compartement but I still wanted to be able to put it in a backpack nicely.

I was thinking of something that looked like a smaller, thinner version of Teti's overall shape and having the Tetrinsics unfold out from a vertical wall into a tented position. I thought that was too complex for what is essentially a not-so-temporary temporary Tetent, and Teti doesn't have any crisp low-poly corners in its design language.

The next idea was a cuboid but with the bottom face angled a few degrees for more comfortability. I noticed that the XYZ were approaching the same value and so I just made it a cube and really liked the inital look:

View from user
View from side. This is a 4 degree angle and I really like how it looks like a cube that's slightly clipping inside the turntable.

If I make this, and if one insists on calling Tetent a keyboard (even though there are no keys, and it's not a board), it could be the worlds second cube shaped keyboard. The first was this failed indegogo campaign I found when searching to see if there have been any other cube shaped keyboards.

Like... this thing had those nice+soft silicone keycaps, trackpad, speaker, alarm clock... and I thought I was going into the deep end with Tetent.

Anyway, after watching their spaceship teleportation campaign video, I thought I'd make the renders look a bit more si-fi with the LED ring around it:

I haven't added screw holes yet, so that's why some of the screws look strange.
I think it really has that modern designer look.

Initial stats:

Other than the Finger5 experiment, Tetent TestCut is simply just Tetrinsics in a printed enclosure. There's not going to be any OLED screens or LEDs, and I expect it to be a wired connection. The idea is to use the TestCut to program the remaining Tetent features much faster.

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